It Didn’t Help That He Carried a Flashlight

Former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Roger Staubach got a lesson in humility 30 years ago when he went to New York to receive the Heisman Trophy. Then a junior at the Naval Academy, Staubach wore his dress uniform to a Broadway show, only to have other patrons hand him their tickets.

“They thought I was an usher,” he told Jeff Rude of the Dallas Morning News.

Add Staubach: A few weeks after winning the Heisman, he gave the award to Bud Thalman, Navy’s publicist at the time, for safekeeping. Not exactly sure what to do with the thing, Thalman put it in the trunk of his car.

Recalled Thalman: “I’d tell the bag boys, ‘Put the groceries in there, right next to the Heisman Trophy.’ ”

Last add Staubach: The years haven’t diminished his support for the academy. Addressing a Fellowship of Christian Athletes group before last year’s Rice-Navy football game, Staubach said: “Let us bow our heads and pray for a Navy victory.” He paused before adding: “Just kidding.”

Trivia time: Who was high scorer in the highest-scoring game in NBA history?

You figure it out: The University of Alaska Anchorage will be the host team for the 1999 NCAA Division I men’s hockey championship final, but the game will be played in Southern California--at Anaheim Arena.

“College hockey needs to expand its base of fans, and with three National Hockey League teams in the state, California is a natural place to begin,” Tim Dillon, the Alaska athletic director, told the Christian Science Monitor.

Double standard: Mike Lopresti of Gannett News Service thinks the NFL showed a lot of nerve in claiming that Garth Brooks wanted too much money to perform at halftime of the Super Bowl.

“This,” Lopresti writes, “from the guys who charge $175 for a (Super Bowl) game ticket.”

A view from the Bay: Noting that the Clippers are using Elmore Spencer and Bob Martin at center, John Hillyer of the San Francisco Examiner writes: “From this vantage point, that’s tantamount to making the Warriors a lock for the playoffs.”

Express mail: Already able to cruise down a highway bearing his name, Nolan Ryan can now go to his local post office and send Christmas cards bearing his own personal postmark.

The post office in Alvin, Tex., home town of baseball’s strikeout king, Monday began using a postmark depicting Ryan in a pitching stance. The postmark proclaims: “Alvin Express Station, Home of Nolan Ryan, Alvin, TX 77511.”

Ryan, who retired this year after a career that included seven no-hitters and 5,714 strikeouts, showed up to cancel the stamp on the first letter bearing the imprint, which will be destroyed in a month. He called the honor “different.”

Add Ryan: He also appeared Monday at Houston’s Hard Rock Cafe for the unveiling of a star bearing his name on the “Walk of Fame” outside the restaurant. Joining Ryan for the ceremony were two of his strikeout victims: former Atlanta pitcher Pat Jarvis (No. 1) and Angel catcher Greg Myers (No. 5,714).

Trivia answer: Kiki Vandeweghe, then with the Denver Nuggets, scored 51 points as the Nuggets lost to the Detroit Pistons, 186-184, in triple-overtime on Dec. 13, 1983. Vandeweghe was one of four players who scored more than 40 points in the game.

Quotebook: John Schuerholz, general manager of the Atlanta Braves, on why he wasn’t inclined to pursue a closer in a trade or in the free-agent market, but might begin looking soon: “Maybe there’ll be some good after-Christmas sales.”