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19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER
SUTCLIFFE & CO.
Sir:
I enjoyed John Garrity's article on Rick Sutcliffe (The Trade That Made the Cubs, Sept. 3). Sutcliffe is a fine pitcher who'll probably lead the Cubs to the National League pennant. But after reading about his role in helping Dodger pitcher Bob Welch recover from alcoholism, I decided that Sutcliffe's value to his fellow man far outweighs his value to the Cubs.
WILLIAM S. HENRY
Gastonia, N.C.
Sir:
Here is a snapshot of the license plate on my car (above). The Cubs are answering my prayers.
JEFF BUTTIKOFER
North Hollywood, Calif.
COVER SUBJECTS
Sir:
Your Aug. 27 cover could have featured Lee Trevino or any one of a dozen American gold medal heroes. Instead you chose to return Pete Rose to the spotlight. Somebody made the right decision. Rose represents what baseball is all about, or at least what it should be about. No other cover could have been more appropriate. And as many times [11] as Rose has been on your cover, I hope that his pursuit of Ty Cobb's record total of 4,191 hits earns him at least one more appearance.
SCOTT GUTTMAN
Farmington Hills, Mich.
Sir:
I find it amazing that you deemed Joe Theismann's recent reticence to be worthy of your Sept. 3 cover story. After all, the U.S. Constitution fully entitles Theismann to be King Quote or, if he prefers, King Taciturn. The fact that Hollywood Joe is no longer loquacious might have merited a mention in Jill Lieber's EXTRA POINTS column. But a cover? Please, be serious.
JAIME HENRY BELLAND
St. Paul
Sir:
Joe Theismann has never been a favorite of mine, but I believe he's taking too much of the blame for the Redskins' loss in Super Bowl XVIII. The Raiders dominated the play at the line, first stifling John Riggins's running, then putting a good pass rush on Theismann. Having to play catch-up ball from the beginning, Theismann found his receivers covered closely by the Raider secondary and had little time to pick out his alternate receivers. Joe found out what it's like for other quarterbacks in the league who don't have the luxury of the rocking chair time Washington's Hogs usually afford him.
ROBERT WARNICK
Westminster, Md.
Sir:
We fans in Washington don't mind quarterback Joe Theismann's silence. As long as the former King Quote lets his passes do the talking, all of us Redskin followers will be quite content.
JULIE GALLOWAY
Falls Church, Va.
DR. Z'S RANKINGS
Sir:
Your 1984 College & Pro Football Spectacular (Sept. 5) was indeed spectacular. However, I believe Dr. Z blew a fuse when he ranked Joe Montana the third-best quarterback in the NFC West (Paul Zimmerman's Scouting Reports). Come on, Z, Montana is the best in pro football, let alone in his own division.
PETER FUQUA
Davis, Calif.
•Dr. Z hasn't blown any fuses—except, perhaps, those of a few 49er fans—but, alas, he did hit a couple of wrong typewriter keys. "We're all human," he says. Z intended his NFC West quarterback rankings to read: 49ers 1, Falcons 2, Rams 3 and Saints 4.—ED.
BASKETBALL CAMPS
Sir:
After spending nearly a dozen years (nine on the Division I level) coaching college basketball, I was amazed and pleased that an "outsider," your Jack McCallum, could have been so deadly accurate in so many areas (camps, recruiting, etc.) with his article on summer basketball camps (The World According to Garf...and Others, Aug. 27). A lot that goes on in the so-called big time borders on the deranged, and McCallum has presented as truthful a picture as is possible.
C.J. WOOLLUM
Head Basketball Coach
Christopher Newport College
Newport News, Va.
Sir:
Going to the AFBE (Athletes for Better Education) camp at Princeton this summer was one of the best experiences of my life. Aside from the quality of basketball at AFBE, which was incredible, there was the experience of working in a college library, listening to some of the most distinguished lecturers in the world and meeting some great young men who'll be the next Dr. Js. I'm pleased AFBE got some of the recognition it deserves, and I hope in future years there will be kids as lucky as I was to attend AFBE.
CHARLIE WICKSTRAND
Seattle
Sir:
As a mother of a 6'7", 15-year-old basketball player, I found your article on summer basketball camps very interesting.
But how about all the promising players in states like Texas, where the UIL (University Interscholastic League), the governing body of high school athletics, doesn't allow varsity players to attend summer basketball camps? These boys don't have an opportunity in an organized setting to gain more skills or be observed by college coaches.
There must be some better way to equalize the opportunity for all aspiring basketball players.
JUDY FOWLER
Hillsboro, Texas
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Sir:
We were intrigued by Morin Bishop's SIDELINE in your 1984 College & Pro Football Spectacular on his candidate for the greatest high school football team of all time. Our company, the National Sports News Service, has ranked the top high school football teams in the nation since World War II, so we're familiar with the top teams in our country's history. Although Everett, Mass. of 1914 was an outstanding club, it was never considered the top team during its era, much less the best of all time. That honor went to Harris-burg (Pa.) Tech, the 1919 national prep champ, coached by Paul Smith. Tech finished 12-0 and outscored the opposition 701-0. It was also the 1918 national champion.
National high school champions were crowned in almost every sport (including girls' basketball) before World War II. The first national football crown went to Chicago Hyde Park, coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg, in 1902. That team beat Brooklyn Poly 105-0 in the title game, played in Chicago. Hyde Park was able to score that many points for the same reason Everett beat Oak Park, Ill. 80-0 in 1914: When a team scored a touchdown, the opponent kicked off.
Bishop mentioned the Massillon (Ohio) dynasty of the 1950s. Although the Tigers were outstanding in the '50s, they were awesome during the Great Depression years, when they were coached by the legendary Paul Brown. Four of Brown's teams (1935, '36, '39, '40) were ranked No. 1 in the nation. And, yes, the Waco team of 1927 was one of the best in Texas history, finishing 14-0 after beating Ohio's Cleveland Latin 44-12 in the national title game. I saw Cincinnati's Moeller play in 1976. Although it was an excellent club, it was declared national co-champ with Warner Robins, Ga. Two of the greatest Ohio teams were Toledo Scott in 1923, which beat Oregon's Portland Columbia 20-17 for the national title, and Toledo Waite (Wonderful Waite) of 1932, which upset national power Miami (Fla.) Senior 13-7, in the Orange Bowl.
California and Texas produced several of the top teams in history. The 1954 Vallejo, Calif. squad finished unbeaten, averaged 54.2 points and produced the national high school player of the year, Dick Bass. Then came one of the strongest programs ever, the Abilene Eagles, coached by Chuck Moser, which won three straight Texas AAAA titles (1954-56) and 49 games in a row.
BARRY SOLLENBERGER
Editor
National Sports News Service
Phoenix
END OF STREAK
Sir:
Last year (SCORECARD, Sept. 5, 1983) SI mentioned the Bloomington (Ind.) North High Cougars' lengthy (21-game) record of losing both the coin flip and the football contest. As you will recall, the Cougars finally won a coin flip but still lost the ball game.
I'm happy to advise you that on Aug. 31 the Cougars ended their 32-game losing streak (they also won the toss) with a convincing 26-20 win over a good Terre Haute North team.
TOM J. GILMORE
Bloomington, Ind.
PGA RECORDS
Sir:
The article It's an Old Man's Game After All (Aug. 27) by Barry McDermott stated that Lee Trevino was the first player in the history of the PGA Championship to break 70 in all four rounds. I'm a young female golfer, and I believe this statement is in error. In 1964, at the Columbus (Ohio) Country Club, Bobby Nichols won the PGA with rounds of 64, 71, 69, 67 for a score of 271 and Arnold Palmer came in second with 68, 68, 69, 69 for a total of 274.
SHAWN CHALMERS
Amherst, Mass.
•Right. Trevino wasn't the first to break 70 in all four rounds of the PGA championship, although he was the first to do so and win. In addition to Palmer, Ben Crenshaw has also come in under 70 in all four rounds—69, 67, 69, 67 at Oakland Hills in 1979—only to lose on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to David Graham, whose 72-hole subtotals were 69,68, 70, 65. Incidentally, Jack Nicklaus was tied with Palmer for second in 1964. His scores were 67, 73, 70, 64.—ED.
MULTISPORT MAN
Sir:
In your 1984 College & Pro Football Spectacular you referred to Auburn's Bo Jackson (Bo on the Go) as the first three-sport letterman in 20 years in the Southeastern Conference.
Your readers might be interested to know that the last was Ron Widby, who actually lettered in four sports (basketball, football, golf and baseball) while at the University of Tennessee (1963-67). Widby, a Knoxville native, earned All-America honors in two sports (basketball and football) and played three sports professionally: football (Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers), basketball (New Orleans Bucs of the old ABA) and golf.
Widby led the nation in punting in 1966 with a 43.8-yards-per-kick average. He remains No. 3 on Tennessee's alltime punting list with a career average of 42.3, and he's in the top 10 in career scoring in basketball with an 18.1-points-per-game average.
In 1965 Widby punted for the Vols in the Bluebonnet Bowl (Tennessee beat Tulsa), and then boarded a private plane immediately after the game and flew to Shreveport, La., where he helped the Vols' basketball team win the Gulf South Classic that same night. The following year he essentially repeated the feat, competing with the Vol cagers in the Sugar Bowl Classic (Tennessee lost its two games) in New Orleans and then flying to Jacksonville to join the football team, which defeated Syracuse in the Gator Bowl the next day.
KENNY R. KERR
Bristol, Va.
PHOTO
PHOTO
Widby, a Packer here, was a Vol four-letter man.
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