THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512030201
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
No matter what happens to the Washington Redskins today at Texas Stadium, safety Keith Taylor will consider it a good weekend.
A few weeks ago, 8-year-old Avril Terry of North Dallas spotted a small gleam of gold while walking down a Texas Stadium ramp after the 49ers trounced the Dallas Cowboys.
She thought it was a candy wrapper. Turns out it was a 1984 sapphire-and-diamond Rose Bowl championship ring belonging to Taylor, who backs up James Washington in the Redskins' secondary.
How'd it get there? You may have heard of Taylor's older brother John, who plays some wide receiver for the 49ers. John Taylor invited his father, also named John, to attend the Cowboys-49ers game. He did, and brought Keith's ring, which he had been given. He thought the ring was in his pocket.
Terry, a third-grader at the Episcopal School of Dallas, located the ring's rightful owner with some - but not a lot - of help from her school. Terry's teacher, Linda McSwain, sent her to the library to find who owned the keepsake.
The ring came with many clues. It says: ``BIG TEN CHAMPIONS - ROSE BOWL 1984.'' It has an orange Fighting Illini helmet on the side. It even shows a last name, ``TAYLOR.''
Librarian Bonnie Tolleffson and assistant Mary Margaret Underklofler suggested books to look up and places to call. But they let Terry do the talking.
She called the University of Illinois Alumni Association. The group's last contact for Taylor was with the New Orleans Saints. When she found that he had left the Saints, the librarians called several NFL associations. They got a number for Taylor's agent and Terry called.
Saturday night, Terry met Taylor at the Redskins' hotel, gave him the ring and received four tickets in return. Taylor was even contemplating buying Terry an early Christmas present to express his appreciation.
``Somebody else might have picked it up and said, `Oh, I'll keep it,' or, `I'll take it to a pawn shop,' '' Taylor said. ``With all the problems we have in the world and with kids today, to meet somebody that nice and that honest is just unbelievable. It just reflects on how her parents are raising her.''
Terry says it wasn't anything special that led her to return the ring to its rightful owner rather than keep it herself.
``It was a Rose Bowl ring, and it had to be something really important to somebody,'' she said. ``They would really want it back.''
HUDDLING WITH ... Panthers quarterback Kerry Collins:
What sort of advice did people give you heading into this, your rookie, season?
A lot of people said it wouldn't just be the physical part of it, it's the mental toughness you have to have when you're a quarterback. I can definitely see where they were coming from because it really challenges you mentally.
Everything seems to go in stages. After the first Saints game (when he had 48 yards passing in a 20-3 win), I was like, ``Oh man, this is rough.'' My confidence was a little low, a little shaken.
Then you come out of that for a while before you hit another stretch just like that. There are tremendous ups and downs.
You've survived your other previous low point of the season, the six-turnover game against St. Louis. Now there's another, your four-interception performance last Sunday against New Orleans.
I'm glad I didn't just go in the tank either of those times,'' he said. ``It would have been real easy to do. You really have to focus in on what you're doing, what's important and go from there.
This week is a tough one. It's a little harder to take than before. It was in front of a national TV audience and we'd already beaten the Saints. It's a bunch of things. But what are you going to do? You can't just lay down. We've got to come back and tee it up again this week.
You've already established yourself as a feisty competitor. You were angry last week that even though you slid at the end of a scramble against the Saints, you were speared by a New Orleans player. Has that changed your feelings about how to make that play in the future?
What good does it do for me to slide if I'm going to get killed anyway? I may as well go in there with my head first, protecting myself. I'd rather deliver the blow than take one.
AIKMAN FOR THE DEFENSE: Believe it or not, after the Cowboys lost to the 49ers in a game in which quarterback Troy Aikman suffered a sprained knee, one national magazine reported that Aikman did not even wait until the game was over before leaving the stadium. Other people, mostly in private, have questioned Aikman's toughness and his desire to play when hurt.
Aikman isn't about to let them get away with that criticism.
``One thing you can't argue, one thing I've proven over seven years, is the fact that I want to play every snap in every ballgame,'' he said last week. ``I want to play when we've been losing. I want to play when we've been winning. And I've put myself physically at risk on several occasions to be out on the field, and the one thing that I've never done is sit back and collected a paycheck. For anybody to imply that, in particular people who've been around for those years, I think is a terrible injustice.''
BLUE DARTS: Giants management has met to discuss the future of coach Dan Reeves. Wellington Mara and Bob Tisch, the co-owners, as well as general manager George Young talked about what to do with their head coach. Several people close to the situation had this to say: Unless there is a dramatic turnaround both in Reeves' attitude and the Giants' record - two things that at this point could be hard to reverse - the Giants will ask Reeves to step down at the end of the year. If Reeves goes, and it's hard to see how he can't, look for at least a few of these unrestricted free agents to bolt, too - Dave Brown, Rodney Hampton, Jumbo Elliott, Howard Cross, Mike Sherrard, Chris Calloway and Arthur Marshall on offense; Michael Brooks, Phillippi Sparks, Mike Croel and Stacey Dillard on defense, plus punter Mike Horan. ... When the Jets signed Kenyon Rasheed last week, the former Giants fullback became the 33rd player to wear both teams' colors. He was living in New York while waiting to be signed and admits, ``I watched the Jets and Giants every Sunday, back to back. I must admit I fell asleep a couple of times.'' ... Packers quarterback Brett Favre is 11-0 in games where the temperature is near or below freezing. ``I can't explain it because I sure hate it,'' says Favre. ``If we're not playing, I'm inside.'' ... Bears quarterback Erik Kramer's two touchdown passes against the Giants moved him to within two of tying the team record of 28 TD passes in a season set by Sid Luckman in 1943. ... When Keith Byars snared a pass from Dan Marino late in the first half of a Miami touchdown drive against the Indianapolis Colts, it kept alive a remarkable streak. Byars, the only back in NFL history to catch a pass in 100 consecutive games, has the sixth-longest reception streak in league history at 124 games. Art Monk has the league record of 180. He can extend that streak today with a catch now that he is with the Eagles. Byars began the streak Nov. 1, 1987, against the St. Louis Cardinals and needs to catch passes in his next three games to tie Harold Carmichael for fifth place on the all-time list. by CNB