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

DATE: SATURDAY, November 19, 1994                   TAG: 9411210053
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POINT-AFTER KICKS

TECH'S HOMEGROWN GOAL POSTS: No fancy goal posts for Virginia Tech, no siree. When Tech replaced its goal posts after the 1990 season, it turned to a local metal fabricating company, Eastern Repair & Fabrication Inc. Eastern produced two sets, for $1,997, almost half of what some of the big sports equipment companies were bidding at the time.

WHAT'S IT TAKE TO BRING ONE DOWN? One rowdy frat brother can do it, athletic department facilities managers report. The first trick is getting up on the crossbar, which is 10 feet off the ground. Once someone is on board, the crossbars are so light that a single energetic student bouncing up and down is sometimes enough to bend the pipe.

The simplest way to bring down the goal posts - aside from unhooking the clamp that holds them together - is to rock the ends back and forth like a seesaw until the crossbar snaps in the middle.

BE CAREFUL, THOUGH. Injuries are not uncommon when the goal posts come tumbling down into the middle of a crowd. The University of Virginia police are especially sensitive to the issue. One of their officers got caught in the mob that rushed the goal posts after the 1990 upset over Clemson. She hurt her back so badly she had to go on permanent disability, says Sgt. Wayne Knight of the University of Virginia police.

WHATEVER YOU DO, GET SOME HELP. Mark Fletcher, associate athletics director at UVa, recalls walking across the field more than an hour after the crowd ripped down the goal posts after the victory over North Carolina this fall. The mob had long since departed, leaving behind the remains of the goal posts - and one lone student.

"This student was well past inebriated," Fletcher recalls. "It was like watching an ant. He was determined he was going to take that 100-pound upright home by himself. That's how drunk he was. He'd pick it up and then kind of look at it. I just started laughing."

by CNB