Image 9 of The Cats' Pause, February 18, 1989

Yes, its February, but baseball is around the corner There's hope for Rupp Arena & Final Four! When it comes to baseball writers, Roger Kahn ("Boys of Summer") is in a class by himself. And when it comes to class, no one stands taller than Louisville's own Hall of Famer, Harold "Pee Earl Cox Cats' Pause Columnist Wee" Reese. In a beautiful farewell to the Dodgers' rightfielder, Carl Furillo, Kahn ended with these words: In 1987,1 lost a gifted son to heroin. Roger Laurence Kahn had just passed his 22d birthday. The telephone rang a few days later and the caller said: "This is Pee Wee. You remember I was captain of the team. "I just want to say," Reese said, "for all the fellers that we are very, very sorry." Audubon Country Club in Louisville is unique in that it has a baseball Hall of Famer, Reese, and a pro football Hall of Famer, Paul Hornung. Club members honored them with impressive paintings. Said a club member, John Dromo, 'You'd never know by the way they act around the club that they are Hall of Famers." Oh, come on, John! Pee Wee I can believe, but Hornung has that natural swagger in his walk. UK ON WHAS? - The owners of radio station WHAS were unsuccessful bidders for the rights to UK games, but Td bet good money that you'll see a return of Wildcat football and basketball on the station. Jim Host the ex-Wildcat pitcher who was the successful bidder for the next three years, never would have allowed WHAS to slip away in the first place. I predict that well see a meeting with Host, WHAS general manager Bob Scherer, U of L athletic director Bill Olsen and CM. Newton, who will be UKs next athletic boss. Those four could work out schedules without many (if any) conflicts between UK and U of L. Both schools, and especially UK fans hundreds of miles away, will benefit WHITE'S THE MAN - Let's not kid ourselves; Bill White was chosen as the next president of baseball's National League because of the color of his skin. And that's a shame because Bill White is qualified in every respect. Tve known and respected Bill White since the mid 1950s when he was stationed at Fort Knox. While there he played for a couple of semipro Central Kentucky teams, with Harrodsburg in the Blue Grass league and with a Lexington Frisch's team that also included Bobby Flynn (father of major leaguer Doug) and Scoop Brown. Maybe Al Campanis did baseball a favor when he uttered his dumb remarks about why blacks aren't qualified to be managers and general managers. White is plenty capable of doing his own thinking, and I was glad to see that he isn't about to go the American League route on the designated hitter. White is a baseball purist. NO NCAA - Louisville was in line before Lexington to get the next NCAA Final Four in Kentucky. But now that the Division 1 Basketball Committee has eliminated Louisville from consideration for the 1994 and 1995 tournaments, it's a new ballgame and Lexington, because of the influence of CM. Newton, will now be in the strongest position to get the next h With the signing of talented quarterback Jeff Brohm. score a recruiting win for Howard Schnellenberger over UK shot at the Final Four. Newton is very much a member of the clique that controls NCAA basketball and he will have a powerful say in arguing that Rupp Arena should be the next non-dome site to be awarded a Final Four after 1995. That is, of course, if a couple of downtown hotels are built in Lexington in the next few years. Newton will be only the second person in the state to be among the NCAA leaders. The other was the man who was UKs director when Newton was at UK, the late Bernie Shively, the man who was responsible for getting the tournaments so many times for Freedom Hall. Louisville needs a group or an individual who can see beyond the end of its/his/her nose to plan for making pushes for such things as the Final Four. It isn't all that hard to find out nature Division 1 members and get them to Louisville, say, at Derbytirne. I was sorry to see that John Bibb, the respected sports editor and columnist of The Nashville Ten-n esse an, called for Newton's resignation as Vanderbilt coach once he announced that he would become the UK director of athletics on April 1. The Nashville media really like Newton and they just couldn't believe that he would leave Vanderbilt for UK When he made his announcement, the Nashville fellows were stunned. The 81-51 whipping that Newton and Vandy put on UK speaks for itself about his integrity. The three Kentuckians on the Commodores (Barry Goheen, Frank Kornet and Derrick Wilcox) outscored the entire Wildcat team 62-51. The Cats' performance lends credence to inside reports from Lexington that the coaches have lost the team. Players reportedly are upset because the coaching staffhas one set of rules for one player and different rules for everyone else. Two years ago when Eddie Sutton was down to seven scholarship players, he was having trouble with Irving Thomas one day at practice in the Coliseum. Thomas was sulking and there wasn't anything Sutton could do about it. After chewing on Thomas without effect, Sutton stormed across the court and sat with a couple of media types. "I will never be caught in this situation again," Sutton said, but he is. FOOTBALL RECRUITING - Score one for an ex-Wildcat AH-American, Howard Schnellenberger, in his recruiting battle with his alma mater. The Louisville coach hadn't really hurt UK with his previous recruiting classes, but he did in a big way when he landed Jeff Brohm, the talented Trinity High, quarterback. And, for UK fans, it was all so unnecessary. All that Jerry Claiborne had to do last year was recruit Brohm's brother, Greg, a talented player in his own right. Greg was deserving of a scholarship, and he will prove it at U of L MICKEY'S BACK - Kentucky's senior tennis players had better get ready for another tough competitor. Mickey Schad, 43, one of the most accomplished players in the history of Kentucky tennis, has returned to Louisville where he is a sales associate with the commercial real estate firm of Harry K Moore & Son. Schad won seven Southern junior championships, eight National junior championships and was a member of the Junior Davis Cup team He was the general manager/pro at the Lexington Tennis Cub when it started.