CHARGED With "impaired driving causing death" and "dangerous
driving causing death" in a wreck that killed former Blackhawks
defenseman Keith Magnuson (page 62), four-time NHL All-Star Rob
Ramage. The two were returning from a funeral near Toronto when
Ramage's rental car crossed the center line into oncoming traffic
and collided with another car. Magnuson, 56, was pronounced dead
at the scene. Ramage, who is 44 and lives in St. Louis, where he
is an investment broker and coaches a peewee hockey team, was
hospitalized with a dislocated hip. Results of a blood test on
Ramage were not yet public, but the impaired driving charge
carries a possible sentence of life in prison.
HIRED As football coach at UTEP, Mike Price, who was fired by
Alabama in May before coaching a game for the Crimson Tide.
Price, who admitted to drinking heavily and visiting a strip
club, has a career record of 129-121. "We know Mike Price is a
man who has been humbled," UTEP president Diana Natalicio said.
"He paid dearly for that grievous error in judgment, and all of
us believe he has earned the opportunity to restart his career."
DECLARED Twice, by Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath during a
live interview, that he wanted to kiss ESPN sideline reporter
Suzy Kolber. During last Saturday's Patriots-Jets game, Kolber
asked the 60-year-old Namath, who was on hand as part of the
Jets' All-Time team celebration, how it felt to see his former
club struggle. He replied, "I want to kiss you. I couldn't care
less about the team struggling." After a few rambling remarks
about the Jets' Chad Pennington, Namath ended the interview with,
"And I want to kiss you." Said Kolber, "Thanks, Joe. I'll take
that as a huge compliment" and swiftly tossed the feed back to
the booth.
DIED Of a heart attack, Gordon Wood, 89, who won nine Texas state
titles and retired in 1985 as America's winningest high school
football coach with a 396-91-15 record. (He's now third all
time.) After winning two titles at Stamford High, Wood took over
at Brownwood, in a town of 20,500 about 120 miles southwest of
Fort Worth, in 1960. A student of the game--he often drove five
hours round trip to watch Texas Tech practice when Bill Parcells
was the Red Raiders' defensive coordinator in the mid-1970s--he
led Brownwood to seven titles with his wing T offense.
DETERMINED Which star athletes' autographs are most commonly
forged. A study by the Professional Sports Authenticator, the
largest authentication service in the $1 billion sports
collectibles industry, showed that the "Ten Most Dangerous
Autographs" list starts with Lou Gehrig (only 37% of signatures
were deemed genuine), Jackie Robinson (39%), Michael Jordan (40%)
and Shaquille O'Neal (40%). The signature most frequently
submitted to PSA for authentication was Mickey Mantle's, 55% of
which were real. Can you spot the fake here? It's the one on the
ball.
COLOR PHOTO: BRUCE BENNETT/BBS (RAMAGE) Ramage in '91
TWO COLOR PHOTOS: PSA (MANTLE AND BALL)
