Earl Cox on Sports
Chris Burke, who hit THE home run of 2004, and Junior Bridgeman are athletes who are too good to be true.
Let's start with Bridgeman, an all-time basketball great at the University of Louisville. He earned his law degree while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, now lives in Louisville, is chairman of U of L's trustees, and owns more than 100 Wendy's restaurants.
Bill Olsen, retired U of L director of athletics and one of the two best basketball recruiters in U of L history (John Dromo was the other) passed along this Bridgeman story last week.
When Olsen coached the U of L freshmen, a student asked if he could try out. Olsen asked where he went to high school. Male High he was told.
You played what at Male?
"don't remember you," said Olsen, but he told the student he could try out.
The new team member wasn't bad, tried hard and Olsen kept him. Finally Olsen pressed him about his high school career.
"What did you play at Male?"
He floored Olsen with this: "Coach, I played clarinet in the Male High band."
Little did Olsen know that his musician would make a tremendous contribution to U of L basketball.
When recruits visited, we tried to match them with one of our players with similar interests," said Olson. "I knew that Junior Bridgeman played in his high school band in Gary, Ind."
Olsen matched his Male High bandsman with Junior when he came for a visit. It worked. Junior signed, and the rest is history.
Now for Chris Burke. According to his high school coach at St. Xavier, Joe White, and his father, Al Burke, a former coach at St. X and Bellarmine University, Chris has never done anything wrong in his career. Worked hard, trained right, ate right. Picked good people as his friends.
The Rocket boosted him
You may remember when Roger Clemens was being interviewed after his relief pitching had silenced the Atlanta Braves in a game won by Burke's home run in the 18th inning of the National League Championship Series. Burke was standing nearby but off camera. "I thought I'd just go on to our celebration," Burke said.
But The Rocket told the woman TV interviewer to get Burke on camera.
"That said a lot about The Rocket," said Burke, "a side of him that the public seldom sees. He's a great teammate. And on days when he pitches, it's like a World Series atmosphere."
When Burke was 13, he told his mom, who was preparing steak, that he was not going to eat red meat again. And to this day, he has stuck to his decision, eating pasta, fish and turkey.
Burke has had his ups and downs in his young career. After one frustrating day, he told his wife,
"Remind me again why I'm playing baseball."
When he asked his best fri/files/storyimages/on the Astros, Lance Burkman, to give him five good reasons to play baseball, the hard-hitting outfielder answered, "Money, money, money."
Burke was an infielder in high school, at the University of Tennessee and in the minors, and he was surprised when the Astros told him to play left field.
"My wife hates the outfield," he told the Louisville Quarterback Club last week at Big Spring Country Club.
He hopes to play second base and/or shortstop in the future.
He said that the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter was the toughest pitcher in the National League. "He has nasty stuff. When I hit a home run off him, he gave me the meanest look all the way around the bases."
Burke had one more personal thing to tell about Clemens.
"He has been great to me. He invites me to play golf with him. He's as normal as anyone who has his name on his golf shirt."
Burke hopes to become a full-time infielder, either at second or short, but he's getting his outfielder's glove ready just in case.
Burke has at least one more speaking engagement before leaving for spring training, at the St. Matthews Area Business Association, Feb. 16, for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast meeting. The public is welcome. The cost is $8 and reservations are required by noon Friday, Feb. 10, at 899-2523.
