Vitale Knows Game, Says Former Assistant

Does Dick Vitale know anything about basketball? David (Smokey) Gaines says he does. Gaines, head coach at San Diego State, was an assistant to Vitale for four years at the University of Detroit in the 1970s.

“We were known as ‘Salt and Pepper,’ ” Gaines said with a laugh. “He was a hard guy to work for. We used to argue like hell behind closed doors, but we learned from each other. From me, he learned the ghetto side of it--and he had a lot to learn.

“But he knew the game, and he enjoyed what he was doing. When we got to know each other, we had a lot of good times. He’s good people.”

Gaines said he took a cut in pay to work for Vitale.

“I had a couple of jobs that were paying more than even he was making,” Gaines said. “It cost me $12,000 a year to take the job, and my wife was mad as hell. But Dick said, ‘When I grow, you’re gonna grow with me.’ At the time, we were averaging 200 fans a game. Four years later, we were averaging 10,000.”

Vitale quit after a 25-4 season in 1976-77 to become the head coach of the Detroit Pistons. Gaines succeeded him, and the university didn’t miss a beat. The next season, it finished 25-4.

Add Vitale: If you haven’t been paying attention, here are the latest Vitalisms on ESPN:

QT--Quality time. As opposed to PT, which is merely playing time.

PTP--Prime time player.

Dow Joneser--Up-and-down player.

Rip Van Winkle team--Sleeper.

Wilson sandwich--What you get when your J, or jumper, is rejected into your face.

When University of Missouri Coach Norm Stewart was ailing with neck spasms, assistant coach Gary Filbert took his place on the bench, but Stewart was able to relay messages down through the stands.

Said Filbert: “Any special plays he called down, he gave to Kim Anderson. Kim called them down to Rich Daly. Rich gave them to Bob Sundvold and Bob gave them to me.”

And?

“I never did tell the players,” Filbert said.

Why did it surprise people that Bob McAdoo and Mitch Kupchak kept up with Houston’s Twin Towers? They make the same kind of money. Ralph Sampson makes $1,300,000 a year and Akeem Olajuwon $780,000, for a total of $2,080,000. McAdoo makes $923,000 and Kupchak $1,150,000, for a total of $2,073,000.

In a story on Dodger pitching hopeful Tom Brennan, it was noted that that his father, Tom Sr., was an end on the 1938 Notre Dame football team which was 8-1.

The one loss was a 13-0 upset by USC in the final game of the season at the Coliseum, costing the Irish the national championship. The big play was a 37-yard touchdown pass from Ollie Day to Al Krueger just before halftime. It was Krueger who would catch the last-minute pass from Doyle Nave to beat previously unbeaten, untied and unscored-upon Duke, 7-3, in the 1939 Rose Bowl.

The crowd for the Trojan-Irish game was 104,500, and Times Sports Editor Bill Henry wrote: “Coliseum Manager Ralph Chick said that there were 100,500 customers in the stands, 742 plutocrats in the boxes, 495 deadheads in the press and scouting boxes and approximately 2,500 ushers, peanut-butchers, program sellers, policemen and other presumably essential personnel practically all of whom at one time or another stood up in front of me.”

Quotebook

Portland Breakers General Manager John Ralston, maintaining that the career of Marcus Dupree will not be threatened by knee surgery: “He’ll be fine. It just puts a little scar on the knee to let you know he plays football.”