Columnist Dean Juipe: CCSN sports OK even if Moore goes

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999 | 10:21 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084

Soon after Richard Moore settled into his position as president of the Community College of Southern Nevada, he began talking about his desire for sports at the two-year school.

He likes athletic competition and he believes it can serve a valuable purpose in a collegiate setting. And, energetic and outgoing as he is, within a very brief time his voice was heard.

As a result, teams representing CCSN in baseball and women's soccer will debut next year. Two other sports -- men's soccer and either women's volleyball or golf -- will be up and running by 2002.

The ambitious plans include having 10 CCSN sports within the next 10 years.

But what if Moore leaves the school, as is almost expected now that he has expressed an interest in taking over the proposed four-year school that can tentatively be identified as Henderson State College? If Moore goes, let alone initiates still more sports programs at the new school, what becomes of the privately-funded CCSN sports itinerary?

"It won't affect us at all," CCSN athletic director Mike Meyer said Monday. "I'd hate to see Richard leave, because he's done a marvelous job here and he's put a lot of ideas in place, but the momentum is going in a positive direction and we'll continue the mission."

Reassuring as that may be for hundreds of potential CCSN athletes, it also leads to this conclusion: It's Meyer, and not Moore, who may be the key figure in the junior college's development as an athletic hot spot.

"Well, I'm very happy here," Meyer said of potentially having to take the sports baton from Moore. "After running the Boys & Girls Clubs for 30 years, now I'm wrapping my interest in sports with fund raising and it's absolutely perfect for me.

"I don't see myself going anywhere."

While UNLV sports are largely state funded, as would be the case with any sports at Henderson State College, Meyer has to raise all the money CCSN might require for sports. Daunting as that seems, he said it hasn't been a problem and that $600,000 has been raised for the under-construction baseball park and $450,000 for a soccer field that will be built and ready for play in August on the Charleston Blvd. campus. In addition, baseball's annual budget is set at $90,000 and soccer will be $65,000.

"It's gone real well," Meyer said of having to solicit $1.2 million in donations. "I think we're in good shape.

"I really believe there's a lot of interest in sports and in having facilities available for our youngsters so they don't have to leave town. Now that we can provide those facilities, many people have come forward (to donate)."

Obviously proficient at beating the bushes, Meyer is to be commended for running with a ball Moore seems to have flipped to him. He even welcomes Henderson State College -- or whatever it might be called -- adding its own sports and becoming a competitor of sorts with CCSN (and UNLV).

"I think it would be a benefit," Meyer said. "We're already competing with UNLV for baseball players, so we're getting a taste of that. If Henderson State College comes to pass, it'll still be three or four years and we'll have everything in place by then.

"I think there's room for all of us."