
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 3, 1990                   TAG: 9007030141
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FOOTBALL MOSCOW PLAYERS GETTING HANDLE ON THE GAME

A few hours before the Moscow Bears played the first game involving a Soviet team on American soil, coach John Ralston still was explaining to his players how to suit up in full pads.

"Don't forget, you need your thigh pads, your knee pads and your elbow pads. You don't want to land on that AstroTurf without your elbow pads," Ralston told the 39 players on the Soviet national championship team in a meeting before their exhibition game Monday with the minor-league Tacoma (Wash.) Express.

For the past eight weeks, Ralston, the former coach of the Denver Broncos, has been attempting to mold a group of Soviet rugby players, shot-putters, javelin throwers and decathletes into a professional football team.

The team is playing four exhibition games in the United States. Besides Tacoma, the team is scheduled to play in Fresno, Calif.; Oklahoma City and Macon, Ga., with a possible game in Charlotte, N.C.

by CNB