Maryland’s one in a lifetime man

Mike Burke

Jack Heise, who passed away on Monday at the age of 84, was known as Mr. Maryland, and was inducted into the University of Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007. Mr. Maryland did not play a single down, inning or minute for any of his alma mater’s teams. He merely supported those teams for over 60 years.

What did Jack Heise mean to the University of Maryland? They called him Mr. Maryland. They inducted him into the Athletics Hall of Fame. He meant the world to the University of Maryland.

“It would be nothing for him to hit three different sports in one day. He felt terrible if he couldn't support every single team," Terps broadcaster Johnny Holliday told the Baltimore Sun, meaning Heise’s service, support and constant presence meant every bit as much as the more than quarter-million dollars he gave the university in his lifetime.

Jack Heise wasn’t your normal college booster. He knew he didn’t have a say in procedure. He was there to support the Terps, and that’s what basketball coach Gary Williams said he did better than anybody else.

"He'd say things to pump you up,” Williams said. “It's like he was trying to get you ready for the next game. Jack was with you, win or lose."

Football coach Ralph Friedgen said the Terps will wear Heise’s initials on their helmets for the rest of the season. You can be sure Jack Heise’s name will be brought up more than once before the Terps take the field Saturday against Wake Forest.

Mr. Maryland is dead. Long live Mr. Maryland.

MONDAY’S AMERICAN League Central Division championship game won by the Twins over the Tigers was everything a baseball game is supposed to be. It had great plays, it had bad plays; it had clever moves, it had bonehead moves; it had high drama, it had extra innings; it had a blown umpire’s call that was critical to the outcome, and it determined a championship.

With the fall nip in the air, watching a game like that one, with all that was riding on it and with everything those players left on the field of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, you can only appreciate even more what the great Roy Hobbs meant when he said, “God, I love baseball.”

SPEAKING OF the Metrodome, which will host its final baseball game this postseason once the Twins are either eliminated or win the World Series, through the years the domed ballpark with the baggie on the right field wall has been called many things — most frequently the Homerdome because of the way the ball flies out of the place.

But unless you’re a Twins fan or a Redskins fan (the Twins won two World Series there, and the Redskins won their last Super Bowl there), you likely don’t have much use for the Metrodome. Certainly the late Billy Martin didn’t care much for the place, saying in Billyspeak shortly after the Metrodome opened, “This place stinks. It's a shame a great guy like Hubert Humphrey had to be named after it."

IF I MAY, I would like to clarify something. To those of you who at least tried to read last Friday’s column, “Rehire Trembley ... Seriously,” but didn’t finish it because you assumed you knew the ending (or because what and how it was written simply made you sick), I’ve been hearing from you. But you got me all wrong, see? I suggested the Orioles rehire Dave Trembley not as the manager of the big league team, but as a legitimate, hands-on player development person if developing young players is his strength.

Not so thrilled as many Orioles fans are at spending another summer having to watch Trembley sit in the dugout and seemingly count O’s ballcaps in the stands, it would appear president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail has something in mind, but other than admitting the Orioles are still too far away from reaching .500 to waste the bread on a manager who knows how to win, who’s to guess what it is.

Say this for MacPhail, though, he has made it clear to the Priceline Negotiator that the feel-good developmental stage is over. Trembley has been told he has to win, or else.

It’s very likely I’m being grossly unfair, but I’m comfortable with that. Or else will arrive in mid-to-late June.

FOUR GAMES into the season the Redskins have brought longtime West Coast offense guru Sherman Lewis into the camp to serve as a consultant, or “an extra set of eyes,” to determine what, if anything, needs fixing in head coach Jim Zorn’s version of the West Coast. It was the idea, Redskin spin tells us, of Vinny Cerrato, vice president of football operations.

Sure, it was Vinny’s idea. And the assembly line was my idea. Please. Vinny isn’t paid to have ideas. Nobody that works for the Redskins is paid to have ideas. Oh sure, it’s Vinny’s idea right now because we don’t know if it’s going to help the Redskins or not. But if Lewis is able to help the Redskins win, somehow it will get filtered back to have been the owner’s idea.

Remember, Daniel Snyder operates with the same philosophy that helped destroy the Orioles: “It doesn’t matter who gets the credit, as long as it’s me.”

As for Zorn? Well, to quote former Redskins general manager Charley Casserly, the hiring of Lewis without Zorn’s knowledge is “the kiss of death.” And Casserly knows of what he speaks. The man who directed the Redskins to their third Super Bowl title (see Minnesota) was one of the first to be fired shortly after Master Snyder bought the Redskins.

What a shame it all is for what used to be a great organization.

Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.