Sports Illustrated February 20, 1995

20 Back from the Depths
Maryland is a basketball power again, ending a long decline
by Jack McCallum
26 Queen for a Day
Nicole Bobek surprisingly reigned at the figure skating nationals
by Johnette Howard
32 Dead Serious
Tour funnyman Peter Jacobsen is playing the best golf of his life
by Jaime Diaz
40 A Whole New Tack
Shelley Beattie and Dawn Riley lead the all female America3 crew
by Kelly Whiteside
48 February Frenzy
The four days of NBA All-Star madness even included a game
by Leigh Montville
58 Seems like Old Times
A new generation of stellargoaltenders has emerged in the NHL
by E.M. Swift
70 Basking in Bermuda, Captivated by Costa Rica
The swimsuit set follows the sun to a divergent pair of resorts
by Jule Campbell
90 The Only Way to Go
Our intrepid scooterborne reporter took Bermuda by storm
by Kelly Whiteside
130 Like Fish out of Water
Costa Rica was, fbr one bedeviled party of fishermen, a paradise lost
by E.M. Swift
152 Stormin' Mormons
Coach Roger Reid and sons make BYU basketball a family affair
by Austin Murphy
156 Terrible Two
Tennis's Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva are a match
by Sally Jenkins
164 Donnelly's Arm
Irish boxing champ Dan Donnelly died in 1820, but his limb endures
by Allen Abel
174 The General Whose Army Never Wins
While losing to the Globetrotters, Red Klotz won over the world
by Tim Crothers
Departments
8 Letters
11 Faces in the Crowd
13 Scorecard
146 Sports People
186 Inside the NHL
191 Inside High School Basketball
194 Inside the NFL
196 Point After

EDITORIAL NOTE
WHEN FASHION reporter Joan Braun Truscio was a teenager competing in swim meets at the Flushing YMCA in Queens, N.Y., in the 1970s and '80s, the fashion fad making waves in pools across the nation was the Belgrad, a funky, fluorescently hued one-piece swimsuit with a strip of meshed fabric along the spine. "I hate to admit it, but I never even owned a Belgrad," says the 29-year-old Truscio, who signed on as assistant to swimsuit issue senior editor Jule Campbell last April. "For years I stuck with the standard Speedo. In those days I knew absolutely nothing about fashion. Now it's my job."
For five years Truscio was my executive assistant, but when the opportunity to help coordinate seaside wardrobes for the likes of Vendela, Cheryl Tiegs, Judit Masco, Stacey Williams and Ashley Richardson came along, she decided to immerse herself in the world of designer swimwear.
Her work on this year's 42-page swimsuit pictorial (page 70) began last April, when she helped Campbell research locations by studying travel guides and atlases. In June they scouted venues in Costa Rica for two weeks. Following Campbell's solo expedition to Bermuda a month later, the two surveyed the latest in swimwear at a show in Miami and pored over other collections in designer showrooms in New York. By August, Truscio and Campbell were swimming in the nearly 1,000 suits they had chosen for possible inclusion in this issue. "It must have taken Joan two weeks to unpack them," Campbell remembers. "On the swimsuit beat, that's probably the hardest part of the job."
In mid-September, Campbell, Truscio and 300 suits were off to Bermuda for the first shoot. With so many supermodels towering over her, the 5' 3" Truscio couldn't help feeling that she was in over her head. "Ashley, who's six-one, showed up for dinner the first night and had taken it upon herself to wear three-inch heels," Truscio recalls with amusement. "I told her I didn't want to see her wearing those shoes for the rest of the trip."
Truscio's new job isn't all sunglasses and tanning lotion. She estimates she spent a total of 12 weeks on the road, away from her husband, Ed, SI's associate art director. After 29 days in Bermuda—where Truscio, Campbell, the models, photographers and assistants survived a near hurricane that knocked out most of the island's power for 24 hours—everyone packed up for Costa Rica. There it rained for two weeks straight. "We were pretty worried it would be a washout," says Truscio. "In fact, Stacey was leaving for home when the sun finally came out. I had to call the airport and have her come back."
Long trips and brushes with catastrophe aside, Truscio is happy in her new position. The job is challenging and takes her to exotic places. Just as important, it has helped her conquer her fear of flying. "When we were in Costa Rica, we took off in a single-engine plane from a cow field—complete with cow," she says. "When I survived that, I knew I'd beaten it."