Sports Digest

Sports Digest

A LOOK BACK
	Former U of L and NFL football star Lenny Lyles and former Head Football Coach Howard Schnellenberger were greeted warmly by a crowd of more than 5,000 fans at the Cardinal football scrimmage on April 25, the final U of L football event to be held at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. Ten years ago, in 1988, Schnellenberger’s Cards posted the school’s first winning season (8-3) in a decade, and helped spark interest in a new on-campus stadium. A little more than 30 years ago (1957), Lyles led the Cards to a 9-1 record and a Sun Bowl win. He averaged 9.7 yards per carry as a running back over the course of that season, a mark that still stands as the all-time Cardinal record.

ACHIEVEMENTS
	Junior James Dennis won the discus at the Conference USA Outdoor Track Championships in May with a throw of 187 feet, four inches. He has earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in June. Kris Maffet, a senior from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, won the Conference USA men’s golf individual title this year, as the Cards finished third in the league tournament behind Houston and UNC Charlotte at the Columbia Lakes Resort, home course for the Cougars. Michael Mather, a senior from Louisville, completed his season with a 21-0 record, the only men’s tennis player in U of L history to post a perfect regular season record in singles. The men’s tennis team earned its first-ever bid to the NCAA tournament in May, but fell to Northwestern in the first round.

NCAA PROBE
	The continuing probe into the U of L volleyball and men’s basketball programs heads into its final stages this summer. The university will submit its response to a formal letter of inquiry from the NCAA, which is scheduled to hear the case on August 8 in Seattle, then rule on any possible sanctions this fall.

STADIUM SNEAK PREVIEW
	Cardinal fans will get a sneak preview of the new Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium on Saturday, August 29, one week prior to the grand opening game against Kentucky on September 5. The open house will offer fans access to nearly every corner of the stadium, from the stands to the special Brown & Williamson Club and the press box, to the new football complex and BellSouth Johnny Unitas Football Museum.