Perhaps Stanford Would Be Interested in 22nd-Year Senior

Marc Upshaw, a former high school basketball star in Columbus, Ga., is pleased to know that Stanford coaches were interested in him--even if their recruitment letter arrived 21 years late.

The letter, signed by then-Cardinal coach Dick DiBiaso, was dated May 5, 1978, but didn’t arrive at Columbus High until this spring.

David McQuinn, consumer affairs clerk for the U.S. Postal Service in Columbus, said he had no idea where the letter was all those years. But because of its age, he said it most likely was stuck in a pouch used to store mail.

“Maybe I need to send that in and they’ll give me a scholarship,” joked Upshaw, now a 38-year-old father of two who runs his own business in the Atlanta area.

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More Upshaw: He had a distinguished college career playing at Rhode Island. Would he have considered Stanford if the letter had arrived on time?

“You never know,” he said. “Probably not. I think going to Rhode Island was the right decision for me.”

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Trivia time: What was the first film about boxing to win an Academy Award?

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What is that? Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News: “Only time Joe Louis ever dropped his business demeanor was when he boxed Johnny Paychek . . . . Paychek answered the bell in some weird crab-like stance, and Louis dropped his guard and broke up laughing before he administered the kayo.

“ ‘Man fightin’ me sideways,’ he later explained.”

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Is it worth it? From Monday’s Gallery column of the San Diego Union-Tribune: “So you want to play the course where some of the world’s best players were brought to their knees?

“Pinehurst No. 2 will reopen to the general public tomorrow. The cost for a round--$225.”

That’s a bargain. Pebble Beach green fees are $330.

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Timely remark: Skip Caray, the Atlanta Brave play-by-play announcer for TBS, after Carl Everett of the Houston Astros hit a ball off the logo of Fox Sports Net Southwest at the Astrodome:

“He just did something a lot of people in sports have wanted to do for a long time. Hit Keith Olbermann in the face with a line drive.”

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But of course: Somebody asked the NBA writers and broadcasters to pick an all-interview team and guess who won. Uh, no, Latrell Sprewell didn’t make it.

But give yourself a big pat on the back if you said Houston’s Charles Barkley. Sir Charles, who will talk about almost anything at almost any time, was named on 61 of 84 ballots. News people can be so predictable.

Joining Barkley on the first team are Jayson Williams of the Nets, Karl Malone of the Jazz, and teammates Avery Johnson and David Robinson of the Spurs. Milwaukee’s George Karl was named coach of the team.

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FYI: The 1974 USC-Notre Dame football game will be shown tonight at 6 on ESPN Classic Sports Network.

It was an epic game in the series. The Trojans came back from a 24-0 deficit to win, 55-24, at the Coliseum.

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Trivia answer: “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone, in 1976.

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And finally: Texas Ranger rookie pitcher Jeff Zimmerman, who was 7-0 with a 1.00 earned-run average through Tuesday:

“We call ourselves bottom feeders. The whole world under-appreciates middle relievers. Everyone looks at the lineup, the starting pitchers and maybe the closer.

“We pride ourselves in being the plankton of the baseball world.”