Coach Got Caught in a Real Trapp

During the 1972-73 NBA season, when the Philadelphia 76ers were forging their 9-73 record, Coach Roy Rubin was about to take John Q. Trapp out of a game.

However, Trapp didn’t want to come out and suggested to Rubin that he look behind the Philadelphia bench before making his decision.

Fred Carter, who was a player on that Philadelphia team, told David Moore of the Dallas Morning News that when Rubin turned around, three of Trapp’s friends opened their jackets just wide enough to show they were carrying guns. Trapp stayed in the game.

*

Add Trapp: He is an answer to a trivia question, having played on a team with the best record in NBA history, the Lakers of 1971-72, and a team, those 76ers, with the worst record in NBA history. Leroy Ellis also played on both teams.

Trapp and Ellis were traded to Philadelphia on Nov. 2, 1972.

*

Trivia time: Who holds the Super Bowl record for most combined net yards gained in a game?

*

Yes, Mr. Williams: Ted Williams, appearing with Joe Garagiola on Wednesday night’s “Late Night with David Letterman,” still hasn’t forgotten that Garagiola hit better than he did during the 1946 World Series.

Williams batted .200 (five for 25) in the Boston Red Sox’s 4-3 Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals; Garagiola, the Cardinal catcher, batted .316 (six for 19).

However, Garagiola was in awe of Williams. “It was the first time I was going to see Williams live,” Garagiola recalled of that World Series, “and when I saw him the first time up, I didn’t know whether to give a signal (to the pitcher), or get his autograph. And I’m looking at him, and he took a pitch inside and he turned around and said, ‘That pitch was inside.’ I said, ‘Yes, sir. Yes, sir. That was inside.’ ”

*

Now that’s news: On a story about President Clinton and hurdler Edwin Moses working out together at a South Carolina retreat, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s headline might have raised some eyebrows: “Clinton Jogs With Moses.”

*

Is this a put(t) on? From Great Moments & Dubious Achievements in Golf History: In 1931, R.W. Bridges decided to use a putter when he teed off on a 196-yard hole at the Woodlawn Country Club in Kirkwood, Mo., a St. Louis suburb. The result was the longest putt in golf history, a 196-yard hole-in-one.

*

Reason enough: Even though Joe Bugel is still the coach of the Phoenix Cardinals, an Arizona newspaper published a list of 60 reasons why the team should hire Mike Ditka.

One: “Like many local residents, Ditka has an artificial hip.”

*

Super Jug: Taylor Buckley of USA Today wonders whether the NFL will dare identify the Super Bowl as XXX in 1996.

“Three X ‘s form the international distress signal, denote triple-proof ale and mark every jug of moonshine at Snuffy Smith’s place,” Buckley writes. “You think they’ll allow a moonshine label to stain the Super Bowl?”

*

Trivia answer: Ricky Sanders of the Washington Redskins, with 239 yards against the Denver Broncos in 1988.

*

Quotebook: Coach Jerry Glanville of the Atlanta Falcons, on Dallas Cowboy Coach Jimmy Johnson: “He’s king of the hair spray, but look what he’s doing to the ozone.”