Cal State Fullerton Notebook : Titans Pin Down a National Title . . . in Bowling

The neighborhood kids used to tell Jeff Carr that his favorite sport would never get him anywhere or anything.

A job at the local lanes, perhaps.

Now it has secured a national championship--although hardly of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. variety--for Cal State Fullerton.

Carr and five teammates went to Las Vegas last week and came home champions--the National Collegiate Bowling champions. They’re not exactly hanging banners in Titan Gym or moving aside any NCAA baseball or softball trophies, but for the team, it’s a thrill just the same.

“We’re all a bunch of weirdos, but we have fun,” Carr joked.

He and teammates Jim Marcoly, Robert Magee, Glenn Wada, Anthony Salib and Mike Goffinet practice--for free--at Titan Bowl, a campus facility in the University Center.

It’s not quite like being a big-time athlete.

For one thing, Carr had a little trouble convincing a professor that he needed to postpone an exam because of a national bowling championship. It sounded like a shady excuse, but the professor allowed it.

For another, eligibility rules are a bit less stringent than those that govern NCAA athletes. Although the team is required to maintain a “C” average in at least 12 hours of course work, rules are considerably loose concerning prize winnings. Carr won an auto a couple of years ago and last week won $400 as a guest in a professional tournament.

“You can accept money as long as you’re not declared a professional,” said Carr, who might try to bowl professionally after college.

At Las Vegas, the team was led by Goffinet, whose average score in the championships was 196. Fullerton edged Wichita State and Washington State to win the 12-team tournament.

“A lot of people around here don’t really know we have a team,” Carr said.

Including that professor.

“Maybe now if I show him the trophy, he’ll believe me.”

Fullerton’s Rex Peters was named a Big West player of the week after going seven for 14 with three doubles, a home run and six runs batted in four games last week.

In games against San Jose State Friday and Saturday, Peters reached base seven consecutive times. In Saturday’s game, he doubled home the winning run in the eighth inning.

A first baseman and right fielder who played at Orange Coast College, Peters is batting .351 with 16 doubles and five home runs. He leads the team in on-base percentage (.477), walks (25), runs scored (48), is eight for eight on stolen-base attempts and is the only Titan player who has started every game.

“Hate the candidates? Tired of frat lock?” began one campus campaign flyer for student elections for Associated Students president. “Write in Cedric Ceballos.”

Two students who wish to remain anonymous circulated the flyer--without consulting Ceballos, who, by the way, received 27 votes in last week’s election.

Ceballos’ qualifications, as listed by the flyer:

--Averaged 21.9 points per game and nine rebounds per game.

--Players choice, Big West Conference player of the year.

--Can dunk in traffic.

His fictional platform:

“Cedric Ceballos supports clean air, higher education, world peace, the whales and the seals, homeless relief, a cure for cancer, health food and water conservation. VOTE FOR CEDRIC.”

Titan Notes

Three more high school wrestlers have signed letters to attend Fullerton--Dwayne Buth (Spring Valley Mt. Miguel High School), Lyndon Campbell (Sante Fe High) and Michael Grubbs (Oceanside El Camino High). Buth won the state championship at 165 pounds and had a 42-1 record with 35 pins this season. Campbell is a two-time state champion at 138 pounds in 1986 and 1987. Grubbs has finished in the top five in the state championships three times at 105 or 112.