s
Portland Observer, March 30, 1983 Page 11
Sport Talk
hv Kon Syitä. Sports Editor
There has been a good deal of
wonderment about the career of
Portland's Darryl Motley, the one
time Grant H igh baseball player,
who was labeled a " c a n 't miss"
when he was graduated in 1978.
Motley signed on with the talent-
rich Kansas City Royals and report
edly received a bonus in the $30-
50,000 range.
Arizona State, the ultimate base
ball university, offered M otley a
scholarship to m atriculate at
Tempe. Now, for those of you who
don't k n o w .. ASU is the U C LA of
baseball. The Wildcats are blessed
with such good weather that they're
able to play the game virtually year-
round. Their schedule is usually
around 100 games and play some
major league teams during the exhi
bition season. Four years at ASU is
equivalent to four years in the mi
nors. And normally it takes four to
five years for complete develop
ment. Very few players make it to
the biggies under that aforem en
tioned time frame.
Darryl opted for the money and
was immediately signed to the Roy
als instructional school in Braden
ton, Fla.
After two weeks of intense train
ing he then was assigned to Ft.
Myers the Royals A A Farm Club.
Motley finished the '78 season with
Ft. Myers hitting .338 and 3 homers.
The following season, his second
full one, was a good one for Motley
at Ft. Myers. He hit .287, 13 triples
and 15 round-trippers. He was re
warded by being shipped to Triple A
Omaha of the International League.
At Omaha Motley ran into prob
lems. First, he found out that the
curve ball he hit so well in double -A
ball, he no longer could hit at the
higher level.
Motley struggled and by mid-sea
son was hitting fairly consistently.
He now had visions o f joining po
tent Royal outfield. Motley made it
to the Gig club after the ill-fated
strike.
The played right field the rest of
the abbreviated season, but lost out
in favor of Clint Hurdle.
All didn’t go well for young Mot-
. ley. He was groomed as a third base
man at Ft. M yers, a position he
played well. In fact, because he
played it so well was the reason KC
management decided to shift him to
the o utfield . Perhaps that may
sound strange to some, but remem
ber KC had a man named Brett
playing third and George had led the
Am erican League in hitting that
same year. As a matter of fact Brett
had flirted with .400 most o f that
year.
So, at the request of Kansas City,
young Motley exchanged his infield
ers glove for a larger outfielders mitt
and trotted out to right field.
1982 found Motley again in Oma
ha. where he had a so-so season,
played winter ball in South America
and was again assigned to Omaha.
Darryl again had hopes of making
the majors in 1983. He was leaving a
good spring until a broken foot side
lined him midway through March
His contract again is assigned to
Om aha. This is the fifth minor
league season for the 23-year-old
Portlander and perhaps his last.
The smoke has cleared. 900 m il
lion Chinese nationalists could care
less, but the final four have arrived
on the scene. They are blazing a trail
to Albuquerque, N. Mexico, leaving
behind the Villanovas, Kentuckys,
Tar Heels and, yes, the Cavs.
A nd. no, M r. Ralph Sampson,
the best player in the land, will once
again be denied his chance of win
ning a national championship. That
opportunity will go to either Hous
ton, Louisville, N orth C arolina
State or Georgia. Those are the tour
teams that will assemble on Satur
day, April 2 to begin the shoot-out.
And when the smoke clears those
Texans should have the best of it all.
North Carolina Slate, the No. 6 seed
in the West regional will play Geor
gia, the No. 9 seed from the East.
This w ill be a m atch-up o f two
teams that no one would have be
lieved would make it this far. Geor
gia. 23-9, and 9-9 in the SEC, is
truly the Cinderella team. The Bull
dogs are making their first ever ap
pearance in the N CA A tournament,
and the Georgians are playing like a
team possessed. The Bulldogs are
only in it because they won the SEC
tournament, and they’ve been on a
roll ever since.
It all began for Georgia when they
knocked o ff Boston University in
Greensboro, N .C . Then it was on to
Syracuse where they took on St.
Johns, a team once ranked No. I in
the nation. They defeated the Red-
men handily, and that victory served
notice to the world that the Geor
gians were ready. On Sunday,
March 27, 1983 they were matched
against the Tar Heels, another team
that had been No. I. The outcome
was the same. It was Georgia han
dily defeating the much bigger Tar
Hap*.
l i e Bulldogs are pitted against
NC State, another Cinderella team,
•nd the outcome is doubtful Wh»t is
not doubtful is the fact that neither
Georgia nor NCS will be given much
of a chance against the winner of the
Houston vs. Louisville encounter.
For all practical purposes the
championship game is being played
on the first day of the tournament,
when the Cougars and Cardinals
take the floor.
The game between Houston and
Louisville will be plaved somewhere
in outer space.
Both Houston and Louisville
have some of the finest athletes ever
to set foot on a hardwood floor.
I mean I ’ve seen teams that were
fast, teams that were quick, teams
that could jum p. But never have
these eyes seen so many players that
could do all those things. Houston
has three sure first-round N B A
picks in the 7-0 Center, Akeem
"T h e D ream " Olajuwon, 6-9 fo r
ward Micheaux and 6-8 forw ard
Drexler. These guys are studs.
Louisville is equally as talented,
but Akeem's center play makes
Houston the favorite.
Hats
%
Hats
Listen I The Mordenestic Social Club will give
you a prize for the hat you are wearing — go
back as far as the '30s, '40s, and up to now, the
’80s - and dig out a bad hat or mad hat as long
as it is a hat.
April 2 . 1983 at the
Royal Esquire Club
Music by Lloyd Allen Band.
from 9:00 p.m. until
D o n atio n $3 ad van ce. 54 a t door. Prizes ~
Prizes — Prizes. Proceeds go to help
so m eo n e and T o k e n o f Love.
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Linton Townts, Trailblazer forward, signs auto
graphs following the Official Baeketsinking Cere
mony calabrating tha baginning of axpansion con-
struction at tha Salvation Army Moora Straat Can-
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(Photo: Richard Brown)
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