PSU Magazine Winter 1994

For the past eight years, PSU teams have earned six NCAA national championships and two second-place fmishes. By Roger Cornelius L"ndaJohnson MSI '88 (right), four-time All· \merican, wa'i a teammate of Lisa Couch (back– ground photo) in 1982-85. • he quest for the consummate ath lete can resemble a earch for diamonds. Believers know _______. the gems are out there but aren' t sure where. For a Pa rk Blocks coach, life is seldom so sweet as when he unearths a true "blue chip" player. • Jeff Bockert is the perfect example. A six-four, 242-pound linebacker, Bockert was picked by the Long Beach, ' Calif., Press-Telegram as one of the top 22 players in the We r. That's one of the elite honor a football player coming out of high school can get, as fa r as recruiters are concerned. Bockert was highly recruited and he eventually igned with the University of Washington before transferring to P U after hi fre hman year. ow a ophomore, Boeken joins a long li t of quality athlete- and coache who have migrated to PSU from acros the tate and nation to participate in and upport the University's 14 inter– collegiate sports. The questions are: Why has the University enjoyed such athletic success-six NCAA national cham– pionship and two second-place finishes in the past eight years? And how ha the Univers ity been able to attract such quality people-sending manv of them on to the profes ·ional ranks? The University ha turned out athletes like fou r-time NCAA champion wrestler Dan Russell '9 1, U.S. Volleyball team coach Lynda Johnson MST '81, NFL quarterbacks eil Lomax '8 1 and June Jones, major league ha eball players Jeff Lahti and the late teve Olin, and basketball legend Freeman Williams, the second all-time scorer in the history of men's college basketball (behind only Pete Maravich) . WINTER 1994 15