Browns Tabbed Golic Right on Nose

When Bob Golic reported to the New England Patriots out of Notre Dame, they put him at linebacker, where he spent three undistinguished seasons before being placed on waivers.

The Cleveland Browns claimed him in 1982 and placed him at nose tackle, where he started against the Raiders in an exhibition game.

“I’m weighing about 238-240 (in ‘82),” said Golic, who now weighs 270. “It was just a matter of survival. I was just kind of fighting not to be crushed by their big linemen. I remember we ran a game stunt where I came around the outside. It was so wide open as I came around, I said, ‘Boy, I like this. This is nice out here.’ As I came toward the quarterback, I saw guard Gene Upshaw sitting back, waiting for me.

“It’s true what they say. With impending doom, your life does flash right before your eyes. I just put my head down and rammed into him. At that point, I believe the brain cells started dying and I started making the conversion to nose tackle.”

Concluded Golic: “I pretty much describe the transition as Darwin’s Theory of Re-evolution, going from a walking, thinking, upright human being on two legs to a crawling, groveling, sniveling beast of burden.”

Trivia Time: Earl Campbell and George Rogers won NFL rushing titles as rookies after winning NCAA rushing titles. Name the only other player to accomplish the feat. (Answer below.)

For What It’s Worth: USC goes to Tokyo next week to play Oregon, five years after UCLA went there to play Oregon State. Jay Schroeder started at quarterback for UCLA, a reward for his off-the-bench heroics in the 20-17 win over USC, and the Bruins beat the Beavers, 34-3.

Is there no end to William Perry stories? Charley Hallman of the St. Paul Pioneer Press says of The Refrigerator: “His college coach, Danny Ford, swears he has seen him do a 1 1/2 gainer off a diving board.”

He didn’t say how long it took to refill the pool.

The Last Laugh: Last week, after a Dallas reporter had detailed the record of the Cowboys in games in which Tony Dorsett gained more than 100 yards, a Chicago reporter came back with this one: “The Bears are 2-0 in games in which William Perry has rushed for at least two yards.”

Oops Dept.: Pittsburgh native George Kiseda writes to dispute last Saturday’s list that compared the first four years of Wade Boggs to those of the great hitters of baseball.

Boggs has 771 hits, and the only man listed ahead of him was Stan Musial with 795. Left out was Paul Waner, who had 840 hits. Kiseda adds a postscript:

Q. What is the opposite of a sophomore jinx?

A. Paul Waner’s second season in the majors: 237 hits, 131 runs batted in and a .380 batting average.

Trivia Answer: Byron (Whizzer) White. In 1937, at the University of Colorado, he led the NCAA in rushing. In 1938, playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he led the NFL in rushing. (That’s right, Pirates. In those days, Pittsburgh’s football and baseball teams had the same nickname.)

Note: White, now a Supreme Court justice, also set an NCAA record for all-purpose yardage, which includes rushing, receiving, and yards on runbacks of interceptions, punts and kickoffs. He averaged 246.3 yards per game, a record that still stands. Marcus Allen of USC is next at 236.2, followed by Ollie Matson of the University of San Francisco at 226.3.

Quotebook

Buffalo Bills center Mark Traynowicz, a rookie from Nebraska with a crewcut, on how he came to be engaged to a former Miss Nebraska: “Believe it or not, where I come from, I’m good-looking.”