She Showed She Was No. 1 of the Guys

Vickie Goetze will be defending champion when the U.S. Women’s Amateur gets under way Monday in Hutchinson, Kan., but the biggest thrill in her golfing career may have come in the Georgia Class A State High School Championship this year.

Make that the boys’ championship. The No. 1 player for Athens Academy was the only female in the 98-player field, and she shot a two-under-par 70 to win by six strokes while playing from the men’s tees. She is believed to be the first female to win a state tournament open to both sexes.

“I’ve never played so bad and still enjoyed playing so much just from watching her play,” said Hunter Hamm of Pocelli High, who was paired with Goetze. He shot an 86.

No sure thing: In Joe DiMaggio’s first year of Hall of Fame eligibility in 1953, seven players received more votes than the Yankee Clipper. They were Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons, both of whom were elected, as well as Bill Terry, Bill Dickey, Rabbit Maranville, Dazzy Vance and Ted Lyons.

The next year he didn’t make it either, as he finished fourth behind three inductees--Maranville, Dickey and Terry. It wasn’t until his third try that DiMaggio made it.

Trivia time: What was the longest sudden-death playoff in a PGA tournament?

Anything can happen: Burt Reynolds says his football days at Florida State in the mid-1950s taught him never to take anything for granted. He cited as a case in point Florida State’s games with Division I-AA Furman.

“You know, after playing Alabama and Mississippi and teams like that,” Reynolds said, “we figured we had a breather with Furman. So we relaxed. But they were mean and would knock our heads off.

“We thought Abilene Christian would be a breather, too. You know, we said, ‘Hey, they’re Christians.’ But they’d come out and bite and kick us.”

One man’s view: Billy Andrade, one of the brightest players on the pro tour, grew up in Rhode Island. He compares golfing in New England and the Sunshine Belt:

“The weather’s nicer in California and Florida, but in the long run, guys from California and Florida, they get spoiled playing all the time. In New England, you grow up playing hockey, basketball and baseball. There aren’t too many who want to be a pro golfer.”

Frank admission: When Stan Isaacs of Newsday was at Cooperstown, N.Y., for the Hall of Fame ceremony, he noted the North Carolina license plate on Gaylord Perry’s car. It read: SPITTER.

Add Perry: George Owens of the Utica (N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch began his story on the Hall of Fame this way:

“COOPERSTOWN--It just seemed fitting. When Rod Carew was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame, Panamanian flags waved. When Ferguson Jenkins was inducted, Canadian flags were flown. When Gaylord Perry was inducted, it began to rain.”

Looking back: It was 43 years ago today that Satchel Paige, 42, made his first major league start for Cleveland and pitched seven innings as the Indians beat the Washington Senators, 5-3.

Trivia answer: Cary Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum played 11 holes in the 1949 Motor City Open before darkness fell. They were declared co-champions.

Quotebook: Retired hydroplane champion Chip Hanauer, after winning his first car race in the Firestone Firehawk series: “When I won my first boat race, I was 12 and I slept with the trophy. Now I’m 37 and I think I’ll still sleep with the trophy.”