Soviet Returns With Something Far More Valuable Than Gold

The last person out of Seattle must have remembered to turn out the lights, because it’s been tough to find the sentimental afterglow of the Goodwill Games.

But Catherine Foster of the Christian Science Monitor may have found the Games’ emblematic figure. He’s Victor Gruzdev, an economist for the Soviet Sports Ministry.

During his two weeks in Seattle, Gruzdev stayed with four families. One of his hosts, John Butcher, said: “I heard that it cost (Gruzdev) three months’ salary to come over, and I wanted to make sure he had some nice things to take back.”

Butcher said that when he took Gruzdev with him to work at Washington Natural Gas Co., the Soviet visitor was “mobbed.” Employees took up a collection for their new friend and raised $127.

Add Goodwill: Gruzdev boarded the plane home with a boom box, a telephone, plastic storage bags and a Bart Simpson bumper sticker that reads: “Get outta my way, man!”

Trivia time: Which seven NFL teams do not play home games in the cities for which they are named?

Crowd-pleaser: Tickets for a recent game between the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park were going at a premium. “Everybody has a theory about the skyrocketing demand,” wrote Michael Grunwald in the Boston Globe.

Said one scalper: “You know what it is? People want to see Don Zimmer.”

Zimmer, who manages the Chicago Cubs, last managed Boston in 1980.

Loose translation: The day before he entered the hospital because of chest pains, Denver Coach Dan Reeves offered advice to the Indianapolis Colts’ rookie quarterback, Jeff George, who will make his pro debut against the Broncos tonight.

Reeves recommended that George not rush himself--the opposite of the way Reeves handled Bronco quarterback John Elway.

Reeves told reporters in a telephonic news conference: “John did extremely well in the (exhibition) season, and I assumed that he was ready. . . . It was like taking Spanish, and you can speak Spanish but you go to Mexico and you have a tough time.”

Hum a few bars: When Texas Ranger pitcher Bobby Witt was 3-8, he went to teammate Charlie Hough for advice. Since then, Witt has gone 8-0.

Said Hough: “I wish I could remember everything I told him.”

Team of the ‘90s: Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., won’t put its new NCAA Division III football team on the field until 1991. But when it does, opponents will be dealing with a media phenomenon.

The 4,500-student Catholic school is recruiting with a series of NCAA-approved advertisements. The print ads ask: “Think you can fill this helmet?”

So far, Coach Gary Reho told the Associated Press, 50 prospective players think they can.

Appropriately, Sacred Heart’s nickname is the Pioneers.

Add Sacred Heart: When asked whether the ad campaign would continue, Reho said: “That remains to be seen. If it becomes too effective, I’m sure somebody will come up with some rule saying you can’t do it.”

Comedy City: Wallace Matthews of Newsday, noting that Sugar Ray Leonard’s next bout might be held in the Soviet Union, wondered where.

Said Rich Rose of Caesars World: “In Leonardgrad, where else?”

Trivia answer: The Bills, Cardinals, Cowboys, Giants, Jets, Lions and Rams.

Quotebook: Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, on his trip to Cooperstown, N.Y.: “The people from Jockey were with me to make sure I was wearing my underwear.”