Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994 TAG: 9404240215
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HAL BOCK ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
More than any other president, Nixon, who died Friday night at the age of 81, was fascinated by sports and sportsmen. And he frequently became involved - as a fan, as a friend and as a decision-maker.
When he was vice president in 1959, Nixon confided to a group of football writers that if he ever left politics, there was nothing he'd rather do than write sports.
Ten years later, six months after becoming president, he hadn't changed his mind, saying exactly the same thing to a group of baseball writers who were at the White House for a reception commemorating the 100th anniversary of the major leagues.
Nixon never made it to the press box, but he was a frequent visitor to the ballpark, where he often threw out first pitches, first as a vice-presidential pinch hitter for President Dwight Eisenhower during the early '50s and later during his administration as president.
When a nine-day strike disrupted the start of the 1972 baseball season, Nixon stepped in, ordering federal mediation to settle the dispute. That action caught the attention of the owners, and after Watergate brought down his administration, Nixon was considered a candidate for commissioner when Bowie Kuhn failed to win re-election in 1982.
Had baseball decided it needed a Washington insider at the time, Nixon might have gotten the job. Instead, the owners elected businessman Peter Ueberroth.
That hardly soured Nixon on the sport. After settling in New Jersey, he often visited Yankee Stadium for baseball games, sitting with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, an old friend. In 1974, at the height of the Watergate scandal, Steinbrenner was suspended by Kuhn after pleading guilty to making illegal contributions to the president's re-election campaign.
On Saturday, a number of baseball teams, including the Yankees, observed a moment of silence in Nixon's memory.
Nixon followed football just as closely as he did baseball. In 1969, he watched Texas defeat Arkansas and proclaimed the Longhorns No. 1, a move that rankled Penn State coach Joe Paterno, whose Nittany Lions finished 11-0 and No. 2. "How come he knew so much about college football and so little about Watergate?" asked Paterno, a lifelong Republican.
In 1959, while still vice president, Nixon received the first lifetime pass ever issued by the NFL. He is perhaps best remembered, however, for offering plays from the White House to old pal George Allen when Allen coached the Washington Redskins.
"My father and the president went back to Whittier College," Gov. George Allen recalled Saturday. Nixon was a little-used lineman - he failed to letter - at Whittier during the '30s and an interested alumnus when Allen coached the small California's school's team from 1951-56. They were reunited when Allen arrived in Washington to coach the Redskins.
"The president often came to Redskins Park when my father coached Washington," Gov. Allen said. "They talked a lot."
Among the things they discussed was the Redskins' offense. "Dad was using [running back] Larry Brown all the time," the governor said. "The president suggested a reverse for [wide receiver] Roy Jefferson."
Allen, always open-minded, plugged in the play for a playoff game against San Francisco. It went for a big loss. Another time, Allen used a screen pass suggested by Nixon and it misfired. The failures did not disturb the relationship between the coach and the president, though.
"After the 'Skins beat Dallas Dec. 31, 1972, to win the NFC championship, D.C. went wild," Gov. Allen said. "It was the first championship in decades. The next morning, we were all invited to the White House.
"The president pulled out a football that my father had the team sign for him when he coached the Los Angeles Rams. I remember him pointing out Tony Guillory, a special-teams player. He knew Guillory's college, his uniform number, everything. This wasn't Roman Gabriel, or Deacon Jones, or Merlin Olsen. This was a special-teams player, who once blocked a punt against Green Bay. But the president knew who he was.
"That showed the depth of his interest in football. He didn't watch only in the playoffs or the championships. If he suggested a play, it didn't come off the back of some cereal box."
Nixon's home in New Jersey was only a half-hour from Giants Stadium and he regularly attended games there. On one bitterly cold day in 1990, he sat with a number of the players' wives.
"We offered him an enclosed box, but he turned it down," said Tom Power, director of administration for the Giants. "He said he felt closer to the action sitting with the wives."
by CNB