Stanford Today Edition: July/August, 1997 Section: Sports: In Praise of Athletic Prowess WWW: In Praise of Athletic Prowess
STANFORD TAKES PRIDE IN ITS OUTSTANDING ATHLETES
By Harry Press
On the Quad, no one pays them much attention. Just your ordinary, Stanford overachievers. No segregated dorms. Not even a letter sweater. But stick around until they change clothes. Then they become special. Some become the nation's best.
When college sports fans, analysts and coaches begin to focus on each year's outstanding athletes, more and more, their attention lands squarely on Stanford. "No other university," says baseball coach Mark Marquess, "does it as well, and so consistently, as does Stanford."
This year, in case you hadn't heard, Stanford's women's and men's volleyball, tennis and cross-country teams won NCAA championships and both swimming teams came in second. Women's basketball made the finals, and men the Sweet 16. One Stanford athlete has been named the nation's best in her sport, and another an All-American. Many joined the stars of a season full of victories. They all deserve special recognition for their achievements. Here are just a few:
A FLYING STARBIRD
At 14, she was just another gym rat who wanted nothing more than to play basketball. Her Army-colonel father had been assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington. Could she go to the gym, Kate Starbird asked. Sure, said her dad.
The only players there were young male soldiers. They warily, but gradually, let her play. "These guys were much taller than I was," said Starbird a few years later. "I wasn't real strong and I had to get my outside shot off fast." She developed a truly ugly jumper, like a shotput that she admits is "unorthodox." But most of the time it lands home.
By the time she finished high school, she was the state's leading scorer and not just of the girls. She won every statewide honor available (and a few national) and decided to come to Stanford. She leaves this year with a degree in computer science and the new world of professional women's basketball at her feet.
In four years at the Farm, she constantly broke records and set the Pac-10 Conference pace to win the Naismith Award this year as the country's top women's basketball player. "For some reason," she says, "I just thrive in this system. Perhaps I got this award just because our team does so well consistently."
But there's much more to Kate Starbird than record-breaking. What has left sold-out crowds in Maples on their feet in disbelief is her ability to steal the ball or get a pitch from a rebound and go coast-to-coast, changing directions and speed as defenders practically fall on their faces while she zigs past them in overdrive. If they crowd her, she simply suspends gravity for a second or so, changes hands, twists her body and tosses in a reverse layup from the other side of the basket. A couple of great moments came due to her high-flying double-play:
Point guard Jamila Wideman is tearing down the court and zings a half-court pass to Vanessa Nygaard under the basket. But Nygaard, who leaps into the air to catch the ball, doesn't shoot. Before her feet hit the ground, she flips the ball to Starbird, who has driven toward the basket from the other side and already is in the air. She catches the ball and does a silky lay-in.
Against USC earlier this year, in the first 10 minutes of the second half, Starbird couldn't miss, no matter what shot she took - jumper, layup, three-pointer. "I've never seen anything like it," said associate coach Amy Tucker. "Everything she put up hit." Starbird made 40 points. Stanford won. "All the time I was thinking, I can't believe I can do this," said Starbird.
There was much more: She established a Stanford career-scoring record of 2215 (set appropriately on the always-emotional seniors' night) and a single season scoring record of 753 (first Stanford player ever to break 700), breaking her own 1996 record. She is an All-American (on several lists), has been named women's Basketball Collegiate Association Player of the Year, and twice Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year. Not surprisingly, she has signed a contract with the American Basketball League's team in her home state, the Seattle Reign.
KNIGHT OF THE ROUND BALL
In 1993 coach Mike Montgomery was suffering his most traumatic season in his 10 years at Stanford. "We were bankrupt at point guard," he recalls. Then his sharp recruiting eye saw something in the 5-foot-8, 140-pound kid from Seton Prep. Even Seton Hall University, where Brevin Knight's father had played and coached, and where his mother worked, didn't recruit him. Knight didn't even know where Stanford was - and it was one of only two programs to admit him. "It looked like a good offer to me," he said. "You can't beat it academically, and I had an opportunity to play."
"And nobody figured Brevin would turn out to be this good," Montgomery says. Knight turned out to be more than good. He was the key in bringing winning ways to the men's team, and making Stanford a national presence. This scrawny kid from New Jersey brought to Stanford a new world of explosive excitement, filled with steals and rocket-engine pace-changes. Not to mention the sold-out men's games in Maples.
In his four years Knight scored 1714 points and had 718 assists, the second player in Pac-10 history to have those two totals. He set several other school records, and led the Pac-10 in average assists and steals per game. He was chosen for John Wooden's All-America squad, became AP second-team All-American (sixth highest vote-getter and highest guard) and made Pac-10 All-Conference for the third straight year.
He is a take-charge guy yet aware of the importance of teamwork. He learned as a freshman that a quiet pat on the butt works much better than a snarl at an erring teammate. All of that helped him earn Pac-10's Freshman of the Year award.
"He's better than Jason Kidd because he can play at different tempos," says UCLA Coach Steve Lavin. "He makes everyone on his team believe."
"What excites me," Knight says, "is making the best play possible. And the best play is not always me shooting."
His brilliance shows in seeing tiny openings, turning on blinding speed and penetrating, then deciding what's best: Pass to a teammate in the corner for a three, drive to the basket and then pass, or stop for a pullup jumper. He can do it all, and frazzled opponents could do little about it.
"He goes between his legs and then your legs, and then through you and up and under you - and then he scores," said John Calipari, former coach at the University of Massachusetts. "We tried three different defenses. Nothing worked."
There seemingly was nothing he couldn't do. In Stanford's incredible 109-61 blowout of UCLA this year, Knight had 25 points, including making six of seven three-pointers.
Leaving early for the NBA, as so many college players do, had no interest for Knight. Even if his mother had agreed, Knight had his own ideas. He decided to finish school first. "I think there are a few of us who still value education to the point where we want to get it done now. I like college. It was an easy decision," he said. Indeed, Knight, a sociology major who plans to work with kids and did that while at Stanford, graduated with his class in June. Professional basketball is waiting for him.
This spring the men's team made it to the Sweet 16, then lost to Utah. Not too long after the final horn, Knight found the Stanford fans still in the stands and walked among them, commiserating. "We got to a place we had never been, and that little guy got us there," Montgomery said.
EXCELLENCE BY TWO
Since entering Stanford, Kristin Folkl has been a pillar in some of the most important games played by Stanford women athletes in more than one sport. She has competed in five Final Fours - three in volleyball (including the 1994 and 1996 national championships) and two in basketball (1996 and 1997). She took a year off from basketball to compete with the U.S. Olympic Volleyball Team last year, then took off most of the season until basketball coach Tara VanDerveer, with her team injury-riddled, asked her to come back. "I'm busy with 19 units," Folkl answered. VanDerveer pressed, and in the season's final 10 games, Folkl averaged 10.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and she was instrumental in helping the winning team reach the Final Four for the third year in a row.
A NATIONAL TOP PLAYER
Among the key reasons the men's volleyball team finished as NCAA champion stands senior Mike Lambert, a 6-foot-6 outside hitter who started on the 1996 Olympic team. He finished the 1997 season by making the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's All-Conference First Team. He is among the nation's top players, with 518 kills and a 6.2 kills per game average. He is second on the team with 25 service aces, and hit .361 with 143 digs.
THE FRESHWOMAN OF THE YEAR
Freshman Kerri Walsh was MVP as the women's volleyball team won its third NCAA championship in five years. Her match-high 17 kills (.438 hitting percentage) and eight digs helped Stanford beat Hawaii in three easy games. In NCAA's Division I schools, she won Freshman of the Year honors. Walsh, in Pac-10 competition, came in second in hitting percentage and aces averaged, and fourth in kills averaged.
HONORABLE ALL-AMERICAN
Junior defensive end Kailee Wong earned many honors: Most Valuable Lineman at the Sun Bowl, where Stanford demolished Michigan State 38-0, and First Team All-Pac-10 Conference. Both Football America and Football News named him honorable mention All-American. In quarterback sacks, he was second in the Pac-10 with 12, and third with 21 tackles-for-loss. In the Sun Bowl, Wong had 10 total tackles, two quarterback sacks, and three tackles-for-loss. ST