Cal in 1960s Was No Place for Team Ethic

Myrel Moore, an assistant coach for the Denver Broncos, was an assistant at the University of California a couple of decades ago during the height of the anti-war protests.

“It was not the best time to be a football player or any kind of athlete,” Moore told Joseph Sanchez of the Denver Post. “There were a lot of times the tear gas was so thick on the practice field, we’d have to call off practice.

“I remember once in the late 1960s, during the heavy drug period, I was having a meeting on the ninth floor of the student activities building with some players. Right in the middle of it, they all kind of sat up in their seats and somebody said, ‘I don’t want to alarm you, coach, but a body just went by the window.’

“We went down to see what happened, and some guy on an LSD trip was splattered all over the sidewalk. After that, some of the students started painting targets on the sidewalks near tall buildings.”

Trivia Time: What did Millard Howell and Fred Walker have in common? (Answer below.)

Said Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson, after the Tigers moved within 2 1/2 games of the Toronto Blue Jays this week: “This thing is tied as far as I’m concerned. They’ve only got a one-game lead in the loss column. We’re not gonna lose two of the three extra games. They don’t have no lead. They don’t have nothing, as far as I’m concerned.”

Right, and don’t nobody forget it.

From Peter King of Newsday: “Organizers of an Ethiopian relief benefit in a Dallas suburb gathered a host of Texas athletes--including Danny White and Gary Hogeboom--for a group song, similar to, “We Are The World.” Hogeboom and White wouldn’t stand together. And White refused a Dallas Morning News reporter’s request to be interviewed together with Hogeboom.”

Most people thought it was great that the Olympics made money and that there was no violence, but Willie Banks told Track & Field News that they were the worst experience of his career, and not just because he finished sixth in the triple jump.

“All the athletes were locked in,” he said. “There was no freedom whatsoever--no walking around, no talking to the crowd, no Walkman. I was like a caged animal and I couldn’t set myself free.

“I’m always out to enjoy myself when I compete. It’s just a game, and and all of us are out there to have fun. But the Games had a Gestapo atmosphere. It was just all business--just some people trying to make money.”

From Minnesota Twins scout Ellis Clary, who doubles as a stand-up comic: “I set a record in the Florida State league for stealing 74 bases in one season. Since I only got on base 18 times, I had to go like hell.”

Trivia Answer: The same nickname, Dixie. Dixie Howell of Alabama was the player of the game in the 1935 Rose Bowl. His passes to Don Hutson, along with his running and kicking, led the Tide to a 29-13 win over Stanford. Dixie Walker, also known as The People’s Cherce when he played right field in Brooklyn, was the National League batting champion in 1944 with a .357 average.

Quotebook

Pete Rose, 44, player-manager of the Cincinnati Reds: “I can’t even lift my arm at night, but it doesn’t prevent me from playing baseball. I guess there’s something when I put the uniform on. It gets me up medically. I get high on the uniform.”