McGuire Is in Element on Sidewalks of N.Y.

He’s always been known as something of a con man, and Al McGuire doesn’t try to dispel the image. While other millionaires battle in the board rooms to win the big ones, McGuire still likes to scuffle in the streets, using his New York smarts to win the little ones.

The last time John Feinstein of the Washington Post saw McGuire was at a Manhattan lunch counter, where he was complaining about the quality of a sandwich he had ordered.

“You want $3.50 for this?” McGuire asked indignantly as he held a piece of bread in one hand and some corned beef in the other. “The bread is at least a day old, maybe more. Look at the fat. You gotta trim the fat, buddy.”

The counterman was not amused. “The bread came in today,” he said. “It’s fresh. The sandwich is $3.50.”

McGuire leaned across the counter and shook hands. “You’re OK, pal, you’re OK. Give me an extra piece of bread, OK?”

Feinstein: “He got his extra piece of bread.”

Add McGuire: His broadcasting partner, Dick Enberg, tells about the time they went to the Notre Dame bookstore.

“I got $50 worth of T-shirts and souvenirs,” Enberg said. “All McGuire bought was shaving cream and a razor, but at the cash register he asked, ‘What’s the clergy rate?’ He was real excited because he got 38 cents off.”

Trivia Time: Has anybody coached two different schools in championship games of the NCAA basketball tournament? (Answer below.)

North Carolina State Coach Jim Valvano is going for his second NCAA title in three years. St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca has never been in the Final Four. Does this give Valvano an edge?

“Are you kidding?” he said. “Thirty and three. When you have Mullin, Wennington and Berry, if you can see me having an advantage over them, I’d like to see you in my hotel room.”

Denver Nuggets Coach Doug Moe told Mike Kiszla of the Denver Post: “In the last month, Mike Evans has scored more key baskets for us than Larry Bird, Magic Johnson or any great player in the game has scored for their teams. That’s how great he’s been playing.”

Said Evans, standing nearby: “Do you have any idea how much I had to pay him to make that statement?”

Maryland Coach Lefty Driesell, on the difference between the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East: “I’ve never been to a Big East game in my life to my knowledge, but I understand they all shake hands after a game. In the ACC, after games we cuss each other out and run the other way talking about how they were lucky to win. You go down and play in North Carolina, N.C. State, Duke and it’s like going to war.”

Trivia Answer: Yes. Frank McGuire. In 1951-52, he coached the St. John’s team that lost to Kansas, 80-63. In 1956-57, he coached the North Carolina team that completed a perfect season by beating Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas, 54-53, in three overtimes.

Note: Frank is no relation to Al, although he coached both Al and his brother, Dick McGuire, at St. John’s.

Quotebook

Former American League infielder Ellis Clary, Minnesota Twins scout and stand-up comedian: “My coordination was so bad, I had to pull off to the side of the road to blow the horn.”