This Hall of Fame Player Didn’t Do Much Besides Huff and Puff

There are those argue that Sam Huff does not belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame because he was more of a pile-on artist than anything else when he played linebacker for the New York Giants.

Huff just laughs it off. In fact, rather than fight it, he likes to tell stories to enhance the image.

He told of a game against the Philadelphia Eagles when Giant defensive back Erich Barnes fell on Eagle running back Timmy Brown.

Huff: “Brown kept hollering at Barnes, ‘Get off me, get off me.’ Barnes said: ‘I can’t get off until Huff gets here.’ ”

Sign of the Times: In Saturday’s national edition of the New York Times, there were three stories on the first sports page and not one of them was on the Mets, Yankees, Giants or Jets. They were on Pete Rose, Jim Valvano and steroids.

Ring it up: Pete Rose has been criticized for brazenly hawking memorabilia on a cable network show the night of his banishment, but he probably can use the money.

Said the Associated Press: “He is out a yearly salary of $500,000 and is reported to have debts. The meter on his legal fees is said to be showing a million dollars and still running.”

Trivia time: College football’s all-time career ground gainer and college basketball’s all-time career scorer were both born in what city?

Cold shoulder: A logical site for the Mike Tyson-Razor Ruddock fight would be Ruddock’s hometown of Toronto, but Wallace Matthews of Newsday said promoter Don King found he isn’t welcome in Canada when he tried to promote a fight in Montreal in 1987.

Matthews: “It seems the Canadian Immigration Department frowned upon King’s manslaughter conviction, scoffed at his pardon by the state of Ohio and turned him away at the border. And under Canadian Boxing Federation rules, King would not be allowed to promote Tyson-Ruddock alone, but would have to co-promote with a licensed Canadian promoter.”

Mr. Versatile: From Jack Nicklaus, revealing that golf was just another sport to him growing up in Ohio: “I was a quarterback, linebacker, placekicker and punter in football. I played basketball, too. I was a center, then moved to forward and became a guard in high school.

“I could have played basketball at Ohio State. I would have been on the team with (John) Havlicek, (Jerry) Lucas and that bunch.”

He admitted he probably would have ended up on the bench with another member of that team, Bob Knight.

Trivia answer: Tony Dorsett and Pete Maravich were born in Aliquippa, Pa.

Quotebook: Bill Fitch, new coach of the New Jersey Nets, on his financial condition: “I’m independently wealthy. I have enough money to last me the rest of my life--provided I die tomorrow.”