Spokane Chronicle from Spokane, Washington • 21

If it hadn't been for the handguns, Rollin Putzier would have made it with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The guys who run the Steelers might have overlooked the half-case of beer they found in Putzier's room at training camp. After all, a guy can get pretty thirsty practicing twice a day. But they didn't much care for 1 those pistols. Evidently, Putzier misunderstood when the Steelers told him they were looking for some high-caliber defenders.

DAVE The discovery of the weapons BOLING triggered Putzier's latest migration in what has already been a very Staff writer strange tour through the National Football League. Saturday, he started at left defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers his new team and played commendably in a preseason game against the Denver Broncos. "I think my chances are really good, actually," Putzier said from the 49ers' training camp at Rocklin, Calif. "I'm really happy here; if I'd had a choice, I would have liked to been here from the start." San Francisco is about the only place Putzier hadn't been until now. The 6-4, 281-pound Putzier a Post Falls native has been a rather unlucky duck since coming out of Oregon two years ago.

Dratted In the fourth round by Green Bay, Putzier spent several weeks in Packer purgatory hated Green Bay, there was less to do there than in Post Ouch. Of course, he didn't have much time to get familiar with Wisconsin's finer points as the Packers sent him packing after only a few weeks while he was still limping with a foot injury. Unsigned but not unwanted, Putzier got try-outs with no fewer than a dozen team during a dizzying month before the Steelers finally offered gainful employment. That was last year, before Putzier invited Smith, Wesson and Beretta to room with him at the Latrobe, training camp. "I had two handguns that I had brought with me," Putzier explained.

"One of them was an antique that was a gift from my father; it didn't even have a clip. The other one was another gift and neither one was loaded." Somehow, and Putzier has no idea how, folks in NFL security found out about the guns and the Steelers asked Putzier to get rid of them. Putzier had neither a car nor apartment in Pittsburgh, and he said he was reluctant to check valuable guns with the campus security of St. Vincent College, site of the training camp. So he arranged to have a friend put the guns in his car, but that fell through.

The next day, NFL Security detectives rifled through Putzier's belongings and found the guns under clothes in a drawer. Putzier likely messed his own drawers the next day when head coach Chuck Noll called him in and gave him the boot. "Just about everywhere I've ever lived, I've had a gun in my home," Putzier said. "I didn't need them in camp, sure, but I knew if I was going to stay in Pittsburgh, I wanted to have one in my Putzier learned quickly that the attitude toward firearms is considerably different in the East than it is in Idaho. "In Idaho, you can have a loaded gun on your car seat, as long as it isn't concealed," he said.

"I think back there they thought I was going to kill somebody or Putzier, what a putz, you might think. But in conversation, Putzier can convince you that he is not entirely unhinged. "The whole thing was my fault, of course, I'm not blaming them," he said. "What I did was wrong, but it was more careless than stupid. "I talked to the scouting director and he said that it all was a gross misunderstanding, that I was wrong, but not totally wrong." And it took fewer stitches to close the wound after being cut this time.

"It wasn't like being cut by the Packers, when I felt so bad; I left the Steelers knowing I'm capable of playing," he said. "I'm lovin' it here going to work with Michael Carter, Keena Turner and Ronnie Lott, and having beers with Joe Montana it's great," Putzier said. Beers with Joe Montana notwithstanding, Putzier swears that from now on there's going to be a lot less rocIdn' out of Rollin. "All those little rules that I used to think were made to be broken, I'm following them now," he said. At least he's giving it a shot.

UW picked to dwell near Pac-1 O's cellar Associated Press SEATTLE Longtime Washington football coach Don James has read the preseason college football magazines. Ile's read the once-powerful 1-luskies1 program is in decline, that this year's Washington team will finish eighth in the Pacific-I0 Conference race and he's in the hot seat. If that bothers him, he didn't show it in front of the Pac- I 0 Skywriters Monday. "II went down to (athletic director) Mike Lude and asked him," James said jokingly. "I checked my contract out.

'But to be quite frank with you, I didn't get too excited a few years ago when they ranked us Np. I. 4 Staton's wallop decks Athletics By Howie Sta Staff The Spokane Indians went a long way toward nailing down their third straight division pennant Monday night, and it was only appropriate that Dave Staton wielded the hammer. Staton, enjoying one of the greatest seasons in Northwest League history, crushed a game-winning double to decide a one-run game with Southern Oregon for the second straight night. Twenty-four hours after winning a crudely played 14-13 contest, the Indians won an excellently played 2-1 game at In 6 6 It's just that the league is good and last year was the best it's ever been, at least in my coaching years." Don James, Husky football coach As far as pressure, I don't think anybody is going to put more pressure on me than I will." James, 56, doesn't believe he's got an eighth-place team, lie also doesn't believe he has a team that should be ranked among the nation's Top 20 now.

"I hope there's not seven teams better in our league than we are," he said. "If there are, it's going to be a hell of a year in the Pac- 10 because I don't think we're all that bad, We've made some strides. dians Stadium. The victory, combined with Boise's 7-5 loss at Bend, leaves the Northern Division leaders from Spokane six games ahead of Boise with 11 games to go. "If something happens now, I'll hang myself," joked Spokane manager Bruce Bochy.

Spokane opens a five-game series in Bend tonight. Rick Davis, Spokane's scheduled starting pitcher tonight, is seven innings short of the league record of 32 consecutive shutout innings. Davis will be hard-pressed to top the Monday performance of teammate Eddie Zinter. Pitching in front of his father for the first time as a pro, Zinter struck out 13 and limited the hard-hitting Athletics to four hits and one run in eight innings to win a splendid pitching duel with Scott Erwin. "He (Zinter) was throwing the crap out FOOTBALL FEVER: WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL PRACTICE BEGINS Listen up! Staff photo by Shawn Jacobson Ferris coach Pat Pfeifer yells instructions and encouragement to his players Monday as high schocl football practice began in Washington.

The Saxons, semifinalists in the Class AAA playoffs a year ago, are among the favorites in the Greater Spokane League. Regular season play begins the second week In September as teams take aim at a trip to the Kingdome. "It's just that the league is good and last year was the best it's ever been, at least in my coaching years." That said, James said the Huskies shouldn't be ranked 20th in the nation, either. "I don't think that's realistic," he said. "I don't think there's any way that anybody could think that we were rated that high this time of the year on the kind of year we were coming off of." James is headed into his 15th season in Seattle.

His 14th season was forgettable, Washington's fourth straight disappointing year after beating Oklahoma in the 1985 Orange Bowl in Miami. From an 11-1 team that finished as runner-up to Brigham Young for the national championship after the 1985 Orange Bowl, the 1988 Huskies went 6-5 and 3-5 in the Pac-10. For the first time in 10 years, they weren't invited to a bowl. Washington wasn't even the best team in the state. Washington State stole the spotlight from James, beating the Huskies 32-31 and going to the Please see HUSKIES: B3 Spokane (rbfonitit AUG.22,1989 wearing crown of the ball," Bochy said.

"He didn't want to come out of the game, I'll tell you that. He's a gamer." Bochy, concerned about the fact Zinter had thrown 128 pitches, called on Troy Cunningham in the ninth. The Spokane native walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, but he survived a two-out error (the only error of the game) and stranded men at first and third by fanning three. The third strike painted the outside corner every time. "He did a great job, sucking it up like that," Zinter said.

Zinter was 3-0 in relief and 0-4 as a starter coming into the game, thanks largely to the fact that the Indians the league leaders in hitting scored just five runs in his four stl.rts. Marco Armas' RBI double in the sixth Stanford transfer Bennett quits EWU's football team accounted for the only run of Monday's game until the Spokane eighth. Steve Martin opened the inning with a line drive off Erwin's glove into center field. With three left-handed hitters due up and the right-handed Erwin nearing his pitch limit, Manager Grady Fuson called in southpaw Tim Annee. Annee struck out Darrell Sherman on three pitches, but Kevin Higgins lined a single to right and moved Martin to third.

After Jeff Barton walked on four pitches, right-hander Jerry Rizza was given the unenviable task of facing Staton. Rizza's first pitch, a hanging slider, was sent whistling down the left-field line. The two RBI gave Staton the league' lead with 58. He also leads the league with 14 home runs and a .373 batting average as he bids to become the league's: first triple crown winner. By John Clayton McCiatchy News Service KIRKLAND, Wash.

On a day when they vocally announced they cut their holdout list from six to three, the Seattle Seahawks quietly made John L. Williams the highest-paid fullback in the National Football League. Williams was given a four-year, $4.2 million contract extension, according to figures reported to the NFL Players Association. Included in the package is a bonus worth a couple hundred thousand dollars that will be paid before the expiration of the contract. Agents for other Seahawks players are saying that this payment is a signing bonus.

Seahawks president Tom Flores has stated that no Seahawks veteran has received a signing bonus. The Seahawks gave him this bonus to make 1993 an option year in Williams' contract. A similar $200,000 bonus was given to guard Bryan Millard, who ended his 27-day holdout Monday. This agreement, which is expected to be signed and announced today, will free Williams to play in the home exhibition game Friday against the Detroit Lions. Last week, Williams refused to play in an exhibition game against the New England Patriots until his contract problems were resolved.

Millard signed his five-year $3 million contract Monday. Linebacker Bruce Scholtz agreed to a one-year deal worth less than $400,000. Guard Edwin Bailey accepted the Seahawks' offer of $1.175 million for three years. Remaining unsigned are tackle Ron Mattes and linebackers Darren Comeaux and Tony Woods. As a result of the three signings, the Seahawks released guard David Franks, a ninth-round draft choice, free Please see SEAHAWKS: B4 Group will pay cash when Mariners sold Associated Press sEATRE An Indianapolis group headed by Jeff Smulyan and Michael Browning will pay cash for the Seattle Mariners.

As Browning said Monday: "This is not a Visa transaction." "That goes without saying," Smulyan added. "When you deal with something of this magnitude, it's all cash." The sale of the Mariners by owner George Argyros to the Smulyan-Browning group for an expected $76 million could come as early as today. Irwin Treiger, longtime Argyros lawyer, said it was possible there could be a formal announcement by mid-week. "It's progressing as it should," Browning, 41, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "If it doesn't happen this week, it's never going to happen.

There's no major failure here, no deal-killing Lawyers for Argyros, Smulyan and Browning are trying to complete the deal. Smulyan and Browning flew to Seattle from Indianapolis Sunday. Argyros flew here on Saturday by float plane from his yacht off the coast of British Columbia, where he had been vacationing, to confirm that the sale could be imminent. Smulyan, 42, heads Ennis Broadcasting which owns 11 U.S. radio stations and is the largest privately held chain of radio stations.

Browning is an Indianapolis real-estate magnate. Darron Bennett, a Gonzaga with the news media," Price add-Prep product and transfer from ed. Stanford, has quit football at East-' It was not known if Bennett left ern Washington University, cost- school entirely, Price said. ing the Eagles a linebacker whom Coach Dick Zornes described as In a statement, Zornes said, the finest in school history. "He still could be a good football Bennett failed to report to the player for us.

I think we still have opening of fall camp on Monday, some good players at that posifollowing a week of efforts by tion," Zornes said. "It's not a good EWU coaches to contact him, thing for our football team but, at Zornes tracked Bennett down the same time, I have to respect Monday night and learned the his wishes." junior was quitting football be- The Eagles have two redshirt cause of "serious personal prob- freshmen who could step in at lems," according to EWU sports Bennett's spot at outside lineback- information director Jim Price. er Jeff Hall, 6-3, 209 pounds, "Bennett did not discuss the na- from Richland, and Trevor ture of the problem and said he Westlund, 6-3, 207 from Cen- did not want to discuss anything tralia, Wash. a Italtrarr a w.t a re'rr r. 'rr a or -''''''W'-'' 1 I 71 SPORFS Spokane trbeonitit AUG.

22, 1989 B1 0 II III 'i Putzier hopes Tri ipare closer wearing crown change of team 9 staton wallop 7- diens Stadium. The victory, combined with of the ball," Bochy said. "He didn't want accounted for the only run of Moriday's 1 Boise's 5 loss at Bend, leaves the North- to come out of the game, I'll tell you that. game until the Spokane eighth. Steve Mar- I i I I ring uck decks Athletics Div ics ern ision leaders from Spokane six He's a gamer." tin opened the inning with a line drive off games ahead of Boise with 11 games to go.

Erwin's glove into center field. With three i Bochy, concerned about the fact Zinter I If i "If something happens now I'll hang had thrown 128 tch lied left-handed hitters due up and the right- hadn't been for the handguns, Rollin Putzier would have made it with the Pittsburgh Steelers. By Howie Stalwick Staff writes' pies, ca on roy myself," joked Spokane manager Bruce Cunningham in the ninth. The kane handed Erwin nearing his pitch limit, Boc- hy. Manager Grady Fuson called in southpaw native walked the first batter he faced on I The guys who run the Steelers might have Tim Annee.

The Spokane Indians went a long way Spokane opens a five-game series in four pitches, but he survived a two-out er- I overlooked the half-case of beer they found in Putzier's room at trainin cam toward nailing down their third straight di- Bend tonight. Rick Davis, Spokane's ror (the only error of the game) and Annee struck out Darrell Sherman on p. stranded men at first and third by fanning three pitches, but Kevin Higgins lined a 0.8 4, thirst racticing After all, a guy can get pretty th twice a day. NI vision pennant Monday night, and it was scheduled starting pitcher tonight, is seven only appropriate that Dave Staton wielded innings short of the league record of 32 consecutive shutout innings. three.

The third strike painted the outside single to right and moved Martin to third. I thoseButptihsteoyiscl.idn't much care for the hammer, corner every time. After Jeff Barton walked on four pitches, right-hander Jerry Rizza was given 'the Staton, enjoying one of the greatest sea- Davis will be hard-pressed to top the "He did a great unenviable task of facing Staton. Rizza's Evidently, Putzier misunderstood Monday performance of tearrunate Eddie that," Zinter said. job, sucking it up like sons in Northwest League history, crushed first pitch, a hanging slider, was sent wins- Pitch front of his father for vie, when the Steelers told him they a game-winning double to decide a one-run inter Pitching in Zinter was 3-0 in relief and 0-4 as a tling down the left-field line.

1 were looking for some high-caliber game with Southern Oregon for the second the fist tarter coming rst time as a pro, Ziruer struck out 13 1 defenders. straight night. and limited the hard-hitting Athletics to ng into the game, thanks large- ly to the fact that the Indians the The two RBI gave Staton the league 1 DAVE The discovery of the weapons four hits and one run in eight innings to league leaders in hitting scored just five lead with 58. He also leads the league with BOLING triggered Putzier's latest migration Twenty-four hours after winning a win a splendid pitching duel with Scott runs in his four su.rts. 14 home runs and a .373 batting average in what has already been a very crudely played 14-13 contest, the Indians Erwin.

as he bids to become the league's: first 1 Staff Sta writer I strange tour through the National won an excellently played 2-1 game at In- "He (Zinter) was throwing the crap out Marco Armas' RBI double in the sixth triple crown winner. limimmilm. Football League. Saturday, he started at left defensive end for the 7 San Francisco 49ers his new team and played FOOTBALL FEVER: WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL PRACTICE BEGINS commendably in a preseason game against the 1 Seahawks lift Denver Broncos. "I think my chances are really good, actually," A Putzier said from the 49ers' training camp at Rocklin, Calif.

"I'm really happy here; if I'd had a Williams deal choice, I would have liked to been here from the start." San Francisco is about the only place Putzier hadn't been until now. I 1- 1 tO $4 2 Million The 6-4, 281-pound Putzier a Post Falls native has been a rather unlucky duck since coming out of Oregon two years ago. i By John Clayton Dratted in the fourth round by Green Bay, 1- Putzier spent several weeks in Packer purgatory McCiatchy News Service hated Green Bay, there was less to do there than in KIRKLAND, Wash. On a day when they vocally e- Post Falls.) 1 1640.2i. announced they cut their holdout list from six to three, the Ouch.

Of course, he didn't have much time to get csor y. Seattle Seahawks quietly made John L. Williams the high- is familiar with Wisconsin's finer points as the Packers licirtLi est-paid fullback in the National Football League. t- 0 sent him packing after only a few weeks while he Williams was given a four-year, $4.2 million contract i 14, rat figures reported to the NFL Play- was still limping with a foot injury. i 4, 4., ,4 -was km extension, according to 4 ers Association.

Included in the package is a bonus worth Unsigned but not unwanted, Putzier got try-outs i with no fewer than a dozen team during a dizzying 1,, -N a couple hundred thousand dollars that will be paid before 4.,, the expiration of the contract. month before the Steelers finally offered gainful employment. Agents for other Seahawks players are saying that this That was last year, before Putzier invited Smith, ,,044. payment is a signing bonus. Seahawks president Tom Wesson and Beretta to room with him at the A Flores has stated that no Seahawks veteran has received a elti Latrobe, training camp 4 1 o' a signing bonus "I had two handguns that I had brought with me, st The Seahawks gave him this bonus to make 1993 Un 4.

I Putzier explained. "One of them was an antique that I i option year in Williams' contract A similar $200,000 was a gift from my father; it didn't even have a clip. i 0' I i' bonus was given to guard Bryan Millard, who ended his The other one was another gift and neither one was 1 1 I i 4 1 1 0 1, i 27-day holdout Monday. it loaded." This agreement, which is expected to be signed and an Somehow, and Putzier has no idea how, folks in go 4- 4 4 4 nounced today, will free Williams to play in the home NFL security found out about the guns and the exhibition game Friday against the Detroit Lions. Last '4-, i Steelers asked Putzier to get rid of them.

,7 week, Williams refused to play in an exhibition game Putzier had neither a car nor apartment in against the New England Patriots until his contract prob' Pittsburgh, and he said he was reluctant to check 4 lems were resolved. valuable guns with the campus security of St. Millard signed his five-year $3 million contract Mon- Vincent College, site of the training camp. A day. Linebacker Bruce Schoitz agreed to a one-year deal So he arranged to have a friend put the guns in his a worth less than $400,000.

Guard Edwin Bailey accepted car, but that fell through. N4 the Seahawks' offer of $1.175 million for three years. The next day, NFL Security detectives rifled Remaining unsigned are tackle Ron Mattes and line- through Putzier's belongings and found the guns backers Darren Comeaux and Tony Woods. under clothes in a drawer. As a result of the three signings, the Seahawks released Putzier likely messed his own drawers the next day lp, guard David Franks, a ninth-round draft choice, free- when head coach Chuck Noll called him in and gave '1 him the boot rr Please see SEAHAWKS: B4 "Just about everywhere I've ever lived, I've had a densumnimmonumnommon gun in my home," Putzier said.

"I didn't need them I. in camp, sure, but I knew if I was going to stay in i tr Group will pay cash Pittsburgh, I wanted to have one in my I Putzier learned quickly that the attitude toward firearms is considerably different in the East than it when Illtariners sold is in Idaho. "In Idaho, you can have a loaded gun on your car Associated Press seat, as long as it isn't concealed," he said. "I think Is, 4' 4 back there they thought I was going to kill somebody 'I sEATRE An Indianapolis group headed by Jeff or Smulyan and Michael Browning will pay cash for the i Putzier, what a putz, you might think. But in Seattle Mariners conversation, Putzier can convince you that he is not 7 7 As Browning said Monday: "This is not a Visa transac- entirely unhinged.

4 a tion." i "The whole thing was my fault, of course, I'm not "That goes without saying," Smulyan added. "When blaming them," he said. "What I did was wrong, but you deal with something of this magnitude, it's all cash." 1 it was more careless than stupid. 1 1, It The sale of the Mariners by owner George Argyros to "I talked to the scouting director and he said that the Smulyan-Browning group for an expected $76 million it all was a gross misunderstanding, that I was wrong, could come as early as today. Treiger, longtime Argyros lawyer, said it was pos- And it took fewer stitches to close the wound after but not totally wrong." sible there could be a formal announcement by mid week.

being cut this time. fr "les progressing as it should," Browning, 41, told the i Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "If it doesn't happen this week, 1 It wasn't like being cut by the Packers, when I 1 N. its never going to happen. There's no major failure here, felt so bad; I left the Steelers knowing I'm capable of 1, no deal-killing playing," he said.

4i' t. tl 7 'I' 1' a 1,,1 '0 1 Lawyers for Argyros, Smulyan and Browning are trying "I'm lovin' it here going to work with Michael Carter, Keene Turner and Ronnie Lott, and having to complete the deal. Smulyan and Browning flew to Seat- i tie from Indianapolis Sunday. Argyros flew here on Satur- beers with Joe Montana its great," Putzier said. Staff photo by Shawn Jacobson day by float plane from his yacht off the coast of British Beers with Joe Montana notwithstanding, Putzier Listen up! Columbia, where he had been vacationing, to confirm that swears that from now on there's going to be a lot less rockin' out of Rollin.

Ferris coach Pat Pfeifer yells instructions and encouragement to his players Monday as high schocl the sale could be imminent. "All those little rules that I used to think were football practice began in Washington. The Saxons, semifinalists in the Class AAA playoffs a year ago, Smulyan, 42, heads Ennis Broadcasting which made to be broken, I'm following them now," he said. are among the favorites in the Greater Spokane League. Regular season play begins the second week owns 11 U.S.

radio stations and is the largest privately At least he's giving it a shot. in September as teams take aim at a trip to the Kingdome held chain of radio stations. Browning is an Indianapolis real-estate magnate. I 1 4 li Stanford transfer Bennett sue 4 to, ilk 0 I If 111 eh ti A tt quits EWU's football team 1 1 les just that the league is good and last year Darron Bennett, a Gonzaga with the news media," Price add- UW picked to dwell 6 i it's just that the league is was the best it's ever been, at least in my coaching i good and last year was the best years." Prep product and transfer from ed. Stanford, has quit football at st- I near Pac-10's cellar it's ever been, at least in my That said, James said the Huskies shouldn't be Ea was not ranked 20th in the nation, either.

ern Washington University, cost- school entirelknown if Bennett left Price said. "I don't think that's realistic," he said. "I don't ing the Eagles a linebacker whom Associated Press coaching years." think there's any way that anybody could think Coach Dick Zornes described as In a statement, Zornes said, SEATTLE Longtime Washington football Don James, that we were rated that high this time of the year the finest in school history. He still could be a good football i coach Don James has read the preseason college Husky football coach On the kind of year we were coming off of." Bennett failed to report to the player for us. I think we still have football magazines.

James is headed into his 15th season in Seattle. opening of fall camp on Monday, some, good players at that posi- 1 Ile's read the once-powerful Huskies' program is in decline, that this year's Washington team will Hi followin a week of efforts by tion, 14th season was forgettable, Washington's As far as pressure, I don't think anybody is going to fourth straight disappointing year after beating Ok- EWU coaches to contact do him. Zornes said. It not a good thing for football am but, at the sa our me time, I have te to respect put more pressure on me than I will." lahoma in the 1985 Orange Bowl in Miami. Zornes tracked Bennett wn finish eighth in the Pacific-10 Conference race and Monday night and learned the his wishes." James, 56, doesn't believe he's got an eighth- From an 1 1-1 team that finished as runner-up to he's in the hot seat.

place team, Ile also doesn't believe he has a team Brigham Young for the national championship af- junior was quitting football be- The Eagles have two redshirt 1 If that bothers him, he didn't show it in front of that should be ranked among the nation's Top 20 ter the 1985 Orange Bowl, the 1988 Huskies went cause of "serious personal prob- freshmen who could step in at the Pac-10 Skywriters Monday. now. 6-5 and 3-5 in the Pac-10. For the first time in 10 lems," according to EWU sports Bennett's spot at outside lineback- "I went down to (athletic director) Mike Dade "I hope there's not seven teams better in our years, they weren't invited to a bowl information director Jim Price. er Jeff Hall, 6-3, 209 pounds, i and asked him," James said jokingly.

"I checked league than we are," he said. "If there are, it's Washington wasn't even the best team in the "Bennett did not discuss the na- from Richland, and Trevor 1 my contract out. going to be a hell of a year in the Pac- 10 because I state. Washington State stole the spotlight from ture of the problem and said he Westlund, 6-3, 207 from Cen 0' But to be quite frank with you, I didn't get too don't think were all that bad, We've made some James, beating the I luskies 32-31 and going to the did not want to discuss anything tralia, Wash. excited a few years ago when they ranked us Np strides.

Please see HUSKIES: B3 1 1 4 i.