Show Standard-Examin- Thursday Auqust 30 1990 er 5B' Sports' as to defend title no one thought he’d COLUMBUS Ohio (AP) — James “Buster" Douglas says he always was overlooked as a contender and is being overlooked again now that he’s the heavyweight champion of the world “The way some people may view it is 1 just walked down the street and decidBut I’ve aled to fight (Mike Tyson) ways been in there I’ve always been in the trenches fighting" Douglas said Wednesday Douglas won the undisputed title with d knockout of Tyson on Feb a 10 Before that night in Tokyo Douglas had been considered talented but uninspired a threat lacking heart “I was always the one on all the major undercards I wasn’t the one they looked at They’d have Joe Blow or somebody I was the one nobody really considered “They knew of me but they really didn't think I had what it took to be champion They didn't know they were moving right past the man who was going to do it all who was going to lOth-roun- - The Associated James ‘Buster’ Douglas watches partner Wednesday as he prepares for his Press heavy-his’sparri- ng weight title defense Racism is a fact of NFL life Williams writes in new book NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Bowl hero Doug Williams the first black quarterback ever ‘ selected in the first round of an " NFLiJraft says racism is alive ! and ivell in the league T Su-p- ntfhis er auto-'bipgrpp- hy “Quarterblack” Wil- - rams says that he learned quickly it about discrimination in the NFL when he had to hold out to get a $50000 salary for his rookie season at Tampa Bay and a five- af--i! j year package worth $565000 himself ter establishing Two years later the losingest franchise in NFL history won the division championship a playoff game and then lost to the Los it Angeles Rams in the NFC cham- t pionsfiip game “I mean we were on the verge of going from the worst team in pro sports to the Super Bowl in a J I matter of two years” he said In 1982 he says he was paid : $120000 I '?That was the sal- I ary for NFL quarterbacks” said j!‘ Williams who five seasons later led the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl victory “Everybody’s I backup was making more than ‘ 1 I 54th-highe- I st ' nje” "HCsays when his contract came up for negotiation he asked for five years at $600000 a year but was offered $400000 a year Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse he said tried to get him to sign a $250000 note and go into a real estate deal with him “He paid me like a slave but I wasn’t enough of a slave to go along with that deal” Williams J 1 says— Williams said he is perplexed that no NFL team expressed in him after the Redskins Heft him unprotected in Plan B dast season When no team claimed him he said the have signed him land let him compete for a job “I can’t say the Redskins didn’t deserve better than Doug Williams but I can say that ' Doug Williams deserved a better farewell from the Redskins” he said -- “The fact is NFL teams are not going to pay a black quarterback unless he is definitely going to play” Williams says “I really thought the Redskins were above weren’t that But even-theblack a to quarterpay willing back to go be a backup That’s not an opinion it’s a sad fact” And few are willing to put a black at quarterback even as a starter he says “It boils down to the fact that most NFL coaches general managers and owners are scared of black quarterbacks or they just don’t want a black man running their team period” he says “They’re afraid if they play a black quarterback and he doesn’t pan out they’re going to be ridiculed by their peers” y ht world” he said sides" Douglas is now in training for his first title defense Oct 25 against Nol contender Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas Douglas said he has more than enough motivation “I haven’t forgotten the way it was just six months ago the way it was going into the (title) fight That’s what’s going to keep me here as champion” he said Even though he will be financially secure for the rest of his life after the fight Douglas said he has more than enough motivation to remain the champion He said he wants to provide for his family: His wife is expecting a child in son Lamar just January His returned to school And there were the years he was overlooked “There are things I think about now when I’m running or training" Douglas said “Like how long it took me to get (the title) Or what it’ll take to stay there and maintain it I’ve seen it from both Ho-lyfie- He said he enjoys being the heavyweight champion and the respect atten! dant with the title belts “It's fun and it’s tough because now everybody’s got their eyes focused bn you You’re under the gun now because everything you do somebody’s watch- ing” he said The good part is the adulation and tention ld at- I ' “All I ever wanted to be was the best" he said “Now that I am the best it’s new it’s exciting it’s unreal Every tifrie I got to a hotel now I’m on the tpp floor Before it was ‘Let me try to find you a room’ ” Since winning the championship Douglas also has fought promoter Don King in court over rights to promote his fights They eventually reached an agreement out of court after a protracted legal struggle but those bouts left a bad ta$te in Douglas’ mouth jihy itiraaai mmmm aa GaAffiA ham He can do some great things But a lot of people in the league would like to see him be a black quarterback again” Williams said in the book that he was ready to walk away from football when his wife died after surgery for a brain tumor When Bill Tatham called offering him $3 million to play for the Oklahoma Outlaws in the USFL it was a not only a good experience Tatham was fair to him Williams says' ' Then he said the USFL folded and bidding wars started for Bobby Hebert Jim Kelly and Steve Young none of whom had any NFL experience Williams had thrown for 3396 yards and 20 touchdowns in 1980 the best statistics of his five seasons in the NFL and had the Bucs in the playoffs three of those years “Twenty-eig- shock the win 1989 DODGE DYNASTY August NADA Avg Retail $10300 1985 CHRYSLER GRAND WAG0NEER LASER August NADA Avg Retail August NADA Avg Wholesale $8775 $3825 NADA August Avg Wholesale $2800 August NADA Avg Retail $14225 August NADA Avg Wholesale $12225 OWN TODAY FOR ONLY 8750 OWN TODAY FOR ONLY OWN TODAY FOR ONLY orM935V T&l Sown 117SS-6- 0 1987 JEEP 1 month OAC 2225 2650 r12- 5T&L Down 13 OX 24 mo OAC NFL teams went to training camp in 1986 Not one offered to give me a tryout much less a contract” Williams says “Was Doug Williams blackballed by the NFL?" He says that when Washington finally called Bucs general manager Phil Krueger tried to persuade Coach Joe Gibbs not to sign him After winning the Super Bowl with the Redskins Williams said he was ignored by companies seeking national spokesmen — no big endorsement contracts no advertising revenue “It didn’t really surprise me” he says “After going through the things I’ve been through in my Williams has cautioned Philalife I understand how things delphia quarterback Randall work Cunningham to be patient be “I know that Doug Williams careful of what he says and to' the black quarterback wasn’t just let some things that irritate what corporate America wanted him slide They weren’t ready for that “And Randall is going to “Everybody was geared up for learn” Williams says “If he ever John to win the Super falls out of grace if he can’t do Bowl Elway all the commerand shoot the things he’s capable of doing cials When we won the Super he’s going to be a black quarterBowl and I was the MVP it kind back of drove a stake through their “Now he’s Randall Cunning hearts” Now games may be too short m NFL may revise its new rules to get a few more plays back in NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL expected its new rules that i: keep the clock running to make 4 t games a little shorter Now it I turns out they may be too short With the average exhibition I game this season 15 minutes I shorter than last year’s games commissioner Paul Tagliabue 4 said Wednesday that the league is considering revising its speedup i: rules for the regular season to get ii three or four plays back into the & A i game: Tagliabue acknowledged that he was surprised that the new procedures adopted last March had speeded up games by 15 minutes — from 3 hours 7 minutes during last year’s exhibition season to 2:52 this season “If we can make regular-seaso- n minutes shorter than games last year I think we’d have accomplished our purpose” said Tagliabue one of the prime movers for the speedup n Last year games 3:11 and averaged Tagliabue had hoped to get them around the three-homark this year Under the revisions the clock keeps running on plays and after kickoffs except in the last minutes of the first half and last five minutes of the 9-- regular-seaso- ur Io f irtf inf Kl iiifijnwrif m ifii ' game But that has eliminated an average of 10 plays a game in the exhibition season rather than the n the league anticipated when it made the change As a result Tagliabue is considering recommending restoring a clock stoppage after after kickoffs a move he said could restore 1:20 or three to four plays However he said during a conference call with football writers that the league will not change the shortened halftime — from 15 minutes last season to 12 this year — despite complaints from coaches who say they have too little time to get in and out of the locker room He did say however that in certain stadiums where logistics are poor adjustments of around 30 seconds will be made As for other issues Tagliabue said: He hopes that A1 Davis managing general partner of the Raiders will decide as quickly as possible whether he will play in Oakland Los Angeles or elsewhere this season but said “my role is at the margin” of the issue He did add however that “the half-doze- 4 —a — s -- - ‘ league has been of the view for that the city of the Oakland and the Raiders have a great relationship and the Oakland 10 years Raiders were a great plus for the league” He has met within the last month with Gene Upshaw executive director of the dormant NFL Players Association and still is hopeful that a collective bargaining agreement can be reached by the end of the year However he didn’t seem as hopeful as he’s been in the past noting that the various lawsuits involved would have to be settled first That the elimination of the reserve squads done because of a suit filed by the union would stand “We found that most of the players weren’t developmental players but practice players” he said fMost — almost all — were released after the season" That if Arizona voters fail to approve a holiday for Martin Luther King’s birthday on which they will vote in November the NFL would consider — among other options — moving the 1993 Super Bowl which is scheduled to take place in Phoenix But he added: “We don’t want to interfere in the people of Arizona making their own decision” u Parents would you like your child to: Know how to study how to remember how to think? 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