From the archives

San Diego inside sports

El Cajon Speedway, dark side of NFL, pick-up b-ball, Lakeside's Jarrod Boswell, start of Padres, SDSU football scandal

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Jerry Gay grew up in a tract house in Brookside, between Spring Valley, La Mesa, and Lemon Grove. He told me quite a few guys at the track grew up in that neighborhood.

  • Lakeside's Big Man

  • There are roughly six million boys between the ages of 16 and 18 living in the United States. There are approximately 26,400 high schools and close to that number of starting centers playing on high school basketball teams.
  • By Patrick Daugherty, Jan. 16, 2003
Jarrod Boswell: "I try to set a time limit when I will answer calls. At nine o’clock, if I’m still awake, I’ll have my mom or my dad say, ‘I’m sorry, he’s in bed.’ ”

  • Present at the Creation

  • Follows are the words of Padres who came before, beginning with players who were on that first team, who played in that first game, April 8, 1969, recorded as a 2–1 win over the visiting Houston Astros. Of note, San Diegans were not starstruck by the arrival of Major League Baseball: only 23,370 customers paid their way into San Diego/Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium to witness First Opening Day.
  • By Patrick Daugherty, April 8, 2004
Don Zimmer: “Well, it was an expansion club, and you know, it’s not a lot of fun when you lose 100 games a year.”

  • Crash, Crash, Crash

  • Like two dancers executing half a pirouette, the two 3000-pound late-model Sportsman-class stock cars spun out side by side, squealing their tires, as their rear ends slid toward the crash wall and their front ends toward the infield, beginning their spin at 70 miles per hour, then slowing fast. The 01 car and the 1 car belonged to a father and son, Jerry and Danny Gay — Danny had clipped his father on the rear left panel 6 laps into the 40-lap feature at Cajon Speedway as the two cars went into the second turn of the three-eighths-of-a-mile paved oval.
  • By Stephen Dobyns, Sept. 6, 2001
Danny Gay. Mostly they are a laconic bunch — though Danny can be talkative when he chooses to be — men who make remarks rather than conversation.

  • B-Ball

  • Listen. I’m a basketball extremist. Maybe it’s the rhythmic, elastic whump (ring)s, whump (ring)s — thuds resounding echoing overtones — leading me into reverie every time, the odd expectant tempos, down the block, passing my street-side windows. Or perhaps it’s the quickening squeaks of quicker shoes, erratic guttural grunts, and yells. But something makes me think I heard the trumpets of paradise in a soundtrack for the 21st Century.
  • By Geoff Bouvier, Nov. 6, 2003
My first month or two in San Diego, I played outdoor pickup, on the beach, because, yo, I could, right? (Sandy Huffaker, Jr.)

  • Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Play Football

  • The life of a National Football League player's wife can have its highs and lows. Huge player salaries are often spent on dining, travel, gifts, cars, and expensive homes. On the other hand, when the relationship sours, the lavish lifestyle can turn into a nightmare. So says Sureldie Williams, wife of San Diego Chargers defensive tackle Jamal Williams. Last year, she alleges, her husband turned against her, striking out violently. Jamal was arrested at their daughter's La Jolla school, and soon the couple were in the midst of a divorce battle over child support and their dismal finances.
  • By Matt Potter, Jan. 23, 2003
Adrian Dingle (90) in Chargers – Rams game, 8/22/02. Dingle pled no contest to driving under the influence and was ordered to pay a fine, restitution, and to attend evaluation and counseling programs. But Dingle didn't pay up, and he didn't show up for his appointment.
"I had a son who played high school football, and I wanted him to be recruited by SDSU. I explained this to Ms. Roush." A few days later, Sutton said, he got a phone call from some associates who had found out he had been an "informant" to Roush.

  • Football Scandal Rocks State

  • On the website of the San Diego State University women's track team, there is this small entry for a young distance runner from Washington state: "Personal: Emily Yale Wynne was born August 22, 1983, in Yankton, S.D.... Daughter of Mary Wynne.... Has two brothers Ryan and Chaz.... Majoring in exercise and nutritional sciences.... High School: Lettered in cross country as a freshman in Washington and as a junior in South Dakota....
  • By Matt Potter, Sept. 30, 2004
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