Columnist Dean Juipe: Dallimore moving to Reno

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, March 24, 1998 | 8:42 a.m.

Initially he planned to take a one-year sabbatical from baseball, have his right knee surgically rebuilt and then rejoin either the Baltimore Orioles or another team in need of a pitching coach. Now, however, former UNLV head coach Fred Dallimore has not only decided to retire from the game, he's moving to Reno.

"I got a job as a sales rep with Paul-Son (Gaming)," he said this week. "My house is for sale right now and we're moving to Reno."

Dallimore and his wife, Alice, will be returning to the city where Fred initially made a name for himself. He was a football and basketball player at Reno High School before becoming a standout pitcher for Nevada-Reno.

He took over the UNLV baseball program in 1974 and coached the Rebels through the 1996 season. He spent 1997 as a pitching coach for the Orioles' triple-A farm club at Rochester.

Dallimore, 53, is one of two members of the UNLV baseball program to have his number (13) retired and he's also a member of the Nevada-Reno athletic Hall of Fame. He joins a Paul-Son Gaming company that has seven offices worldwide.

Not everyone is crazy about moving north, however. American athletes playing professionally for Canadian teams, particularly in the NBA, have been complaining vehemently about the current rate of exchange -- 69 cents on the dollar -- as well as the country's high tax rate. ... Liz Manley, a former silver medalist at the World Figure Skating Championships, is living here and training at the Sahara Ice Palace. She's taking part in the Campbell's Soup Champions on Ice tour that plays the Thomas & Mack Center July 3. ... Longtime local baseball umpire Fred Atiyah has retired from calling games but is serving as a consultant and observer for umpires in the Western Athletic Conference. ... Unusual comment: "For an academic school, we're playing too many games," said Rice baseball coach Wayne Graham, whose highly ranked team spent the weekend in Las Vegas. ... Former Las Vegas Thunder head coach Chris McSorley on the International Hockey League race: "Take Long Beach."

If the 1998 Final Four reaches Nevada bookmakers' expectations it'll bring in $80 million in wagering, top January's Denver vs. Green Bay Super Bowl ($78 million) and become the event that drew the most gaming action in history. Currently at Nos. 2 through 4: 1997-98 college football bowl games ($50 million); 1997 NBA playoffs ($30 million); and the second Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson fight ($25 million). ... His career apparently rejuvenated at the age of 27, Andre Agassi said last week he intends to play "three to five more years." He's 21-3 in match play this season and, like his actress wife Brooke Shields, keeps a busy schedule. He said their desire for children -- or even a dog -- "will have to wait." ... Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight said he'll retire if he ever gets a team back in the Final Four. ... Every Major League Baseball team that had a winning season last year had a payroll of at least $33 million. ... If season-ticket sales are any indication, baseball fans in Milwaukee are pleased to see the Brewers move to the National League. Sales are up 25 percent.

They finished six games under .500 last season but the Boston Red Sox appear to be greatly improved and might not be a bad bet as a long shot to win in the American League. Their biggest obstacles are division mates New York and Baltimore. ... Wayne Gretzky had the 218th four-point game of his amazing hockey career last week. ... Experimental four-quarter hockey comes to Las Vegas this weekend when the Thunder hosts games Friday and Saturday with Detroit. No way it succeeds. ... Only three of the last 12 teams to win the Presidents Cup -- which goes to the NHL team that accumulates the most points during the regular season -- has gone on to win the Stanley Cup. The rarities: New York Rangers, 1994; Calgary, 1989; and Edmonton, 1987. ... It's said John Calipari may use the escape clause in his contract during the off-season and quit as coach of the NBA's New Jersey Nets. ... The NBA would be crazy to trigger a process that will result in a lockout, which it is threatening to do as its labor agreement with the players' association is up for review. ... Utah's Karl Malone has been on the muscle of late. Taking the approach "I'm going to say whatever's on my mind and whatever happens, happens," he's a walking time bomb of loose and counterproductive opinions.

A legendary high school basketball coach, Ralph Tasker of Hobbs, N.M., retired earlier this month with a 53-year record of 1,122-291. His final team went 19-8 despite not having anyone taller than 6-foot-3. Tasker is 78. ... NCAA women's basketball tournament TV ratings are down 22 percent and at a relatively embarrassing 0.7 market share. ... When Byron Nelson won $63,335 on the PGA Tour in 1945, he took home 14.5 percent of the tour's total purse for the year. If a player won 14.5 percent of this year's total purse, his income would be $13.6 million. ... The PGA Tour should alter the manner in which it compiles its putting leaders. As it is, the ratings you see every week that give a player's average putts per round is flawed because it counts only putts taken when the player hits the green in regulation. That's a better measure of a player's iron play than his putting ability. ... The German government has brought criminal charges against four former swimming coaches and two doctors, claiming they doped as many as 10,000 athletes from East Germany in their fervor to build Olympic champions. One athlete, 1986 European shot-put champion Heidi Krieger, was injected with so much testosterone that she's now a male.