Sampras’ Accident Might Have Left West a Little Strung Out

Tennis star Pete Sampras, an avid golfer, recently played a round with Laker Vice President Jerry West, an accomplished player.

“I asked him about his clubs,” Sampras told Ann Liguori of The Golf Channel. “Jerry had an old-looking driver. He said he had been hitting it for 25 years and he loves it. I asked if I could hit it.

“I took a big whack because I always do, and it broke the club. The head flew 100 yards. He took it pretty well. But I could tell he was really ticked off.”

West said he isn’t upset with Sampras, but he could retaliate by breaking one of Pete’s favorite rackets.

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Trivia time: What is the widest margin of victory in the Masters?

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Shaq’s new act: Mountain bike enthusiast Shaquille O’Neal in Bicycling magazine: “I’m not going to be doing any Tour de Frances or big mountain bike courses, but it’s good to mix things up.”

Shoot, we were looking forward to Shaq challenging Miguel Indurain during the Tour’s mountain climbs.

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Censorship rebuked: A newspaper was warned by management of the Canton-Akron (Ohio) Indians of the double-A Eastern League that any negative articles about the team would result in revoking the paper’s press box privileges.

The newspaper, The Repository, sent its own message. It returned the press credentials. The newspaper said it would cover the games from the stands if the club does not change its position.

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One of a kind: Running back Herschel Walker, who recently signed with the New York Giants, was invited to compete in the 60-yard dash at the Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena in 1983, the year after he won the Heisman Trophy.

Promoter Al Franken recalls that Walker asked if he could arrive early and do some advance publicity for the meet-- free of charge.

Obviously, Walker is not your typical modern pro athlete.

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Come again? Bruce Keidan of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked Bryant (Big Country) Reeves of Oklahoma State about his future plans. “Whatever happens to me next year will happen to me, regardless of what happens.”

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Wake-up call: Dallas Maverick Coach Dick Motta was giving his halftime talk during a recent game against Golden State when a cellular phone in rookie Tony Dumas’ locker rang.

“It’s the first time that’s ever happened,” said Motta, in his 23rd year of coaching in the NBA, “and it better be the last.”

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Understatement: Thomas Hearns, after knocking out Lenny LaPaglia in the first round last Friday night in Detroit to win the World Boxing Union cruiserweight championship:

“It’s just one step. The next step, I need to go get a title that people really know.”

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Trivia answer: Jack Nicklaus won by nine strokes in 1965.

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Quotebook: Comedian Phyllis Diller: “The reason women don’t play football is because 11 of them would never wear the same outfit in public.”