She Can Make a Dunk . . . and a Pass

Georgeann Wells, 6-foot 7-inch junior center at West Virginia, has been inundated with requests for interviews and has been asked just about every conceivable question since becoming the first woman to dunk a basketball. She’s handled it beautifully.

One of the questions posed by a USA Today reporter was: “Does it bother you to be dating a man four inches shorter than you?”

Said Wells: “No, I’ll go out with anyone--even you.”

When O.J. Simpson of City College of San Francisco announced in 1967 that he would attend USC, he said: “I knew I wanted to be a Trojan the first time I saw that white horse charge around the field on television.”

Said Aaron Emanuel of Quartz Hill, after signing with USC Wednesday: “I’ve held this certain mystique abo ut USC ever since I saw the Trojan horse run onto the field.”

The same horse doesn’t get credit. In O.J.’s day, it was Traveler. Today, it’s Traveler III. The rider remains the same, however. Still handling the reins is Richard Saukko.

Saukko has been talking about retirement. Will USC try to renegotiate?

Julius Erving, considered by some to be the best forward ever, says of Larry Bird: “He’s the consummate player, the best in the game today. He eats, sleeps and drinks basketball. I used to be that way a long time ago, but not anymore. He’s willing to pay the price, something a lot of players don’t want to do today.”

Agent Bob Woolf told the New York Times: “Larry has an incredible memory--it has helped make him the great player he is. He’ll play a golf course once and memorize the location of every tree. When we work out together, he will measure each step on the court to perfect what type shot he can take and from what distance.”

From heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, looking back on his career: “I never hated anyone. The only one I disliked was Leon Spinks.”

Why?

“He made a pass at my wife.”

When Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns launched their cross-country promotional tour, Hagler traveled in a jet supplied by Caesars Palace. It had in-flight movies, video games and a galley in which hot food could be prepared. Hearns was stuck with a jet that had none of those amenities and had a faulty heating system that didn’t work until the plane reached cruising altitude.

Said Irving Rudd, Hearns’ publicist: “They were eating hot barbecued chicken and shrimp. We had tuna fish sandwiches and cole slaw. Marvin’s plane could fly coast to coast. We had to touch down in Albuquerque for gas.”

According to Greg Logan of Newsday, Hearns protested and demanded to trade planes with Hagler, who countered by offering to fly commercial if he could skip some stops.

The crisis was resolved by promoter Bob Arum, who talked Caesars Palace into chartering a jet for Hearns that was identical to Hagler’s.

Milton Richman of United Press International, on a threatened strike by the USFL Players Assn.: “Even if the players went out, who would even know they did?”

Quotebook

George Yardley, 56, on last Saturday’s NBA Legends game at Indianapolis: “My son said, as soon as I got in the game, I should foul somebody to prove I played.”