European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 09, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday november 9, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary a i knew Vocus d Amado was special one particular bouquet of Flowers near the body of Constantino Cus d Amato in the funeral parlor could have been sent Only by somebody who was very special to him. The sender s identity was immediately Given away by the message on the card attached to the Spray. It read simply cos you were the greatest " Muhammad Ali never forgets either a kindness or anyone who helped shape his life in any Way. Not thai anybody who Ever met him could possibly forget Cus d Amato. An extraordinary Man who died sunday much too Young at 77, and who was buried thursday in Cal skill. N.y., not far from where he lived and still ran his own gym. Cus d Amato was one of a kind an auth cynic Origi Nal. He was a fight manager and Trainer who devel oped and guided two men to world titles Floyd  Terson the former heavyweight Champion and Jose Torres the one Lime Light heavyweight King. D Amato was truly a Genius. But transcending even hat he was one of the finest warmest and most understanding human beings who Ever graced the face of the Earth. In an Industry which sometimes has been compared to a cesspool because of some of the lower elements it attracts the Stocky Gray haired d Amato was As straight As a pin in All his dealings. He was so straight As Well As strange in a few of of his ways that some believed he was out of step with everyone else. He was t. They were. Muhammad Ali had t won his Gold medal in the Rome olympics yet when he first Learned of Cus d Amato. He was still Cassius Clay still in his teens when he heard thai d Amato was going to be in Indianapolis with Patterson for a fight. Ali was dying to talk with d Amato about a subject Cus knew Best boxing. So Ali and his brother Rudy got in the bettered car they owned and drove from Louisville to Indianapolis. When they arrived nobody even knew them but d Amato did t Brush them off. Busy As he was with Patterson he took time to answer All the questions Ali had and you know How much he can talk. D Amato could t help but be impressed with Young Cassius Clay s enthusiasm for boxing his knowledge of the spoil and his determination to make something of himself in it. He discovered his two visitors weren t sure they had enough Money to eat or to get Back Home to a photo Cus d Amato. Straight As a pin Louisville. 10 he dug Down into his pocket As he had done so Many times before for so Many other Young fighters and gave them enough to make sure they would go hungry or get stranded. Ali never forgot that. He not Only respected d am Ato he loved him. When he opened his training Camp in Deer Lake pa., in 1971, Ali made it a Point to invite d Amato and Patterson and both came. The two men had t been talking for some time Over a disagreement but when they got to the Camp they broke the ice. Hugged each other and made up. Ali had such a great regard for d Amato and his knowledge of boxing that before leaving for Zaire in 1974, he called him up to ask him How to fight George Foreman. D Amato told him tic Man is a bully in inc ring and tries to intimidate everybody. What you Musi do is go to his strength right at inc very swirl and gain his respect. Hit him so hard with your first punch that he ii respect  Ali followed those instructions 10 the idler. He did exactly what d Amato had told him to do. Stunning Foreman with a crushing right to the head in inc first minute. By the eighth round. Foreman was All finished. Because of some of the trash As he called them he had seen in boxing d Amato was suspicious of people he did t know. He also was suspicious of air planes and never used them. His critics sometimes made fun of him because he refused to Fly. Now John Madden does the mime thing preferring to travel by train All the time and he s applauded for it. Go figure human nature. For a while d Amato was so disillusioned with the More tawdry aspects of professional boxing that he divorced himself from it and kept to himself at his Home in the Cal skill mountains. But Jimmy Jacobs another Good Man. Brought him Back into boxing. Jacobs is a fight manager and the owner of the most Complete boxing film Library in the world. He renewed d Amato s dormant interest in his gym and gave him a new life. Before the last olympics d Amato called up one of his Many friends. Gene Kilroy who used to work with Ali and now is an executive at the Tropicana hotel in Las vegas. D Amato was All excited. Lightning has struck again he said. God has Tot me another fighter by the name of Michael Tyson and he s going to be the heavyweight Champi on of the world some  Tyson is on the Way with a perfect 12-0 record. He got into some trouble As a boy but with d Amato s influence he seems on inc right track now. D Amato thought so much of Tyson thai he adopted him legally. He was his manager his fall or. His Friend. Mine too. So Long Cus. Wherever you arc i Hope they love and appreciate you As much As i did. In Ltd pm i voted Al Honor by baseball writers Cox wins another manager of year award new York up1 Bobby Cox who was voted american league manager of the year by the baseball writers association added another plaque to his trophy Case thursday when United press International named him its Al manager of the , who guided the Toronto Blue jays to their first division title collected 16 vote in a poll of 26 up baseball correspondents. Dick Howser. Manager of the world series Champion Kansas City royals received sin volts. Former Yankee manager Billy mar tin and California s Gene Mauch were the Only others to get any votes. The Blue jays whose 99-62 record was the Best in the Al won the Eastern Divi Sion by two games Over the Yankees. To Ronto fell to the royals in the Al playoffs after blowing a 3-1 Lead in the Best of seven series. Following the playoffs Cox resigned As manager to take the general manager s Job in Atlanta where he began his major league managerial career. Cox managed the Blue jays for four Yean and bellied convert the expansion club from a last place team to a contender. Be fore Cox took Over in 1982, Toronto had finished in last place since joining the Al in 1977. The Blue jays tied for sixth in Cox s first season. Toronto finished with its first winning record in 1983 and followed suit the next two years. Cox s strength As a manager was his Abil Ity to communicate with his players and get the most out of his Bench. He left the Blue jays As the most successful manager in the club s history posting a four year Mark of 355-302. After a Distant second place finish to the tigers in 1984, the Blue jays were predicted to place Well this year. Toronto had beefed up its weak spot the bullpen with the acquisitions of Bill Caudill and Gary Laval la. Dep site Cudih s ineffectiveness Cox s Relief corps was still Well stocked with Dennis lamp Tom Henke and Jim Acker. Cox used the deep pen to his advantage and got 47 saves from his relievers 14 More than the staff had compiled the previous year. The 44-year-old Cox was also blessed with a Young and potent hitting attack As Well As solid Starling pitchers. Jesse bar Field Lloyd Moseby and George Bell combined to form one of the Best Outfield in baseball. Dave Stieb had an off year at 14-13 de spite leading the Al in Era. But he was helped by Doyle Alexander who won a dub High 17 games and left hander Jimmy key a 14-game Winner. Feinstein tells Denver to Lay off giants san Francisco up san fran Cisco mayor Dianne Feinstein says there t no Way the giants will be allowed to move to Denver temporarily one of several options the club is exploring. Feinstein threatened Legal action in response to the giants preliminary discussions with Denver officials about the possibility of playing baseball for three sea sons in mile High stadium. The giants have declared they will not play another season in candlestick Park and have been fighting to get a new stadium built in downtown san Francisco. There s no Way they re going to Den ver Feinstein said wednesday. There s something called tort Law. If Denver gets involved in trying to get the giants to break their contract they could be in for some big  the giants lease at candlestick Park runs through 1994. A delegation from the National league club including team president Al Rosen and vice president Corey Busch met with the Den ver baseball commission last Friday to Dis cuss the possible move. The talks were re Quested by the giants. Denver mayor Federico Pena attended the  said the temporary move to Denver is just one possibility the giants Are considering. We were just finding out if they were interested he said. They clearly want a team permanently but we could t Promise them that. We emphasized that it would be owner Bob Luric i right to take to take the team Back As soon As san Francisco gets a stadium built. We wanted to be Able to throw several options into the pot when we make our presentation to san Francisco City officials. And this was one possible  the giants in late september proposed playing temporarily in the Oakland coliseum Home of the a s. Opposition by the american league team and Oakland officials shot Down the idea. We can t continue to Haemorrhage Money at candlestick Busch said. For 1985, Well lose Between $5 million and Sio million. It will take at least three ars for a new stadium to be ready so we re talking optimistically about further losses of si5 million realistically about As much As s30