The Impressive Thing Is That He Spun Around on Each Toss

Parry O’Brien, former world-record holder in the shotput and Olympic gold medalist in 1952 and 1956, showed that he wasn’t past his prime while working for CBS radio at the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico in 1979. When he returned to his hotel room one night, two men tried to rob him. He threw one down a staircase and the other over a balcony into a garden area. “You might say I set a record for thug tossing,” O’Brien said.

Trivia time: What is the longest golf hole in the world?

Swampland: Outfielder Andy Van Slyke of the Pittsburgh Pirates, after hearing that Len Dykstra of the Phillies had quit using chewing tobacco, then learning otherwise at Veterans Stadium: “I thought I was going to get foot cancer,” he said.

Murderers’ row: Angel pitcher Joe Magrane at the Orange County Sports Assn. luncheon, when asked what American League hitters he has the most difficulty with: “Right now, I would have to say one through nine.”

FYI: Six prominent athletes attended Galileo High in the North Beach area of San Francisco: O.J. Simpson, football; Joe DiMaggio, baseball; Hank Luisetti, basketball; Grover Klemmer, track and field; Fred Apostoli, boxing, and Lawson Little, golf. Klemmer is a former world record holder in the 400 meters; Apostoli was middleweight champion in the late 1930s, and Little won the U.S. Open in 1940.

Keep talking: Craig MacTavish of the New York Rangers, on Finnish-born teammate Esa Tikkanen: “He’s got to speak twice as much as everybody else because we can only understand 50% of what he says.”

Last resort: Comedian Richard Lewis, on the last-minute calls sports broadcaster Marv Albert gets to be a guest on television talk shows: “Marv gets called, generally, when the guy from the Columbus zoo has to go to a peacock’s funeral or something.” Trivia answer: The 948-yard, par-seven at the Koolan Island Golf Course in Western Australia.

Quotebook: Former Dodger pitcher Jerry Reuss, on Candlestick Park: “This wouldn’t be a bad place to play if it wasn’t for the wind. I guess that’s like saying hell wouldn’t be a bad place if it wasn’t for the heat.”