TCU athletes without full scholarships are real gamers

By Stefan Stevenson

sstevenson@star-telegram.com

Most TCU fans know Casey Pachall.

The quarterback is one of the faces of Horned Frogs football, the cornerstone of the school's athletic program, which led the way to the Big 12.

But for many of TCU's 482 athletes -- many of whom are competing without a full scholarship -- the limelight rarely shines.

There's the baseball player who started as a walk-on with little financial assistance, a sprinter who must help care for his 1-year old daughter while dealing with car repairs, the equestrian rider who works odd jobs to help pay the bills and a Venezuela native who transferred to TCU for the prestige and the tennis team.

They have received varying levels of scholarship support to atttend a school that costs $43,860 a year for tuition, books, and room and board.

Orlando Superlano, men's tennis

Orlando Superlano tried to stay up to watch Roger Federer play an early-round match at the Australian Open earlier this week.

"I watched the first set and passed out," he said.

After hearing his schedule, you understand. Superlano, a junior from Venezuela, is taking 17 hours this semester, his first at TCU after transferring from New Mexico State, where he was on full scholarship.

But the allure of TCU and joining the Horned Frogs' tennis team under coach David Roditi was enough for him to make the change, despite earning less than a full ride.

"I was willing to do it because I wanted to be on a good team and a team that worked hard," he said. An academic scholarship covers his tuition, but he's on his own for housing and meals. He's not alone. The 11-man team shares 4.5 scholarships to help with tuition, books, housing and meals.

"It's pretty tough, because to be a good team, good players want a lot of scholarship help, because that's the main point," he said.

Superlano and his teammates practice at 7 a.m. most days, lift weights twice a week and run sprints three days a week. Players work out individually with a coach for an hour three times a week. Add traveling for matches and it leaves little time for a normal college life, such as studying for exams.

Superlano has seen teammates get burned out and quit. He has played since he was 5, and the love for the game keeps him interested.

"It's day to day, every day. If you lose, you're going to be sad, you're going to be mad, but you have to practice the next day. That's the love we feel for this sport."

Courtney Chown, equestrian

Senior Courtney Chown was riding horses practically before she could walk. With horse-training parents, it was a way of life in Pilot Point. But the idea of attending college on an equestrian scholarship didn't occur to her until high school.

"I don't come from a high-income family, so if I was going to pay for school on my own I would not be able to come to such a prestigious school. The equestrian team has definitely given me a great opportunity."

Chown also receives a $1,000-a-semester scholarship from the American Quarter Horse Association. But she's always looking for part-time jobs to help pay the bills. She's working this month at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo between riding five times a week and weight and mobility training four times a week. Weight training for riding?

"A lot of horse riding and horsemanship is judged on your posture, and good posture comes from your core," she said. "Strong legs are important because sometimes patterns require riding without your stirrups. So if your legs aren't strong and you have to take a tight corner you don't want to fall off."

She's balancing the jobs with a 16-hour class load. She is set to graduate with a degree in strategic communications this May.

"Other athletes are dealing with an object like a ball or bat," she said. "These animals can do whatever they want. You can feel real confident on one horse and then the next horse you might feel terrible. It's kind of like putting your football helmet on and it's too tight. You just have to go with it and have confidence in yourself that you can actually do it, although you've never ridden that horse in that situation before."

Mark Barnes, track and field

TCU sprinter Mark Barnes finally made it home to Houston last week. He had hoped to take his daughter home for Christmas, but car trouble prevented that. In fact, he says the car drained him of about $3,000 in repairs last year, eating up most of his financial aid.

Barnes is set to graduate in May with a psychology degree and is already trying to figure out how he'll continue to pay for his apartment if he advances to the NCAA Championships in June. He says his housing allowance from TCU will cease when he graduates in May.

"Usually, athletes graduate in December, but since I'm on top of my game, I'm graduating in four years. I'll have to find a job or something to pay my rent," he said, laughing. "Yeah, I don't like that at all."

Barnes is one of the few members of the track team who is getting a big piece of the scholarship pie. The 33 members of the men's team split just 12.6 scholarships.

Barnes estimates that $500 of the $975 monthly living allowance he receives goes toward rent and utilities. That leaves him $475 for food and providing for his daughter, who turned 1 on Thursday.

Barnes chose a future in sprinting over football coming out of Klein Forest High School, despite offers from several schools.

"I started thinking about which one I'd get hurt in so I did track," he said, although he laments that his first three years at TCU have been hampered by injuries. He's healthy this season and is hoping a strict diet he employed last summer will help him finish in June, whatever his housing situation is.

Zac Jordan, baseball

Senior Zac Jordan just wanted to make the team five years ago. He was a walk-on, like many of the team's cornerstone players, such as Jason Coats and Jantzen Witte. Jordan, who received a minimal scholarship the first four years in the program (about $1,000 for books), is finally getting his tuition paid for his senior season.

That's the story for most of the 27 players on the Frogs' roster. Baseball programs are allotted just 11.7 scholarships, despite trailing only men's basketball when it comes to making money. (Most football programs lose money when factoring in bowl games and other costs.)

To play baseball at TCU most players need families financially capable of sharing the costs. Still, yearly tuition increases squeeze family budgets.

"I don't think we fully understood the financial burden it was going to put on," he said. "If you're on a 50 percent scholarship that's pretty massive. People generally associate any sort of athletics with a full scholarship, like football. It's not the case at all. There's a substantial portion of the guys on the team that are walk-ons."

No matter the level of scholarship, the best players play, leaving some burned out.

"You have to work for everything," said Jordan, who should contend to be one of the Frogs' designated hitters this season. "We've had guys come here with huge scholarships and don't amount to anything. And then you'll have guys that didn't have anything coming out of high school working as hard as they can; you can't do it if you don't love it. If your heart and mind aren't in to it, then you're not going to perform as well as you're capable."

Looking back on his career, Jordan said it was a hidden perk to walk on with not much fanfare.

"I came here just wanting to be on the team, to make it through the fall and set my goals according to that," he said. "I ended up exceeding those goals for the most part."

Stefan Stevenson, 817-390-7760

Twitter: @FollowtheFrogs

Scholarship breakdown

In 2010, TCU had 482 student-athletes on 16 teams. According to NCAA records and the U.S. Department of Education, here are the scholarships available compared to the participants for each:

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