THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 30, 1995 TAG: 9501300223
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: SUPER BOWL NOTES
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
AT QUARTERBACK FOR THE 49ERS, FROM WILLIAM AND MARY, STEVE YOUNG ...
It could have happened.
Ralph Friedgen, offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers, was an assistant at William and Mary when Young was a senior at Greenwich High School in Connecticut.
Young played in an option system. His pure passing ability hadn't been discovered. He wasn't flooded with college offers. Friedgen had begun recruiting him and the early dialogue was positive.
``There was some interest,'' Friedgen said. ``I was getting ready to go there for a visit when their coach phoned me. `You're welcome to come up for a visit, but you need to know that Steve is a direct descendant of Brigham Young.'
``I heard that and I said, `Forget it.' Funny thing, I was concerned if he could pass well enough to fit into our system. Shows what I know.''
Young, a great-great-great-great grandson of Brigham Young, attended the Utah university his ancestor founded, and twice was an All-American.
THE 11 PERCENT SOLUTION: The Chargers keep a chart every game in which they note dropped passes, turnovers and missed assignments. When the game's over, they divide that into the number of plays their offense ran that day. If it comes out to 11 percent or less, they consider it a successful game.
Why 11 percent?
``I don't know,'' Friedgen said. ``I guess because we've been at 12 percent and lost.''
The Chargers's best score this season was three percent.
SICK JERRY? 49ers receiver Jerry Rice became ill with flu-like symptoms hours before the Super Bowl, but underwent treatment and played the Super Bowl. He certainly didn't show much ill effect, catching 10 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns.
Team spokesman Rodney Knox said Rice, the Super Bowl MVP in 1989, had not missed any practice time during the weekend and was being treated with cold medications and was drinking plenty of fluids.
IF GEORGE WERE A TREE: He'd be the biggest, strongest, most gracious in the yard. That's the opinion of 49ers president Carmen Policy.
``He's like a big tree, its branches long and wide,'' Policy said when asked to evaluate his coach's performance this season. ``When you walk past it every day, you don't say, `This is a big, beautiful, strong tree.' But then one day you stop and look, and you can't believe the beauty you've been missing.''
SOME HALFTIME SPEECH: Bobby Ross was coach of Maryland's football team the day the Terps came from a 31-0 halftime deficit against Miami to win, 42-40.
You must have given some kind of halftime talk to inspire college football's largest comeback ever.
``Not really,'' Ross replied. ``I really didn't say much at all. I just told them, `It's 31-0. Don't expect to go out on any dates when we get home tonight. Forget your girlfriends. You owe me a 40-yard dash for every point you've given up.' ''
PUTTING HIS MOUTH WHERE THE MONEY IS: Think it was tough for California governor Pete Wilson to choose between the Chargers and the 49ers Sunday? Guess again. Wilson made no bones about supporting San Diego.
One, he was mayor there for 12 years.
Two, Chargers owner Alex Spanos gave the Wilson Re-Election Campaign $195,000 last year, while 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, Jr., contributed $28,000 to Democratic rival Diane Feinstein's 1990 campaign.
SUPER BET: A gambler in Las Vegas bet $2.4 million on the San Francisco 49ers to win the Super Bowl, more than double the known record wager at a sports book.
The unidentified man walked into The Mirage on Saturday and bet on the money line, where there's no point spread. The bettor laid 8-1 odds, meaning he won $300,000 and got back his $2.4 million.
Previously, the biggest bet at a sports book was $1 million by Las Vegas casino owner Bob Stupak on the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1989 Super Bowl.
The underdog Bengals lost but covered the spread, allowing Stupak to win his wager at Little Caesars sports book, which has since closed in Las Vegas.
BOBBY'S SEVENTH: San Diego Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard was in his seventh Super Bowl with his fourth team.
The Beathard ledger:
Washington Redskins: general manager for '83, '84 and '87 Super Bowl teams (2-1)
Miami Dolphins: Director of player personnel for '73 and '74 Super Bowl teams (2-0).
Kansas City Chiefs: Scout for first Super Bowl in '67 (0-1).
SCORING ISN'T EVERYTHING: By scoring 505 points, the 49ers not only led the league but the total was the fourth highest in NFL history. However, the teams that scored more points didn't win the Super Bowl.
Those teams were the '83 Redskins (541), '84 Dolphins (513) and the '61 Houston Oilers (513). The Redskins lost to the Raiders in the '84 Super Bowl, the Dolphins lost to the 49ers in the '85 Super Bowl and there was no Super Bowl in '61.
BILLS PRESENCE: The Buffalo Bills weren't back, but it sure seemed that way all week. Among the Bills spotted in Miami this week were coach Marv Levy, quarterback Jim Kelly, defensive stars Cornelius Bennett and Bruce Smith and running back Thurman Thomas.
SUPER SUPPLIES: To televise the game, ABC used 105,600 feet of camera and microphone wire, 200 crew members, 50 microphones, 27 cameras, 20 videotape machines, 11 announcers and fwo blimps with cameras.
HERE AND THERE: According to some, Sid Gillman coached the best Chargers team ever, the 1963 team that demolished the Boston Patriots, 51-10, in the AFL championship game. There was no Super Bowl then, though Gillman attempted to start one with a letter to NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle asking that his team and the NFL champion Chicago Bears clash. Gillman, now 83, has watched the 49ers and is awed by them. ``They're a machine,'' he said. ``I've never seen anything quite like them offensively. I don't know how anybody can stop them.''. ... Reserve receiver Johnnie Barnes of Suffolk was not activated for the game by the Chargers. MEMO: Virginian-Pilot wire services contributed to this report.Virginian-Pilot
wire services contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Bobby Ross made the most effective halftime speech of all time in
college football. But San Francisco jammed his circuits Sunday.
by CNB