THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 1, 1995 TAG: 9509010640
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
It was a golden, redemptive moment for college football on the evening of Jan. 2, 1987, when Penn State running back D.J. Dozier burst into the Fiesta Bowl end zone and quietly dropped to one knee to say a prayer.
For days, the image of the college game had suffered as the University of Miami stormed toward a national championship meeting with the Nittany Lions.
Miami players arrived in Phoenix wearing military-style clothing. They walked out of a dinner with their opponents. They talked gruff and irreverently.
But the lasting memory was of Dozier, a former Kempsville High School athlete, kneeling in prayer after the winning touchdown.
If the NCAA has it way, though, there will be no such moments this season.
In one of its most controversial rules ever, the NCAA has banned prayer in the end zones, at least if a player kneels to do it. It's part of a crusade to prevent players from drawing attention to themselves.
``It is a team sport and a player should not do anything to bring attention to himself,'' says Bradley Faircloth, the director of officials for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
``It is all right for a player to pray, as long as he does it on the sidelines and not the end zone.''
Other acts that could bring a 15-yard penalty or lead to an ejection from the game are the removal of a helmet on the playing field, taunting the crowd or opponent, dancing, and unnatural striding.
North Carolina coach Mack Brown, a member of the rules committee, says the NCAA has been trying to crackdown on unsportsmanlike behavior for several years.
A problem, though, was officials were not clear on what constituted a violation. Often they could not tell if a player was trying to draw attention to himself or was enthusiastically reacting to a big play.
The decision was made that anything not spontaneous and constituting a prolonged act would be in violation.
Kneeling in the end zone? The committee concluded it was not a spontaneous act. So it is lumped together with waving a finger, strutting down the sidelines, or spitting in an opponent's face.
While the appearance of banning prayer on the field leaves the NCAA wide open for a lawsuit and public ridicule, coaches are more concerned about the latest crackdown for other reasons.
They fear players might not play with as much emotion or that an innocent celebration after a big play could make the difference in winning or losing.
Virginia coach George Welsh said if a player struts or gestures to the crowd, such an act is an obvious violation.
But what if a player emotionally waves his arm after a big play?
``Someone is going to get hit with one of those penalties and it is going to affect the outcome of a game.''
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden recalled a few years ago when the NCAA threatened a similar crackdown.
``We were getting ready to play Miami,'' Bowden said, ``and we kept telling our players over and over in practice to control themselves and not do anything that might draw a penalty.
``Before going onto the field to play the game, we reminded our players again not to make an gestures or do any talking. But, here comes Miami, waving their fingers and fists, prancing around, talking trash. When the game started they just kicked our butts.''
Bowden asked his players what was wrong. They replied that he had not allowed them to play with as much emotion as Miami had.
Brown defends the rules committee by saying nothing was done with the intention of taking enthusiasm or excitement from the game.
More likely, though, the NCAA created more problems for itself by trying to legislate behavior.
Not only are coaches, players, and preachers unhappy with the new guidelines, so are the officials who have to to enforce them.
Southeastern Conference officials voted in July not to call a penalty on a player who kneels in the end zone after scoring a touchdown.
They have been told, however, they will enforce the rule.
But who among them will want to be the first to flag a youngster knelt in prayer? by CNB