This Play Was Just Short of Being a Naked Reverse

Glenn Davis admittedly has lost a step or two since he and Doc Blanchard were terrorizing Army’s football opponents in the mid-1940s, and it left him in an embarrassing position last Sunday before The Times/Nissan Grand Prix of Endurance.

Davis, director of special events for The Times, had finished a meal in his Riverside hotel room when, dressed only in his shorts, he opened the door and pushed the tray into the hall. Alas, the door was spring-hinged, and before Davis could react, it closed behind him.

Davis took the tablecloth from the tray and did his best to cover himself. Then he knocked on the door of the adjacent room. A woman answered, and Davis explained his plight. She was wary at first, but she called the desk, and Davis was rescued.

Davis denies it, but as he left, the woman reportedly said, “Now, I know why they call you Mr. Outside.”

Trivia Time: Who was the recipient of the first Heisman Trophy? (Answer in column 4.)

Because the Pontiac Silverdome is unusable, Thursday night’s Boston-Detroit game was played at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Said Boston’s M.L. Carr before the game: “Joe Louis helps them. It’ll be wild down there in the inner city.”

Carr knows all about Detroit, having played there for three seasons in the late 1970s. You might remember his immortal line when he learned he would be going to the Motor City.

“I think I’ll change my name to Abdul Automobile,” he said.

Leigh Steinberg, the Los Angeles sports agent who negotiated Steve Young’s $40-million contract, doesn’t care much for the NFL draft starting time of 5 a.m. PDT.

“It’s an example of East Coast cultural imperialism,” Steinberg said. “Their attitude is, ‘Let them eat caffeine.’ ”

Steinberg’s day started early Tuesday, but it also ended early. All four of his principal new clients were drafted in the first round--Duane Bickett of USC, No. 5 by the Indianapolis Colts; Ken Ruettgers of USC, No. 7 by the Green Bay Packers; Ron Holmes of Washington, No. 8 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Jim Lachey of Ohio State, No. 12 by the San Diego Chargers.

That brings Steinberg’s stable of football clients to 50, enough to stock an entire new team. It would be a pass-oriented team, however, with 16 quarterbacks, 7 of whom are likely NFL starters.

From Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post, reporting that TV viewers are tuning out the USFL: “I’ve got it on good authority that one local bar showed a taped tennis match rather than the live USFL game. Taped tennis! If that isn’t the ultimate putdown of the league, what is? Where do you go from there, Legends of Bowling?”

When you saw that Philadelphia’s Jerry Koosman gave up 11 hits in shutting out Montreal, 11-0, Tuesday night, you might have wondered what the record is for most hits allowed in a shutout.

The record is 14 hits. Larry Cheney of the Chicago Cubs set it in 1913 when he defeated the New York Giants, 7-0. Milt Gaston of the Washington Senators tied it in 1928 when he beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-0.

Trivia Answer: End Larry Kelley of Yale in 1936. When Jay Berwanger of Chicago won the first award from the Downtown Athletic Club in New York in 1935, he received the D A C Trophy.

The next year, the D A C Trophy was renamed the Heisman Trophy, in honor of John Heisman, director of athletics at the Downtown Athletic Club and former college football coach.

Quotebook

Texas pitcher Frank Tanana, after Toronto’s George Bell complained about some brushback pitches: “We’re not playing T-ball out here. If he leans out over the plate, he eats the ball.”