Quarterback Champi Quits Team; Says That The Enjoyment Is Gone

Frank Champi, the hero of last year's Yale game and the number one quarterback for the Crimson this fall, has quit the team. Rumors that he was considering quitting had been circulating for the past week, and Champi confirmed them last night.

"It wasn't me playing out there; I was just going through the motions and I wasn't enjoying it." Champi said. "I've been thinking seriously about it for the past two weeks. It's a very hard decision," he explained.

Harvard's most pressing problem so far has been quarterbacking and now the Crimson is without its number one signal caller. Champi's quitting does make the problem of who's going to quarterback a bit less complicated for coach John Yovicsin, however.

Yovicsin said after Saturday's game with Boston University that he would like to play only one quarterback instead of alternating Champi and Dave Smith, but that he used both because he wasn't sure who was better. But Champi was the starter.

Smith is now the number one man. The backup will probably be Joe Roda, Rex Blankenship, or John O'Grady. Captain John Cramer said last night that Yoviesin is now taking a long look at junior varsity game films to determine who will be his second quarterback.

Smith thought that being the established first quarterback would help him psychologically. "I feel badly about Frank's quitting, but you always like to know you're number one, and it makes you try twice as hard," he said. "I seem to do a lot better in that position," he added.

There is some question as to whether or not Yoviesin is aware that his top quarterback has officially quit. "I found out this noon, but I'm not sure Yovicsin knows for sure yet." Cramer said last night. Champi said he hadn't talked with Yoviesin about it yet, but thought that the coach had heard about it from another source.

After three years of football. Champi had become tired of it. "It was too much work and regimentation. I'm independent and I don't like being dictated to," he explained. "For the work I was putting into it. I just wasn't getting much fun out of it."

Didn't Enjoy Saturdays

"It's not the pressure that bothers me," he went on, "I just didn't enjoy Saturdays and getting smashed around. I'd go down there and put on my uniform before a game and ask myself why." Champi said.

He explained that he didn't quit earlier because he wanted to prove something to himself and because he felt an obligation to the team. "It's been a long process of evaluating the game as far as my own personality goes." Champi said.

A story in Sunday's Boston Globe Magazine reported that Champi looked forward to the day when he would leave organized sport behind and play sports like handball and squash. He said last night that he would continue to throw the javelin for the track team because it was an individual activity which didn't restrict him so much.

"I talked to Frank Monday morning." Cramer said. "He was really down and I suspected he would quit," But Champi is now looking forward to the extra four or five hours a day he will have to himself to pursue other interests.

Yoviesin could not be reached for comment.