Coaching by Committee Is Instant Success at Portland St.

Coaching by committee: Portland State, desperately trying to generate fan interest, let its crowd make some crucial decisions in Saturday’s 35-21 victory over Cameron of Lawton, Okla.

Portland State Coach Pokey Allen allowed the fans at Civic Stadium to engineer a two-play, 20-yard scoring drive.

Those seated behind the Portland bench were given cards with the word run in red on one side and pass in green on the other. The fans would hold up their cards before the huddle and Allen would go along with the consensus.

Early in the third quarter, after Portland State recovered a fumble deep in Cameron territory, the fans voted for a pass on first down. Quarterback Darren Del’Andrae followed their instructions and completed a 14-yard throw to Rinaldo Schackelford to give Portland first and goal at the Cameron six-yard line.

For the next play, the fans opted for a run. Tailback Curtis Delgardo scored up the middle.

“If they can do that every time,” offensive coordinator Alan Borges said, “they can keep calling them.”

Trivia time: USC defensive back Mark Carrier began this season with a chance to become only the school’s second three-time All-American. Can you name the first?

35 years ago: On Sept. 5, 1954, Joe Bauman, playing in the Longhorn League, hit three home runs in a game, giving him a season total of 72. But because of defensive problems, he never made it to the big leagues.

Great balls of fire! When the ball bag in the Seattle Mariner bullpen burst into flames recently during a game against Texas, Ranger pitcher Bobby Witt was the No. 1 suspect.

Witt allegedly crawled under the stands and poured lighter fluid on the bag.

Using water from a cooler, the Mariners’ Jerry Reed doused the fire, then told the Seattle Times, “What else would you want from a relief pitcher?”

Kentucky Clippers? A group of investors trying to land a National Basketball Assn. franchise for northern Kentucky has recruited Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson and former University of Kentucky Coach Joe B. Hall as advisers, and have approached Gov. Wallace G. Wilkinson about building a 19,000-seat arena in Highland Heights, Ky., just across the Ohio border from Cincinnati.

Led by Lexington developer Dudley Webb, the investors say they have contacted five NBA clubs--the Clippers, New Jersey Nets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and Washington Bullets--about selling and moving their franchises.

“We have a lot of the parts of the puzzle,” Dick Robinson, a spokesman for Webb, told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “We just don’t have a team.”

Clipper fans could say the same.

Right at last: George Burns likes to say the first thing he does every morning is read the obituaries. If his name isn’t among them, he eats breakfast.

That wouldn’t necessarily have worked for Rip Sewell.

The former Pittsburgh Pirate right-hander, inventor of the eephus pitch, died Sunday at 82.

But according to the official Baseball Encyclopedia, he’s been dead for two years.

The current edition of the book mixed him up with Luke Sewell, former manager of the St. Louis Browns, who died in 1987 at 86.

Trivia answer: Linebacker Richard Wood.

Quotebook: Before his middleweight title fight against Michael Nunn, Iran Barkley said that Nunn called him ugly and said he had the IQ of an onion. Responded Pat Putnam of Sports Illustrated: “Which one made you mad?”