McLendon Swam, but Officials Were All Wet

John McLendon, who died last fall at 84, played for Dr. James Naismith, the man who invented basketball.

One of the graduation requirements when McLendon attended Kansas was that he know how to swim, but McLendon was an African American and blacks were barred from the university’s pool.

When he tried to swim there one day, officials drained the pool. Hearing of McLendon’s troubles, Naismith sent three of his biggest players to sit by the pool whenever McLendon swam. He never had a problem again.

McLendon eventually became the first African American coach of a modern-era professional basketball team, the Cleveland Pipers of the short-lived American Basketball League in 1961.

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Trivia time: What is unusual about Hank Aaron’s record of 755 home runs?

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The Rocker file: From Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle, quoting Bob Lacy:

“I’ll say one thing for [controversial relief pitcher John] Rocker. At least he’s KKK compliant.”

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More on Rocker: “This has been a bad week for [Rocker],” comedian Jay Leno said. “I guess he went to a concert the other night, and the opening act was Foreigner.”

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How to succeed: Race car owner Roger Penske is one of the world’s busiest executives as he juggles the running of a number of multimillion-dollar corporations.

“Roger likes to make business trips to Europe,” said Dan Luginbuhl, Penske’s public relations man. “Not because he likes to travel, but because by taking advantage of the time changes, he can squeeze extra hours into the day.”

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Different strokes: So you don’t think golfers are athletes.

In the LPGA there are Debbie Williams, who was Big Ten javelin champion four times, and Caryn Wilson, who played tennis at Wimbledon, and in the U.S. and Australian Opens.

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Sweet tooth: NASCAR fans aren’t all about beer and hot dogs. M&Ms; have now been named “the chocolate of NASCAR fans.”

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Too many chocolates? Shaun Powell’s description in Newsday of Ryan Tucker, St. Louis Ram offensive lineman who caught a pass from Kurt Warner for a touchdown Sunday:

“He weighs 300 pounds before meals, runs the 40 in 4.5 days, moves like a glacier and if he gets good lift on his jump, he can clear a sheet of paper.”

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Come on, Sparky: Sparky Anderson is a leading candidate to be voted into baseball’s Hall of Fame when the veterans’ committee meets Feb. 29. His reaction: “In the world that I lived in for all those years, there’s nothing that ever tops it. You could hit five grand slams in a game and that would never top being inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

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Trivia answer: In 23 seasons, he led the major leagues in home runs only once.

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And finally: The late comedian Jack Benny once said of the game of golf, “Give me good clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and fresh air.”