Quick Kicks
Gone but not forgotten
A moment of silence in memory of Pete Rozelle was observed at all 14 NFL games Sunday.
Fox Television began its games with a short tribute to Rozelle, using a montage of photographs beginning from the time he was elected commissioner at age 33 to his teary retirement.
ESPN signed off its NFL highlights show with a tribute to Rozelle.
And the network’s Joe Theismann said during the Sunday night Vikings-Lions game:
“We probably wouldn’t be sitting here today were it not for Pete Rozelle and his vision.”
Another one bites the dust
Barry Sanders, with his second carry Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, replaced John Riggins as the seventh leading rusher in NFL history.
Sanders, who started the game with 11,338 yards, rushed for 12 yards on Detroit’s first play from scrimmage, then ripped off a 10-yard gain on the Lions’ second play. That moved him ahead of Riggins, who gained 11,352 during his NFL career.
Sanders finished with 134 yards for the game giving him 11,472 overall, just 16 yards behind Kansas City’s Marcus Allen.
Hey, aren’t you …?
People have asked 49-year-old Jim Oelstrom for his autograph, bought him free drinks, followed him around and even whispered about his presence.
That’s life for a guy who looks like Green Bay Packers coach Mike Holmgren.
“The guy at the bank asked me how I like looking like Mike Holmgren,” Oelstrom said. “I said it’s all right as long as we win. If we start losing, then what will happen?”
From restaurants to airplanes to banks to the school lunch room, Oelstrom frequently is misidentified as the 48-year-old Holmgren. But he said being mistaken for the most popular Packers coach since Vince Lombardi is no heavy burden.
“It’s fun. It’s cute. It’s funny, is what it is. Nobody’s really bothered me. We have a light time of it,” he said.
A gentle giant
They say you don’t get much glory when you play center. You hike the ball and you block the other guys from trying to steamroll your quarterback.
Ray Mansfield, the Kennewick boy who made good in the National Football League, died last month at age 55 of a heart attack during a strenuous hike in the Grand Canyon.
Friends, relatives and admirers filled a room one recent Saturday at Kennewick’s Lampson Building, paying tribute to a man they remembered as the gentlest man ever to make like an immovable object.
“He was a wall coming at you, but he had the sensitivity of a hummingbird,” said Gary “Buck” Meier of Kennewick, one of his teammates from the 1959 Kennewick Lions. Meier remembers that Mansfield lettered in everything Kennewick High School had to offer, but told him, “You know what, Buck, if I could dance as well as you, I’d really be happy.”
Mansfield probably was the most successful athlete to emerge from the Tri-Cities. He picked up a Rose Bowl ring in 1961 with the University of Washington, and last year was named to the Husky Hall of Fame. He earned Super Bowl rings in 1975 and 1976 with the Pittsburgh Steelers with whom he played 13 seasons. He holds their record for the number of consecutive games played - 182.
, DataTimes