Notes on a Scorecard - July 5, 1995

Television producer Bob Seizer remembers his friend Pancho Gonzalez as a superb athlete and fiery competitor. . . .

“He would have been outstanding in football, basketball, baseball or whatever sport he chose to play,” said Seizer about Gonzalez, who died Monday of stomach cancer at 67. “I’ve never seen anybody who had his cat-like moves.” . . .

Seizer covered many of Gonzalez’s matches as a sportswriter for the old L.A. Mirror-News during the 1950s when professional tennis wasn’t the big business it is today. . . .

The pros barnstormed across the country, playing mostly in arenas on carpets that were placed over basketball courts or sheets of ice. Seizer recalls Vic Braden driving a truck carrying the equipment, doing the publicity, and selling programs at the matches. . . .

“Sometimes the guys who lived around here would spread the word and play against each other before about 150 people at the Beverly Wilshire,” Seizer said. “One day at the hotel, Pancho Segura asked Gonzalez to take it easy on him because he wasn’t feeling well. Gonzalez crushed him, 6-0, 6-1. That’s the kind of competitor he was.” . . .

Gonzalez won U.S. singles titles in 1948-49, but never won Wimbledon, which was open only to amateurs during his prime years as a professional. . . .

“That didn’t bother him,” Seizer said. “Wimbledon didn’t have the world-wide appeal then that it does now. He was very proud of his two U.S. championships.” . . .

*

The Jeff Tarango explosion at Wimbledon never would have happened if the chair umpire hadn’t overreacted to Tarango telling a fan to shut up. . . .

You watch Steffi Graf on a day such as Tuesday, when she beat Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-0, in the second set, and wonder how she ever loses. . . .

National League East co-leader Philadelphia is the worst draw in the league on the road. . . .

The Angels, who had four players named to the All-Star team this year, had four starters elected to the 1982 team--Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Fred Lynn and Bobby Grich. . . .

That year, California compiled the best record in club history, 93-69, and won the American League West title before losing at Milwaukee, 4-3, in the fifth game of what was then a best-of-five AL championship series. . . .

A hot country singer is Dean Chance, no relation to the Angel who won the 1964 Cy Young Award. . . .

Last Friday was a busy night for jockey Joy Scott, who rode in the second and ninth races at Hollywood Park and filled in the gap by winning the fifth at Los Alamitos aboard Magic to Me. . . .

Scott was the only jockey to ride the same horse to victory at all four Southern California thoroughbred tracks last year. Thunder of Zion won at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, Del Mar and Fairplex Park. . . .

World traveler Gary Stevens, who rode in Hong Kong earlier this year, will stick to the continent the next few days. . . .

He will sign autographs on 6,000 souvenir glasses Thursday and Friday at Churchill Downs, where he won the Kentucky Derby aboard Thunder Gulch, and then ride Serena’s Song in the $250,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on Saturday at Belmont Park in New York and Langfuhr in the $400,000 Queen’s Plate on Sunday at Toronto. . . .

Chiquita Gonzalez, Marco Antonio Barrera and other boxers on the Forum’s July 15 pay-per-view TV card will work out Sunday from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at Hollywood Park. . . .

Boxing Illustrated’s pound-for-pound top 10: 1. Pernell Whitaker, 2. Roy Jones Jr., 3. Felix Trinidad, 4. Julio Cesar Chavez, 5. Yuri Arbachakov, 6. Oscar De La Hoya, 7. Chiquita Gonzalez, 8. Ricardo Lopez, 9. Michael Carbajal, 10. Johnny Tapia. . . .

I would put Jones ahead of Whitaker and move De La Hoya up to third. . . .

The NHL draft, with the Kings selecting third and the Mighty Ducks fourth, will be Saturday at Edmonton. . . .

Portland made a terrific trade on NBA draft day when it dealt No. 8 pick Shawn Respert to Milwaukee for No. 11 pick Gary Trent and one of the Bucks’ first-round picks next year. Look for Trent, the forward from Ohio U., to have a better career than Respert, the guard from Michigan State. . . .

NBA scouting director Marty Blake says George Zidek, the UCLA center who was taken by Charlotte, is the only player drafted who has an effective hook shot. . . .

Al Davis and George Steinbrenner both celebrated birthdays on the Fourth of July. I’ll leave any other comparisons to you.