Mayer: Pull out the old trick bag

You toss a guy like Kansas University quarterback Marcus Herford into the football mix and you relive those sandlot days where somebody’d tell you to “go long” or “get ready for a lateral and then throw it to me.” You know, the illogical dipsy-dos that amateurs love and coaches abhor because, as the late run-oriented Red Sanders said, “When you pass, three things can happen, and two of them are bad.”

But can’t help wondering if the KU brain trust is studying ways for the fleet and nifty Herford to roar out of a wide receiver spot for a reverse, or maybe a lateral so he can chuck it to a guy who’s undressed a defender. Maybe Marcus could get the ball from Brian Luke on an alleged sweep, then stop and pitch it back to Luke for a home run flip to somebody, maybe Herford.

I’ve always wondered, too, why coaches don’t use the “running pass” or halfback pass a lot more. Maybe Red Sanders was right – two out of three are bad.

When John Hadl was a KU halfback in 1959, he could take a pitch or start a sweep and wing it, same as Ray Evans in the 1940s. Southpaws Curtis McClinton and Gale Sayers could launch enough knuckleballs on their cruises to the left side to loosen up defenses. Single-wing tailbacks like Sammy Baugh could really sting.

Perhaps the ultimate weapon with the halfback pass was Tommy McDonald, the Oklahoma All-American who had the ugliest throws you can imagine. Still, he often threw for touchdowns because he was such a terror as a runner on a sweep to the right. Tommy deserved the Heisman Trophy with Oklahoma’s 1956 national champions a lot more than Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung, whose club was 2-8.

We kept hearing what a phenom Herford was when he was quarterbacking the KU scout squad last fall. Maybe they could work out something with Charles Gordon and Marcus combining for some triple-double-fuzzies. Would be nice to have special gimmicks to show Texas Tech it’s not the only aerial circus in the league.

¢ Readers were shocked a KU basketball recruit’s dad “didn’t know they had that much history (at KU).” His kid, and countless other modern recruits, probably don’t, either. Coach Bill Self says the average prospect has no idea who Phog Allen, James Naismith, Clyde Lovellette and even Danny Manning were, or what they did. Wilt Chamberlain maybe. History is seldom their bag. They want to know about the here and now and the immediate future, Self will tell you. He obviously can sell a lot of good kids on that, then use the heritage for backup.

(How about Self and Supreme Court candidate John Roberts as look-alikes?)

That lack of a historical sense can work to an advantage for Mark Mangino’s football recruiting. Mark and Co. can huckster how far they’ve come and where they plan to go, can cite stars such as Gale Sayers, and dance around the generally unspectacular KU gridiron record.

¢ Sent the recuperating Max Falkenstien a note that Mark Mangino refused to disclose the nature of his ailment, so I’m glad the broadcasting legend came clean. They took out a golf-ball-sized tumor and about two feet of an intestine and resectioned it. So far, no bag and no chemotherapy or radiation. Things are looking good.

But you can be sure that after more than a week in rehab, Old Lips is aware of the unpalatable companionship of pain and injury.