Horse Racing Suffers Loss of a First Lady

Horse racing lost one of its most loyal $2 bettors when Virginia Kelley, President Clinton’s mother, died early Thursday. Kelley made her first visit to a track in 1941, hit an $84 daily double at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., and became a frequent racegoer.

“I love the beautiful animals, I love to see the great athletes ride them and I love the wonderful people I meet at the track,” Kelley once said.

Jockey Pat Day’s wife, Sheila, designed Kelley’s mink-cuffed gown for the President’s inaugural ball.

Kelley visited Santa Anita and Del Mar last year and last March she threw out the first ball for a jockey-celebrity softball game in Arcadia that raised money for the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund.

Add Kelley: Asked how much she bet at the races, the President’s mother said, “Not a lot. I like to come often, and I wouldn’t be able to do that if I bet.” When asked if the President ever bet the races, she said, “He wasn’t a gambler. When he was a teen-ager, I took him to the track and he lost $4 and never got over it.”

Trivia time: Who holds the NBA record for highest scoring average in a regular season?

Remember him?Dan Devine and Al Onofrio both had success at Missouri in coaching against high-profile football coaches such as Bear Bryant, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes and John Robinson, but can you believe what Devine said after the hiring of Larry Smith as the new Missouri coach?

“We both agreed that in a big game we would much rather play any of the above-mentioned coaches than Larry Smith because of his ability to get superhuman efforts from his teams.”

As in Fresno State 24, USC 7.

Double victory: California quarterback Dave Barr was asked by San Francisco Examiner writer Edvins Beitiks if he had succeeded in getting a date with an Iowa cheerleader after the Bears’ 37-3 Alamo Bowl victory. Barr’s reply: “We won the game on and off the field.”

High praise: International basketball observers generally consider Arvidas Sabonis of Lithuania the best of the European players, even though he has never tried playing in the NBA.

Charles Barkley played against the 7-foot-4, 300-pound center in Europe and told Hoop magazine editor Alex Sachare: “He’s really hard to move. I tried to knock him out of position with a forearm, and I almost knocked the wind out of myself.”

Santa Claus: The trade of Jim McKenzie from the Hartford Whalers to the Dallas Stars came at an opportune time for the Stars’ left wing--shortly before Christmas. When McKenzie received a 20-inch color TV with a built-in VCR, plus an expensive garment bag, from the Stars, he noted: “This sure beats the clock-radios we used to get in Hartford.”

Rookie golfers: Graham Marsh, Buddy Allin, Ed Sneed and Tony Jacklin will become eligible for the senior tour this year. Jacklin, the former British and U.S. Open champion, will turn 50 on July 7.

Trivia answer: Wilt Chamberlain, with 50.4 points while playing for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1961-62.

Quotebook: Tex Schramm, former general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, on why the NFL owners turned away CBS in favor of the Fox network for its TV package: “Greed, greed, greed.”