Campbell Leaves His Legend

Earl Campbell has left the game behind, but the imprints remain.

Cliff Harris, former Dallas Cowboy safety, recalled the first time he faced the Heisman Trophy winner from Texas in an exhibition game against the Houston Oilers.

“I approached my first tackle thinking he was a nice, shy running back,” Harris told Frank Luksa of the Dallas Times Herald. “That is, until I ran into him and he proceeded to knock me backwards and step on my chest. He was the hardest-hitting running back I ever played against. He didn’t have the elusiveness of an O.J. Simpson. But when you finished a game against Earl, you had to sit in a tub with Epsom salts.”

Mean Joe Greene, an All-Pro defensive tackle with the Pittsburgh Steelers, said: “You could break your tail to get to him, but always in the back of your mind you’d think, ‘What am I gonna do after I catch him?’ I weighed 270 pounds, but I never wanted to catch Earl when I was in an awkward position. In my time, I never saw anyone who possessed the power and speed he had. There probably never was one.”

Harris said he managed to work out ways to deal with runners like Simpson, Franco Harris and Larry Csonka, but he never did figure out Campbell.

“Oh, there was one way,” he said. “As he ran past, you’d grab him by the jersey, dig in your heels, and wait for others to pile on.”

During the news conference announcing the signing of Jim Kelly by the Buffalo Bills, the quarterback got a phone call from New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.

After listening to the governor for a minute, Kelly said, “Maybe we’ll get to the Super Bowl, and you’ll call me as president next.”

Trivia Time: Who has the highest lifetime batting average in New York Yankee history, in games played only as a member of the Yankees? (Answer below.)

It’s not often in old-timers’ games that pitchers can show the same stuff that put them in the record books, but Tom Lasorda managed to pull it off in San Francisco when he hit the first batter.

As a player, Lasorda led the Canadian-American League in wild pitches in 1948 and the International League in wild pitches in 1953, and in 1955 he tied a National League record by throwing three wild pitches in an inning while playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson told Sheldon Ocker of the Akron Beacon Journal that he didn’t know whether to feel complimented or insulted when NBC asked him about his availability as a commentator for the World Series.

“They have a lot of confidence in my ability as a manager, don’t they?” said Sparky.

Co-owner Avron Fogelman of the Kansas City Royals, on Memphis farmhand Bo Jackson: “He speaks of himself in the third party a lot, as if he’s bigger than an individual. I said once, ‘In the Southern League, there’s really going to be a lot of bus rides.’ He said, ‘Bo will do whatever it takes. Don’t worry about Bo.’ ”

Said George Lapides, Memphis general manager and a former sports editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar: “He’s a nice guy, but I guess if I were back in the media, I would not like him.”

Dick Vermeil, former coach of the Philadelphia Eagles on the club’s drafting of Keith Byars: “That was the best decision made in the draft. The only college game I’ve done in three years he played in his last year. Boy, I tell you, he’s something special. He’s a great player. To me, he’ll be the best draft pick the Eagles will ever have.”

Trivia Answer: Babe Ruth at .349. Next is Lou Gehrig at .340, followed by Don Mattingly at .328 and Joe DiMaggio at .325. Quotebook

Iowa football Coach Hayden Fry, on Mark Vlasic, the replacement for Chuck Long at quarterback: “He’s got a stronger arm than Long, and he proves it every day by overthrowing his receivers.”