Penn State Tackle Gasps to a Record

Trailing, 7-3, early in the fourth quarter, Maryland had a second-and-goal on the Penn State seven-yard line when quarterback Dan Henning threw a pass that was picked off at the nine by Pete Curkendall, 6-3, 260-pound defensive tackle of the Nittany Lions.

Curkendall returned it 82 yards to the Maryland nine, from where D.J. Dozier scored to put Penn State ahead, 14-3. It was the longest non-scoring run in Penn State history. It also might have been the slowest.

Wrote Ken Denlinger of the Washington Post: “Built like a mountain, Curkendall is only slightly faster. Runs the 40 in 4.9, he said. What he failed to add is that’s 4.9 days. He is slower than tax reform. Leaves changed during the run.”

Said Curkendall: “I looked back at midfield to see if anyone was catching me, which they were. A couple of my teammates had to slow up to make their blocks.”

Somebody asked why he kept looking to the sideline.

“I was looking for oxygen tanks to pick up,” he said.

Just Asking: Was that really a member of the suspended Stanford band who John Dockery of CBS interviewed during the UCLA game?

That’s what David Glassman of Los Angeles wants to know.

“The guy gave his name as Travis Bickle,” Glassman said. “That’s the name of the guy in ‘Taxi Driver.’ The crazy guy Robert de Niro played. Dockery didn’t have a clue. I think he was had.”

Trivia Time: What do San Francisco quarterback Jeff Kemp, Kansas City kicker Nick Lowery and Cincinnati linebacker Reggie Williams have in common? (Answer below.)

Add Forgettable Quotes: Wrote Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune when Doug Flutie was dickering with the Chicago Bears last month: “Here is the truth. Flutie is no threat. . . . Flutie is too short. . . . My instinct tells me that Flutie will never take a live snap as a Bears’ quarterback.”

Detroit Lions’ Coach Darryl Rogers, who preceded John Cooper as the head coach at Rose Bowl-bound Arizona State, told The Sporting News: “Every player who has been in a game this season is a player I recruited.”

The best athlete in America? Beasley Reece, a former teammate, said he would vote for New York Giant linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

“He doesn’t do anything a little bit. He does nothing in moderation,” Reece told Peter King of Newsday. “I remember a few years ago when I took him out golfing, because it was the only sport left that I could beat him in. Now I go to his house and he has all those how-to-play-golf video tapes, and he’s shooting in the 70s. Now I can’t compete with him. It’s the same thing with anything he tries. You won’t believe me when I tell you this, but he could take a year off, practice, and play in the NBA next year. When I visited him about three weeks ago, we played seven sports together in a three-day period. The man cannot lose. He hates it.”

Trivia Answer: All three went to Dartmouth.

Quotebook

Mike Ditka, asked why the Chicago Bears signed Doug Flutie when he is only 5-9: “He threw for 10,700 yards at Boston College. There was a guy when I played named Sonny Gibbs from TCU who was 6-7, and he didn’t throw for no 10,700 yards.”