COLLEGE DIVISION : Somehow, He Gets in His Kicks

For the last two years at Azusa Pacific University, Ivan Kacalek has been leading a double life.

Kacalek, 21, spends most of his time during the week as a plumber for a remodeling contractor in Covina.

But on Saturday afternoons in the fall, Kacalek can be found on the football field, punting for Azusa Pacific.

A senior, he has found the time to carry 12 units of class work. And he has a wife to think of, having married in August.

So far, Kacalek has been able to pull off the difficult balancing act, but it has not been without problems.

“There are times when it does get to be a burden,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard, trying to get my work done, trying to get to practice, trying to go to my classes and then trying to give my wife attention.”

Kacalek said it helps to have an understanding coach and employer.

He has been a plumber since he was 14, when he started working for his father’s plumbing and general contracting business.

“I’ve been learning about the business since then,” Kacalek said. “I’ve worked off and on just about every year since, but that’s when I started learning. I do plumbing and I can also do drywall and framing.”

Since he started working full-time two years ago, Kacalek has had to become considerably more organized.

First, he had to persuade his boss to let him leave work early on weekdays during football season. Then he had to arrange a workable practice schedule with Azusa Pacific Coach Jim Milhon.

On a typical weekday, Kacalek will work as a plumber from 8 a.m to 3 p.m., arrive at school for workouts by about 4, stretch and practice punting until about 5:30, working with the special teams for the final 15 minutes of practice.

Then, after finishing practice with jogging exercises, he heads home to shower and have a quick dinner before rushing back to school for evening classes that start at 7.

Kacalek has classes Monday through Wednesday and practices Tuesday through Thursday. He doesn’t usually go to practice on Monday, when the team reviews film of its last game, or on Friday, when practice usually consists of a short walk-through of plays and game-day assignments.

In his 13 years of coaching the Cougars, Milhon said he has never had a similar arrangement with any other player and doesn’t expect to again.

“If he were a freshman and he was just starting out this way, we would probably have stopped it a long time ago,” the coach said. “But since he’s a senior, we’re trying to work things out as best we can for the both of us.”

The coach admits he probably would have never agreed to the arrangement in the first place if Kacalek had not been a pretty good punter.

He is the school’s all-time leader with 191 punts and 6,864 yards, nearly a 36-yard average.

“I’ve always been somebody they’ve been able to rely on, so (Milhon) doesn’t mind me doing it like this,” Kacalek said. “I’m sure if it really started to affect my performance, with my work and playing, he would feel a little differently.”

Kacalek hasn’t been having his best season as a senior. He is averaging 33.5 yards in 25 attempts and says he has had his difficult moments.

“I think it’s an example that you can just extend yourself so much before you can’t keep up with it, and I think it’s been a difficult situation for Ivan,” Milhon said.

Fortunately for Kacalek, there were signs of progress in his last game against Whittier on Oct. 6.

“My first game went real well, but then in the next couple of games I really didn’t perform at my peak,” Kacalek said. “But the last game I had a nice performance, and I really think I’ve gotten out of that rut and I’m feeling strong again.”

Kacalek said he continues the hectic schedule only because he enjoys football.

“I’m in a position now where I have to work, but I really want to play football, too,” he said. “If it came down to it and I had to make a choice, I’d probably have to pick the work over football because you have to eat.”

He also realizes that he will have to follow the difficult routine for only four more games and said that it helps that his wife, Sandy, has also been understanding.

“When we got married we knew it would be a stressful situation for a while, but she didn’t want me to have any regrets later about having to give up football,” Kacalek said.

All things considered, Kacalek says he doesn’t have any regrets about his college football career. He simply wishes he had a little more time to play.

So much for a college division football team from the Southland going undefeated this season.

Cal State Sacramento upset the last undefeated team, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 20-17, last Saturday at San Luis Obispo.

The loss dropped the Mustangs (5-1) from No. 7 to No. 16 in the NCAA Division II rankings.

Despite the defeat, San Luis Obispo still appears to be in the battle for a Division II playoff berth, along with conference rival Cal State Northridge. The Matadors (5-1), No. 15 last week, defeated Southern Utah State, 34-24, on Saturday.

Three other teams from the Southland also have only one defeat. Azusa Pacific and Redlands are 4-1 and Pomona-Pitzer is 3-1.

Two schools won for the first time last weekend. Cal Lutheran (1-5) beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 14-7, and La Verne (1-3) downed Whittier, 28-14.

Whittier (0-5) is the Southland’s only winless college division team.

College Division Notes

UC Riverside, No. 2 in NCAA Division II women’s volleyball, beat No. 3 Cal Poly Pomona, 15-3, 15-13, 15-8, last week.

Three teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. are listed among the top 11 teams in the latest Division II men’s cross-country rankings. Cal Poly SLO is No. 3, Pomona No. 6 and Riverside No. 11.

Carlos Juarez, men’s soccer coach at Cal State San Bernardino, is among seven former athletes, coaches and trainers who have been inducted into the Cal State Los Angeles Athletics Hall of Fame. Juarez, a four-time most valuable player in soccer for CSLA from 1978-81, was CCAA most valuable player and a Division II All-American in 1981.