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Page 8, The Herald. Thursday, October 26, 1978

4

TERRACE-KUTIMAT

L

daily herald

PORTS

with Chris Porter

_,

ACCORDING TO HELTON, FORZANI
Nice to be on a winner

CALGARY (CP) —
Veterans John Helton and
Tom Forzani of Calgary
Stampeders of the Canadian
Feotball League are looking
forward to the Western
Conference playoffs, the first
time the Stampeders have
been in the playoffs since
1971,

For Helton, a member of
the 1971 Grey Cup winning
team, it has been a seven-
year drought. For Forzani,

it's been a sixyear wait.

Calgary, which clinched
third spot in the WFC when it
trounced Hamilton Tiger-
Cats 35-1 last week, must
face second-place Winnipeg
Blue Bombers in a home-
and-home series this Sunday
and Nav, 5. The series will
determine who plays host for
the Western semi-final on
Nov. 12.

But the long wait cannot be
washed out of memory with

one fell playoff swoop,

“IT was sick and tired of
players from other teams
telling me we'd have a better
team next year,” Forzani
said in a recent interview.

“It was always next year
and I was running out of next
year excuses.”

Helton said the league
playoff structure was
another embarrassment he
had to live with through the
lean years.

Skate Canada underway

VANCOUVER (CP) —The
sixth edition of Skate Canada
touches blades to ice at
Pacific Coliseum today, with
organizers hoping it will
cantinue its standing as one
of the best international
skating competitions.

Since its inception in 1973,
the competition has altacted
some of the world's amateur
stars. Bul a new event in
England held last week has
the potential to halve this
year's skating lalent here.

Charles Dover, president
of the Canadian Figure
Skating Association (CFSA),
said his association did not
learn of the competition in
England until late last
spring.

“Tt was a bit of a surprise
tous,” Dover said, “It seems

their competition is almost a
copy of ours.”

But Dover is confident the
Skate Canada field
assembled for the Coliseum
is first-rate.

He said he believes the
new event in England won't
pose any great threat, ad-
ding that each of the 13
countries represented at
Skate Canada this year has
sent at least one of its
national champions.

Skate Canada is an in-
vitational event for selected
countries and hosts top com-
petitors from around the
world to compete against
Canada's top three skaters in
each event,

Canadian skaters such as

Brian Pockar, 18, of Calgary,
the current national men’s
singles champion, will get a
chance to match talents
against world-ranking
skaters like Charles Tickner
of the United States, the
reigning world champion.

“Certainly Charles is the
one to beat,”’ Pockar said in
a recent interview. ‘‘It's
great lo have somebody of
his calibre in this com-
petition.”

The women’s singles field
boasts no world champion
since Linda Fratianne of the
U.S.— reigning world
champion who came first in
Skate Canada last year-~
participated in the meet in
England and will not be able
to attend.

-- Walker's Special Old
~ Rye Whisky

Unique blending.

Patient ageing.
Smooth taste”

“ae

‘That's what makes it Special Old.

“Six of nine teams make
the playoffs,’ Helton said.

“That’s an extremely high
ratio. So if you don't make
it~and you stumble around
for six years not making it—
then it’s got to be looked on
as really critical.”

Forzani saya thai period
could best be described as
years of turmoil.

“] had five different head
eoaches and 15 starting
quarterbacks in my seasons
here," he said.

“And I'll tell you, some of
those coaches were pretly
bad news. We wound up
playing a lot of games that
were a waste of time.

Helton agreed and remem-
bered a game against British
Columbia Lions a few years
ago.

“I don't even know the
name of ihe guy I] was
playing néxt to,” he said.

“He (Bob Martin) came
into town on Friday and
played Saturday. He had no
idea about how our system
worked.”

The wholesale changes
never gave the players a
chance to develop some
stability, Helton said.

“There were a lat of guys
who came in that could have
done the job—given a little
patience—but never got
much of a chance.”

Forzani agreed. ‘Hell, a
Jot of good players that
passed through here wound

up with other CFL teams and °

played good ball.”

But with the Stampeders’
resurrection to the playoffs,
that has all been changed.

“The playoff money
doesn’t mean that mitch to
meand neither does my pass
reception record,”’ Forzani
said.

Just give me the playoffs.
I'd rather have half as many

receptions and be a winner .

than lead the league for a
loser,"

Helton said he would
rather play in another Grey
Cup game than make all-

Canadian, ;
Both players credit head

coach-gereral manager
Jack Gotta for the club’s
resurgence. .

“We've finally got the
right coach now,” Forzani
said.

“We wouldn't have the
personnel here if it weren't
for him.”

Helton, who is on the op-
tion year of his contract and
has not signed a new one,
was more reserved toward
Gotta.

“He obviously must be the
right man because he got us
into the playoffs,” Helton
said.

“A whole Iot of other
coaches who have passed
through here sure couldn't.”

Helton enjoys the
rejuvenated atmosphere
around the Stampeder
dressing room.

“In all those years . of
losing it was just like a
morgue around here—as if
somebody had died,"’ he
said.

“But now we're really
enjoying ourselves. For me
football is fun at 31 again.”

so.

Mike Doug!as, 6’7", is ptaying his seventh season

with the world famous Harlem Clowns.

A fine

player, showman and comic, Mike is one of the

NG SOON TO TERRACE

most popular performers on the exhibition |

basketball circut.

He will be with the Harlem

team when they play here on the night of Nov. 10.

rid

Clowns are full of trick

There's a_ throw-in.
Power-passing. A feint, And

. a clutch shot. Bingo! Right

into the hoop... BUT NOT
THROUGH IT! Somebody's
tightened up the net and the
ball simply hangs there like
a fish out of water.

A foul is called. Two shots.
Players of both teams line
the foul area. The first shot
is signaled, Whoosh goes the
ball, Up fly the players, but
WHERE‘S THE BALL?

It’s back in the hands of the
foulshooter. Whoever heard
of a ball that bounces right
back to the Shooter?

In the first place, who ever
heard of a basketball game
that’s played this way?

Well, when the Harlem
Clowns take the floor in the
focal gymnasium on the date
of Nov. 10 that will be the
NAME OF THE GAME!

Crowds all over the world
that have seen this wacky
basketball team are
unanimous in their opinion
that there is just nothing else

FANCY CTALR’S CHEAP
C[HIS “WEEKEND.

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DAY \

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A

And talk it up while rates
ure down,
Rate does not apply on calls
from hotel, motel or coin
telephones or to some .
Northern points nol served
by B.C. Tel.

(@BCTEL

B.C, Tel's weekend rate is really cheap.

You can dial direct (112) to most places in
B.C. between 6 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m.
Sundhiy for just 35¢ ur less per minute.
(Minimum charge 24¢ a eall.)

Se call someone you faney long distance
thik weekend.

in sports that equals them.
They have been

nicknamed the Court Jesters —

and the Clown Princes of
Hoopdom. Their ball han-
dling routines, lightning like
passes, behind-the -back
handoffs, spontaneous
buffoonery and even age-old
gags which somehow always
seem new, never fail to keep
the fans in an uproar.

Any one of the players
might drive the referee out
of his mind -- especially
when this person suddenly
comes up with his own
whistle and takes over the
officiating.

Then there's the shots
from out in the audience, the
30-footers, the piggy-back
dunk, backwards over the
head... the bounce-in. They

BRILL_NGUW AVETERAN

Feels more professional

WINNIPEG = (CP)
Veteran high jumper Debbie
Brill says that after 10 years
of doing her patented back-
ward roll and more than a
few ups and downs in her
personal life, she’s taking
things more in stride.

“Yes, obviously there's
been a change in my at-
titude,” said Brill, a native
of Haney, B.C., who plans to
take part in an international
indoor track meet here Feb.
1,

“I feel so much more
professional, There are
always new situations that I
have to learn to handle. 1 try
not to let the everyday highs
or lows affect my con-
sistency, but it’s still very
hard

“Before, jumping was
almost like a pastime.””

Brill, at the age of 16 in
1970, became {he first North
American womar—and only
the 11th woman to that date
in history— to clear six feet
in the high jump.

Brill was named Canada’s
top female athlete of the
year in 1971, but the next
year was a troubled one. She
dropped her training
program and spent two
months of that winter living
in a cabin in a backwood
area of British Columbia.

At the last moment, Brill
decided to go out for the 1972
Munich Olympics. She made
the Canadian team but
finished a disappointing
eighth. The young athlete
then withdrew from the sport
spotlight again. Fo pay her
way, she washed dishes and
worked in a fish cannery.

“But, ('m glad! was able
to go through it,” said Brill,
who remained out of com-
petition for two years. “At
ane time, it bothered me
when everyone wanted to

talk about it, But not any
more.”

When she got back on
track, she had — the
satisfaction of raising her
personal best jump to six-
foot-four.

Brill, a silver medallist at
the Commonwealth Games
who will be joined at the
Winnipeg meet by such other
irack figures as world pole
vault champion Steve Tully

sometimes
dribbler will wave his team-

don’t make them every time,
bul enough to amaze and
bring down the house with
thunderous applause.

And the dribbling show --
the Clown

mates off the court and start
dribbling through and
around the opposition,
usually ending up under the
basket and with two points.

of UCLA and Edmonton
pentathlon ace Diane Jones-
Konihowski, said her quick
rise to fame in the 1960s put
her under a lot of pressure,

“Tt was too easy, There
was a wide-open field, and [
just happened tobe in the
right place at the right time.
Suddenly, I was a public
figure, always being wat-
ched. [ developed a different
identity.”

Hargrove on his
way to San Diego’

— First baseman Mike
Hargrove was traded
Wednesday by the American
League Texas Rangers to
San Diego Padres in a major
league baseball deal in-
volving outfielder Oscar
Gamble and three other
players plus cash.

Hargrove, inflelder Kurt
Bevacqua and catcher Bill
Fahey were dealt to the
Padres of the National
League for oulfielder Oscar
Gamble, catcher Dave
Roberts and an estimated
$300,000.

“They probably did a gaod
thing totrade me to the other

league,” sald Hargrove, the -
American League rookie of
the year in 1974. “If they |
hadn't, I'd come in with a .
crowbar, a stick of dynamite
and a shotgun and would
have eaten first base if [had .
to to help beat Texas.”
Hargrove, who batted .251
with seven home runs and 40
runs batted in this past .
season, became the latest :
bargaining chip in the,

wheeling-dealings of team ,

owner Brad Corbett.

Gamble was signed by the ,

‘Padres last winter as a free
agent for a $2.85 million con-
act,

SPORTS BRIEFS

LONDON (AP) — Jimmy
Adamson was named
manager of English First
Division soccer club Leeds
United on Wednesday.

Adainson takes over Leeds

after two years with Sunder-
land. He replaces Jock Stein, :

whe left Leeds after just 45
days to manage the Scotland .

national team.

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