He Sprouted in a Hurry at ’36 Games

Black oak saplings were presented to gold medalists in the 1936 Olympic Games at Berlin.

John Woodruff, winner of the 800 meters, is the last surviving winner from the U.S. track and field team. His sapling, now a towering 65-foot-high tree, is also a survivor. It stands at the north end of Connellsville, Pa., Falcon Stadium, where Woodruff planted it when he returned home 59 years ago.

Woodruff, who was 80 July 5, was one of western Pennsylvania’s finest athletes while attending Connellsville High. He was a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh when he won the 800 and at the time had never been in a varsity meet because freshmen were ineligible.

Trivia time: Tom Addis III of the Singing Hills Country Club in El Cajon is president of the PGA of America. What other Southern Californians have held that office?

Perfect casting: Dennis Rodman, the tattooed NBA iconoclast, has been invited to serve as “Honorable Mayor of the City of West Hollywood” during the city’s annual Halloween party. John Heilman, the real mayor, extended the Oct. 31 invitation.

Times reporter Chris Baker, a resident of West Hollywood, points out that “Rodman won’t need a costume.”

Smart man: George Foreman relinquished his International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship rather than give a rematch to his last victim, Axel Shulz. “Leading one to believe,” wrote Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News, “that old George must have looked at the film.”

Not again: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, discussing Magic Johnson’s retirement with radio sportscaster Irv Kaze on KIEV, said: “I wouldn’t be surprised, if between now and Christmas, he might decide to come back.”

He was smiling when he said it, according to Kaze.

Rubbing it in: When Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics, one of the cities in the running was Quebec, which lost its NHL team about a month before the bid was announced.

“They couldn’t even keep a hockey team,” said Tom Welch, president of the Salt Lake City organizing committee. “How could they hold an Olympics?”

Cost of coaching: Bob Cousy, the Boston Celtics’ Hall of Fame guard, was discussing with Jackie MacMullan of the Boston Globe the differences in NBA players and coaches after losing a tough game.

“When the game is over, the little boys are on the bus, talking about where to go out that night, or what they’re having for dinner,” Cousy said. “Meanwhile, the coach is up front feeling it in his gut.”

Not so macho: The Raiders set an NFL record with 156 penalties last season.

“That’s not being tough, that’s being stupid,” wide receiver Tim Brown said.

Trivia answer: Joe Novak of Bel-Air, 1949-51, and Pat Rielly of Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena, 1989-90.

Quotebook: Pro golfer/TV announcer Johnny Miller: “I don’t think anywhere is there a symbiotic relationship between caddie and player like there is in golf.”