It’s Tough Recruiting at Arizona

Longtime Arizona football watchers probably aren’t surprised that Earle Bruce, Denny Stolz and Jack Bicknell all have turned down the university as it seeks a replacement for Larry Smith as head coach.

A haven for coaches Tucson isn’t. Former head coach Tony Mason, after going head-to-head with USC’s John Robinson on the recruiting trail, had this lament: “I sell cactus; he sells Heismans.”

The first coach to win eight games at Arizona was Tex Oliver, with an 8-2 record in 1937. So delighted were Arizona boosters that they collected enough money to buy Oliver a new car. This was no small feat, because those were Depression days.

On his first trip, Oliver drove the car to Eugene, Ore. There, he accepted the job as the new head coach at the University of Oregon.

A number of churches in Denver are offering special services at earlier times Sunday, so that football fans can watch the telecast of the AFC title game against Cleveland.

There has been criticism from church traditionalists, but the Rev. James Barnes, pastor of the 1,600-member Trinity Methodist Church, pointed out that regular services also will be held.

“Those people for whom the game just doesn’t matter can come right on in and join us at 11 o’clock if they want to,” he said. “I’m sure all six of us will do just fine.”

Trivia Time: Who is the only man to have played in the last World Series game of both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants? (Answer below.)

The New York Giants have beaten the Washington Redskins in both games this season, but that doesn’t mean that New York guard Chris Godfrey is looking forward to another day in the pits against Washington defensive tackle Dave Butz.

“All my games against him have been very difficult,” Godfrey said of Butz, 6-7 and 295. “It takes all my strength and wile to contain him. And I don’t think he likes me. He doesn’t show emotion, just that baleful look.

“In our last game, they threw an interception and he came from 20 yards away to hit me. I read into it that our relationship was not quite right.”

Add Giants: Linebacker Harry Carson has called Washington offensive tackle Mark May a cheap-shot artist, and May says he’ll have something to say to Carson Sunday. Then again, maybe he won’t.

“If we’re losing,” he said, “I’ll write him a letter.”

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: Because husband Joe Gibbs was away so much when he became the Washington coach, Pat Gibbs used to tape her day for Joe, bringing him up to date on what she and the kids were doing.

Gibbs told Ken Denlinger of the Washington Post: “About five minutes into the fourth tape, she’s angry with me. I’m not even there. She’s chewing me out on tape. Well, so much for that.”

Trivia Answer: Dale Mitchell. He pinch-hit for Cleveland against the Giants on Oct. 2, 1954, the day New York completed a sweep of the Indians. He pinch-hit for Brooklyn on Oct. 10, 1956, the day the New York Yankees won Game 7 of the Series.

Quotebook

Oklahoma City basketball Coach Abe Lemons, on player profiles in press brochures: “Just once I’d like to see a picture of one of these guys with the caption: ‘He’s a dog. Ate up $8,000 worth of groceries in four years and can’t play worth a lick.’ ”