Thirty-five years ago there were more than 230 universities offering men's teams. Now there are but 19 NCAA programs. If the sport were a species, it would be way beyond endangered.

"It's really a shame," Stanford coach Thom Glielmi said. "There are a lot of good athletes out there who have nowhere to compete. They end up as stuntmen or in the circus.''

To lend a chalked and calloused hand to men's gymnastics, the Pacific Coast Classic was created in 2004 to benefit remaining programs across the country. Its second edition takes place this weekend at the Oakland Convention Center. The highlight is a competition between Cal and Illinois and two of the top club teams in the country, Arizona State and Washington.

In addition, the top scorers from Friday's Junior Olympic event (ages 14- 18) will advance to Saturday's meet and compete against the college athletes. All told, 550 gymnasts ages 6-24 from around the country are expected for the three-day meet.

The proceeds from the event will benefit the National Gymnastics Foundation men's scholarship program. Last year's meet netted $12,000 and drew 1,700 spectators. Event director Karen Owoc of USA Sports Management in San Ramon said she expects similar or greater numbers for this weekend's competition.

According to Owoc, 94 percent of the United States' Olympic men's team members from 1960 to 2004 competed at NCAA schools. The entire 1984 gold medal- winning men's team was comprised of college athletes, half of them from UCLA, which has since discontinued the sport.

"It's really shocking,'' Owoc said. "On the West Coast we used to have so many teams. Even people in gymnastics aren't aware of what's going on in men's gymnastics. That was the whole purpose of the (Pacific Coast) event.''

Whether or not a school has a men's gymnastics team comes down to a school's willingness to pay for it. And at many schools, Title IX's gender equity requirements and overall budget constraints have led administrations to decide the sport was expendable.

"UCLA had two Olympians in three successive Olympic Games, and they still dropped the program," Cal coach Barry Weiner said. "At UCLA if they can't fund you and send you out to win, they'll discontinue it. At Berkeley, they say, 'Here's what you have, do the best you can.' The attitude at the university is to be diverse and offer opportunity. We pride ourselves on that.''

It's a similar story at Stanford.

"I'm lucky here because our program is supported by the (athletic) department,'' Glielmi said. "Stanford is very supportive of the minor sports, the Olympic sports. That's one reason we've consistently won the Director's Cup.''

While football and basketball dominate college athletic departments, Glielmi noted, "Not every kid is going to be 6-6 and 250 pounds.''

Some of those smaller kids will be performing this weekend for a good cause: the survival of a diminishing species.

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