Washington State Player Had His Cake and Caught It, Too

USC coaches and defenders, while preparing for their game against Washington State tonight at the Coliseum, might have missed a biographical note on Shaumbe Wright-Fair, the Cougars’ 6-foot, 210-pound redshirt sophomore running back.

When Wright-Fair graduated from Monterey High School, his counselor, Linda Frye, arranged a party at a restaurant on Cannery Row. Coaches, administrators, boosters and friends came to salute Wright-Fair’s success.

Before the party, Frye and Shaumbe went to a bakery to pick up a cake.

Frye told Craig Smith of the Seattle Times: “It slid out of the box when we were in the parking lot. He reached down and scooped it up with his hands before it smashed. It was just a little smooshed on the side. I said, ‘Shaumbe, you have an amazing pair of hands.’ ”

Trivia time: Who was the last major league player to hit a total of 100 home runs over two consecutive seasons?

An Asian Games record?: The Associated Press reported from Beijing that the Asian Games village dining hall served 1,760 pounds and four different kinds of moon cakes Wednesday, when China observed its traditional moon festival.

Cited for theft: Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau regularly turns the world of pro football statistics inside out in his column for GameDay, the NFL’s stadium publication. Reader Tom LaBonge found a local angle in one of Hirdt’s gems.

Hirdt pointed out that Milt Davis, a defensive back with the Baltimore Colts in 1957-60, intercepted 27 passes in 45 games--or three interceptions every five games, the NFL’s all-time best ratio.

Davis attended Jefferson High, Los Angeles City College and UCLA, and was All-Pro as a rookie with the Colts in 1957.

In 1989, Davis retired after 30 years as a biology teacher and football and track coach at Marshall High and a teacher and counselor at LACC.

Choice-of-words Dept.: Cincinnati Coach Sam Wyche, asked about having barred a female reporter from the Bengal locker room after a loss in Seattle Monday night, said: “I wasn’t trying to skirt any rules.”

Mr. Stats: Doug Tucker of the Associated Press was gushing about the comeback of Kansas State’s football team:

“At the heart of the improvement are a pair of quarterbacks, Carl Straw and Paul Watson, who rarely make a mistake. And a pair of wide receivers, Frank Hernandez and Michael Smith, who have sometimes been nothing short of dazzling. Smith, a 5-foot-10, 155-pound junior, caught seven passes in last week’s 38-6 sacking of New Mexico, nine short of the school record and the 14th-best receiving game in Big Eight history.”

Nothing short of dazzling.

Trivia answer: Roger Maris of the New York Yankees, with 39 home runs in 1960 and 61 in ’61.

Quotebook: New York Met announcer Ralph Kiner, during a game in which the Mets trailed the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1: “And the Mets need at least one run to tie it up.”