He Knew It Was Time to Retire at Stroke of 10

Bill Toomey won the Olympic decathlon championship in 1968 at Mexico City and retired the next year after setting a world record.

When Gene Wojciechowski of The Times asked him if he remembered when he retired from amateur competition, Toomey could have simply said 1969. Instead, he gave this unique answer:

“There are 10 letters in Bill Toomey. I was born on the 10th of January. I did the decathlon for 10 years. I retired on the 10th decathlon in the 10th year of competition. I did 10 decathlons my last year. The meet was at 10 o’clock on Dec. 10 at UCLA. So I retired Dec. 10 in the afternoon in a city that has 10 letters: Los Angeles.

“I won the Olympics in the 10th month, Oct. 19. Nine and one is 10. My number was 311. You had to wear a number on the front and the back, so that added up to 10. So I know exactly when I retired. I broke the world record. I walked out of the turnstiles at UCLA and into the rest of my life.”

*

Add Toomey: Speaking of the short-term interest in the decathlon, Toomey said: “The decathlon is sort of like (the mythical musical village) Brigadoon. Every four years it comes alive.”

*

Trivia time: Odds are 1,000-1 against an English singles player winning Wimbledon. Who was the last Briton to win?

*

Beats insomnia: When a game between the Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos was televised to the United Kingdom, it drew an audience of about 300,000. It was an increase of 140% over the usual viewership during that time period--1 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.

*

Tiebreaker: The day after PGA professional Rick Fehr lost in a playoff at the Memorial tournament, he ran into former PGA champion Jeff Sluman at the airport. Sluman is 0-3 in playoffs, which prompted Fehr to remark: “You and I need to tie so one of us could win.”

*

Happy birthday: Charlie Sifford, who won the Los Angeles Open in 1969, recently turned 70 and his senior tour pals presented him with a birthday cake in the locker room at Charlotte, N.C. Instead of 70 candles, the cake had one of Charlie’s trademark cigars in the middle of it.

*

Thelma and Spalding: Playing a catcher in the baseball movie “A League of Their Own” left a lasting impression on actress Geena Davis.

“I had bruises, man, all over my legs, all over my arms,” Davis is quoted in Premiere magazine. “I had bruises that had stitches on them--you could see the imprint of a baseball on my forearms. Then I realized it was a lot easier to catch a ball with your glove than with other parts of your body.”

*

Tell her about Eddie Gaedel: Actress Lori Petty said pitching from regulation distance off the mound at Chicago’s Wrigley Field was tricky enough. Pitching to co-star Madonna was trickier.

“She’s tiny. She’s got a six-inch strike zone.”

*

Turnabout: Tom McMillen (D-Md.) was a professional basketball player before being elected to the House of Representatives. When asked to comment on a bank scandal involving House members, McMillen replied: “For the first time in my life, I was happy there was a zero next to my name in the box score.”

*

Trivia answer: Virginia Wade, 1977. The last male: Fred Perry, 1936.

*

Profit time: The Lakers are the most profitable franchise in major league sports, according to a survey made by Financial World. Their operating margin is 48.1%, well ahead of the runner-up Chicago Bulls, with 41%. Six of the top 10 franchises were NBA teams.

*

Inflation: In 1972, the greens fee at Pebble Beach was $10. Today it is $200.

*

Quotebook: Charles Barkley, on basketball: “This is a game that, if you lose, you go home and beat your wife and kids. Did you see my wife jumping up and down at the end of the game? That’s because she knew I wasn’t going to beat her.”