Olympic Official Decided to Flee Miami in Alarm

Dave Maggard, the former University of Miami athletic director, didn’t have to think twice when he was offered the job of director of sports for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

“Our house was broken into twice,” Maggard told John Crumpacker of the San Francisco Examiner. “The first time we were home. The alarm went off while the guy crawled through the window in the master bedroom.

“We lived in a neighborhood that was a quiet, guarded neighborhood. We lived a block from Jose Canseco.”

*

Trivia time: Who holds the NBA playoff record for highest scoring average in a series?

*

Voodoo for sale: Shariff Omar Abubaker, “consultant sorcerer” to several Kenyan clubs, has warned German Coach Berti Vogts that omens for his defending World Cup soccer champions are bad.

However, according to the Daily Telegraph of London, he told them “their fortunes would improve dramatically if they availed themselves of his services.”

*

Vanishing class: New York Met Manager Dallas Green in an interview with Mike Lupica of Newsday paid this tribute to Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres: “I watch (Gwynn) play this game with quiet class and never get enough credit. He’s not showy. He doesn’t get caught up in that bravado, macho bull that’s so prevalent in our game. He’s just a solid professional, in all phases of baseball.”

Said Gwynn: “I sometimes feel my approach is looked at as being unusual, when it should be the norm.”

*

Cowboy jokes: John McClain in the Houston Chronicle: “Many NFL teams are getting a laugh at the way Dallas owner Jerry Jones traded up in the first round to get Arizona State defensive end Shante Carver.

“Other teams had him rated as a second-round pick, and the Cowboys could have gotten him had they remained in the 28th spot.”

*

Versatile Bruin: Randy Harvey of The Times identified some prominent basketball-track standout athletes in Monday’s editions.

Here’s another one: UCLA’s George Stanich, a basketball All-American in 1950 and an Olympic bronze medalist in the high jump in 1948.

Rafer Johnson, another Bruin, was an Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon in 1960 and a two-year letterman in basketball.

*

No more nice guy: Joseph A. Reaves of the Chicago Tribune writes that the Giants’ Barry Bonds says he lost some of his competitiveness by trying to be too accommodating to the media, fans and his teammates.

“I thought I could do it like Michael Jordan and some of those other guys,” Bonds said. “But I can’t do both things. My teammates have told me, ‘Don’t be nice for us.’ ”

*

Looking back: On this day in 1936, Joe DiMaggio made his major league debut with the New York Yankees and responded with three hits in a 14-5 rout of the St. Louis Browns.

*

Trivia answer: Jerry West of the Lakers, 46.3 points against Baltimore in 1965.

*

Quotebook: Johnny Wenzer in a letter to the San Diego Union-Tribune: “The Padres are simply the worst baseball team that money didn’t buy.”