Chili, tales the rule at sports dinner

9/16/2000

No speeches but plenty of hot stuff, that's the promise at Toledo's annual Athletes of the Past and Friends dinner.

The hot stuff will be Tom Thees's secret-recipe chili mac. ``And chicken for the faint-heart-ed,'' Jack Kennedy says.

The yearly dinner will be Oct. 12 in The Pinnacle in Maumee, organizer Kennedy says.

Mostly, former athletes and guys who think they were athletes tell stories, some of which are true, such as this one from Jack:

``When I played basketball on Sid Goldberg's team, the Toledo Mercurys, against the Harlem Globetrotters, we were in Chicago one night,'' Kennedy recalls.

Abe Saperstein, Globetrotters owner, decided to play by original basketball rules, with a center jump after every basket.

``The Trotters center was Walter Dukes, who was 7-foot-1 at a time when seven-footers were very rare,'' Jack says.

``Our center was Jerry Fowler, 6-8 but no match for Dukes.

``The game started and Dukes got the tip and the Trotters score. They jump again and Walter got the next 10 tips.

``They were leading, 22-0, and we hadn't even touched the ball yet!

``People booed so much they went back to regular rules.''

``We Care About You

Sundays 10 a.m. Only''

Seen in a church bulletin by Betty Fallis of Sylvania.

Among University of Toledo football fans who watched the Rockets crush Penn State was Tom Tenney.

Tom and crew members of the USNS McDonnell whooped it up while watching the game on TV. The ship was in the Persian Gulf.

A UT graduate with a master's degree in engineering, Tom is the son of Harold and Grace Tenney of Toledo and is the radio officer on the oceanographic survey ship.

When Les Southwick of Portage, O., prepared to play his part in a re-enactment of the War of 1812 Battle of Lake Erie at Put-In-Bay, he also outfitted his son, Simon, who is 7.

Simon described to his grandparents the period shirt and pants he would wear as a boy of that time.

If proper shoes could not be found he would go barefoot, he said. ``Be careful not to step on a nail,'' grandma Fran Southwick of Bowling Green told him.

``Don't worry, Grandma,'' he answered. ``They didn't have nails in 1812.''

Sarah Anne Wilson of Rossford turned 9 on 9/9.

She is the ninth grandchild of Judy and Norb Heban.

On opening league night at Southwyck Lanes, Dan Weilles bowled a three-game series of 510.

In the same league but different team, Dan Weilles, Jr., bowled a series of 510.

``A county fair project helps kids learn about life. They need to learn to taste defeat. I learned that right here at the Williams County Fair.''

So said Howard Parrish of Edon, O., nationally known livestock judge and fair board director.

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Got a funny or unusual story? Call Mike Tressler, 724-6107, or send to The Blade, Box 921, Toledo, O. 43660, or e-mail: mtressler@theblade.com.