The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 35

Friday. March 23, 1984 Philadelphia Inquirer 9-CN McCants makes good on promise, High capacity electrical system Aerodynamic body and the Stars are reaping returns Ml fw fll III 11 -VV. By Ron Reid Cornering lights Heated seats 15-inch wneeis IT TAKES MORE THAN JUST i tNT-WHHEL DRIVE TO MAKE A Winter throws a lot of challenges at drivers. Maintaining traction on icy roads, which is what front-wheel drive helps with, is only one of them. The Saab is designed to meet all of winter's challenges.

It has a high-capacity electrical system for more reliable cold-weather starts and to power the accessories that make winter bearable. Like Saab's famous heated front seats. Saab's unique cornering lights illuminate a turn for you as you make it, helping you deal with the season's reduced visibility. Its aerodynamic body helps cut through the wind, and 15-inch wheels provide room for big, powerful disc brakes. And, of course, the Saab has front-wheel drive.

Because, even though it isn a greai winier car neeas. the communication between myself and Ireturners Tommy Donovan and David Riley. You want to handle the ball cleanly and not lose the ball once you have it. The yardage is the last concern." McCants' exceptional work thus far was one factor in last Sunday's tactical decision to hit Oakland with a kickoff reverse between him and Garcia Lane. It succeeded in giving the Stars a 22-yard gain, 19 of them by McCants.

"It went very smooth," McCants said, "but I should have scored on the play. I misread one block. We'll put it on the shelf and use it again sometime." Maybe as soon as tomorrow afternoon. McCants, after all, is a man who delivers on his promises. Notes.

As a result of the Jeff Gabrielsen trade, which the Chicago Blitz announced prematurely (before Gabrielsen was given a physical by the club), the Stars' roster now stands at 49, one less than the USFL limit. The empty slot will be filled within a week or two by Vinnie De-Marinis, the linebacker who has been on the injured-reserve list. The Stars received two undisclosed draft choices for Gabrielsen, a 25-year-old linebacker who had been on the their developmental roster. In what may have been the season's most lopsided deal, the Stars received a third- and a sixth-round draft choice from San Antonio for the rights to Billy Campfield, the former Eagles running back who had a brief workout in the Stars' training camp. Shortly after San Antonio agreed to the terms set by Stars general manager Carl Peterson, Campfield practiced two days with the Gunslingers and announced his retirement.

One year ago, the Stars led the USFL takeaway-turnover charts with a plus-35 mark. Today, at minus-9, they rank ahead of only lowly Chicago. The Stars and the Blitz, unsurprisingly, are the only teams in the league that have yet to recover an opponent's fumble. Last year, the Stars recovered 28. Inquirer Stall Writer It probably figured, in an election year, that the biggest surprise on the Stars roster this season would be a player who successfully lobbied for his job.

He is Mark McCants, the Stars' 25-year-old defensive back from Temple who, in delivering on a campaign promise of sorts, has proved to be something special as a special-teams player. This is the first season that McCants has been used as a kickoff return man football's answer to the kamikaze pilot and he has reacted to the role very well. Going into the Stars' battle at Pittsburgh tomorrow, McCants has made seven kickoff returns, one of them a 57-yard beauty, for an average of 26.7 yards. Anything over 20 yards is considered good work. But McCants has suggested repeatedly that he soon would break a big return for large yardage if not a score.

Although he will not leave scorch marks on the turf, McCants leads the USFL's Eastern Conference in returns and ranks third in the league. But that may only be reasonable, since McCants actively started stalking the job months ago, promising the sort of exceptional effort he has delivered. Joe Marciano, the Stars' special teams coach, explained yesterday that, "in the offseason, he always would come up to me and say he wanted a shot at returning kickoffs. So I gave him a shot in training camp." And after McCants turned in an outstanding effort in the Stars' exhibition game with Tampa Bay, the job was his. The decision may have been easy at the time because Allen Harvin, who handled the job last season, was hobbling on an injured ankle.

But McCants has remained the team's kickoff returner on his own merit. "He was hungry for it," Marciano explained. "He's a non-fumbler. He's got a knack for finding the seam. Our returns are designed for him to get great winter car, it sometning winter can De Dy coming in ior LANGHORNE Bob Yates, Inc.

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"I don't think Drew suffered any injuries that will be lasting," said Cowboys coach Tom Landry, who visited Pearson in Presbyterian Hospital after flying in from the National Football League meetings in Hawaii. "His face is bruised and he is still undergoing tests. He should be OK unless they discover something. Of course, he was very hurt about the death of his brother." Later in the day, Presbyterian Hospital spokesman Bill Mays said Pearson, who was listed in satisfactory condition, underwent exploratory surgery to stop internal bleeding. Landry said, "He fell asleep while he was taking his brother home from a basketball trip." Landry and the 33-year-old receiver had talked recently about Pearson's possible retirement.

"We talked about his age and what he might do but we didn't come to any conclusion," Landry said. Police spokesman Ed Spencer said Drew Pearson was driving a vehicle that went onto the shoulder of a Cleveland Cavaliers Mark McCants Making the right decisions behind his blockers, go at three-quarters speed and then, when he sees an opening, to make his burst. At some point, it's his decision, and he's made the right decision every time." "He's done an excellent job on special teams," said Stars head coach Jim Mora. "He's a leader on defense, too. He hasn't played there a lot, but he does play on one of our short-yardage schemes, and I would be confident if he went on for us on defense.

Mark loves to play football. He's surprised me. I didn't think he'd do as great as he's done." Shortly after practice yesterday at Veterans Stadium, McCants was asked about his new job. "It's a lot of fun," he said. "Anytime you get to run the ball, it's exciting and it's a flashback to when I was a tailback in high school." While a kickoff return may look like a case of simple physical reaction, the play is orchestrated around careful planning and no small amount of guile.

"First," McCants said, listing the important items in the art, "there's NFL freeway in north Dallas and smashed into the left rear tires of a rig loaded with steel. Nobody in the truck was hurt. Spencer said the officer making the report said that Pearson was driving a 1984 Dodge Daytona at an unsafe speed and that the truck was parked on the shoulder with its flasher lights on at the time of the accident, about 1:30 a.m. Pearson had a blood-alcohol level of .053, said investigator Hollis Edwards. State law says a person with a level of .10 is legally intoxicated.

Pearson was well within the legal limits of sobriety. Dallas police spokesman Bob Shaw said the fatal accident would be routinely referred to a Dallas County grand Jury. The Pearsons had just returned on a team bus with 14 other Cowboys from Colgate, where some members of the Cowboys team had played in an exhibition basketball game. HONOLULU The National Football League club owners generally are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the United States Football League, Al Davis of the Los Angeles Raiders said. By BEN CALLAWAY and the House Judiciary Committee.

The bills are H.B. 3498, proposed by Rep. Peter A. Rodino Jr. N.J.) and H.B.

2470, by Rep. Marty Russo These would divert excise taxes collected on handgun sales to a crime victims' asistance fund, with great losses to hunter safety and game management programs. The money is now put into the Pittman-Robertson fund and dispersed to state wildlife agencies. Administration-sponsored bills would use other sources to assist crime victims. These include H.B.

5124, by Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr. N.Y.) and S.B. 2423, by Sen. Strom Thurmond S.C.).

The Pittman-Robertson Act, which dates to 1937, created funding from an 11 percent excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition, an 11 percent tax on archery equipment, and a 10 percent tax on handguns. Distribution of wildlife-restoration funds is based on a formula that takes into account the number of license holders and the land area of each state. The money may be used for acquisition and development of wildlife habitat, and research for improving wildlife management. Hunter education funds are distributed according to the states' relative populations. They may be used by state wildlife agencies to conduct programs and to construct, operate and maintain public target ranges.

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Anglers should stop to statements on fishing brother dies "There's tremendous sentiment here that the USFL has certain obstacles to overcome, and there's tremendous sentiment that they won't be able to overcome them," Davis, managing general partner of the Los Angeles Raiders, said during an interview at the owners' meetings. Asked his own feelings about the USFL, Davis, who was commissioner of the American Football League when it merged with the NFL, said: "I'm a great believer that men can dominate events and that they I the USFL) can survive. "As to whether they can prosper, that is questionable." BERKELEY, Calif. The attorney and agent for New York Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau says he will follow his client from stadium to stadium next season and argue with NFL officials every time Gastineau's "sack dance" is penalized under the league's new anti-taunting rule. Lee Steinberg, a Berkeley, attorney, said he thought the new rule was "ridiculous" and would "drain emotion from the game." Steinberg said that instead of changing the rules involving displays of emotion, the NFL should have concerned itself more with "making the game more injury free." The NFL owners banned all forms of taunting for next year at their annual meeting in Honolulu Wednesday with only two dissenting votes.

understand legislation For the 1984 fiscal year, the Pitt man-Robertson Act's total apportion ments were $73 million for wildlife restoration and $15,450,000 for hunt er safety. Pennsylvania received $3,212,294 for wildlife restoration topped only by Alaska and Texas, with Mich igan fourth and California fifth. Pennsylvania's hunter-safety appor tionment was $463,500, a maximum figure also received by 15 other states. New Jersey received $367,187 for wildlife restoration and the maxi mum $463,500 for hunter safety, and Delaware received $365,000 and $154,500, respectively. Fishing reports have been repeti tious in recent weeks low tempera tures and high winds hampering the rod-and-reel harvest.

Inshore, winter flounder in tidal streams and bays should rebound. Shallow water reacts more quickly to temperature changes, and after good early start in last month's false spring, 50-degree readings plunged to the mid-30s. That shut off flatfish production, but there has been some improvement in recent days, and warm weather will make it even bet ter. Whiting fishing has had many more poor days than good ones, with deepwater ling partially compensat ing on some trips for Belmar, Brielle and Point Pleasant hcadboats. James Cooper of Philadelphia took a recent pool on the Dauntless, Point Pleas ant, with a big ling.

The Paramount and Jamaica at Brielle are also fish ing daily, for ling and whiting now, with mackerel expected in early April and blackfish expected to move onto inshore wrecks when water temperatures rise a bit. I'm BASEBALL'S NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS AM SPECIAL This past week, I reported on two pieces of proposed federal legislation that many local coastal anglers find extremely distrubing. One proposal would establish a three-year ban on the taking of any striped bass along the entire Atlantic coast. The other would establish federal licensing of saltwater fishing if individual states did not impose their own. Apparently some readers quickly caught the headlines and gulped down quotations from bill proponents without digesting the entire discussion.

They jumped to the conclusion that the writer had deserted sportsmen by favoring both bills. Longtime readers know better. It is important, however, that anglers know what is in the works, who is pushing the proposals and why they are being pushed. Ignorance of the issues won't help the recreational fisher's cause, and angler input is needed before, not after, congres-' sional action is taken. The controversial legislation involves H.B.

4778, for the saltwater fishing license, and H.B. 4884, for the moratorium on stripers. Another bill, now before the Maryland legislature, proposes a Chesapeake Bay Sport Fishing License. Last year, a similar bill was introduced, but was drowned by a tidal wave of outcry from sportfishing organizations and chambers of commerce. The new Maryland legislation, H.B.

978, is again causing a clamor in Annapolis. The latest attempted raid on sportsmen's funding is found in other congressional legislation, which, was aired yesterday in hearings by the House Ways and Means Committee FEATURING RICH ASHBUffilAND LIVE IN THE DUGOUT AHAI2fSISrTOTH MANAGER PAUL OWENSf'. 'v llpAETSl First televised game Sunday, Llarch li3Qpi.