She Heard Different Drummer

Notre Dame star Tim Brown, who many observers feel should be clearing space on his mantle for the Heisman Trophy, wasn’t even allowed by his mother to play football as a 5-4, 150-pound high school freshman at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas.

Brown was a drummer in the band instead, but as a sophomore he talked his father into signing permission slips to play. That sham lasted until the band leader called to ask where he was.

“He told me he couldn’t burn off enough energy just beating that drum,” Josephine Brown said. “I didn’t know he was that good.”

Even though he was that good, Brown didn’t have a great impact on the Wilson team, which won just four games in his three seasons.

However, by his senior year he attracted the attention of recruiters from Nebraska, SMU and Notre Dame. Brown’s first choice was SMU, but then he reconsidered and decided on Notre Dame.

“If you say you’re a football player at SMU, people go like, ‘Oh,’ ” he said. “But if you say you’re a football player at Notre Dame, they have respect for you. They know you’re up to something good.”

Add Brown: At Notre Dame, he fumbled his first kickoff, against Purdue in front of 60,672 fans.

Said Brown: “If I could have, I would’ve packed my bags right then and gone back to Dallas.”

Last add Brown: Again, despite his abundant ability, Brown didn’t become a major star in Coach Gerry Faust’s offense. When new Coach Lou Holtz arrived last season, one of his top advisers tipped him off. Holtz’s wife Beth, pointed to the field one day and asked, “Who’s 81? He’s good.”

Holtz immediately determined that the Irish would get the ball to Brown as much as possible.

“Tim Brown makes runs like you used to see 30 years ago,” Holtz said. “You just don’t see people make as many things happen by themselves anymore. It would have been interesting to see what Grantland Rice would have written about him.”

Trivia time: What do quarterbacks Jay Schroeder, John Elway and Dan Marino have in common? (Answer to follow).

Whitey Herzog says nobody knew much about the Minnesota Twins before the playoffs because they, along with a certain other team in the World Series, weren’t on television much this season.

“I know a hell of a lot about the Twins,” the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals said sarcastically. “Got to see ‘em on the Game of the Week every Saturday, just like us (the Cardinals).

“We were in first place for 120 days and I finally talked to Joe Garagiola (NBC commentator) in September. I said, ‘Joe, I knew I’d get to see you sometime. We had to play the (New York) Mets eventually.’ ”

Dept. of Incidental Information: Bob Forsch’s victory in Game 4 made him the oldest pitcher to win a World Series game since Baltimore’s Jim Palmer won Game 3 in 1983, one day shy of his 38th birthday. Forsch was 37 years, 10 months.

Trivia answer: All of them were picked ahead of Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees in the 1979 major league baseball draft.

Quotebook

Third baseman Gary Gaetti of the Minnesota Twins on the wizardry of shortstop Ozzie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals: “You see him do it on ‘This Week in Baseball’ all the time, but when you see it in front of you it’s unbelievable.”