He Impressed by Putting Best Foot Forward

Grace Thorpe, daughter of the late Jim Thorpe, recalled how her legendary father made an indelible impression on her when she was a youngster.

“When I was 5 or 6, he came to the Indian school where I was a student to give an exhibition out on the football field,” Thorpe told Bob Greene of the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette.

“Dad stood in the center of the field and drop-kicked the ball, or some kind of kick, through the center of the goal posts one way, and then he turned around and kicked the ball through the goal posts on the other end.”

Needless to say the students were impressed.

Trivia time: Name the college football coach with the highest winning percentage in bowl games based on a minimum of 10 appearances.

Eerie place: Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle lists several reasons why Candlestick Park, home of he Giants, is cursed. A sampling:

--”The Candlestick wind is not fun. It is evil and cold and turns baseball into slapstick with goose bumps.”

--”The timing. (Owner) Bob Lurie bailed out just when baseball turned into a terrible investment that appeals only to desperate people with a vacant stadium. Even Jack Clark wouldn’t invest in a baseball team today.”

In regard to the Giants’ reported move to St. Petersburg, Fla., Ostler writes: “Indignities piled up. There are reports that the Giants will switch leagues when they move. This is the baseball equivalent of a sex-change operation.”

Map of the stars? Stanford Coach Bill Walsh, returning to college football after many successful years with the San Francisco 49ers, has a wry outlook on recruiting.

“Recruiting--that’s the one where at some point you stop and ask yourself, ‘Why?’ ” he told the Sporting News. “Usually, it’s when you’re trying to find somebody’s home, and it’s dark and there are no street lights.

“And you’ve turned north instead of south and you’re already 30 minutes late. And you stop at a gas station for directions and they don’t speak English.”

Add Walsh: He is 60 and has made some concessions to his age. “I don’t run on and off the field anymore. That worries me,” Walsh said. “I can’t get out of way of the players as easily. I don’t think my voice is as strong, but I think I’m a better teacher.”

Wise up: The NFL’s official Media Relations Playbook advises players on how to deal with the media: “Don’t use slang. Speak English. It’s likely to be a requirement for your next job.”

Trivia answer: UCLA’s Terry Donahue, 8-2-1 for a percentage of .773.

Quotebook: Pitcher Bill Wegman of the Milwaukee Brewers on playing at Anaheim Stadium before a quiet crowd of 20,000: “It was like playing a midnight game in the losers’ bracket of one of those softball tournaments. It’s too laid back for me there.”