Curtis To Broadcast UI Game No. 475, With 500 In Sight

Bob Curtis will broadcast his 475th University of Idaho football game on Saturday. He has his eye, but not necessarily his heart, on 500.

“If it comes, great,” Curtis said.

“It’s kind of a goal, but not a huge goal.”

Chances are the 74-year-old Curtis, who has been the full-time Voice of the Vandals since 1958, will hit 500 and just keep going.

“We certainly salute his loyalty to the Vandals and the entire university and we’d like to have Bob be part of the program as long as he’d like to be,” UI athletic director Mike Bohn said.

Saturday will be a first for Curtis, but not the Vandals. They will play North Texas at 6 p.m., following the WSU/Louisiana-Lafayette game at 1 at Martin Stadium.

Back in 1942, Idaho lost to UCLA following a USC-Montana contest in the L.A. Coliseum.

“No,” Curtis said, chuckling, “I didn’t do that game.”

Panhandling

Friday’s Lewiston-Clarkston high school football game had an unfortunate ending and part of the reason is doubly unfortunate.

Lewiston was ahead 28-13 after a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. According to the Lewiston Tribune, the Bengals squib-kicked - Clarkston felt it was an on-side attempt - and recovered with 1:40 left. About a minute later, Lewiston tacked on their fifth TD on a 35-yard touchdown pass by Neil Litchfield. On the kickoff, a Clarkston player went after Litchfield and was flagged for unsportsmanlike behavior.

That’s ugly. But it became downright loathsome when former Lewiston coach Nick Menegas was somehow dragged into the mess.

The Trib reported that Lewiston’s coaching staff and some of their players took offense at Menegas offering pointers to his longtime friend, Clarkston coach Dave Curtis, at an early-season practice. Never mind that Menegas and Curtis have been exchanging ideas since 1987, or that Menegas’ visit had nothing to do with Lewiston’s schemes.

The inference that he was aiding Lewiston’s rival bothered Menegas, who built the Bengals into a power. He was upset to learn he was used as a motivational tool by Lewiston coaches leading up to the Clarkston game. That’s no way to treat the finest prep coach I’ve seen in my decade here.

* One of the more amazing athletes I’ve covered in North Idaho is former Vandal Mark Schlereth, a Denver Broncos offensive lineman who has undergone 25 surgeries. He recently took on Tampa Bay’s Warren Sapp with no feeling in his foot. A back injury had caused a nerve to go haywire.

Fed up by an 0-3 start, Schlereth spoke to his teammates last Wednesday. “I was trying to help with a little sense of urgency,” said Schlereth, who has three Super Bowl rings. Despite his noble intentions, the Broncos lost to the Jets on Sunday.

Schlereth, 33, isn’t sure if this season will be his last. “If I feel good, then I’ll play,” he said. His definition of feeling good is probably a little different than yours or mine. So is his incredible tolerance of pain.

* Wayne Sevier, Kellogg High’s football coach in the late 1970s, died Saturday of a heart attack while watching his grandson play in a football game in San Diego. He was 58.

Sevier was a special-teams coach in the NFL for 20 years, including part of last season with San Diego. He also coached with the Rams, Cardinals, Falcons and Redskins, where he went to three Super Bowls.

He lived in Coeur d’Alene and was a regular at Pinehurst Golf course.

* Former Idaho volleyball coach Tom Hilbert has Colorado State’s program on the rise. The unbeaten Rams have a school-record 14-game winning streak and they’re ranked No. 15, their highest since 1987.

Hilbert, who attended the Idaho-Wyoming football game on Saturday, is recruiting Coeur d’Alene standout Katie Jo Shirley.

Grad school

Former University of Idaho basketball player Otis Livingston is making a name for himself in television. He’s the weekend sports anchor at WWOR-TV, a UPN affiliate, in New York. He previously worked at WPHL in Philadelphia.

The ‘93 UI grad set a single-season assists record of 262 in ‘90 that no Vandal has come close to breaking.

Front row

This isn’t a premier football weekend in these parts.

Best of the preps is Moscow visiting Border League kingpin Lake City on Friday at 7.

Idaho begins defense of its Big West Conference title when it takes on North Texas in the nightcap (6 p.m.) of a doubleheader at Martin Stadium. Washington State entertains Louisiana-Lafayette at 1.

Rumor du jour

Dennis Erickson, who beat feet when he left Wyoming for Washington State in 1987, isn’t eager to go back to Laramie.

Oregon State, Erickson’s new address, is in the process of pulling out of a home-and-home series with Wyoming in favor of Kansas. Wyoming fans are still ticked Erickson never returned to Laramie to tell his players he was leaving for WSU.