What in Name of Ben Franklin Is This Mile?

Roger Bannister, who broke the four-minute mile barrier in 1954, told Track & Field News that he once competed in Philadelphia in a race called the Benjamin Franklin Mile.

“When I got back to Oxford a few days later, an elderly don said to me, ‘You’ve just been to America, haven’t you?’

“ ‘Yes,’ I replied.

“ ‘Weren’t you running a Benjamin Franklin mile?’ the don added.

“ ‘Yes,’ I said.

“He said, ‘Tell me, how far is a Benjamin Franklin mile?’ ”

Trivia time: Who holds the NBA regular-season record for most points in a quarter?

World Cup fever?Steve Bornstein, president and CEO of ESPN, the cable network that will televise 41 of 52 World Cup games, said that he’s a soccer enthusiast.

“It’s a wonderful sport,” he told Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post. “Three billion people around the world can’t be wrong.”

Don’t be too sure, Steve.

More suds now: Steve Obradovich, who once competed on the professional beach volleyball tour, recalled that he and his partner, Chris Marlowe, now an announcer for Prime Ticket, won a tournament in Manhattan Beach in 1976.

“Our first-place prize was a free pitcher of beer,” Obradovich said.

The purse now for some tournaments is $300,000, with $100,000 going to the winners.

Warning signal: George Yardley told of playing with Walter Dukes, one of the NBA’s first 7-footers, in Terry Pluto’s book, “Tall Tales.”

“I played with Walter in Detroit and we honestly feared him during layup drills,” Yardley said. “He wouldn’t hurt a flea intentionally. But when he’d get excited about getting a rebound--even during warm-ups--he was liable to run over you.

“It got so bad that (teammate) Chuck Noble got a cowbell and put it around Walter’s neck so we’d hear him coming when we were shooting around.”

Fleeting fame: Chuck Daly, who recently retired as the New Jersey Nets’ coach, made the Basketball Hall of Fame this year, to the delight of folks in his hometown of Kane, Pa. (population 5,000).

There’s a street named for him in the town, but when a new street sign was erected recently, somebody goofed. It said Chuck Daily Drive.

Come again?When Bill Van Landingham made a relief appearance for the San Francisco Giants recently, Chicago Cub announcer Steve Stone said:

“This is his first major league debut.”

Advice: Duck!Bruce Keidan of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on wild-throwing pitcher Pedro Martinez of the Montreal Expos:

“None of Martinez’s ‘purpose’ pitches target the hitter’s legs or hips. He doesn’t throw at your ribs or even your shoulder. When Pedro J. sends you a message, it goes right to your head.”

Trivia answer: George Gervin of San Antonio, with 33 against New Orleans on April 9, 1978.

Quotebook: NBC’s Bud Collins on women’s doubles teams rushing the net: “They are going eyeliner to eyeliner.”