If He Finishes, It'll be a Race for the Ages

If He Finishes, It’ll be a Race for the Ages

By MAL FLORENCE

April 12, 1996 12 AM PT

Thomas Cullen, 84, is the oldest American entered in Monday’s Boston Marathon. Cullen doesn’t believe his age is a big deal.

“It gets to be a big deal [though] about 18 to 20 miles,” he added.

Cullen, from Sequim, Wash., is one of five runners in their 80s in the marathon. A special lottery allowed 5,000 runners into the race without having to make strict qualification times.

The only runner reportedly older than Cullen is Alfred Gibson of Ascot, England, who gave his age as 89.

Trivia time: Who holds the Masters record for the lowest winning score?

Unfavorable liesssss: One of the hazards encountered in the Tradition tournament, a Senior PGA Tour event last week at Scottsdale, Ariz., was snakes.

John Paul Cain saw one slither across the fairway and told David Casstevens of the Arizona Republic about his phobia: “They’re all nine feet long and have fangs like a [pause] water buffalo.”

A fanged water buffalo?

Net picking: George Jr. Republic won the Pennsylvania Class-AA high school basketball championship, which isn’t remarkable except that it is a reform school.

Some people are bothered by George Jr.’s victory, saying the school shouldn’t be allowed in the tournament because it has players from in state and out of state.

Tough transition: Sean Gilbert, who was traded by the St. Louis Rams to the Washington Redskins, will play defensive tackle despite his desire to play end.

“If I had a preference, I’d play end,” he said, “but the trenches is where the men hang out.”

Loony deal? Raad Cawthon in the Philadelphia Inquirer: “The Celtics are interested in farming out Thomas Hamilton, their 350-pound, 7-foot-2 project/sideshow attraction to the New Hampshire Thunder Loons for the 26-game United States Basketball League season.”

The gray fox: Jon Drummond, the top-ranked U.S. sprinter last year, noticed some gray hair on the head of Carl Lewis before their 100-meter dash meeting last Saturday in the Texas Relays at Austin.

After Drummond, 27, lost to Lewis, 34, the younger sprinter quipped: “That was embarrassing, letting a gray-haired man beat me today.”

FYI: Sam Snead’s career golf earnings were $620,126 for 81 victories, including six majors. Fred Couples earned $630,000 for winning one tournament, the recent Players Championship.

Looking back: On this day in 1992, Couples won the Masters, becoming the first American to win the event since Larry Mize in 1987.

Trivia answer: Jack Nicklaus, 1965, and Raymond Floyd, 1976, 271.

And finally: Cecil Fielder recently stole a base after going a record 1,096 games without a steal and called his wife with the big news.

Her response: “Come on. You didn’t steal no base.” To which Fielder replied: “Watch ‘SportsCenter.’ ”