Baseball Star Transfers, Blames Athletic Program

A former Harvard freshman, who was offered a $35.000 bonus to play baseball for the Oakland Athletics, expressed his extreme dissatisfaction with the Harvard athletic program in a Los Angeles Times sports feature recently. The athlete. Andy Bielanski, dropped out of Harvard after the Fall semester and is now attending Fullerion Junior College in Anaheim. Calif.

The headline of the article reads "Harvard's Low-Key Athletic Program Bothers Bielanski." It quotes him as saying that Harvard is a "good place for the student but not for the student-athlete." He considered the academic program excellent but felt that it was no place for anyone who wanted to play "very competitive big-time athletics."

Biclanski was an all-state football and baseball player in high school and played in the annual California all-star baseball game. Oakland drafted him fifth and offered him $25,000 plus college expenses.

Biclanski turned down Stanford, U.C.L.A. and Southern Cal in favor of Harvard after each offered him scholarships in both football and baseball. Other schools warned him that Harvard played down athletics but he felt at the time that it was only recruiting propaganda. But, Bielanski said. he now feels the Harvard coaches were misleading.

'A Mess'

Reached at home last night, Bielanski said that the "whole football program was a mess," He said Harvard football coaches are the worst he's ever seen. Bielanski praised baseball coach Loyal Park but felt that the baseball program in general was bad.

The article said Bielanski had no definite plans but was considering signing the baseball contract. He has since decided to transfer to Stanford, where he feels the situation is ideal for him.

'Fantastic People'

"I met some fantastic people at Harvard but I really don't regret leaving." Bielanski said last night. "I want to try big-time football and eventually play major-league baseball and I don't feel I could reach either goal while at Harvard."