Fan Dance Gets Bird’s Attention

A number of times during the Boston Celtics-Atlanta Hawks playoff games at Boston Garden, the crowd would go wild during timeouts, but the WTBS cameras never zeroed in on the object of all the whooping and hollering.

Turns out, it was Busty Hart, an exotic dancer.

Celtic Coach K.C. Jones said this presented a problem when he was trying to get the attention of Larry Bird during a timeout.

Jones: “I tried to show Larry a play, but he had his mouth open and was staring toward the stands. When I finally got his attention, he just looked me and said, ‘Not now, K.C., I’m busy.’ ”

Add Forgettable Quotes: Said Dick Williams, after being named manager of the Seattle Mariners: “We’re going to quit depending on three-run homers and go back to fundamentals, making contact and doing the little things.”

A few hours later, Alvin Davis and Gorman Thomas hit three-run homers as the Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 13-3.

Trivia Time: What would be noteworthy if Northwestern and Miami (Fla.) meet in basketball next season? (Answer below.)

67 Years Ago Today: On May 11, 1919, leadoff batter George Halas of the New York Yankees went 0 for 5, striking out twice. Halas, an outfielder, was soon released. His .091 batting average convinced him his future was in football.

Said St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog of his team’s woeful hitting: “This has got me buffaloed. I don’t know what to do. I can’t hit for them.”

Good thing, too. In eight years as an American League outfielder, Herzog batted .257.

Add Herzog: He won’t make it to Cooperstown as a player, but he has already made it to the Trivia Hall of Fame.

In 1960, playing for the Kansas City A’s against the Washington Senators, he hit into an all-Cuban triple play. He lined to pitcher Pedro Ramos, who threw to first baseman Julio Becquer, who threw to shortstop Jose Valdielviso at second.

Former University of Oklahoma quarterback Troy Aikman completed visits to UCLA and Arizona State and said he would decide where to transfer by the end of the month.

Aikman, 19, 6-4 and 215, will visit Iowa next, then the University of Miami.

Of Arizona State, he said: “It seems to be a nice college town, and the program is on the upswing. I had a good time at UCLA, too. I don’t think I can go wrong at either place.

“I think it snows seven months of the year in Iowa.”

Said Rocky Bridges, manager of Prince William in the Carolina League, after finishing second in a milking contest: “I didn’t try too hard. I was afraid I’d get emotionally involved with the cow.”

Add Bridges: Several years ago, when he was trying to lose weight, he told of this diet: “You mix two jiggers of Scotch and one jigger of Metrecal. So far, I’ve lost five pounds and my driver’s license.”

Trivia Answer: The head basketball coach at each school is named Bill Foster.

Quotebook

Louis Meyer, 83, three-time Indy 500 winner, on how times have changed: “I won in 1936 with an average speed just above 109 m.p.h. Now, they do that driving to the track.”