Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 24, 1996

John Robinson has sent telegrams and flowers to his friend Gil Haskell and will visit him at a rehabilitation facility today during a recruiting trip to Dallas. . . .

During the NFC championship game at Texas Stadium, Haskell, the Green Bay Packer wide receivers’ coach, suffered a fractured skull when his head snapped back onto the artificial turf on the sidelines after he was run into by a player. . . .

Robinson was out of the room and not watching the game at the time. When he returned, he saw an ambulance on the television screen and heard the bad news. . . .

Robinson gave Haskell his first college coaching job as an assistant at USC in 1978 and they remained together with the Trojans through 1982 and with the Rams from 1983-91. . . .

“Gil has more friends than any person I’ve ever known,” Robinson said. “I was in San Francisco, where he grew up and played at San Francisco State, and 6,000 people must have come up to me and asked, ‘How’s Gil?’ “‘ . . .

According to doctors, he is progressing well. . . .

Robinson said that most coaches have been hit hard on the sidelines. . . .

“What you fear is a leg injury,” he said. “You get pinned back and can’t move. It never occurred to me that you could suffer a head injury, but I know that the bench area in Dallas is as hard as a rock.” . . .

*

Bill Walsh has everything to gain and nothing to lose as an assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers. . . .

If the 49ers go all the way next season, he will get the credit. If they fall short, he won’t get blamed and he might get promoted. . . .

Super Bargain: Even if the Super Bowl is a rout, the fans who have paid as much as $350, face value, will get 60 minutes of action for their money. Those who paid as much as $1,500, face value, for the Mike Tyson-Peter McNeeley farce, got only 89 seconds. . . .

Of course, tickets for the boxing match were not scalped. Tickets for the football game are being scalped for anywhere from $4,000 to $1,000. . . .

Pennsylvania native and Pittsburgh Steeler fan Arnold Palmer also will be an underdog this week when he competes in the Senior Skins Game against Ray Floyd, Jack Nicklaus and Jim Colbert in Hawaii. . . .

It will be UCLA vs. USC in basketball for the 200th time tonight at Pauley Pavilion. . . .

The Bruins have a 107-92 advantage, but the teams have split the last 10 games. . . .

Henry Bibby, a USC assistant coach, and Bill Walton, who will be doing commentary for Prime Sports tonight, were teammates on UCLA’s 1972 NCAA championship team. . . .

USC guard Cameron Murray is the younger brother of former UCLA star Tracy Murray. . . .

UCLA forward Charles O’Bannon and USC center Avondre Jones were teammates at Artesia High in Lakewood. . . .

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick has a master’s degree in education from USC. . . .

Former world champions Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas, who lost their last fights, will try to bounce back on a card at the Grand Olympic on March 13. . . .

It will be the first show promoted by the Top Rank Boxing Network, whose fights can be seen nationwide in homes, bars and restaurants equipped with satellite systems.

Gabriel Ruelas will remain in the 130-pound division, but Rafael will move from 135 to 140. . . .

During a loss to Martina Hingis in the Australian Open this week, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy recorded the fastest serve ever by a woman in competition, a 117-mph ace. . . .

Alan Autry, who is a regular on the ABC sitcom “Grace Under Fire” and was one of the deputies on the show “In the Heat of the Night,” played quarterback for the Green Bay Packers in 1975 and ‘76, when he was known as Carlos Brown. . . .

The story of Olympic Games champion Gail Devers, “Godspeed,” will be shown on Showtime this summer. Devers will be portrayed by Charlayne Woodward and Coach Bobby Kersee by Lou Gossett in the TV movie. . . .

Former Times staffer Jeff Fellenzer teaches a sports reporting class at USC. He asked his 11 students to predict the outcome of tonight’s Trojan-Bruin game. One of only two picking USC was Craig Slaughter, a reserve guard for the Trojans. He called it 86-82.