A West Coast water hog...thanks to Gray, Gratz goes gratis to Indy...Lott casts his lot with a new lot

Cited
San Diego Padres shortstop Garry Templeton, by the San Diego Office of Administrative Services, as the Poway resident using the most water during the current California drought. Templeton was found to be using 12,579 gallons of water a day, which is 4,000 more than the next-most-profligate resident and twice as much as a car wash. Templeton admitted to the excess, saying that most of the water was sprayed into his backyard pond to counteract leakage.

Signed
By the L. A. Raiders as a Plan B free agent, former San Francisco 49er defensive back Ronnie Lott, 31. A nine-time All-Pro, Lott received a two-year contract worth $2.2 million. He turned down a one-year offer from the Niners because it stipulated that he retire after next season. "It's a perfect fit," said former Raider linebacker Matt Millen, who signed with the 49ers in '89. "He's been playing like a Raider safety all his career."

Suspended
By the NBA for one game and fined $10,000, Philadelphia 76er forward Charles Barkley, after he spat on an eight-year-old girl during a March 26 game at New Jersey. Barkley claimed he was aiming for an abusive Nets fan, but that his mouth was almost dry, causing the scant amount of saliva to spray away from its target and onto the girl. "It was a bad, bad thing," said Barkley, who will now miss two weeks after spraining a ligament in his left knee on Sunday. "But it's not like I killed somebody or beat them to a pulp."

Fulfilled
By U.S. Representative Bill Gray (D., Pa.), a promise to send the Philadelphia city-champion Simon Gratz High basketball team to the Final Four in Indianapolis. Gray, who captained the Bulldogs' 1959 team, paid for a portion of the trip's expenses. The biggest problem: a scarcity of tickets. It wasn't until March 18 that the publicity generated by his promise yielded offers to sell him the 17 ducats he needed.

Tied
By Ball State frosh outfielder Dan Lehrman, an NCAA record by hitting two home runs in the same inning. On March 26, Lehrman, whose jaw was broken by an errant throw in a game seven days earlier, belted two-and three-run homers in the sixth in the Cardinals' 13-8 win over Indiana-Purdue University at Indianapolis. "Let's hope I can hit another one sometime without having my jaw wired shut to do it," said Lehrman.

Died
Diminutive distance runner Max Truex, 55; after an extended illness; in Milton, Mass. The 5'5" Truex, whose training meals often consisted of a quart of ice cream, won an NCAA cross-country title while at Southern Cal (1957) and set U.S. distance records in several events. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Truex became the first American to break 29 minutes in the 10,000 meters when he ran a 28:50.2 while finishing sixth. Olympic teammate Jim Beatty once referred to Truex as "a gutsy little runner who pounded at you all the way around the track."