To Find Clipper Highlight, You Had to Look in a Cage

I suppose most basketball fans would be as hard-pressed as Mark Heisler [May 5] was to recall any great Clipper moments in the Sports Arena. Please let me mention one.

Back in the ‘80s, maybe because I was just a little sick of the Lakers and their nothing-but-the-best fans, I decided to become a Clipper fan. My greatest memory came in the last game of the ’87 season, when Michael Cage needed 28 (or was it 29?) rebounds to pass Charles Oakley and lead the league. As time was winding down, you could hear play-by-play man Ralph Lawler screaming “Rebound, Cage” after every missed shot, even without a radio. Michael finished with 30 and won the rebounding title. The next year, I quit my day job and went to work for the team.

So, to Michael Cage, Ken Norman, Norm Nixon, Reggie Williams, Joe Wolf, Quintin Dailey, Danny Manning, Ron Harper, the late, great Derek Smith and all the rest--some of us will always remember and we thank you for those memories. We may not have had many wins, but we had hell of a lot of fun.

PAUL FEINBERG, Los Angeles

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Don’t forget that the Sports Arena has been home to almost 40 years of track meets--the Los Angeles Invitational and the Sunkist Invitational. Thanks to the continuous and tireless efforts of meet directors Al Franken and his son, Don, indoor track has been kept alive in Los Angeles.

I’ve been going to their track meets since 1968. Because of the intimate arrangement of the Sports Arena, I’ve been lucky to talk with and get autographs from many of the sport’s elite, such as Bob Beamon, Bob Seagren, John Carlos, Steve Scott, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Billy Olson, Dwight Stones, Carl Lewis, Evelyn Ashford, Johnny Gray, and Maurice Greene.

The Sports Arena may be a dog for basketball, but for track fans it’s heaven.

MARCIA FORSBERG, Rancho Santa Margarita