Friday, July 24, 1987AThe Battalion/Page 5
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Sports
Taylor’s cocaine problem not secret
NEW YORK (AP) — Lawrence
JH |Taylor, the NFL’s Most Valuable
Player last season, said the New York
JiGiants, the league — even the police
tg— knew or suspected he was using
■cocaine but “wouldn’t do a thing to
Mstop me.”
™ Taylor’s allegations and his de
scription of a three-year bout with
drugs are contained in a forthcom
ing nook, excerpts of which are be
ing published in the September edi
tion of Sport magazine, due out
learly next month.
“From very early on, the Giants
knew who on the team was into
drugs,” the All-Pro linebacker said.
“They certainly knew I was.”
Taylor said he used cocaine from
1982 until 1985 and also used crack,
iforma |a powerful cocaine derivative.
“If I were Joe Blow, OK, there’d
tional s l arnmer or some midnight
iiswetM tri P 10 lietl y F° r d’s farm,” he wrote.
“Fridat
ratePe.
“. . . It was almost a thrill in itself
knowing that people knew what I
was doing and wouldn’t do a thing to
stop me.”
Taylor voluntarily entered a drug
rehabilitation clinic in Houston in
early 1986. He returned last year to
have his best season, leading the
NFL with 20 1 /2 sacks as the Giants
won their first Super Bowl.
“This office has never had Law
rence Taylor under surveillance,”
NFL spokesman Joe Browne said
Thursday. “Any future dealings
with Taylor and the Giants regard
ing this matter will be handled on a
confidential basis.”
Giants’ general manager George
Young had no comment on Taylor’s
allegations, saying: “I tend not to
read sports books.”
Young, however, compared Tay
lor’s account with the Japanese play
“Rashomon,” in which people see
the same event from different per
spectives and added:
“We’re told all the time about con
fidentiality in dealing with players.
We’re also in the rehabilitation busi
ness, not the punitive business.”
Taylor said most of his teammates
were aware he used cocaine: “The
Giants, like every other team in the
NFL, had guys who did drugs and
guys who didn’t. I knew some of
them. I didn’t know others. Pretty
nearly everybody knew about me be
cause I made no effort to hide it.”
He said that through a friend,
whose brother worked closely with
law enforcement, “I had word
passed — from the police — that
they knew what I was doing.”
“1 used to get followed — to bars,
to parties, to and from practices and
games. Cops and NFL security peo
ple, people I knew, would follow me.
This wasn’t paranoia, this was sur
veillance — and it was a joke. If they
wanted to bust me, fine. But I knew
they weren’t going to do that, not as
long as I was who I was and my game
was intact.”
Taylor, who lives in Upper Saddle
River, N.J., did not specify which po
lice department knew of the prob
lem.
Lt. Thomas Gallagher, a New Jer
sey state police spokesman, said that
if Taylor was a dealer, he would
have been arrested. But he added: “I
don’t know every individual using
drugs. I would have no way of know
ing if anyone else knew.”
Police Chief Theodore Preusch of
Upper Saddle River and Sheriff
Vahe Garabedian of Bergen County
said they also had no knowledge of
T aylor’s drug use.
T he account in Sport, co-written
by David Falkner, is Taylor’s first
full description of his drug problem.
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Red Sox let go veteran
BOSTON (AP) — First baseman
Bill Buckner, who has more than
2,500 major league hits and one un
forgettable World Series error, was
waived T hursday as part of the Bos
ton Red Sox’ youth movement.
Unable to trade the 37-year-old
veteran and his big contract, the Red
Sox freed him to join another club.
Boston General Manager Lou Gor
man expects a pennant contender to
sign him, primarily as a pinch hitter.
The departure of Buckner al
lowed the Red Sox to promote Inter
national League homer and RBI
leader Sam Horn, a 23-year-old des
ignated hitter, from the Pawtucket
Red Sox.
Horn, a left-handed hitter and
poor-fielding first baseman, is ex
pected to be with Boston for to
night’s night’s game with the Seattle
Mariners.
“I kind of guessed they were
going to make a move,” Buckner
told Associated Press Radio, “and
when I heard they were going to
bring Sam Horn up, I requested that
they do something because I figured
I wasn’t going to get much playing
time.”
Flad the Red Sox traded Buckner,
his new team would have had to pick
up his reported $800,000 salary this
season. No team was expected to
claim him during the 72-hour waiver
period.
If he is not claimed, he could
1st baseman Buckner
make a deal with any club, which
would have to pay him only the min
imum salary of $62,500, prorated
for the rest of the season. The Red
Sox still would be obligated for the
difference between that and his con
tract amount.
Buckner is under contract to the
Red Sox for a reported $850,000
next season.
Buckner said he wasn’t sure
where he would wind up.
“ I really don’t know — possibly
an American League team in the
pennant race,” he said when asked
who might be interested in signing
him. “I don’t know what options
there are, I really have to wait and
see.”
Buckner, whose error let in the
New York Mets’ winning run in the
sixth game of last year’s World Se
ries, is batting .273 with two homers
and 42 RBI in 75 games this year, his
18th in the majors
In 2,251 major league games, he
has a .292 batting average with 2,542
hits in 8,710 at bats. He is still a pro
ductive hitter, but the lingering
image of him may be the ball that
trickled through his legs nine
months ago.
“He did a great job” last season,
Gorman said of Buckner. “He drove
in 102 runs last year and if he wasn’t
playing first base for us we wouldn’t
nave been in the World Series.”
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Rangers fall
to Indians
in 4-hitter
CLEVELAND (AP) — Tom
Candiotti pitched a four-hitter
and Brook Jacoby and Pat Tabler
homered T hursday night as the
Cleveland Indians defeated the
Texas Rangers 4-2.
Candiotti, 3-10, walked one
and struck out seven en route to
his first win since June 5 and his
second complete game of the sea
son. The knuckleballer led the
American League with 17 com
plete games in 1986.
The loss was only the Rangers’
second in nine games against
Cleveland this year.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in
the third against Jose Guzman, 8-
9, when Brett Butler walked, took
second on Tommy Hinzo’s sacri
fice and scored on Joe Carter’s
single to center.
Cleveland made it 3-0 in the
fourth on Jacoby’s 18th homer —
one more than he had all of last
season — after Cory Snyder led
off the inning with a double.
Candiotti retired the first 12
Texas batters but then walked
Pete O’Brien to start the fifth.
Pete Incaviglia singled O’Brien to
second, and both runners ad
vanced on Andy Allanson’s
passed ball before Larry Parrish
and Oddibe McDowell hit consec
utive sacrifice flies to pull the
Rangers within a run.
Time's Running Out!
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Curry to take break from boxing career
DALLAS (AP) — Donald Curry
said Thursday he will take a couple
of months off before resuming liis
fighting career, which suffered two
straight losses after a 25-0 start made
him to the undisputed world wel
terweight boxing champion.
“I’m not going to quit. I’m not a
quitter. I’m a winner and I’ve been a
winner all my life,” the 25-year-old
Fort Worth fighter told a news con
ference.
After a stunning fifth-round
knockout Saturday in Las Vegas at
the hands of junior middleweight
champion Mike McCallum, pro
moter Bob Arum, who has pro
moted all 27 of Curry’s professional
fights, said the knockout severely af
fects Curry’s prospects as a top at
traction and that Curry should re
tire.
In the moments after the fight,
Curry said retirement was a definite
possibility.
But Thursday, Curry said he
wouldn’t feel like a man if he quit the
sport after losing a fight he thought
he should have won.
“I would feql like a mouse. I
couldn’t feel comfortable with my
self,” Curry said. “It would be detri
mental to me as a person.”
McCallum’s knockout of Curry
was his 29th in a perfect 32-0 pro ca
reer and was his sixth consecutive
successful title defense. McCallum
has never been knocked down, but
Curry delivered a right that stag
gered McCallum.
Curry was ahead on the cards of
all three ring judges and had just
scored against McCallum with a left
when he moved back, dropped his
right hand, and got hit with a left
uppercut that he said “came out of
left field.”
“I just took a vacation there for a
second, and it cost me. I was pretty
confident at the time of the knock
out about what I was doing. I felt I
was dominating the fight. I felt it was
only a matter of time because I knew
1 was hurting him throughout the
fight,” Curry said.
Curry said he will take several
weeks off and meet with his training
adviser, David Gorman, and his
business agent, Akbar Muhammad,
at the end of August to plot his next
steps!
“I’m back. Well, I’m not back, but
I’m coming back if it’s the last thing I
ever do,” Curry said.
Germaine, Lauer lead U.S. Women’s Open
EDISON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP)
— Dot Germain and Bonnie Lauer,
two members of the over-35 crowd
on LPGA Tour whose games have
rebounded in recent weeks, shot 3-
under-par 69s Thursday to share
the opening-round lead of the 42nd
U.S. Women’s Open.
Lauer and Germain held a one-
stroke lead over Kathy Postlewait,
while Ayako Okamoto, Jody Rosen
thal and Sandra Palmer were all two
shots behind the leaders.
T hose six were the only players in
the field of 153 to overcome the 90-
degree plus heat and humidity and
break par on the 6,284-yard Plain-
field Country Club course.
The 3-under-par rounds bettered
the women’s course record of 71
shot by Mickey Wright and tied by
Betsy Rawls in the 1962 McAuliffe
Memorial Tournament.
Former Open winner Amy Alcott
headed a group of five players at
par, while recent Hall of Fame in
ductee Nancy Lopez — still looking
for her first Open victory -— was at
1-over-par 73.
Defend in g champion Jane
Geddes and Betsy King, the two top
money winners on the tour this year,
both had opening-round 75s. Patty
Sheehan, the No. 5 money winner,
had a 74.
Pat Bradley, last year’s player of
the year, continued to struggle this
year and had an 81, one shot higher
than former Open winner Jan Ste
phenson.
Lauer and Germain both had the
advantage of the cooler early morn
ing tee-off times, and they made the
most of them.
The 36-year-old Lauer sank bir
die putts of 20 feet on the first hole,
10 feet on the 13th hole and 15 feet
on 15th in a round that did not in
clude a bogey.
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“STRICTLY PLEASURE
New Cowboy lineman
hopes to shed image
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.
(AP) — The Chicago Bears may
promote William “The Refrigera
tor” Perry, but while the new of
fensive line coach of the Dallas
Cowboys has high hopes for hefty
Nate “The Kitchen” Newton, he’s
not too fond of the nickname.
And Newton, the offensive
guard who showed up at training
camp with a shaved head and
with 40 pounds trimmed from an
off-season peak of 349 pounds,
says he doesn’t want to be com
pared with a carnival sideshow.
“I want people to stop looking
at me as some fat guy and start
looking at me as a competitor,”
said Newton, who at 6-3 can dunk
a basketball and bench press 490
pounds.
“I think the nickname is de
meaning,” offensive line coach
Jim Erkenbeck said. ‘“The
Kitchen’ gives him the image of a
slovenly fat guy who only wants to
eat. I want Nathaniel to be
thought of differently.”
Newton, who reported to the
Cowboys’ camp at 309 pounds,
shrugged his shoulders when
asked him if he is ready for “The
Kitchen” to be removed from his
name.
“If Coach Erkenbeck doesn’t
want it, neither do I,” said New
ton, 26, who played at Florida
A&M before signing a free agent
contract with the Cowboys a year
ago.
Erkenbeck, an ex-Marine,
hopes to drill Newton into a hard-
nosed left guard. He has plenty to
work with, he said.
“I happen to think that Nate
has the most talent of anybody in
our offensive line,” Erkenbeck
said. “I’m not saying that he’s the
best player in the line. Yet. But
he’s the best athlete we’ve got in
the offensive line.”
“Last year, I didn’t make a dent
on this team, other than people
saying I was the biggest guy to
ever play for the Dallas Cow
boys,” Newton told the Dallas
Times Herald.
He projects a different image
this training camp than he did a
year ago. For one thing, he
showed up with a shaved head.
And there are the 40 pounds he
lost.
He dropped the ugly fat by giv
ing up food during the off-sea
son, Newton said. At the behest
of Dr. James Zamarano, one of
the club’s doctors, Newton didn’t
eat solid food for six weeks.
Losing weight is the opposite
of what Newton is used to doing.
A few years ago, he thought stuf
fing himself would buy a ticket
into the National Football
League.
Before receiving a tryout with
the Washington Redskins, fa
mous for their offensive line
known as the “Hogs,” Newton
started eating two pounds of
french fries a day. His weight
peaked at 262.
Last August, Newton weighed
329 when he reported to Cow
boys camp. Dallas Coach Tom
Landry recalled his first impres
sion.
“Gosh, he was overweight. And
he didn’t know what was going
on.”
But now, the Cowboys are
looking at Newton as one of the
keys in rebuilding Dallas’ offen
sive line. Erkenbeck seems almost
obsessed with converting Newton
into a superstar and believes
Newton will fit perfectly into the
Cowboys’ new blocking style.
Since being hired in February
from the New Orleans Saints, Er
kenbeck has been teaching a
more aggressive blocking style.
Instead of using finesse. Cowboys
linemen will be trying to take de
fenders head on.
Newton’s eyes brighten when
he talk about tne new approach.
“The idea of jumping around
and faking people out is not my
style. I don’t like to do a whole lot
of thinking. I like to knock people
down. I like to win battles,” he
said.
Thanks to Erkenbeck, Newton
is now entering the post-Kitchen
stage.
Conradt sees potential in
U.S. women’s hoop team
AUSTIN (AP) — Coach Jody
Conradt liked what she saw Thurs
day as she began molding a group of
all-stars into the squad that will be
the United States’ women’s basket
ball team at the upcoming Pan
American Games.
The small crowd that watched the
team’s first practice saw bodies hit
bodies and bodies hit the floor as the
players showed the kind of high in
tensity that Conradt preaches for
her University of Texas team.
“It wasn’t too bad. I think if this
team works, they might be able to
play,” she said.
The 12-member team includes 11
who have had international experi
ence, either in the Olympics, World
Championships or Goodwill Games.
Guam Teresa Edwards of Georgia
and center Anne Donovan, who
played at Old Dominion, were on
the 1984 Olympic gold medal team
at Los Angeles.
The team includes four women
who play or played for Conradt —
guard Kamie Ethridge and forwards
Clarissa Davis, Andrea Lloyd and
Fran Harris.
Conradt plans two-a-day practices
until the games begin Aug. 8 in Indi
anapolis. She said she did not know
who the first opponent would be.
“I think Brazil is in our pool, and
they are very good. I think the play
ers who played last year (at the
World Championships) will tell you
that Brazil was probably the best
team, and that includes the Soviet
Union. Canada is also very good,
and the rivalry between the two
countries goes without saying,” she
said.
“Cuba is an unknown. No one has
seen them in quit some time. The last,
time we saw them they had some
really good young athletes with im
pressive skill,” Conradt added.
For now, though, the coach said
she is concerned with her team, not
opponents.
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