SDSU Track Team Fights for Life : Coach Vows to Raise Funds to Continue Fielding Teams

A small pink card taped to the door of San Diego State’s track and field coaching office Wednesday had the inscription: “As of June 20th, 12 noon, track and field is temporarily suspended.”

While that message relayed the the demise of the men’s and women’s program, the small print at the bottom of the card seemed necessary, too: “No joke--See your coach.”

Like the suspension, handed down by Athletic Director Fred Miller Tuesday afternoon, the message was short, to the point and no joke.

And, no surprise, it caught just about everybody by surprise.

“Totally shocked,” said Dan Cash, a junior 1,500- and 5,000-meter runner. “I can’t really describe it.

“Yeah, I’m bitter. I think it’s disgusting the way they handled it. The timing was ridiculous.”

One member of the team who will not be shocked until at least Saturday night is Mitch Brown, a junior middle-distance runner.

Brown left Monday morning on a backpacking trip in the High Sierras and isn’t due back until this weekend. He went on the hike to get away from it all. He will return to his home in Newport Beach to find that it all got away from him.

Or will he?

Jim Cerveny, director of track and field at the school, and his staff have started trying to raise enough money to finance the program. Cerveny said he would need about $100,000 to compete next season.

So far, he said, “I figure we’re about a quarter of the way there, and we haven’t even started our campaign yet.

“We’re changing this office into a fund-raising office. All four phones in this office have been ringing off the hook. The support has been very positive. People have been calling all day, stating their disbelief and wondering what they can do to help.”

Cerveny has a self-imposed deadline of Aug. 1 to raise the necessary funds. “We have to remember why we’re here, and that’s to give the athletes an education. We’re in it for them. But we want to give them enough time to decide what they’re going to do. We want to give them enough time to decide if they are going to transfer or not,” he said.

The track program, with about 90 athletes annually, has been successful over the years. The men’s dual meet record since 1967 is 102-64. The women are 64-10 since 1977, the first year of the women’s program. In NCAA championships, the women’s team finished ninth in 1985 and 10th in ’82.

The men’s team has produced six Olympians, including steeplechaser Graeme Fell in 1988. The women’s team has had 11, including 1988 participants Ramona Pagel, LaTanya Sheffield, Bonnie Dasse and Lynn Kanuka Williams.

Arnie Robinson, a gold medalist in the 1976 Games and a bronze medalist in ‘72, was at SDSU Wednesday. “I’ve got my checkbook with me. I’m ready to help,” he said.

Roland Eddy, an Aztec alumnus, donated $5,000. SDSU’s men’s volleyball coach, Mark Warner, and Chuck Clegg, the director of men’s and women’s soccer, each said they will cut $5,000 off of their already thin budgets and transfer the money to the track budget.

It was the athletic department’s budget problems--a $577,000 deficit, exacerbated by a $190,000 shortfall in the anticipated football revenues--that led Miller to suspend the track and field program. Miller said his action would save the department $225,000.

To reach the NCAA’s minimum requirement for qualifying for Division I status, Miller also announced the addition of women’s soccer, which has been a club sport at SDSU. Clegg’s position was changed from men’s soccer coach to director of soccer.

Clegg, reached at his office Wednesday night, was busy trying to get a schedule put together for the women. He said he already had eight games lined up and wanted to schedule four more. Both men’s and women’s soccer compete in the fall. “It won’t be easy at first,” he said. “But other universities have done it. We’ll get it going.”