Mom to Stay No. 1 With Rookie Smith

Joe Smith, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft from Maryland, will live with his mother, Aletha Smith, when he plays his rookie season with the Golden State Warriors, but she says he is no “mama’s boy.”

Aletha sat in the third row during a news conference in which her 19-year-old son was introduced to Oakland reporters.

“I owe it all to my mother,” Smith said. “I give her all the credit.”

His mother said, “He’s not a mama’s boy. He’s a young man who doesn’t mind having his mama around.”

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Trivia time: Nick Price will be defending champion when the PGA is played Aug. 10-13 at Riviera. Who was the last champion to repeat?

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Routine birdie: Tom Weiskopf hit a spectator in the head with an errant shot during the U.S. Senior Open at Bethesda, Md., but to hear him describe the incident, it was as if Janet Dayhoff was merely part of the course.

Weiskopf birdied the hole and later, in the press room, told what happened: “I hit a driver; played a second shot with a 1-iron, pulled it to the left and unfortunately hit a lady in the head, split her head open. The ball bounced back toward the green in the rough. I pitched that up about a foot from the hole and made a birdie.”

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Early riser: Remember when holidays like the Fourth of July meant doubleheaders for baseball fans?

Steve Blass was the starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game against the Chicago Cubs one holiday. The game started at 10:30 a.m.

“I gave up three hits to Billy Williams,” Blass said, “and it wasn’t even noon yet.”

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Real fans: Players collapsed and spectators needed medical attention when Centre Court temperatures reached 106 at Wimbledon last week, but the steamy conditions did not deter Patrick and Debbie Freer of Lebanon, Pa. They stood in line for 2 1/2 hours waiting to buy tickets turned in by those leaving early.

“The Old Spice is working,” Freer said. “But I’m pushing it to the max.”

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Red, white and green? Brooke Bennett, the Plant City, Fla., teen-age swimming star, arrived in Los Angeles for the Janet Evans Invitational at USC this week wondering how she would celebrate the Fourth of July.

“I’m trying to get my coach to take us out,” she said. “But he’s Irish. They don’t celebrate the Fourth of July. He doesn’t really believe in the Fourth of July.”

The coach, Peter Banks from Dublin, has been in the United States for six years.

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Sultan of silence: Eddie Murray, after years of refusing to talk to reporters or announcers, grudgingly agreed to talk after getting his 3,000th major league hit, but Woody Woodburn of the Ventura County Star says it was too late.

“He’s learning to say hello when it’s time to say goodby,” Woodburn wrote.

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Trivia answer: Denny Shute, 1936-37.

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Quotebook: Cincinnati Red pitcher Jose Rijo, on his disappointing season: “I can’t find my slider. I’ve got to hire someone to find it for me, I got to hire a detective guy.”