It Took a Lot to Impress Layne

Bobby Layne, who died Monday, was the subject of a number of anecdotes told by Dan Jenkins in his new book “Football.” One of them:

“Layne was the only person considered for entertainment chairman when Dandy Don Meredith started an annual off-season golf tournament a few years ago for both old and current NFL quarterbacks. Sweet Bobby took the job seriously, immediately instituting a hard and fast rule for the rowdy, four-day weekend: The hospitality suite never closes.

“We were in a hotel resort in Hawaii when an incident occurred that told you everything you needed to know about Layne’s opinion of the modern day quarterback crop.

“Bobby, myself, and some others were standing out on a hotel balcony one late afternoon, looking down at the lawn where some of Meredith’s younger NFL guests were playing catch with a football. Yeah, pro quarterbacks playing catch. Down there were Dan Pastorini, then with the Houston Oilers, the Vikings’ Tommy Kramer, and one or two others.

“Somebody yelled down to Pastorini, noted for his strong arm, encouraging him to try to throw the ball up to our balcony. It looked impossible.

“But Pastorini threw the ball up with ease.

“ ‘Jesus,’ I said to Layne ‘He just threw that thing 12 floors up like it was a lateral!’

“ ‘Yeah, he did,’ Layne said calmly. ‘But his receiver was on the sixth.’ ”

Add Pastorini: Now competing on the drag race circuit, he won Top Fuel honors Sunday in the Showbird Nationals at Bradenton, Fla. Pastorini is 37. Jim Plunkett, the man who replaced him as quarterback of the Oakland Raiders in 1980, is 38.

Trivia Time: In Miami’s 31-30 win over Nebraska in the 1984 Orange Bowl, who scored the first touchdown for the Cornhuskers on a play called The Fumblerooski? (Answer below.)

If you’re wondering if the 83 points UCLA and Notre Dame totaled against USC is the most ever against the Trojans in back-to-back games, it’s not--although it would be a regular-season record.

In 1947, an undefeated USC team that was coming off successive shutouts of Washington, Stanford and UCLA, was beaten by Notre Dame, 38-7. Then, in the Rose Bowl, USC lost to Michigan, 49-0. That’s a total of 87 points.

Former Nevada Las Vegas football coach Harvey Hyde, on Randall Cunningham: “He always found a way to win. He did it over and over. If it wasn’t a pass, it was a run, and if it wasn’t a run, it was a kick. I’ve seen him punt from our 10-yard line to their 10, and that’ll win games for you.”

Note: Cunningham is fourth in NCAA career punting with a 45.6 average. Ray Guy of Southern Mississippi is fifth at 44.7.

Trivia Answer: Guard Dean Steinkuhler, the Outland Trophy winner that year. On the play, Nebraska quarterback Turner Gill intentionally laid the ball on the ground and rolled right. As the Miami defense reacted, Steinkuhler picked up the ball and ran to the left, going 19 yards for a touchdown.

Quotebook

Bill Walton, at the Boston Celtics tipoff dinner, attended by 1,300, asked if his old team, the Clippers, ever drew that many for an event: “Yeah, if they were holding a creditors’ meeting.”