ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609090048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
Virginia Tech president Paul Torgersen, who had remained on campus for fear of how Hurricane Fran might leave Blacksburg in her wake, was involved in damage control of another sort Friday.
Torgersen said he already had placed calls to Athletic Director Dave Braine and head football coach Frank Beamer to discuss allegations by a member of the men's track team that he was attacked and beaten by a group of football players.
``I called over [Friday] morning and spoke to their secretaries and said, `Between the three of us and our schedules, I'd like to get together as soon as we can early next week,''' Torgersen said. ``I'm simply going to tell them, `These things have got to stop.' That's all there is to it.''
Although no charges have been filed, the accusations involving the football team come at the end of an off-season in which seven other Tech players were arrested.
``I'm embarrassed,'' Torgersen said. ``Speaking on behalf of the university, I think the university is embarrassed. I think that Dave Braine's embarrassed. And I think, perhaps, Frank Beamer's going to be the most embarrassed of all.
``That is to say, I've got enough confidence in coach Beamer to know that he takes these sorts of things very, very seriously. I think Frank Beamer makes a concerted effort to recruit youngsters who are going to reflect well, both on the field and off. I really believe that.''
It was Torgersen who invited Beamer to a meeting of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors on April 22, where Beamer told of the measures he had taken to keep his players out of trouble.
``I felt very good about it,'' Torgersen said. ``I think the board was impressed, and they should have been. I don't have a lot of basis for comparison, but it struck me that what Frank was saying to his student-athletes was the right message.''
Beamer had no comment Friday in Akron, Ohio, where the Hokies open their season tonight against the University of Akron.
Tech is not the only program that has had problems keeping its players off the police blotter. There have been arrests since last season involving football players at Virginia, West Virginia, Miami and Clemson.
``And Nebraska,'' Torgersen pointed out.``Maybe [there's a common thread].
Perhaps there's a common thread, he said. ``I honestly don't know. I'll say this: Student-athletes are held to a higher standard of behavior. I think they should be.
``I think they serve as role models. They're on scholarships for it, so I think we have a right to expect more of them. But on the other hand, had this same incident just involved two engineering students, it wouldn't be newsworthy.''
The altercation reportedly took place outside Squires Student Center at 2 a.m. Saturday, when student Hilliard Sumner III from the Bronx, N.Y., suffered a broken collarbone after, he says, he was hit, kicked and beaten with a cane.
``I first heard something Wednesday,'' Torgersen said, ``[but] nothing official has come to me. I'm still not sure what happened. I'm hearing fragmented reports. I don't think there is a police report on this, from my understanding. Is there? I don't know.''
Torgersen said he was taken aback by Sumner's comments that he was encouraged not to press charges by track coach Russ Whitenack. Whitenack said he told Sumner, a conference champion and the Tech record-holder at 200 meters, to work through the athletic department.
``I read that, and I didn't know what to make of it,'' Torgersen said. ``I haven't spoken to Russ at all. But that's one thing I'm going to ask Dave Braine about. If a student wants to pursue charges, he should pursue charges.''
Not all of this year's arrests of players, some of which involved fights, have led to convictions. Also, charges were dismissed this summer against two football players whom Christy Brzonkala accused of raping her in 1994.
Torgersen said it was his understanding that two players have been suspended for the Akron game; however, one of those, Marcus Parker, has been on suspension since Aug. 13, following his conviction on a shoplifting charge.
No reason was given when the other, Brian Edmonds, was suspended Thursday.
``It's more than one incident,'' Torgersen said. ``That's what I don't like. But I was not involved with the decision to suspend Edmonds. The last thing you want is for a president to get between a coach and his players.
``I don't know what conversations Frank has had on terms of behavior, but he and Dave and I are going to revisit this one more time.''
Torgersen said it was not his impression that the Tech football players are unusually rowdy by nature.
``I was down in New Orleans [at the Sugar Bowl in January], and I talked to the manager of the Meridian Hotel,'' Torgersen said. ``He told me, `We've been hosting teams for I don't know how many years, and your student-athletes are the best-behaved we've had in recent memory.'
``I didn't seek him out. We ran into each other at one point, I guess as we were getting ready to leave. But that was almost as comforting as the very nice football victory.''
Torgersen realizes that good behavior doesn't usually merit headlines. It doesn't make ESPN's ``SportsCenter'' or ``Imus in the Morning,'' as did the story of Parker stealing condoms.
``I'm very concerned about perception,'' he said. ``We have 70,000 alumni across Virginia, many of whom are interested in and support athletics. Believe me, after an incident like this, they want to know what happened and they want to know what's being done so they're not embarrassed again.
``You use the words, `Under control.' I still think it's under control. I just think what's happened is, we've had a couple of bad - you could almost call them - accidents. But, boy, if there's a pattern beginning to set in, I am very, very apprehensive.''
Torgersen was pleased Friday afternoon that Hurricane Fran had spared Tech, and he was hoping to travel to Akron for today's football game. He didn't expect to speak at length with Braine or Beamer until next week, but hoped to have a full report by the time he makes a fund-raising trip to Washington, D.C., next week.
``I wish there were something that I could do - and I don't know what it is - to ensure that this never happens again, or at least during my tenure as president,'' said Torgerson, who has been at Tech for 30 years, the past three years as president.
``I start off [these fund-raisers] by joking, `In three falls, I've taken Tech to three bowls and it's all my doing.' Golly, we've done incredibly well. I don't know how long it will continue, but we really are riding the crest of a wave, and that's what makes these incidents so painful.''
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: File/1995. Paul Torgersen\`Embarrassed' by incidents.by CNBcolor.