ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 TAG: 9612100110
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
Each time Rowan's football team has lost the national championship game, it has had company. In 1993 and 1995, the football team lost the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. Nobody gave the Profs much grief, however, because both years the school's men's basketball team lost in their own national semifinals.
Should the footballers lose this time around, however, they will be alone. The men's basketball team did last spring what no other Rowan team has done - win a national title in NCAA Division III's title town. The Profs beat Hope College 100-93 on March 17 in the first Division III men's basketball championship played at the Salem Civic Center.
The Profs say they won't change anything from their previous pre-Stagg Bowl routine, other than their hotel. Rowan is staying at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood instead of the Sheraton Inn Airport, a change coach K.C. Keeler believes will be closer to Salem Stadium.
``It's tedious on the bus the whole time,'' he said.
The Profs and Mount Union will be on a level playing field from the beginning of their trips south. Rowan faces a 6-7 hour bus ride. Mount Union, which flew to Roanoke in 1993 to avoid bad weather, was told Monday it would have to bus here because it is within a 400-mile radius of the Roanoke Valley.
TAKE A SEAT, ANY SEAT: Mount Union's semifinal victory over Wisconsin-La Crosse was played before 2,131 spectators. So what? So this.
The game was held at the University of Wisconsin's 76,129-seat Camp Randall Stadium. It was the largest venue for a Mount Union game since Oct.7, 1933, when the Purple Raiders lost to Western Reserve Academy 19-6 at Cleveland Stadium.
Mount Union took two busloads and an airplane load of fans. Instead of sitting out in the cold, most watched the game from the stadium's luxury boxes, all of which were sold out for the game. The luxury boxes also provided other services. They had the only working bathrooms in the place.
Those less fortunate had to trudge across a parking lot to a fieldhouse to find a working toilet.
TICKET TALK: Mount Union and Rowan's ticket sales have begun, with the Purple Raiders requesting 1,000 and the Profs wanting 500. As of Monday morning, 2,537 have been sold locally. Stagg Bowl game director Carey Harveycutter said he expects to have a crowd of approximately 5,000 at the game, depending on the weather.
DIVIDED ATTENTION: Contrary to the wishes of Keeler and Mount Union coach Larry Kehres, their teams will have more than just football on their minds this week. Both schools are in the middle of exams. Rowan's players are taking some this week and will take more next week when they get back to Glassboro, N.J.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Keelerby CNB