With Help From Friends, He Hits Jackpot, by the Numbers

Mike Pringle had the winning numbers Saturday, including the one on the back of his jersey.

Pringle’s 213 all-purpose yards in Cal State Fullerton’s 34-20 victory over Nevada Las Vegas returned him to the national lead in all-purpose running, even though his game average dropped five yards to 234.8.

But his numbers really came up later on, in the state lottery.

Pringle said he bought two Lotto 6/49 tickets after the game, and picked the same two sets of numbers he does every Wednesday and Saturday. Five of six came up on one ticket, and Pringle won $3,616. Three came up on the other ticket, and he won $5 more.

Pringle’s $3,616 numbers:

2--The jersey number of Washington State receiver Tim Stallworth, a friend of Pringle.

15--Chosen in memory of his best friend’s brother, Tracy Anderson, who died last year. Anderson wore number 51 as a Cal State Northridge player. Since there is no 51 on lottery cards, Pringle simply transposed the digits.

27--This one is simple. “Me,” Pringle said.

28--The number worn by Chris Richards, a friend of Pringle who played at Cal.

31--The number of Washington State running back Steve Broussard, another friend.

34--Pringle’s number at Granada Hills Kennedy High School and for two seasons at Washington State before he transferred. This was the one number, excluding the bonus, that didn’t come up. The number that did was 35.

One of Pringle’s other good numbers: 118. That is his rushing average, the best in the Big West Conference and the 10th-best in the country among Division I players.

Little wheat, much chaff: Detroit Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson described the last days of the season to USA Today: “I make two decisions this time of year: The people who can play I don’t worry about. But I decide about those who can’t--the ones I never want to see again, and I decide which ones we’ll keep if we can’t find something better.”

Trivia time: Which three major league teams have never played in a divisional championship series?

All-around performer: From Vito Stellino of the Baltimore Sun: “Ernest Givins of the Houston Oilers made all the highlight shows with his end-zone flip during Week 3, but he didn’t mean to do it. He tried to dive over Chris Hale of the Buffalo Bills, but Hale’s helmet caught Givins on the thigh and he flipped. Givens suffered a deep thigh bruise on the play and was fortunate the injury wasn’t worse.

“ ‘My background in gymnastics helped me pretty much on that play,’ he said. ‘I think gymnastics kept me from breaking my neck.’ ”

Add Stellino: “Since the Denver Broncos beat the Raiders, put them down to do it again Dec. 3. The winner of the first game has swept this series every year since 1977, except in the 1982 strike season when they met only once.”

Trivia answer: The Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners.

Quotebook: Former Dallas Cowboy Coach Tom Landry, appearing on ESPN, said of the Jerry Jones-Jimmy Johnson regime: ‘It’s a disappointment that they didn’t rely on (the tradition of the Cowboys). They want to build all anew and that’s fine. You can do that, but you can do it without losing all the things you built.”