Lombardi Did This by Book

Richmond basketball Coach Dick Tarrant played basketball and football at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, N.J., where the coach of both sports was a former Fordham lineman, Vince Lombardi.

“He’d get right up in your face with those big teeth, spit flying,” Tarrant told George Vecsey of the New York Times.

Wrote Vecsey: “Lombardi taught basketball out of a primer he had taken out of the library at St. Cecilia, a book written back in the ‘20s. Would you tell Vince Lombardi they don’t have the center jump anymore?”

There were no doubts about Lombardi’s priorities.

“Oh, my heavens,” Tarrant said. “He was such a football fanatic that he’d knock off practice and work on handoffs.”

Chicago Cubs reliever Rich (Goose) Gossage, recalling his days in San Diego, told the Chicago Tribune: “The Padres put some electricity in the town when they won the pennant in ‘84, but since then it’s been all downhill. Those people went back to sleeping at the beach, or whatever they do. I don’t mean there aren’t some loyal fans in San Diego, there just aren’t enough of them. I wouldn’t mind going back there when I’m 80--but not to play ball.”

Trivia Time: What was the last team to take a perfect record into the championship game of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament? (Answer below.)

He might not be in Yogi Berra’s league yet, but Milwaukee Brewers infielder Jim Gantner is no slouch when it comes to mangling the language. Samples:

--On forgetting to appear on a radio show: “I must have had ambrosia.”

--On a vacation: “I took a hunting trip to one of those Canadian proverbs.”

--On a golf outing: “It wasn’t bad, but we had to use the contemporary greens.”

Laker Coach Pat Riley says he learned early about the role of role players.

“When I got to the Lakers after being traded from the San Diego Rockets, I knew exactly where I was,” he said. “One day, Bill Sharman said, ‘Are you willing to keep Jerry West in shape in practice?’ ”

Did you know that Garry Templeton has been walked intentionally more than any other player in the last four seasons? Or that Harmon Killebrew made his major league debut as a pinch-runner? Or that Ray Knight led American League third basemen in assists last season?

Marty Noble of Newsday says he didn’t until he read “The 1988 Elias Baseball Analyst.” Some other statistics:

--Jim Rice is the only active player to have hit more than 300 home runs and whose career batting average is .300 or higher.

--Dave Parker is the only player who has batted at least 50 points higher with runners on base than he has with the bases empty over the last 10 years.

--Templeton was the only player to “err for the cycle” last season, committing an error against each team in his league. Said Noble: “At least he gave Mariano Duncan something to aspire to.”

Wire reports said the George Foreman-Dwight Muhammad Qawi fight was as much burlesque as it was boxing, but it wasn’t as funny as the postfight quotes in USA Today.

Foreman: “This man was extremely competitive, a great fighter. I think we’re going to hear a lot about him.”

Qawi: “He can punch. I think Tyson could be in trouble.”

Trivia Answer: Indiana State in 1978-79. The Sycamores, led by Larry Bird, were 33-0 before losing to Michigan State, led by Magic Johnson, 75-64.

Quotebook

George Foreman, on why it took him seven rounds to dispose of Dwight Muhammad Qawi: “They’ve got commercials to put in. I can’t send everyone home early.”