A look at Eastern on Nov. 14, 1980, in the eagle
It was the 1980s and new things were happening on campus. It was the decade when John Lennon was shot, the Berlin Wall came down and the war on drugs began.
In the Nov. 14, 1980 edition of The Eagle, an article titled “More Trophies Added” talked about the College of Eastern Utah speech squad bringing home loads of trophies. The squad was under legendary coach Neil Warren and known to be one of CEU’s most successful organizations. The squad traveled to Arizona for a forensics tournament and brought home five trophies and three other awards. It was the first tournament of the year and they performed well. They also placed fourth overall for team standings and Neil Peacock and Carr Harvey placed second overall.
Peacock was a returning letterman and was one of the top speakers at the meet. He placed second in extemporaneous speaking and won the second place trophy in impromptu speaking and third in persuasive speaking. Six members of the squad traveled to Pasadena, Calif., on the weekend of Nov. 7-9 for a competition; they brought home four trophies and nine other awards. That year, Peacock defended his first place by standing by a win over a Cerritos College veteran. He won three ballots in the final round and did an amazing job in the individual events, where he won a second place trophy in impromptu speaking.
In an article, “P.E. complex may be in the distant future,” talks about CEU’s physical education being moved up the State Building priority list to the ranking of 20 out of 33 state construction projects. Dean Walton, CEU’s administrative vice president said the total, including the physical education facility comes to $65.5 million. The college passed building projects at Weber State College and Utah State University on the State Building Board’s list.
CEU wanted to use bonds to pay for the new building. The last time the state approved a bond was in the early ‘70s for CEU’s Career Center. The cost of the new facility was $7.4 million and included an addition to the heating plant, the acquisition of the LDS Institute adjacent to the campus and Phase I of a physical education facility, which included a gymnasium, apparatus rooms, lockers, handball courts and offices.
An article called “New coach to use pressure defense,” talks about how 11 athletes were trying out for a starting position on the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Tryouts began Nov. 3, 1980. Athletes started the week with conditioning, where they ran one mile each day. They also run full and half court sprints and do weight training. CEUs new women’s basketball coach Kathy Miller hopes to have the team chosen by the end of the next week. The opening game was played at Western Wyoming College Dec. 8, 1980. Coach Miller said her team will use the fast break and pressure defense for the lack of height on the team.
Miller was a Weber State physical education graduate and named to the Region 7 Association for Intercollegiate Women’s Athletics (AIWA) all-conference basketball team in four years of competition. She was a first-round draft choice for the Milwaukee Does because of her abilities with basketball. She decided to coach instead of playing professional sports.
Veteran men’s coach Curt Jenson said that the Eagles are expected to be strong in the guard and forward positions. He said he is looking for more consistency in his two centers, Terry Bailey from Indianapolis, Ind. and Carlson Boudreaux from Sandy, Utah. Five lettermen returned to the men’s basketball team; they are Dale Ohlson, Paul Gasque, Kelly Newbold, Geno Lucero and the only returning starter forward, David Johnson. The first game of the season was Nov. 20, 1980 against Western Wyoming.
