Just Because He Was Holding It Doesn’t Mean He Could Read It

When asked his reaction to the NCAA investigation of the Illinois basketball program, Indiana Coach Bob Knight said: “I have no idea what’s happening there. The last newspaper I read was in 1986.”

Said Rick Brown of the Des Moines Register: “Knight must have a short memory. Last November, Big Ten coaches took part in a forum. Nine of the coaches seemed at least casually interested in the discussion. Knight sat at one end of the dais, reading USA Today.”

Standing tall: After Dick Harter was fired as coach of the Charlotte Hornets, one North Carolina writer said of owner George Shinn: “He’s only 5-foot-4, but his ego wouldn’t fit into Charlotte Coliseum.”

According to Ernie Trubiano of the Columbia (S.C.) State newspaper, Shinn collared the writer at the next Charlotte game and said, “You had my height wrong. I’m 5-7.”

Trivia time: Why did Lee Trevino have a bandage on his arm when he won the U.S. Open in 1968?

Now-it-can-be-told-dept.: Loel Schrader, former columnist for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Jerry Tarkanian’s problems with the NCAA started when his Cal State Long Beach team almost upset UCLA in the West Regional final in 1970-71.

Schrader: “J. D. Morgan, the UCLA athletic director, was a powerful man with the NCAA. It came out later that Morgan was the guy who asked the NCAA to investigate Tark at Long Beach.”

Add Long Beach: The 49ers, who featured All-American Ed Ratleff, led UCLA by 11 points in the first half but ultimately lost, 57-55.

Schrader: “Morgan was the co-chairman of that regional tournament, and this was in the days when the chairman recommended an official from his region to work the Final Four. Art White from the Big Ten was one of the officials.

“Morgan sat right at courtside, and he had a deep, distinctive voice. He kept saying, ‘Art, watch No. 42 (Ratleff), he’s pushing out there.’ White fouled out Ratleff, and UCLA won. Guess who worked the Final Four?”

Add Tark: On the subject of recruiting, he once said, “I like to take transfers, especially from the Pac-10, because the new cars already have been paid for.”

Going home: From the New York Times story on the Raider move: “Oddly enough, Al Davis never sold his Oakland home. His wife, Carole, preferred to live there much of the time.”

Add Raiders: From former Raider Matt Millen, now of the 49ers: “When I was with the Raiders in Oakland, we always hated Dwight Clark, because he was so pretty, and Joe Montana, because he was so good. We were your basic subhuman group--you know, dragging knuckles on the ground. They were the clean-cut guys.”

Long campaign: When Track & Field News asked Eamonn Coghlan how long he had been running, the 37-year-old Irishman put it this way: “It’s hard to believe, but when I first started running, Nelson Mandela was a free man.”

Trivia answer: To cover up a tattoo, which he later had removed.

Quotebook: Terry Truax, Towson State basketball coach: “If we had ESPN 22 years ago, we wouldn’t have any children.”