European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 21, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday april 21, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 25 Viking s big thrill was a peeling by Tim Boivin staff writer site Pluto Italy the Minnesota Vikings Matt Blair played in two super bowls blocking a punt in one of them. He made All pfc four times and was named the out standing linebacker in the pfc in 1980 by the nil players association. Yet you ask Matt Blair about one thrill that stands out in his travels and he skips All the High profile football stuff that everyone already knows about. He starts talking about a dining facility at Torrejon a Spain. Blair in his Down to Earth Way likes to give the Glam our of his life Back to the places he came from. That s Why he recently travelled to military posts around Europe on his fifth Uso Dod trip. Blair s father an air Force career Man spent time in Torrejon working As a Cook. And he dragged his son along before the Sun came up to help at the mess Hall peeling potatoes. I went Back to Torrejon on one of these trips Blair said while stopping at this Remote army site last week and i had the Chance to go Back to the very same Kitchen. They did t have me peeling potatoes this time like my dad had me doing. It was one of the biggest kicks i Blair has come a Long Way from those potato peeling Days. Playing in the past with the likes of Alan Page fran Tarkenton and Jim Marshall he has become More known As a member of the purple people eaters for peeling the Ball away from running backs instead of peeling the skin off a Spud. But the Vikings Are no longer the Nasty norsemen of the 1970s and Early 80s coached by Bud Grant. Grant came out of his one year retirement in 1985 to coach the Vikings to a respectable 7-9 record after a 3-13 Mark under Les Steckel in 1984. Going into the 80s, respectable and disastrous were not in the Vikings vocabulary. Pfc Central championship was. Then after the 85 season Grant was replaced by for Mer offensive coordinator Jerry Burns who has been with the team 18 years. Blair does t Point the Finger at Steckel and his Boot Camp methods for the Vikings downfall. Under Les a lot of times Guys would have minor aches and pains and take themselves out of the games. That was t the Way it was when the Vikings were on top. Les had his own Way of doing things and he was very intense. But the key to coaching is communicating not intensity and that was t being done Blair said. It was different under the Laid Back Grant both before and after Steckel. Grant was a Man of few words but could rival the Man in the White House for the title of is photo by Stephanie James Minnesota linebacker Matt Blair. Remembers Torrejon mess Hall great communicator. When i first came up Blair said it seemed to me he would t be saying much for a head coach. As the years passed and i got to know him i realized he did t say much but what he did say was important. I have a lot of respect for him not Only As a coach but also As a family Man outside of that respect did have its trying moments for Blair. But not on the football Field where you would expect it. In Stead it was on the racquetball court. When Bud s playing racquetball he s not in a hurry to get things done he has a slow orthodox style. He s an excellent racquetball player and he had beaten me two games in a Best of five match. I won the third game. I was just hitting my stride. So All of the sudden Bud says i gotta go Home. I said Whatty mean you gotta go Home ? we be still got two games left. So Bud says i have to open the garage door for the delivery Man. We re getting a new Washer and dryer now Blair continued Here s a Man making untold of hundreds of thousands of dollars with six kids and a wife one of the most respected head coaches in the nil and he s the one who has to open the garage door for the delivery Man. That s the kind of Man Bud Grant is very family oriented. Of course having lost that first game might have had something to do with Burns Grant s replacement is Cut in the same Mold. There was a lot of Surprise read Shock going around when Steckel got the head Job instead of Burns the first go round. What can the Vikings look Forward to from Burns "7-9 was a Start Blair said. Now Jerry has to come in and not leave any stones unturned. Whether it takes longer practices extra work or running More sprints. We can t say we did t try everything. Jerry conveys the same mood Bud docs. Come to prac Tice get the Job done and get out of there. But while we re in there Jerry will cover All the phases of the key to the Vikings 1986 Hopes Joey Browner at safety and Steve Jordan at tight end Blair said. Through the last two years and All the complaining those Guys were solid All the Way through. They never let and neither did the Vikings in 1985, according to Blair. Take away a couple of key plays get the offence going and Blair Felt the vikes could have been 9-7. He s talking about the two losses to Chicago the eventual super bowl champs 33-24 and 27-9. The younger Guys look to me in the huddle when the going gets Tough said Blair the Only leftover from the Vikings super bowl years. Chicago got three Quick ads when Mcmahon came in in our first game and 1 had to Tell the Guys keep on tackling keep doing the things we have to do we can t give up in the second game against Chicago the defense really stuck it out but the offence just stuck period. We need to get our offence going this to that end what Are the Vikings looking for in the draft i think Well be looking for offensive linemen just like everybody else Blair said in response to the question from spec. 4 Kenneth Whitaker a redskins fan. When things fell apart last year it seemed like an offensive lineman always had missed an assignment. Well be looking for a quarterback in private Blair muses that they la be looking for line backers too. He knows his Days Are numbered. Eleven years in the nil is a Long time and he has been injured and missed a few games the last two years after being known As the Vikings or. Consistency in his first nine seasons. I m in the Best shape i be been in the last two years right now Blair said during a break in the question and answer period at the 69th ordnance dining facility. But i also know my time is in sight maybe one or two years then Blair plans to turn to his own business a promotional venture. When his retirement is in sight he won t be peeling the Ball from running backs. Of course he won t be peeling potatoes in Torrejon either. Canada ends yanks hockey medal Hopes Moscow a spurred by Brent Sut Ler s two goals team Canada downed the United states 4-2 at the world ice hockey championships sunday knocking the Ameri cans out of the medal round and thrusting the canadians into the four team playoffs. The soviet Union hungry for revenge after losing the world title last year knocked out Czechoslovakia 4-2 in a later game sunday. The soviet Victory killed titleholder Czechoslovakia s Hopes of reaching the medal round the first time that has happened in 30 years of world championship Competition. The soviet Union Sweden and Finland qualified earlier for the playoffs which Start wednesday. The final preliminary round games will be played tuesday. The . And Canadian teams both obviously aware of the importance of their match started cautiously. American goalie Chris Terreri made sever Al spectacular saves late in the scoreless first period when the canadians picked up the Pace. James Fox of the National hockey league s i of Angeles Kings put Canada into a 1-0 Lead by whipping a Long shot from 30 feet at 3 03 of the Middle session. It was 2-0 after Dave Taylor skated Down the right flank perfectly serving up the puck to Dale Hawer Chuk of the Winnipeg jets who beat Terreri from a close Range. That was at 7 50. Just 33 seconds later Scott Sandelin clawed one Back for the . But Sutler of the new York islanders put the match away for the canadians at 16 26 on a Power play goal. In the final period the canadians in creased the pressure and at 4 04 Sutler scored his second goal. De Olczyk of the Chicago Blackhawk reduced the Canadian Lead to 4-2 at 8 50, capitalizing on a 4-on-3 advantage. But that was All the . Could manage against an inspired team Canada. Cook wins pro Bowling As Perez falters in final Windsor locks Conn. Up top seeded Rey Perez appearing in his first televised final suffered opens in the ninth and 10th frames saturday to All but hand Steve Cook a 192-168 Victory and the $125,000 greater Hartford open title. Cook watched from the sidelines As Perez a second year player from Cincinnati missed a six pin in the ninth Frame and then rolled his final Ball into the Gutter while attempting to convert the 3-6-9-10 in the 10th. It was the 10th career title for Cook of Roseville Calif. Seko Wai Fez Triumph in London Marathon London a Toshihiko seko of Japan and Norway s Grete Waitz the pre race favourites won the sixth London Marathon sunday. Sep covered the 26.2 Miles in 2 hours 10 minutes 2 seconds. Waitz the reigning world Champion clocked 2 24.54 to finish first among the women. Second to seko was England s Hugh Jones the 1982 Winner. Scotland s alis Tair Hulton repeated his third place of last year and american Pat Petersen placed fourth. Mary o Connor of new zealand was runner up to Waitz whose time was a personal Best. Waitz s time was Well outside the world s leading women s Mark of 2 21.06 set on the same course last year by in Grid Kristiansen of Norway. Seko 29, covered the last 10 Miles virtually alone. After Matching a world record Pace for most of the race he slowed dramatically in the final stages. The world s Best Lime is held by Carlos Lopes of Portugal who ran 2 07.12 a year ago in roller dam. Britain s Steve Anders stayed with seko for the first half of the race before dropping out. No other runner came close to challenging the japanese Star whose Only Marathon loss since 1979 was in the 1984 los Angeles summer olympics. It was seko s first Marathon since los Angeles when he finished a disappoint ing nth after suffering from Hep Alilis. Seko a former Winner of the Boson Marathon also has won five races Over the same distance in Japan. An Esli maled 19,000 runners began the race. Ethiopians 1-2 in Rotterdam Rotterdam Netherlands a ethiopian runner Abebe Mekonnen won the sixth roller dam Marathon saturday in 2 hours 9 minutes 9 seconds. Mekonnen was followed closely by be Laneh Disimo who is also of Ethiopia who finished Only six seconds behind the Winner. The two ethiopians both police offi cers were in the Lead group right from the Starl of the race. Allan Zachariassen of Denmark took third place in 2 11 56
