To Holtz, He Was Royalty

Lou Holtz, Notre Dame football coach, said the man he admired most when he broke into coaching was Darrell Royal at Texas.

“When I was an assistant at Connecticut,” Holtz said, “I went to Austin to see Royal. I was going to make the most of the time I had with him, and once I got into his office I had a list of 80 questions I wanted to ask him.

“I know he didn’t expect this and I’m certain he had to cancel a golf game because I took up so much of his time. But he couldn’t have been more gracious about helping me.

“I wrote down the answers to every one of those questions and I still have them in a box somewhere. When you move as much as I do, you don’t always unpack all the boxes.”

Add Holtz: From former Notre Dame athletic director Gene Corrigan, who hired Holtz: “I had a guy call me from Chicago, and he was outraged. He said, ‘How do you justify bringing in a comedian like Holtz?’

“I said, ‘Read about Rockne and call me back.’ Two days later he called me back and said, ‘You’re right.’ Rockne was a great one-liner guy.”

Trivia Time: Before Barry Sanders this year, who was the last Oklahoma State running back to win the Big Eight rushing title? (Answer below.)

When the Pittsburgh Steelers were 2-8, quarterback Bubby Brister said, “We’d be better off punting on first down.”

In Sunday’s 27-7 loss to Cleveland, which dropped the Steelers to 2-10, punter Harry Newsome had a punt blocked and lost the ball two other times on a fumble and a high pass from center that went over his head.

Brister: “Maybe now we’d be better off passing on fourth down.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: Michael Jordan, who’s on the cover of Wheaties boxes, confessed that he never ate the cereal as a kid.

He told the New York Times: “We had a big family so we used to eat Wheat Puffs. Remember those? They were in big bags and they could last through five or six kids.”

From Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant: “Rookie Martin Gelinas, acquired from Los Angeles in the Wayne Gretzky deal, was returned by Edmonton to Hull of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Guess who owns Hull? Right, Gretzky.”

Jay Wells of the Philadelphia Flyers, not happy about some of the suspensions being handed out by NHL vice president Brian O’Neill, said, “Brian O’Neill is out to lunch. You can print it.”

According to the Hartford Courant, a Philadelphia writer called O’Neill’s office for comment.

The secretary answered and said, “Sorry, Mr. O’Neill is out to lunch.”

Mel Kuiper, NFL draft expert for ESPN, says of Troy Aikman: “Put him in the 1983 draft and he would have been taken right behind John Elway. He’s the best to come out of college since that group. Jim Everett was a good one, but he was simply a drop-back, pocket passer. This guy brings the whole package.”

Former Laker coach Fred Schaus, athletic director at West Virginia, says of Mountaineer quarterback Major Harris: “I tell you, he’s something. They say he could probably be a starter on our basketball team if he did not play any football. He just flat out can play. He just loves to play. In summertime, they put a basket down there in the workout area; guys lift weights and then they go out there and play three on three. The Major just kills ‘em all, I guess.”

Trivia Answer: Thurman Thomas last season.

Quotebook

Tennis pro Pam Shriver, on the shotmaking of Gabriela Sabatini: “If you want to cover her forehand cross court, you have to start running yesterday.”