St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 20

3MAR1589Bi2 Sunday, March 15, 1998 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Section One of the greats Pack's Nitschke was something Hi 9 Iwka IMMT. A 1 Team effort helps as Hughes pushes Bills over the top SLU 51, UMass 46 had only one basket in the first half. He often looked tired. "I'd like to thank my teammates for being there for me and keeping us in the game," Hughes said.

Cobbin scored 11 points in the first half. Luechtefeld scored only three points, but he took three charges, had six rebounds and joined freshmen big men Baniak and Chris Heinrich in playing excellent defensively against UMass behemoths Tyrone Weeks and Lari Ketner. Jamall Walker, a point guard, scored only two points, but he contributed some of the biggest plays including back-to-back game-making defen-i sive stops down the stretch and had five assists with only one turnover. They've played in Hughes' shadow all season. And rightly so, of course.

"We don't ever get jealous of Larry," Luechtefeld said. "Not ever. Not from the first day. I don't really know why that is." Maybe because all the other Billikens gave SLU a chance to win Friday. But Hughes put them over the top with a closing five-minute flourish that left the seventh-seed-1 ed Minutemen awestruck.

He scored nine of his 18 points in those final minutes, the only SLU points after UMass had taken a 44-42 lead. Hughes hit a 3-pointer over defender Chris Kirkland. After a steal by Walker, Hughes ran up-; court with him, took a pass from Walker and capped the dash with a dunk that broke Anthony Bonner's school record of 654 points In a single season. Charlton Clarke easily dribbled around Hughes for a 16-footer that showed how tired Hughes wajs. "I should have taken him out earlier," SLU coach Charlie Spoonhour said.

Hughes went to the bench for 22 seconds of game time and two' timeouts. Apparently refreshed when he returned, Hughes hit a short jumper for a 49-46 lead with VA minutes remaining and made jaws drop with a fadeaway 12i footer that made defender Mike Babul look useless. 1 See SLU, Page Fl4 BymdkeEisenbath Of the Post-Dispatch ATLANTA Freshman Larry Hughes has been ballyhooed all season. And ultimately, he was ballyhood again Friday. But St Louis University showed Massachusetts, and a rapt college basketball world, that the entire team isn't so bad, either, as the Billikens turned in a 51-46 upset victory in the South Regional at the Georgia Dome.

It was only the third NCAA Tourney victory for SLU, seeded 10th in the South. The Bills (22-10) will face second-seeded Kentucky (30-4) in a second-round game at 1:30 p.m. (St. Louis time) Sunday. "It's going to be a tough game," said SLU's Matt Baniak, also a freshman.

"I'm looking forward to it," said Ryan Luechtefeld, a junior. Hughes, destined for a pro basketball future, faces a future filled with games as big as Sunday's. For the other Billikens, many of whom came into this season bearing the wounds of last year's 11-18 record, Friday's victory was one to savor giddily and Sunday's game one to anticipate with a smile. "We already knew we had a good team and not just a great player," said Virgel Cobbin, a junior. "But when I looked up at the scoreboard at the end of the game and saw St.

Louis against UMass, and I saw St. Louis was the winning team on there, I realized it for sure that we actually are a pretty good team. "Everyone else has to realize that, too." Not just a great player. Hughes 1 i very special 1 BYBOBBROEG Post-Dispatch Contributing Sports Editor When Ray Nitschke recently died unexpectedly at 61, the mind's eye caught the bigger-than-life photo of the great linebacker at a museum in Boca Raton, Florida. That was Nitsche's winter-home state.

And his death also brought to mind the warm heart of many in the ask-no-quarter-and-give-none game. Just last week, I'd viewed that handsome color photo of the Bald Eagle from Green Bay, a great 'backer for the University of Illinois and a defensive stalwart for Vince Lombardi's great Packer teams. Those Packers won five National Football League titles and the first two Super Bowls. All of the above helped put famed "66" on the NFL's 75-year All-Time team and, likely, will combine to list Nitschke and fellow Illini Dick Butkus as linebackers for the century team in 2000. Nitschke's fierce play at Green Bay for 14 years won a warm spot with Lombardi just as it had from Ray Eliot at Illinois.

Chances are that the eloquent Eliot, an emotional man, and the volatile Lombardi would have some of the surprising tenderness discovered from George Halas in a letter at the Sports Immortals museum. (In a necessary aside, Sports Immortals, owned and operated by Joel Piatt, is an exciting display of museum-and-memorabilia mart even if you don't buy. The location is 6830 North Federal Highway, Boca Raton, Fla. 33487.) (Piatt, seriously ill at age 4, was given his first sports souvenir, launching a lifetime of seek-and-search, producing a rare collection. A former Pittsburgh-area entrepreneur, Piatt, 58, now dreams of finding a home for a giant complex.) Sports 'Immortals includes many things, among them ring jackets worn by Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali, a baseball from 1865 and another signed by Adrian "Cap" Anson, the first 3000-hit player; a signed ball from the Hall of Fame's first induction class in 1939; Jim Thorpe's Olympic scrapbook and Bronko Nagurski's last helmet.

A letter Halas wrote to former quarterback Sid Luckman came to mind when Nitschke died. For all of the guts and gusto with which football is played, especially in the pros, there's an incredible softhearted attachment. Papa Bear Halas was jut-jawed and that spirit was reflected in that determined chin. As an end too light at Illinois, as a contributor to the birth of the NFL, as a Yankee outfielder who tripled off Walter Johnson, as player and then longtime coach of the team he owned, Halas was a spirited competitor, as famous as the team he developed the Chicago Bears. Of the many teams that won for him, the prize was the Monsters of the Midway in 1940.

Beaten two weeks previously by the eastern champion Washington Redskins, Halas and his western kingpins were labeled "crybabies" by 'Skins owner George Preston Marshall. In the title game, the Bears battered Washington, 73-0. (That's right, 73-0.) They did it with speed, power and passing proficiency. Luckman of Columbia University, threw five touchdown passes and also intercepted two. Luckman, highly successful in Chicago business, attended Halas daily at a hospital shortly before George died in October 1985, at 88.

Papa Bear dictated to him a letter mat must be read in full: "My dear Sid: 'I love you with all my "When I said that to you tonight as I kissed you, I realized 44 wonderful years of memory were served up by seven words. boy, my pride in you has no bonds. You were the consummate player. Remember our word? Every time I said it to you, you took me to the championship. You added a luster to my life that can never tarnish.

"My devoted friend, you have a spot in my heart no one can ever claim. God bless you and keep you, my son. "I love you with all my heart" Doubtless, Eliot and Lombardi would love Ray Nitschke similarly. he-men can cry, too. ft- Ul iL i DtUP VlSHWANAT POST-DISPATCH SLU's Larry Hughes shoots over Massachusetts' Tyrone Weeks (right) and Chris Kirkland during first-round action of the NCAA Tournament Friday.

Cards' Hall of Famers inspire players at spring training Hull credits Quenneville with Blues' success 1 1 The Associated Press JUPITER, Fla. Almost two decades after Lou Brock stole the last of his 938 bases and 23 years after Bob Gibson threw his last fastball, the two St. Louis Cardinals greats are suiting up with nothing in particular to do during spring training. Nothing, that is, except be themselves and perhaps remind the current roster of the franchise's proud history. "Just their presence in camp, I think it's a connection to the past," general manager Walt Jocketty said.

"Hopefully, guys can relate to what these guys did and how important they are to this organization. "These guys were some of the best in the history of the game." The 62-year-old Gibson was one of the most dominating and intimidating pitchers of all time, with 251 victories and more than 3,000 strikeouts from 1959-75. And he still says he'd plunk his grandmother if she crowded the plate. Gibson is a walking storehouse of knowledge largely untapped by today's pitchers. He doesn't want to undermine pitching coach Dave Duncan, so he hangs around a lot, visits with media, talks to fans and waits for any players to come to him for advice.

The 58-year-old Brock, who like Gibson has been a special instructor with the team for three seasons, also offers his wisdom. "I really don't work with any of them, I'm just available," said Brock, baseball's career stolen-base champion before Rickey ASSOCIATED PRESS. autographs prior to a spring train-; Former Cardinal Lou Brock signs By Dave Luecking Qf the Post-Dispatch When asked to divulge the secret to the Blues' success this season, star winger Brett Hull pointed to the office door of coach Joel Quenneville. "It starts in that room," he said. "If you could bottle what Joel does, there'd be a lot of great teams out there." And what does Quenneville do that's so special? "Coach," Hull said.

"It's unbelievable what he does." Quenneville is the anti-thesis of former Blues coach Mike Keenan, which probably explains why Hull likes him so much. Quenneville and Keenan are as different as day and night. Whereas Keenan played mind games and demeaned players, Coach takes the direct approach and gives players constructive criticism. Whereas Keenan's practices were essentially 30-minute conditioning skates, Quenneville's practices include a lot of instruction and are brisk enough to keep the players interested. Whereas Keenan sometimes went mute behind the bench during games, forcing players to make their own line changes, Quenneville constantly communicates with the players and controls the bench.

"Everybody loves to play for the guy because he knows how to treat ,1 Dhjp VlSHWNMT POST-DISPATCH Blues coach Joel Quenneville's direct approach has led to this season's success, star winger Brett Hull says. people," Hull said. "He's not a real talker, but when he has something to say, he says it He goes right to the point. He doesn't beat around the bush. He tells you what he wants done and how he wants it done, and you just go and do it.

"Joel knows what the game is about in the 1990s, well, almost the 2000s. It's a different game than it used to be. Take me for example. I sure don't score 86, maybe not even 50, anymore, but there are other parts of the game. There's something else to feel good about in the game, and that's what he gives me." Hull leads the Blues with 24 goals and 54 points in 51 games, but he's gotten his plus-minus rating back to even after being minus 8 at his low point this season, on Dec.

14. See BLUES, Page F14 ing game. Henderson broke the record. "They see your name and number and it's symbolic of what they want to do. It's what we did." But there are the stretches of nothingness where it must cross the minds of these proud men that getting suited up is an exercise in foolishness.

At least a third Cardinals Hall of Famer, longtime coach Red Schoendienst, stays busy hitting fly balls during practice. "Does it get boring? It gets real boring," Gibson said with a shrug. "But that's what I get paid to do." Kent Mercker, a pitcher who has no trouble appreciating baseball history, is one player who went to Gibson for advice. Merck er said he'll always remember one day when he was with Atlanta and had a casual conversation with an' aging batting practice pitcher whd turned out to be Sandy Koufax. "I'm like, 'That guy looks familiar.

Was he a coach in the Braves' system or Mercker; said. "He walked away and I saw 'FAX' on the back of his jersey. I say to myself: 'You Will you sign my ice bag?" Or the time he met Hank Aaron. "I couldn't talk," Mercker said. "One day here, Frank Robinson spoke and it was like Then See CARDS, Page F14.