Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993                   TAG: 9312130059
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SALEM MAKES THE GRADE AS HOST

Stagg officials met Saturday night to critique the events and said only a few minor changes would be made in 1994, the second year of a three-year contract.

"We were ecstatic," said Wayne Burrow, assistant director of championships for the NCAA. "What was exciting about [Saturday] night was we just talked about ways to make it bigger and better next year.

"I'm going back to Kansas City [the NCAA is based in nearby Overland Park, Kan.] with a boat load of superlatives."

Jim "Moose" Malmquist, chairman of the Division III football committee, said Salem's version of the Stagg Bowl wasn't like any of the previous six with which he had been associated.

"I've been around a lot of NCAA events and there is no comparison," Malmquist said. "This is the standard for a lot of events to shoot at. I didn't hear one negative word."

Mount Union beat Rowan 34-24 on Saturday at Salem Stadium before a crowd of 7,304. Burrow and Malmquist both described the stadium as an ideal setting for the Division III championship.

"The ambiance of having a full stadium and looking right down at the bowl was great," Malmquist said. "I coached a long time, at a lot of places and this is a great, little stadium. It proves the value of doing things right the first time."

Said Burrow: "In the playoffs, we're trying to give the kids the feeling of a packed house as often as possible. . . . Division III football is alive and well in Salem and we just gave it a real good boost."

Burrow said it was the best championship he had been involved with in his two years with the NCAA. The only major problem organizers encountered was with temporary press boxes erected to accommodate overflow media. The boxes had plexiglass fronts and overhead tarps that did little to stop the wind that whipped through the stadium for most of the afternoon.

"It would have been OK if not for the high winds," said Carey Harveycutter, Stagg Bowl director and manager of the Salem Civic Center. "We prepared everything for rain. . . . We assured them a better solution for next year."

Harveycutter said he was pleased with the compliments of the NCAA officials.

"It makes me feel good. The executive committee did a great job and it all clicked," he said. "Everything we planned went off the way we planned it. It couldn't have been much better.

"What impressed me the most was the friendliness of the players and the coaches and how they interacted with the people in the community. I was told by both participating teams how much they really enjoyed all the social events. It was nice that they didn't just come to town for a football game."

Malmquist said he appreciated the hospitality of the citizens of Salem and the Roanoke Valley.

"Salem is a people place," he said. "I had a feeling the whole time we were here . . . that we were dealing with good people that had a common cause - to do the best job they could."

The Stagg Bowl's success could bring more NCAA events to Salem, which already has the Division III softball tournament in the spring at the Moyer Complex, Harveycutter said.

"We're thinking about making a proposal for the Division III basketball tournament," Harveycutter said. "Strike while the iron is hot, as they say."