The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 20

PAGE 20 -V mmm ifflittiritfmiiir-J Skip Walker was beat up As fi fVW flX Vs'v refuse 1 despite sloppy start By Scott Abbott MONTREAL Two losses to start-'the regular season aren't cause for 'i'panic in the camp; of Montreal vAlouettes. At least that was the public "position yesterday of players and general manager Bob Geary. just weren't that sharp Geary said of the defending -Eastern champions' 19-8 Canadian Football League defeat the Stampeders at Calgary on Tuesday night. Interceptions costly Joe (Barnes) had trouble finding receivers, but he was getting some pressure too," Geary said of the starting quarterback. Barnes completed 16 of 26 pass -attempts for 194 yards, but threw two damaging interceptions.

John Palazeti "returned the first 57 yards for a Calgary touchdown, v'- "We can't be too concerned yet," Xeary said. "We're still a good foot-; ball team. i- "(Running back) David Green missed training camp, and so did (tackle) Dan Yochum. We've had some people hurt, but we have to get back together. We're not ready to push the panic button yet." Green carried 16 times for 58 yards, on.

this play but was impressive but running mate Skip Walker was Montreal's leading offensive figure with 94 yards on five rushes and eight pass receptions for 86 yards. "I'm not worried about our team," said Walker. "I feel we have the personnel to pick ourselves up. Right now our running game is pretty good and our passing game can Walker, released by' the Alouettes after training camp last year, had a stint with Saskatchewan Roughriders and returned to Montreal this pre-sea--son when Green sat out training camp in a contract dispute. Without Green's absence, Walker likely wouldn't have had another shot with the Alouettes, but he has shown well.

"I enjoy this type of ball because it giv me a chance to use my speed and hands," Walker said of the CFL. The elusive broken field runner fumbled the ball near the Calgary goal line after a long gain Tuesday night. A converted touchdown would have brought the Alouettes within a point, and Walker said he thought he had scored before fumbling the ball, ultimately recovered by the Stampeders in their end zone. "I have to put that out of my mind," said Walker. "I thought I had scored, but you can't do anything about it." Film of the play showed Walker lost The past few years the Oilers and Steelers have maintained one of the National Football League's fiercest rivalries and biggest mutual admiration society.

Craig Bradshaw has no qualms about being on the right end of that rivalry and he dismisses the notion that he'd rather be in Pittsburgh. "No. No way. There's just no way," he said. "Could you imagine that two Bradshaws on the same team? I just don't think I could do that." Developed slowly Craig made that mistake once, following his older brother to Ruston, where Terry had starred at Louisiana Tech before the Steelers drafted him No.

1. "I just didn't develop as a quarterback as fast as everyone would have liked," he said. After a year, the young quarterback left Ruston to attend Utah State at Logan. "Once I got on the field at Utah, I Motta an trim to We glad he's not a Steeleir SAN ANGELO, Texas (UPI) Craig Bradshaw, red-headed brother of the Pittsburgh Steelers veteran quarterback, is aware of the Steel City's sports reputation for family, but he's glad big brother Terry is far away. just can't think of trying to live up to what Terry has done," the six-foot-five, 215-pound Houston Oilers rookie said at training camp.

"People can compare us all they want. I don't care. I just can't let them bother me. 1 have to come out here and make this football team like everybody else. And right now that is my primary goal," said the Oilers' seventh-round pick from Utah State.

was really happy when I heard I was drafted by the Oilers. In fact, if 1 had had a choice, this is the team I have chosen. This is a great team, and the relationship that Terry and Bum (Phillips, Houston coach) have had has been really great." Dallas signs 'DALLAS (UPI) Former Washington Bullets eoach Dick Motta will be the first coach of the National Basketball As-'sociation's Dallas Maver- icks expansion franchise. towner Don Carter, gener- al manager Norm Sonju, 'Vice president Doug Adkins 1 and personnel director Rick Sund met Tuesday to dis-'cuss the Mavericks staff. Dallas Morning i and the Dallas Times both reported yes-'te'rday that team officials had decided on Motta as head coach and San Diego Clippers assistant coach Bbb Weiss, who had been th other top candidate for thejob, as his assistant Mavericks officials would not confirm the men had been hired but sources close to both men said only minor contractual details remained.

Motta and Wiess are expected in Dallas for a news conference today. QUINCAILLERIE HARDWARE COMPANY "lit Star of Fwwnal fertfo" OPEN DAILY 9 to 5:30 FR1. TH P.M. 122RMMUSL CHARCRt VISA 2334001 iQjll Hinhrare OTTAWA JOURNAL THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1980 UPC PHOTO Tuesday night possession at the two-yard line. 'Wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, who didn't see much of the ball against Calgary, said the Alouettes hadn't been humiliated.

"It was a unique ball game and we were in it fight to the endr-We were never out of it. We still have to work on a lot of things we want to do, 7 though." The Alouettes, 18-11 losers to the Argonauts at Toronto in their season "opener last week, have scored only 19 points in two games. Will come around But Biletnikoff, who starred for 14 seasons with Oakland Raiders of the National Football League, said he thinks the scoring deficiency can be overcome. "With the offence we both running and passing, it's eventually going to balance out." The Alouettes, last in the East, play host to "Hamilton Tiger-Cats next Tuesday night in the regular-season opener at Olympic Stadium. Hamilton, which had bye in the first week of the schedule, earned a 41-23 home-field victory over Ottawa Rough Riders on Tuesday night.

CANADIAN PRESS felt like a king," he said. Nonetheless, he played in the shad-, ow of the Aggies' Eric Hippie, picked by Detroit in the third round Of the 1980 draft. When he did step under center, though, his statistics were impressive: 52 completions in 112 attempts for 1,021 yards and nine touchdowns, and a school-record 96-yard touchdown throw against Arizona State. Right now, Bradshaw's professional aspirations are "modest. "I don't expect to be coming In here as a starter.

I just "want to be a Houston Oiler like hundreds of other guys. I just need to keep a relaxed atmosphere and' try not to make mis, takes," he said. He doesn't covet his older brother's fame or success, and he isn't bitter. "That's the way the Lord wanted it, and that's the way it is. I just have to prove that in time I am capable of doing what Terry has done," he said.

merr SaDel panic Brotheir Don't missv the great savings on Canada's highest quality shoes during Dock's July Clearance. No Exchanges or Refunds Please. Shoemdker'to Canada's Best Dressed Men 240 SPARKS ST. AT BANK 2334377 Open Thurs. Frl.

till 9 n- By John Schulz TORONTO In some ways this is the perfect place for Willie Wood. The people of the multi-ethnic neighborhoods here are living a first-generation, melting-pot existence. A walk among the sidewalks finds more Ukrainians than perhaps in the Ukraine, one of the largest collections of Poles west of Warsaw, as well as hordes of immigrant Chinese, Italians, Germans, Britons and the ever-so-tolerant natives. It is in this setting that a tiny bit of social sports history is being made. A black man is coaching a professional football team.

Made it as walk-on Willie Wood is 43 now, carrying a paunch that a Southern sheriff would be proud of. He is not the 157-pound kid from Washington, D.C., who ventured to tiny Colinga Junior College in California then to Univerity of Southern California and finally made it as-a free-agent quarterback-turned-corner- back with Vince Lombardi's Green-Bay Packers in their glory years. Wood, made it, you should as a walk-on with the Packers. That is something like walking your way onto the board of directors of Exxon. if there is any pressure connected with Wood's current job, coaching Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, it is peanuts compared with impressing the old man in Green Bay in 1959.

"As a free agent you never knew from day to the next whether you would even make roll call," Wood recalled in his office underneath Ex- -hibition Stadium where his Argos won their season opener, 18-11, upsetting the defending Eastern Conference champion Montreal Alouettes. "I was a rookie competing with 25 veterans for one job. At least know this job-Back then I didn't feel as comfortable." Only in Canada? You would have thought; this being 33 years after Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line, someone of Wood's color would have found his way into coaching a pro team in the United States. But just as Jackie Robinson had to break into pro baseball in Canada Montreal Royals, 1946) Wood is taking the Northern route to what may be a dream-come-true in the States. Wood hardly flinched at what had become The Question: Do you feel any special pressures as a black? "Not really," he responded.

"No one I -js I Argos' Willie Wood is the first black to become a professional football head coach. here has pufany pressure on If there is any pressure, it is if I don't have success here, then I would have made it harder for someone else to have a chance." Wood, who made his pro coaching debut in 1975 with the World Football League's Philadelphia Bell, was defensive coordinator with the Argos last season. When Forrest Gregg got the head coaching job at Cincinnati, Wood became the obvious choice No big deal "I would like toTthink it was just a chain of events that brought me here," Wood said, quietly shunning the racial fact. "I knew the scheme. I.

feel I was qualified. I think qualifications come first. The mere fact that I was black well, I don't think they were making a social issue of it." A And if they aren't making a social issue, Willie surely isn't. "It's not my nature," he said. "If I don't win, it won't make any- difference whether I'm black or white.

I'll be gone." "Where I think Willie will succeed where other American coaches have failed up here," one Canadian writer "is. that he realizes you can't play American-style football here. You must get the good. Canadian players, open up the offence and throw like crazy. If he does that, he'll be the, first Toronto coach in 20 years to understand the game." Wood appears to understand.

On two consecutive third-and-two situations against Montreal, Wood ordered the Argos to go for it. They succeeded, an indication Wood knows what it takes to win here. "We decided whatever it takes to Junior Burger 'n Fries, or Hot 07 Fish'n Chips. psossj win, even if it means gambling, we 'will do," Wood said before departing, to Winnipeg for a game against the Bombers last night. "One yard In Canadian football is a gimme (partially because defensive linemen in Canada must line up one yard away from the line of scrimmage there is no such allowance for a no-man's land in U.S.

ball). The only thing that can prevent you from succeeding on third- and-one is a bad snap." Lombardi 'my idol' You can close you eyes and almost see that famous alligator grin of Lombardi when that last sentence is uttered. Only Wood is completely composed, relaxed, while sitting behind a desk with bottles 1 of vitamins and Maalox on the shelf behind him. The only relation, it seems, between Lom- bardi and Wood is that both were born male. "I can never emulate Vince Lombardi as a Wood said.

"The guy, was my idol. I 'would never attempt to do that. I don't have that type of personality. "But one of the things that did rub off on me from my experience in Green Bay is that the coaches shared things with the players. If you had worthwhile ideas to contribute, they would listen.

I hope to have the 'same kind of operation here. I don't want to be the dominating, humiliating type of guy. I want to treat everybody like men." Wood says flatly that by mid-season the Argos "will be as good as any team in this league." And if that forecast comes true, Wood could be a candidate for breaking the color line amonj coaches in the NFL. The precedents have been set for NFL coaches to come from Canada four of the NFL coaching corps went that route. Following Gregg Kansas City's Marv Levy coached the Alouettes to the Grey Cup a few, seasons after he was George Allen's first special-teams coach for the Red-; skins.

Minnesota's Bud Grant, Chicago's Neill Armstrong and Cincinnati's Gregg were all CFL head coaches. And Ray Malavasi was top assistant for Hamilton Tiger-Cats before he became assistant and later head coach of the Rams. even though Wood says he is "removed" from the NFL scene, he nonetheless must be keeping' one eye open for possible job openings in the NFL. WASHINGTON 8TAR Dog In Fries, VISA 'flit UtWM N4HMHMIP L-)Q A Parents! Kids! You can't beat this incredible offer! Ponderosa's giving kids a free dinner from Ponderosa's children's menu, including their choice of Junior Burger 'n Fries, or Hot Dog 'n Fries, or Fish 'n Chips. (Dessert not included).

It's unbeatable! fOffer limited to 5 children aged 12 ajid under, when i accompanied by one adult who purchases a 7 Steak or Seafood dinner. i- may is.