Valvano a Quieter Version of Vitale

Back in December, before an ESPN telecast involving the University of Connecticut, Jim Valvano came up with a pretty good statistic on the studio segment he calls his “interesting brochure facts.”

He noted that Connecticut, playing without a coach, was 45-44 from 1900 to 1915. Then, after hiring a coach, the school went 25-37 over the next six seasons, which might tell you something about Valvano’s former profession.

An ESPN colleague, spotting the researcher for the college basketball studio show, congratulated him for digging up the item. “It wasn’t me,” the researcher said. “Valvano does all his own research.”

That tells you something about how Valvano is approaching his new profession.

“I am very serious about it,” Valvano said before arriving in Los Angeles for Sunday’s UCLA-Duke game, which he will work for ABC. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t listen if somebody comes up with a great coaching offer, but broadcasting is now my profession.”

Say what you want about Valvano as a coach, but as a broadcaster he is pretty hard to fault.

Generally, he has been getting good reviews, and last month he picked up the ACE Award that goes to the best sports commentator on cable television.

He’s sort of a Dick Vitale without the bombast. Like Vitale, he works for both ABC and ESPN.

Valvano, in his second year in with television since being fired by North Carolina State, has been a pleasant surprise.

He and Vitale teamed up on an ABC doubleheader at St. Petersburg, Fla., last Sunday--DePaul vs. Florida State and Arizona vs. Temple--and it went pretty well. Play-by-play man Brent Musburger even got in a few words.

They will be paired again Sunday on ABC’s 1 p.m. UCLA-Duke telecast, only this time the play-by-play man will be Roger Twibell, because Musburger has a golf assignment.

“This week, we’ll verbally beat up on Roger Twibell,” Valvano said.

Had things gone a little differently, Valvano might be coaching in Sunday’s game rather than announcing it. UCLA considered Valvano before hiring Jim Harrick, who is now in his fourth season.

“As my grandmother used to say, things have a way of working out,” Valvano said. “Jim Harrick is doing a great job at UCLA, and I’m having a lot of fun doing what I’m doing.”

Valvano has only pleasant thoughts about Harrick. Valvano’s North Carolina State team beat Harrick’s Pepperdine team in double overtime in the first round of the 1983 NCAA tournament, which N.C. State went on to win.

Al McGuire, almost forgotten since NBC has de-emphasized college basketball, has been hired by CBS.

It was announced Thursday that the former Marquette coach will team up with Dick Stockton on NCAA tournament telecasts.

CBS earlier announced the hiring of former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps, and said Thursday he will be paired with Tim Ryan during the tournament.

Channel 13 is again sparing no expense in its coverage of Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon.

“This is our signature event,” station manager Rick Feldman said. “I don’t think there is any other local station in the country who takes on anything like this.”

Channel 13 will be on the air from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the race beginning at 9 a.m. The coverage will be repeated Sunday night at 7.

The station has brought in a new producer, free-lancer Frank Belmont of Oak Ridge, N.J., whose specialties are boxing and marathons. He replaces Phil Olsman, the producer for the first six races.

“Phil did a great job for us and really put us on the map,” Feldman said. “But we were looking for a fresh approach, and Frank came highly recommended (by Clipper producer Dave Goetz.)”

Also, Olsman is busy producing Fred Roggin’s syndicated show, “Roggin’s Heroes.”

Said Belmont: “I think, as an outsider, I can capture the flavor of the city more. I think if you live here, you take things for granted.”

To help Belmont capture that flavor, a helicopter has been added to get more aerial shots.

“We plan to have 2 1/2 hours of race coverage and 2 1/2 hours ‘entertainment’ coverage,” Belmont said.

Among the things that fall into the entertainment category will be a wedding at Mile 13. Peter Elkin and Lauren Johnson will run 13 miles, get married, and then, they hope, finish the race. Most of the wedding party also will run in the race.

TV-Radio Notes

Channel 13’s on-air personnel for the marathon will include Barry Tompkins, Larry Rawson, newcomer Kathrine Switzer and Toni Reavis, plus Channel 13’s Tony Hernandez, Steve Jahnke and Renee Hambley. Hernandez will be stationed at the start-finish line at the Coliseum, and Hambley, the station’s weather reporter, will be at mile 13. . . . The pac-cam, manned by Vic Jacobs before Florence Griffth Joyner took over last year, is gone. . . . In its place will be a runner, Tim McLoone, who will wear a miniature microphone. “This gives use a lot more flexibility,” Belmont said. Oh, but won’t viewers miss Griffith Joyner, who was miscast last year, asking over and over: “How do you feel? Where are you from?” . . . Radio coverage of the marathon will be provided by KABC, beginning at 7 a.m. Steve Edwards will serve as host and will be joined by analyst Mark Plaatjes, last year’s winner. Jorge Jarrin, the station’s traffic reporter, will run in the race and offer periodic reports. . . . KFWB’s Sharon Katchen also will run the race and provide reports, as she has in the past, only this time she also will lead a blind runner, Charlene Wills.

Tonight’s pay-per-view matchup between Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., is an outgrowth of an idea by a Los Angeles group to pit Magic Johnson against Michael Jordan in June, 1990. The NBA nixed that plan because the league didn’t want its players taking part in unsanctioned off-season competitions. No doubt, a Johnson-Jordan would have been a success. The question now is, will the public pay $19.95 to see two retired stars go at it? There has been no word from promoters on advanced sales. John Saunders, Billy Cunningham, Bill Russell and reporter Jim Gray will be the on-air personnel for the telecast, which is being produced by Craig Janoff, the director of ABC’s “Monday Night Football.”

SportsChannel is the cable carrier of the Dodgers and Angels, but major league baseball is coming to Prime Ticket--sort of. On April 5, Prime Ticket will begin televising “Angels Clubhouse,” a half-hour weekly show that will be broadcast Sunday nights at 7 and repeated Monday nights, usually at 9:30. “We’re hoping this is the beginning of a relationship that leads to game coverage,” said Prime Ticket spokesman Bob Gold. The host of the Prime Ticket-produced show will be Alan Massengale.

Recommended viewing: “Muhammad Ali’s 50th Birthday” on ABC Sunday night at 9 offers footage from his career, plus a heavyweight entertainment lineup, including Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Ella Fitzgerald, the Four Tops, Little Richard and the Pointer Sisters. Billy Crystal delivers a moving tribute, and there is a salute from Howard Cosell. Others on the show, taped two weeks ago at the Wiltern Theater, include Dustin Hoffman, Dan Aykroyd, Wilma Rudolph, Tony Danza and Hammer.

Chris Marlowe, mainly known as a volleyball announcer, branches out Saturday, doing play by play on a women’s basketball game, Virgina at North Carolina State, for CBS. Ann Meyers will be the commentator on the 11 a.m. telecast.

If last Saturday’s boxing tripleheader on ABC, featuring Terry Norris-Carl Daniels in San Diego, is any indication, the sport appears healthier than some say. The show averaged an impressive 4.0 national Nielsen rating, even though it went against the Winter Olympics.

The big fight this week is Azumah Nelson-Jeff Fenech on Showtime Saturday night at 7 from a 40,000-seat outside arena in Melbourne. Such an extensive live telecast from Australia has never been attempted. Showtime is using three satellites and two land lines. Still, rain could create problems. . . . Here’s wishing Stu Nahan a speedy recovery after bypass surgery Wednesday.