February 20, 1998
For Immediate Release
Contact: Mary Ann McBride, Student Assistant or
Judy Willson, SID
505.562.4309 or 356-4755

(Portales, N.M.) -- Getting knocked unconscious at age six may have been senior Eastern New Mexico University basketball player Bart McIntire's earliest memory of the sport but it certainly wasn't his last.

McIntire, a six-foot-eight, 230-pound physical education major from Liberal, Kansas began his career in the first grade. "I started playing because that's what my two older brothers did. My dad was a coach too," he said.

He played throughout high school where as a senior he was awarded all-conference honors as a center in basketball and as a pitcher/first baseman in baseball. Upon graduation, McIntire made the decision to stay close to home and play at Seward Community College in Liberal.

During his sophomore year at Seward, he began to have difficulty breathing. "I had a constant cough and my body hurt whenever I moved too much." The doctors diagnosed him with a mild case of asthma. He had developed the respiratory disease at a young age but before that time it had never been a factor in his life.

After his two years were done at the community college, Eastern New Mexico University attempted to recruit him. Instead of coming immediately to Portales though, McIntire chose to move to Ogden, Utah and play for Division I school Weber State University.

It only took one year for him to decide that it wasn't the place for him to live or play basketball. He decided to transfer to a smaller school. ENMU was his choice this time. "The climate in Portales is better for my asthma and I wanted classes that weren't as big as the ones I had a Weber State," he said.

McIntire redshirted his first season at Eastern, giving him time to adjust to his new surroundings and basketball program. During his first semester, he was able to concentrate on academics enough to be named to the Athletic Honor Roll.

By the time that the 1997-98 season arrived, he was ready to contribute to the Greyhounds. Early on in the season, he started eight games and was playing between 15 and 20 minutes a game. Currently McIntire is averaging three rebounds a game and shooting 45 percent from the field.

Head coach Earl Diddle and his staff are glad to have Bart as an active member of the team. "Bart's very coachable. He's a role player and he accepts that. You don't get that a lot in college basketball," Diddle stated.

Off the court, McIntire enjoys spending time with his fiancee, Brendon Papenfuss, but he admits that his free time is limited. "Spare time, what's that?"

In the future, he plans to return to Kansas and be a physical education teacher. He has benefitted a great deal from his time as a Greyhound, he says. He has learned a lot about coaching and life in general. He hopes to take that with him when he graduates this year.