Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 62

suRsaf oot-ji urn DETROIT FREE PRESSWEDNESDAY, JAN. 20. 1982 3H Jk queries at 'Pontine zoo I it, 1 Cugey I i 1 Ul I 1 It's '20 Questions' gone wild as Bengals, 49ers meet the press for 1st time in Dome i i I it They opened the XVIth annual zoo at the Silverdome Tuesday. What it was, was an army of media soliders converging on the Dome to do battle with the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals, armed with pencil, ballpoints, quills, tape recorders and TV lenses. It was the old "20 Questions" show gone A berserk.

What it really was, was a zoo. It started 20 minutes late of the posted 11 a.m. time, and upwards of 400 assorted media men and women bellowed like hyenas out in the 13 cold (welcome to Pon-tiac, folks). lack Saylcr Supef Bowl They finally opened the south gate of the Silverdome and the swarm herded' in like C2 Lrl themselves in the Super Bowl. A "No." Quarterback Joe Montana was asked what kind of a coach Bill Walsh is.

A "He's excellent." There was one beauty. With all San Francisco turned on by the 49ers, linebacker Jack Reynolds was asked by one reporter how the team felt, knowing "half" the fans rooting for them were gay. A A rolling of eyes by Reynojds and no response. The little huddles got bigger, dispersed and grew again as questions and answers droned on for an hour. The buzzwords in almost every huddle were "confidence," "poise," "experience," "loose," and "psyched up." Even though he's been asked everything over the last two weeks except what kind of baby food he ate as an infant, 49er coach Walsh continued to be a popular subject.

What question had he been asked the most? "Am I surprised I'm here?" Walsh replied, and I'm not gonna answer it." Some players bore up well under the steady barrage. Others seemed in terminal boredom. "I love it," said all-pro guard Randy Cross. "I'm a ham." And what question had Cross been asked most? "I don't want to be a smart aleck," he warned, but that's the question." MONTANA, NATURALLY, was inundated by steady streams of writers and camera crews, their interviewers trailing along mike and cable like an umbilical cord. And what question had Montana been asked most? He grinned.

"Jim Plunkett told me how to answer that one 'that Montana said. John Brodie, the old 49er hero, wandered about the Silverdome and proved as popular an interview as the current players. cattle. Free Prew Pholo by ALAN KAUOA The San Francisco players entered the field, An army of media soldiers makes its move onto the Silverdome floor for interviews with players and coaches'. and writers and broadcasters swarmed to them like bees.

They craned their necks like giraffes to get Defensive end Eddie Edwards was asked if he'd had his ring finger measured yet fpr a a better look. And the players answered questions like parrots. Super Bowl ring. A "Not yet." Mercifully, it was time to clear the field so the Bengals could get on with practice. All through? Hardly.

Quarterback Ken Anderson was asked about this whole wild A "It's exciting." Running back Charlie Alexander was asked the same question. A "There were other Super Bowls and everybody else has endured it I guess we can." Tight end Dan Ross was asked what coach Forrest Gregg was like. A "He only yells at us on the football field." Anderson was asked how good the 49er secondary was. A "Exceptional." A pride of Lions, Gary Danielson, James Hunter, Gary Cobb, Billy Sims, Tom Skladany and Freddie Scott, also made the rounds, but they were on the business end of microphones interviewers instead of Interviewees for Channel 4 pieces. Finally, the 49ers were sprung and the media army grabbed canteens (courtesy of the Elias Brothers) and broke for lunch, At 1 p.m., here came the Cincinnati Bengals into the zoo and the army, 400 strong, took up its weapons again.

The Bengals, supposedly under the thumb of a Queeg-like coach, seemed just a loosey-goosey as the Niners as the questioning began anew. Real deep, penetrating stuff. The 49ers and Bengals will go through the Some zoo. Star receiver Dwight Clark was asked what he, thought of Cincinnati's defense. A "They have a very good defense." Running back Bill Ring was asked how he liked the great fans in San Francisco.

A "Everytime I'm in there I give 100 percent." Kick returner Amos Lawrence was asked if he wished he were playing regularly. A "I'm just happy to playing for the 49ers." John Choma, a little-known rookie reserve offensive lineman, was asked if the 49ers were same routine Wednesday and Thursday mornings at their respective hotels. Then on Friday morning, before commis sioner Pete Rozelle issues his "State the Union" speech, coaches Walsh and Gregg Will appear once more. You guessed it: One more last big interview. a "No Name" team hoping to make a name for Reynolds' rap: He may be old, but the eyes still have it Former Lion Hall of Famer mm Wojciechowicz joins elite in Leather Helmet group 'J I By JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer The first thing you notice about Jack Reynolds is his eyes.

They are wild and crazy eyes. It is an image the veteran linebacker of the San Francisco 49ers cultivates as surely as he cultivates the saga of how he once took a hacksaw and cut a car in half. Both are reputations Jack Reynolds relishes. He stares at you with those wild and crazy eyes and he lets you wonder: Is this guy really nuts or not? Often that is all the edge Reynolds needs not that Jack Reynolds often needs an edge. To refresh your memory, or in case you never heard the; story, in 1969, while he was a senior at the University cvf-Tennessee, Reynolds became so upset after losing toMissis-' sippi that he "went to Kmart, bought the cheapest hacftstfw By CHARLIE VINCENT Free Pres Sports Writer Alex Wojciechowicz never won a Super Bowl ring or earned $500,000 a year.

He never played before 80,000 people or sold razor blades on television. But Tuesday the former Detroit Lion center, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, won an honor only two players had previously been accorded the NFL Alumni they had, along with 13 replacement blades," and cut a- 53 Association's Order of the Leather Helmet. Chevy In half. Eleven people had been inducted to the order before, but "I started on Sunday and finished Monday," Reynolds recalled In the personal press release- he prepared' and brought with him this week. The image, you know.

"It took with the exception of Bronko Nagurskl and Red Grange, they were owners like George Halas, Lamar Hunt and Art Rooney, coaches like Don Shula and Tom Landry and NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle. Joining Wojciechowicz in Tuesday's induction at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn were Minnesota Viking coach Bud Grant and members of the Bidwell family, which has owned the St. Louis Cardinals for the past half century. Free Press Pholo Ov CRAIG PORTER Former Lion center Alex Wojciechowicz: "Football doesn't faze me that much anymore." Wojchiechowicz, who played with the Lions from 1938 through 1946 and with the Philadelphia Eagles front 1947 through 1950, made the trip to Detroit specifically to receive me eight hours total time. I broke all 13 blades." Tuesday, Reynolds regaled reporters with the story of the time his mother-in-law asked him, to move a nearby pebble into her rock garden.

The pebble, Reynolds said, "weighed something like four tons." So Jack took out his saw, cut down some trees rollers like the. Egyptians used when they were building the and, with the help of his trusty Jeep and some winches, moved the boulder into place. The next morning, his mother-in-law decided the rock might the award. Supoi Doivl quotcbox Francisco, let me know." Ken Anderson, Bengals' quarterback, pondering matters that are possibly more Important. The Super Bowl? If he sees it at all, It will be on television.

"I'm going home tomorrow," said Wojchiechowicz, who is retired in Highlands, N.J. "Whether or not I watch the game on television is questionable. It depends on what else is going on football doesn't faze me that much any more." or a "I don't know If we're lucky or we're good combination of both." Jack Reynolds, 49er linebacker. SIGNED OUT of Fordham University, where he was one Jack Reynolds "This reminds me of the Ohio State-Michigan game. It Is THE game.

It Is a season unto itself." Archie Griffin, former Ohio State star and now a Bengal running back, on his first Super Bowl. "There are so few single guys left on this team and there Is so mush excitement about the Bengals, there really are too many girls to go around for us of the "Seven Blocks of Granite," Wojciechowicz's first contract with the Lions was for $2,500 and in the final two years of his career with the Eagles he made $12,000. "When I was at Fordham we drew 55,000 people, and the New York Giants drew 15,000," the 66-year-old Hall of Archie Griffin Famer recalled. "But we turned it around. We played a few games when I was here at the University of Detroit, but we moved to Briggs (Tiger) Stadium, because we eventually look better on the other side of the garden.

For once, even Jack Reynolds refused to budge. Reynolds', next project, when he returns home to Sad Salvador, the Island on which Columbus supposedly first landed in the Bahamas, will be to cut a road through the jungle so he can drive his Jeep along the ocean. "I don't care how long it takes," said Reynolds. "I just like the challenge of doing it." But first, the Cincinnati Bengals. Let them try to figure out the message that lies behind those eyes.

Cris crosses up rookie image this will be Cris Collinsworth's first appearance' In the Super Bowl. This also happens to be his first year Jn. the National Football League. But you never would have guessed that to hear the 22-year-old pass catcher talk I learns, Hacler "I had called It quits. It had been a month since San Diego had released me.

And nobody had called. I decided It was time to find a job. A real Job. I was working In an accounting office when San Francisco called. I decided to give It a shot.

I had quit, but deep Inside I was waiting for that shot." Ray Werschlng, San Francisco place-kicker, explaining the circumstances that led to his signing with the 49ers in 1977. "I guess I'm Just lucky In those situations." 49er quarterback Joe Montana, commenting on his uncanny knack for coming up with the big play late In the game. "We're a team's We have no Individuals." Isaac Curtis, Bengals' wide receiver. Jim Hawkins few poor bachelors who have to put up with all of them. We Just try In our own humble sort of way to do the best we can I've already promised about 40 girls that I'm going to wink at them.

I can take care of all them with one wink." Crls CoHlnsworth; Bengals' wide receiver, explaining how he Is coping with the pressures of being In the Super Bowl. "So far. It's been like any other name for us. Of Will square off in Superstars -Tommy Hearns will get a course, It's still young In the week." quick shot at middleweight champion Marvin Hagler, but it won't be in a boxing "I've been playing in the Super Bowl every yearjibw Jim Miner, 49ers punter, on the same subject. "If you find a way to take advantage of San were drawing 35,000 or so." But it is not the lack of money or the size of the crowds that make him believe the game Is better to- day.

"If I had my choice," he said, "I'd rather play with conditions like they have it today. Their protection Is greater, they can throw their bodies around more recklessly, they don't have to think of self-preservation at all, because of all that equipment." Benefits of Tuesday night's dinner, with tickets priced at $100 apiece, will go to benefit four Detroit ring. Detroiter Hearns, the former World Boxing Asso ciation welterweight champion, and Hagler are rivals in Danielson is ready for role as No. 2 a segment of ABC-TVs "Superstars" competition. Their three-day struggle with seven other athletes will climax since I was in about the third grade," declared Coilinsworth, the Cincinnati Bengals' irrepressible rookie wide receiver.

"Boy, I've made some great catches out in the backyard. Me as Lynn Swann, me as John Stallworth. I've got my chance this year to do something as Cris Collinsworth. "I don't think It's really dawned on me what exactly I've got myself into here, you know," the kid confessed. "I feel like a guy who picked up one of those Rubik's Cube things and just was fiddlin' with it and all of a sudden it came out right.

Then somebody came walking in with another one and said, 'Listen, this is the hardest thing you've ever seen In your life. Nobody in the world has ever figured this out. They've spent lifetimes trying to do Then if I had to' sit down and do it again, I'd probably never get it right. So I'm not even going to think about Of all the catches he'd made in his "other Super Bowls," Collinsworth was asked, which was the best one? "Well, I made this one, one time," he recalled, "where I had to go down and circle around this Chevrolet. I picked the defender off and I caught the ball right when it was coming over the antenna on the car.

Tlpt was one of the sweetest catches I've ever made." Sunday and be televised live from Key Biscayne, before the Super Bowl begins. In the field against yards, 14 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. DANIELSON SAID he has no argument with the course of action he expects from Clark. "I think Monte will definitely play the guy who he feels will win for the team," he said. "There's no hard feelings.

That's one thing I always liked about playing for Monte everything he's done has been for the good of the team. I've never felt he played favorites." It is doubtful Clark will trade either Danielson or Hippie unless he can somehow acquire another adequate backup man. It appears the Lions do not consider Komlo worthy of more than the No. 3 job after his two starts losses at Tampa Bty and Denver last season. DANIELSON, from Page 1H becomes a free agent at the end of January.

"I'm playing it low-key," Danielson added. "I'm going to training camp and see what happens. I'm not interested in pushing Monte's hand right now. "It's going to be good. I'm already in better shape than I've ever been.

I want to play again I'm working out harder now than I ever have. I'll be 31 before next season starts. I know I'm going to have to be in good shape In the 3'2 games he played last season, Danielson completed 56 of 96 passes (58.3 percent) for 784 yards, with three touchdown passes ancflve interceptions. Hippie, in the final 10 games, was 140 tor 279 (50.2 percent) for 2,358 Hearns and Hagler are baseball's Gary Carter, Mike Schmidt, Rick Dempsey and Steve Garvey; Renaldo Ne- area, youth-oriented charities: The Children's Leuke-X mla Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, the Hemophilia Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation. The NFL Alumni also maintain a fund to benefit needy former professional players.

hemiah, world hurdling record-holder, and WBA heavyweight champion Mike Weaver..