SAN DIEGO COUNTY SPORTS IN THE ‘80s : QUOTABLE

Some things they said during the 1980s:

Claude Gilbert, answering a booster’s criticism about the red-and-white uniforms worn by San Diego State’s football team in 1980: “I designed those uniforms. I’ve been catching hell here for eight years, and I’ll keep catching hell. But you know something? I don’t care. We’re going to keep those uniforms until you get yourselves a new football coach.”

The red-and-white uniforms were gone in 1981. So was Gilbert.

Don Coryell, on the SDSU administration’s firing of Gilbert: “They’ve got their heads so far underground they can’t see.”

Not all of Donald Sterling’s promises were hollow.

Take this one from 1981: “One day, it will be harder to get a Clipper ticket than it will be to get a Charger ticket.”

In San Diego, anyway.

An irate Rich Gossage struck out at Padre owner Joan Kroc in the aftermath of the clubhouse beer ban in 1986: “She’s poisoning the world with her hamburgers.”

Steve Garvey, on the reaction of his new wife, Candace, to his revelation that he might have fathered two babies out of wedlock: “ . . . Her greatest line to me was, ‘Well, at least I got you off the streets.’ ”

Jim McMahon, commenting on Brigham Young University before the 1981 Holiday Bowl: “I don’t have a lot of fond memories of school. In fact, I hate school. Once I graduate and get to the NFL, I won’t be coming back here.”

Jim McMahon, responding to a reporter’s questions in 1989 by blowing his nose at him: “There’s an answer for you.”

Dan Fouts could be surly in postgame interview situations, particularly after a game such as the 34-27 loss to Oakland in the 1981 American Football Conference championship game. A microphone thrust through a crowd of reporters veritably brushed his beard.

“Get this damn thing out of my mouth,” he snarled.

He looked up. The offending reporter was his father, Bob, a broadcaster in San Francisco.

Charger defensive back Pete Shaw, lamenting the 1981 trade that sent wide receiver John Jefferson to the Green Bay Packers after a long contract squabble: “A lot of players are angry about this. We feel a deep loss, like a death.”

Michael Fay, the owner of New Zealand, complaining that Dennis Conner and his catamaran, Stars & Stripes, had “dogged it” in winning the 1988 America’s Cup races off Point Loma: “I don’t think that other boat was raced at all out there today. It was disappointing to see a competitor ahead of us parked . . . We would rather have been beaten by a greater margin than see a competitor sail like that.”

Former San Diego State basketball Coach David Gaines: “You know what you call a guy who finishes last in a class of 25 at medical school? You call him doctor. You know what you call a coach who finishes last? You call him fired.”

Gaines was fired after SDSU tied for last in 1987.

A classified advertisement from 1980, when Ozzie Smith and his representative were trying to squeeze a better contract out of the Padres: “Padres baseball player wants part-time employment to supplement income. College education. Willing to work. Prefer PR-type employment. Needs hours tailored to baseball schedule but would quit baseball for right opportunity.”

Joan Kroc offered him a job as a gardener.

He is doing quite well these days with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Dave Winfield, after leaving the Padres and signing a 10-year contract worth $15 million with the New York Yankees following the 1980 season: “Hey, I’m ready, I paid my dues, I need some attention. I feel good about my supporting cast.”

The “supporting cast” won 103 games in 1980 without him.