Morning Briefing : Bringing You Up to Speed on a ‘40s Flash

An obituary notice in Wednesday’s Times identified a Hubert J. Kerns, who died Feb. 7.

He was better known as Hubie Kerns, an outstanding USC quarter-miler in the early 1940s. Kerns teamed with Cliff Bourland to give the Trojans an outstanding duo in the 440-yard dash.

In the 1941 NCAA championships at Stanford, Kerns upset California’s Grover Klemmer in the 440 in a meet-record 46.6 seconds. A few weeks later, Klemmer equaled the world 400-meter record in the National AAU meet in Philadelphia, timing 46.0 seconds. Kerns was a close second.

In the same year, at the Pacific Coast Conference-Big Ten meet at the Coliseum, Klemmer anchored Cal to a victory in the mile relay in the world-record time of 3:09.4. Kerns ran the anchor leg for USC, barely losing to Klemmer in the same time.

Trivia time: Who is the current world-record holder in the 400 meters?

Determined: Denver Bronco running back Terrell Davis, saying he will do whatever it takes to stop teammate John Elway from retiring:

“I will physically threaten him. I will physically persuade him. I will sabotage every single vehicle he might drive away in. He has to come back.”

Born too early: The major leagues are planning a 25th anniversary celebration throughout the season to mark Henry Aaron’s milestone--hitting homer No. 715 off the Dodgers’ Al Downing on April 8, 1974, to break Babe Ruth’s record.

And what was Aaron paid for such a feat? His highest annual salary as a player was $225,000.

Who? The United Center lockers of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are now occupied by Rusty LaRue and Matt Steigenga, respectively.

Medical marvel: Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News: “In case NFL record books add a medical chapter, former [Raider] center Jim Otto had 27 knee operations, has artificial knees and shoulders.”

Prophetic? Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News said on a television sports show in 1997 that “Latrell Sprewell will play more games in the NBA than P.J. Carlesimo will coach.”

FYI: Pedro Gomez in the Arizona Republic: “If Kevin Brown simply repeats his 1998 numbers that included an 18-win season and 257 strikeouts, it would immediately become the best win total by a Dodger since Ramon Martinez won 20 in 1990.”

Trivia answer: Butch Reynolds, with a time of 43.29 seconds in 1988.

And finally: Charles Barkley got ready for the NBA season by spending a week in an ashram (religious retreat) in the Santa Monica Mountains.

“It was wake up at 6 a.m. and getting a piece of fruit for breakfast,” Barkley told the Houston Chronicle. “Then it was out into the mountains for a 15-mile hike each day. Just another guy who was tired all the time and in bed by 8 o’clock.”

The regimen worked for Sir Charles as he lost 17 pounds. He had 64 points and 54 rebounds in the Rockets’ first three games.