Are Media Crities Good Guys?

The Harvard soccer team compiled a 14-1 record last season, was invited to the NCAA finals in San Jose, California, and finished as the third-best soccer team in the nation. The reasons for the Crimson's success last year are as numerous as the 11 players on the field, the reserves on the bench, the coaches on the sidelines, and the JV's, freshman and fans in the stands. If Harvard had failed to make the NCAA's last year, some people could have placed some of the blame on the CRIMSON sports coverage. "Now don't let me knock your coverage," Charlie Thomas, one of the Crimson forwards, told me Wednesday night as we talked in his Mather House suite, "but sometimes you covered certain players too much. There were even a couple of times when some of the players were playing for the CRIMSON instead of the team."

I was deeply hurt. The mass media have been under vicious attack recently, but even President Nixon and his golfing partner, Spiro Agnew, have not been so rash as to take issue with coverage on the sports page. "You gave too much attention to the front line last year, ignoring almost completely the halfbacks and fullbacks. I was very happy that in our most important game, the game against Hartwick, John Gordon, a halfback, scored the winning goal," Thomas said.

Quite a Guy

Even though Thomas is one of the Crimson's most talented soccer players and one of Harvard's most talked-about athletes, he is a team player first. "One of the reasons I love soccer so much is because it allows a group of individuals to work together, seeking one common goal. On the field we all relate to each other better than we could off the field," Thomas said.

"I also love soccer because it has provided some continuity in my life. It helped me to get adjusted to this country," Thomas added.

Born With a Soccer Ball

Charlie is one of two Gambians on Harvard's soccer team. He began playing soccer in his home town. Bathurst, at the age of seven. Regular soccer balls were at a premium, so Charlie and his friends began playing soccer by kicking around stuffed stockings. As they grew older, they used old tennis balls, moving on to rubber balls, half the size of soccer balls, as they grew more experienced. "Tennis balls were really great because they improved our reflexes. When we finally began to play with regular soccer balls, our reactions had become so quick that we had no problems handling the ball," Charlie said.

Impressive Credentials

Thomas played 11 years of soccer before going to Suffield Academy for a year of post-graduate work. While attending the academy, Thomas helped the soccer team compile an 11-1 record, winning the league title in the process. Thomas scored 26 goals that season. He arrived at Harvard the following year, and continued to score. About 22 times. As a sophomore last year. Thomas and Solomon Gomez, also from Gambia, tied as the Crimson scoring leaders.

In this year's new formation, Charlie figures to be among the top scorers again. "But remember that I won't be able to score unless the fullbacks and halfbacks get the ball up to me." Thomas reminded me.

Thomas's value to the team goes beyond just being a scoring threat. He, like Derck Sanderson of the Bruins, is a policeman on the field. "Patience is a virtue in soccer, but I find myself running out of it very quickly-especially when somebody starts to foul me. They can't beat me legally so they start to play dirty. I only retaliate," Thomas said.

Unlike Sanderson, Thomas does it with class. In the game against Amherst Wednesday, a particularly obnoxious Jeff kept fouling Thomas, Finally, his patience worn thin, Thomas retaliated by "booting" the Amherst player. He was caught by the reference and given a warning.

Did the Job

But Charlie and Coach Munro laughed together when Thomas was given a breather right after the warning. The Jeff bothered him very little after that.

If Charlie's confidence is contagious, the Crimson squad could find itself in St. Louis for the NCAA semi-finals. "We were a little tight last year, because we were still learning about each other, and consequently we were kind of tight. But we're confident and loose this year, and if we play one game at a time, we could go all the way." Thomas said.