This Could Have Been a Real Recruiting War

The man who recruited Herschel Walker for the University of Georgia told the Atlanta Journal that he literally put his life on the line to get the job done.

Mike Cavan, former assistant coach at Georgia and currently the head coach at Valdosta (Ga.) State, said that in the fall of 1979 it had come down to Georgia and Clemson for the services of Walker, who was breaking all the high school records at Wrightsville, Ga.

Cavan said he and another assistant coach were sitting in the Ford dealership of a Georgia booster one day in Wrightsville when Willis Walker, Herschel’s father, walked in and said, “I’m fixing to shoot the guy from Clemson down on the Ohoopee River Bridge. I’m meeting him right now.”

Mr. Walker rushed out, and Cavan and the other two followed. When they got to the bridge, Mr. Walker already was threatening a group of Clemson coaches and boosters, yelling at one of them to stay away from his son. Cavan noticed that everybody except the coaches was carrying a gun.

“By that time,” said Cavan, “I’d picked out a spot where I would jump when people started pulling the guns. I figured if I didn’t break my neck jumping I’d be all right. At least I wouldn’t get shot.”

Finally, Mr. Walker looked the booster in the eye and said, “Now this is the last time. If you do it again I’ll kill you.”

Cavan: “The thing finally ended with no shots being fired, but I don’t think Mr. Walker was kidding. For awhile there, though, I thought it was going to be your basic gunfight at OK Corral.”

Add Journal: Here was their headline when Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins complained of a hometown decision after losing to Michael Jordan in the Slam-Dunk Championships at Chicago: “Take this dunk contest and stuff it.”

When Gary Carter was named co-captain of the New York Mets with Keith Hernandez, who was the lone captain last year, the news caused barely a stir among the players.

Said pitcher Ron Darling: “Unless you have a coin flip before the game, you don’t need a captain.”

Trivia Time: Among all the heavyweight boxing champions in history, which has the best knockout percentage? (Answer to follow.)

Cincinnati Manager Pete Rose, on former teammate Ray Knight, husband of Nancy Lopez: “That Knight’s a lucky guy. He has a wife who makes a million dollars a year. Mine spends that.”

Said Willis Reed after New Jersey beat the Clippers in his coaching debut with the Nets: “It wasn’t like we were playing the Boston Celtics.”

No matter. A night later they took care of them, too. At Boston Garden, yet.

Trivia Answer: George Foreman at .906. He’s followed by Mike Tyson .879, Rocky Marciano .877, Joe Louis .742, Joe Frazier .730, Ken Norton .635, Max Baer .627, Jack Dempsey .620, Muhammad Ali .607.

Quotebook

Chuck Anderson, head baseball coach at Florida Southern College, on a clinic attended by coaches from the Soviet Union: “The first thing they asked me about was the spitball.”