Zanardi Finds a Way to Inspire Drivers

By Shav Glick

Dec. 30, 2001 12 AM PT

Alex Zanardi, who lost both his legs on Sept. 15 in a crash during a CART race at Lausitz, Germany, stood for the first time on artificial legs during a ceremony in his hometown of Bologna, Italy.

“I’m so emotional that my legs are trembling,” he said after presenting a Golden Helmet award to Formula One champion Michael Schumacher. “I can’t walk yet, but this is the first step of the most important race. I have an extraordinary team beside me. The race is very hard, but I will do my best to win it.”

Said Schumacher: “To see Zanardi standing was the best Christmas present for me.”

Trivia time: Who is the only coach to win a Rose Bowl game with a Pacific 10 team and a Big Ten team?

Crazy is right: Detroit Lion rookie Coach Marty Mornhinweg, on his team’s 1-13 record after having lost nine consecutive games by eight points or fewer: “Crazy things happen in first years, but we’ve probably tripled or quadrupled those things.”

Fair question: George Young, the former New York Giant general manager who died earlier this month, loved huge offensive linemen because he had been one.

One day Glenn Sheeley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called his office and Young’s secretary told him Young was “stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel.”

Asked Sheeley: “Is he walking or driving?”

Then there’s Majerus: Utah basketball Coach Rick Majerus has a reputation of being a lousy driver. Once, while allegedly going about 100 mph down a desert highway, a passenger in the back seat pleaded for him to slow down.

“Don’t worry,” said the amply filled out coach. “I’ll be your air bag.”

Golden years: Retirement is just fine for former Texas El Paso basketball coach Don Haskins.

“I don’t do a damned thing, and I don’t start till noon,” he said.

Shades of Knight: Ralph Friedgen is going to the Orange Bowl as coach of 10-1 Maryland.

In his first year as the Terrapins’ head coach, he startled his players during halftime of the North Carolina State game when his team trailed, 9-3.

“I threw one chair and I didn’t get any reaction, so I threw another one,” recalled Friedgen.

“The first one, we were in shock and didn’t know how to react,” safety Tony Jackson told the Washington Post. “The second one, we got the message.”

Coming up empty: From the Caught on the Fly column in the Sporting News: “Fly’s Top 5 or ‘Hey, look at all the zeroes on these contracts, and here’s another big, fat 0: the number of league titles on their resumes:’ 1. Cal’s Jeff Tedford; 2. Texas’ Mack Brown; 3. USC’s Pete Carroll; 4. Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville; 5. Minnesota’s Glen Mason. “

Trivia answer: John Cooper, 1987 with Arizona State and 1997 with Ohio State.

And finally: When newly acquired Oakland A’s pitcher Billy Koch was born, he was three months premature and weighed only 2 pounds 15 ounces. Now 28, he is 6 feet 3 and weighs 205 pounds.

Says Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle, “You’ve heard of ‘The Terminator.’ Now meet ‘The Incubator.”’