Coach Knows When to Go to the Bench

Paul Hansen, former basketball coach at Oklahoma State, is now the coach at the University of Arts and Sciences in Chickasha, Okla. His wife, Carol, is a judge on the Oklahoma Court of Appeals and is running for re-election.

Hansen told The Sporting News: “The judge has a tough race, and she asked me if I wanted her to join me in Tulsa this week for a coaching clinic, or if I wanted her to campaign.

“I told her, ‘Since you make $63,000 a year and I make $33,000, go campaign.’ ”

Trivia Time: Of all the heavyweight champions in history, which had the highest percentage of knockout wins in his career? (Answer below.)

Saturday marked the 10th anniversary of the no-hitter by Pittsburgh’s John Candelaria against the Dodgers at Forbes Field. The 22-year-old left-hander beat Doug Rau and Charlie Hough, 2-0, dropping the second-place Dodgers 13 1/2 games behind Cincinnati.

The Dodgers had just lost four straight games to Cincinnati, and Steve Garvey said: “This team has hit rock bottom.”

Did the 1914 Miracle Braves actually come from 15 games behind in August to win the National League pennant as Tom Lasorda has been telling his players? Nope. In fact, they took the lead in late August after trailing by 15 games on July 4. They won by 10 1/2 games. Then they scored a four-game sweep over the heavily favored Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series.

Said Australian Bruce Crampton, after shooting a course-record 64 to move into contention in the PGA Senior tournament at Concord, Mass.: “Tell the world about it so Greg Norman doesn’t get all the headlines. The way we Australians are going, you Americans have no chance in the America’s Cup.”

Add Aussies: Peter Senior, another Australian, shot a course-record 64 to take the lead in a tournament at Falstero, Sweden.

His caddy is his wife, June, who will carry his bags for the last time today after three years on the job.

“She much prefers shopping to golf,” Senior said. “But June has been the perfect caddy over these last three years, and I shall try my hardest to give her the perfect retirement gift--the $33,000 first prize.”

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: Tommy John, 43, of the New York Yankees hasn’t allowed an earned run in 21 innings. He was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 13 innings with Fort Lauderdale in the Florida State League, where he was undergoing rehabilitation after an Achilles’ tendon injury. Then he blanked Kansas City for 7 innings Friday night as the Yankees beat the Royals, 2-0.

Trivia Answer: George Foreman. He knocked out 42 of 47 opponents in his professional career for a percentage of .894.

Quotebook

Philadelphia Eagles Coach Buddy Ryan, on guard Keith Allen, last year’s No. 1 draft choice who reportedly is on the trading block: “He’s a nice, big ol’ fat kid who could probably go somewhere where they want to stand around and kill the grass. But here, we’re going to practice.”