Bobby Layne’s Day Began at Midnight

Doak Walker will tell you that Bobby Layne not only was adept at calling audibles on the field, but off it as well.

He recalled when Layne showed up one year at the Detroit Lions training camp with $14,000 he had won in a Dallas poker game.

“He was carrying it in a black satchel,” Walker said. “He took out the money and spread it out on the bed. Then he said, ‘Doak, you’ve got to help me. No matter what I say, don’t give me more than $500 a day. With luck we can make this last clear through training camp.’ ”

Walker continued: “I got a call late one Saturday night. It was Bobby and he said, ‘Doak, I know what I told you, but I’ve got to have more money.’ I said, ‘Now, Bobby, I’ve already given you your $500.’

“He said, ‘Yeah, but it’s after midnight. Today’s another day.’ ”

Said San Diego’s Tony Gwynn, defending Carmelo Martinez against some negative press: “The biggest rap against Carmelo is that he can’t play defense. But so what?”

It was Martinez, of course, who uttered these immortal words when asked about playing the outfield: “My only problem is with fly balls.”

Said Vin Scully when a trumpeter sounded a “Charge” that was as feeble as the Philadelphia Phillies’ attack Sunday: “That sounded like the last charge of Gunga Din.”

Trivia Time: What was the given name of Angel coach Jimmie Reese, who was honored Sunday? (Answer below.)

Would-you-believe-it dept.: If the New York Yankees had maintained the same pace they did under Billy Martin, they would be leading the American League East by 1 1/2 games.

Under Martin, they were 40-28. Under Lou Piniella, they are 28-32.

When Mark Gastineau of the New York Jets called a press conference, at which he would announce his engagement to Brigitte Nielsen, there was much snickering in camp.

Said the Sporting News: “When told about it, one player said, ‘I know the big secret. Gastineau’s pregnant. That explains his mood swings.’ ”

Add Sporting News: It had this item on San Antonio forward Walter Berry, who later made the news as Mike Tyson’s companion during the Mitch Green rumble: “He hardly endeared himself to new Spurs Coach Larry Brown when he said Brown ‘is fundamentally a sound coach and my game does not consist of fundamentals.’ ”

Speculation is that Berry is soon to be an ex-Spur.

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: Said Minnesota Viking Coach Jerry Burns, still chuckling over the reaction of Swedish fans to the exhibition game against the Chicago Bears: “Hassan Jones dives 10 yards through the air and makes an amazing catch for a touchdown and there is a little polite applause. Then the guy comes on and kicks the extra point and, man, they went wild.”

Trivia Answer: James Herman Solomon.

Quotebook

USC basketball Coach George Raveling, on Oregon State basketball Coach Ralph Miller, who is 69: “He was a high school All-American, but there weren’t a hell of a lot of Americans in those days.”