He’s Not Ready to Be Known as a Coach for the Ages Just Yet

Bill Walsh, with three Super Bowl championships and 10 years under his belt as coach of the San Francisco 49ers, has returned to Stanford as the Cardinal’s head coach, and he would like to make one thing clear--he is not a legend.

“If you are a legend, that means you are a senior person,” the Associated Press quotes Walsh as saying. “I don’t like to hear that. Everybody keeps saying I’m 61. I’m 60. You get very sensitive to that at my age. A guy on the TV said it the other day, and I wanted to call the station up and complain.”

Add Walsh: Though only 60, Walsh is not as active as he once was, and he’ll be the first to admit it.

“I don’t run on and off the field any more. That worries me,” Walsh says. “I can’t get out of the way of the players as easily. I don’t think my voice is as strong, but I think I’m a better teacher. I’m a little rusty from faking it for three years in the (broadcasters’) booth.”

Last add Walsh: Running back Glyn Milburn recalls the day last January when it was announced that Walsh had signed on as the Stanford coach: “The players I talked to didn’t believe it. I sure didn’t--until I saw the parade that was going on outside.”

Trivia time: Who were USC’s first Olympic track and field gold medalists?

There’s more: Monday’s Morning Briefing featured former USC fullback Sam (Bam) Cunningham, who was pulled off the bench in the final minute of the 1973 Rose Bowl game against Ohio State to perform one of his patented goal-line dives for the game’s final touchdown, even though the Trojans were assured the victory. (They won, 42-17.)

Atascadero’s Mike Veron, who is writing the life story of Anthony Davis, tentatively titled, “The Way It Was,” says Trojan Coach John McKay only wanted to rub it in because USC was snubbed by Buckeye Coach Woody Hayes at the media luncheon a few days before the game.

Davis’ account, as told by Veron: “Hayes got up and did his thing, and when he was finished, he pulled his players out and said, ‘Write down what John (McKay) says; we’ve got work to do,’ and he left.”

A bad sign? Atlanta, site of the 1996 Summer Olympics, ranked 24th among the 25 largest U.S. cities in television viewing of the Barcelona Games, according to Nielsen Media Research. The top rating was achieved in Portland, Ore. The lowest in Charlotte, N.C.

Years gone by: George Brett of the Kansas City Royals, who is 49 hits shy of 3,000, wonders where the time has gone.

“It’s unbelievable how fast my career has gone,” says Brett, 39. “You wouldn’t believe how fast it seems to me. I remember things in 1974 so vividly that they seem to have happened last week.”

Trivia answer: Fred Kelly and Alma Richards in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles and women’s high jump, respectively, at the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

Quotebook: John Daly, offering advice to amateurs on driving the golf ball: “Buy a driver with the biggest head you can find, then hit the hell out of it.”