Basketball
HAKEEM GETS HITCHED: Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon was married to 18-year-old Dalia Asafi of Houston last week in an arranged union.
"There is no dating process, no boyfriends and girlfriends in Islam," Olajuwon said in a statement issued Monday. "Families meet, talk, get to know one another. Then the marriage is arranged."
The NBA star said he has worshiped for years at the same Houston mosque as the bride's father. But since men and women are separated when praying, he did not meet his future bride or her mother until a meeting was arranged.
"In the Islam faith, it is customary for a girl to marry much younger than they do in America, at age 15 or 16, for instance," Olajuwon said in a statement. "Dalia may be 18 in terms of age, but she, like many other Islamic young women, possesses a maturity, knowledge and wisdom beyond her years."
The 33-year-old Nigerian native was raised as a Muslim and recommitted to the Islamic faith as an adult.
NEW COACH FOR SUU: A former Thunderbird has returned to the nest. Joe Hillock, 44, who guided the Southern Utah University women's basketball squad to an 8-6 record in the school's first season of varsity competition, has been appointed SUU's head women's basketball coach, SUU Director of Athletics Jack Bishop announced. Hillock replaces Larry Shurtliff, who resigned last month.
Hillock, along with current SUU Associate Director of Athletics Kathryn Berg coached the first SUU varsity squad during the 1975-76 season as an undergraduate coach. Since his graduation in 1976, Hillock has served on the staffs at Gonzaga and Loyola-Marymount Universities as well as holding the position of head boys coach at Utah's Milford High School.
Hillock is a native of Santa Barbara, Calif. He and his wife, the former Denise Wood (a star pitcher on SUUs softball squad during the mid-1970s), are the parents of three children: Joe Jr. ; Heather and Jordan
Miscellaneous
Y. FAN HONORED: Laura Beckstrand, a 99-year old mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great-great grandmother, earned a place in the "Fan Hall of Fame" in July when she was named Division I runner-up in the nationwide Sears DieHard Fan contest.
The contest, which asked Sports Information Directors from around the nation to nominate the top fan from his or her school, attracted 47 entries from NCAA Division I, II and III and NAIA. A grand-prize winner and two runner-ups were selected in each division.
Each of the four grand-prize winners received an all-expense-paid trip for two to any NCAA championship. The eight runner-ups received a $500 Sears gift certificate.
Mrs. Beckstrand earned every inch of her "DieHard Fan" designation. At 99 years old (she will hit the century mark in December), she attends nearly every BYU home contest in men's and women's basketball, football, women's
volleyball, men's and women's gymnastics, and baseball.
One of her favorite sports is women's volleyball. She has become a mascot for the nationally ranked Cougar squad, receiving a senior blanket on Senior Honor night as the "most senior" senior on the team.
A native of Fillmore, Utah, Mrs. Beckstrand started out at BYU Academy as a member of the band in 1916. She has continued her love affair with the school from horse-and-buggy days to jet plane days. The longest time of the year for her are the months between the end of baseball season and the beginning of football season.