Reeves Found Housing Was Not a Home

Denver Bronco Coach Dan Reeves spent eight years as a backfield coach for the Dallas Cowboys with one year off to try his luck in the business world.

“I was going to get out of coaching,” he told the New York Times. “I wanted to spend more time with my children. And then there were football situations I didn’t like. I didn’t enjoy handling Duane Thomas.”

According to Reeves, the moody Thomas didn’t talk to him, or anybody else on the team, for an entire season.

Reeves quit the Cowboys and tried his hand at the construction business.

“I learned something from that,” he said. “I learned when we built 100 town houses, I had 100 Duane Thomases on my hands. I learned I couldn’t run away from my problems.”

Add Reeves: When he was offered the Denver job by former owner Edgar Kaiser Jr., the industrialist took him along on a vacation trip to a remote island on the Canadian border.

“We flew up in a silver plane, and you could see the rivets on the plane,” Reeves said. “And the guy flying the plane had on one of those brown hats that covers the ears. I said to myself, ‘I’m gonna be the head coach and no one’s going to know it. We’ll never make it.’ ”

Trivia Time: Reeves, who played in two Super Bowls with Dallas, will be the third person to appear in the game as both a player and a head coach. Name the other two. (Answer below.)

If Denver was looking for bulletin board material, New York’s Leonard Marshall obliged as follows upon arrival: “I don’t think we’ll take any prisoners this week. None. I’m not saying I’m overconfident and I’m not trying to be cocky. I just think we’ll play well Sunday. The best team will win.”

Buddy Martin of the Denver Post, on John Elway’s 98-yard drive at Cleveland: “The only thing football historians have to compare The Drive to is Johnny Unitas’ masterful march against the Giants in 1958. Tom Landry was on the other side of the ball that day, as a defensive assistant with New York, and he says outright: ‘Elway’s was better.’ ”

Brad Benson of the New York Giants, on teammate Phil McConkey, a four-year Navy veteran: “We went to the city the other night for an interview. Now, McConkey is a helicopter pilot. He has defended our country flying for the Navy and he can’t sit backward in a limousine because he’s going to get sick. He’s got to have the back seat. You tell me.”

Add Giants: Coach Bill Parcells, on superstitions: “I won’t pick up pennies with tails up. A cat crossing the path of your car is bad luck. But you can erase cats. You have to back up your car and drive over the line again. It’s difficult on a highway.”

Irv Levin, who owned the Clippers when they were in San Diego, is suing Bill Walton for “misrepresentation,” according to the Boston Herald, which said several Celtic players were served with subpoenas.

Said Kevin McHale: “At first I thought I had done something wrong. Then I saw Bill had done something wrong. I told them I would be glad to go anywhere and assassinate his character.”

Julius Erving, on Larry Bird: “He is, in a lot of ways, a throwback to the old days, the kind of player who said, ‘I’m gonna beat you, and if I have to bite your ear off . . . ‘

“He shows that sort of nerve and roughness in terms of attitude, a commander’s drive from the top of the organizational chart. And yet, unlike many generals, admirals and what have you, he possesses the skills to do it himself--by going left, right, over you, around you, through you.”

Trivia Answer: Forrest Gregg and Mike Ditka. Gregg played for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas and coached the Cincinnati Bengals. Ditka played for Dallas and coached Chicago. Note: Tom Flores, who coached the Raiders in two Super Bowls, was a member of the Kansas City Chief team in the 1970 Super Bowl, but he did not play.

Quotebook

Joe Garagiola, former journeyman catcher: “I went through life as a player to be named later.”