The Night That the Lakers Found a Field of Bad Dreams

The crash of a bus carrying the Angels on the New Jersey Turnpike brings to mind a harrowing experience involving the Lakers in 1960 when the franchise was in Minneapolis.

The team was flying in a snowstorm from St. Louis to Minneapolis on a DC-3, a World War II cargo plane, and visibility was zero. Moreover, the lights and heater of the plane went out.

“The pilot came back and told us we were lost,” recalled Hot Rod Hundley, a Laker player at the time. “That’s not a word you want to hear when you’re in an airplane.”

However, the pilot made a skillful landing in an Iowa cornfield and no one was injured.

Add Lakers: An enduring memory for many of the Lakers was Elgin Baylor covering himself with blankets on the floor of the plane.

According to the book, “Winnin’ Times,” by Scott Ostler and Steve Springer, Baylor feared flying under the best of circumstances.

Last add Lakers: After the plane made its landing, Larry Faust, a Laker player, phoned his wife, Toni, and said: “I won’t be home tonight. We just crash-landed in a cornfield in Iowa.”

His suspicious wife replied: “Call me back when you sober up.”

Trivia time: What is the PGA Tour scoring record for a 72-hole tournament?

The real Chris: In a recent Sports Illustrated article, former tennis star Chris Evert said the public’s perception of her might not have been completely accurate.

“I’m not as goody-two-shoes as people think,” she said. “They think I’m squeaky clean. I’m a normal woman. I’ve dated a lot of guys, I’ve had a few drinks, I’ve told dirty jokes, I’ve cursed, and I’ve been rude to my parents.”

Not so nice: Baltimore Oriole Manager Johnny Oates told the Baltimore Sun that he isn’t as nice as he was last year.

“When I took the job, I tried to please everybody--my family, the players, the front office, the fans, and the press. I lost 16 pounds, some hair and a lot of sleep.”

Up and up: Sergei Bubka, the world record-holder in the pole vault, says a computerized study of his jumping shows that if he achieved the “perfect” vault, he would clear 20 feet 10 3/4 inches.

Regression: UCLA’s McArthur Anderson won the long jump at the recent Pacific 10 track and field championships with a mark of 24 feet 11 inches.

It was the first time since 1968 that the long jump winner failed to jump at least 25 feet.

Weed killer: On the news that the entire Comiskey Park field in Chicago was re-sodded because of one weed found by a groundskeeper, Bud Geracie of the San Jose Mercury News wrote: “Call me lazy, but I’d have picked the weed.”

Trivia answer: Mike Souchak had a 257, 27 under par, with rounds of 60-68-64-65 at the Texas Open in San Antonio in 1955.

Quotebook: New York Yankee reliever Steve Howe, after his throwing error last Friday allowed the Milwaukee Brewers’ Dave Nilsson to advance from first to third: “He got two bases, and I’ll get a urine test.”