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SPORTS:GARY HO ENIG %u2019SBottomLineThis is for Willis Reed, and for countless others who catch a hot run on the dice and ride it for all it%u2019s worth, until they throw those dice one time too often...As a player, Willis Reed was a gifted athlete with enormous strength, fired by a compulsive need to dominate on the court. In his younger years, he was prone to violence, and more than once he clarified disagreements between opponents and teammates with more than friendly persuasion. Colleagues named DeBusschere and Bradley and Holzman understood that such pride channeled properly could transform a team, and so Willis became The Captain, and filled that role with such epic passion that he became, for many, a comic book super hero, a personification of myth, a black Hercules.And like so many of us, his capacity for self-delusion grew as the shadow of his public persona grew, and he came to believe that there was nothing Willis Reed couldn%u2019t do. He decided, not long after retiring, that he wanted to coach the Knicks, to do what Bill Russell had done for a time, to continue weaving fairy tales as long as he could fashion a winning team.There were signs, even when he still wore a uniform, that Willis might not make a terrific coach. Of all those players on that great Knick team, Clyde, and Dick Barnett, and, later, the Pearl, and DeBusschere and Bradley, Willis was the least subtle, and the least versatile, and, significantly, the one with the least patience, the worst temper. His game was simply strength and desire, and a soft touch from 15 feet in, which he combined with a pump fake and a huge first step to the basket to become a simple but effective scorer. Because Willis was so big and quick and strong, he didn%u2019t need to be adaptable.But once in a while his inflexibility would show. Nate Thurmond, the great defensive center who recently retired, could stop Willis whenever he wanted to. Willis would pump his body. Nate would look at him. Willis would pump again. Nate would look at him. Willis would put up the shot. Nate would knock it away. When Willis would try that big first step, Nate would jump in his way and draw a foul. Game after game, season after season, Willis neVer learned to stop trying to fake Thurmond, to just put that shot up, or get the ball and go. His way was his way, and it worked most of the time. And if it didn%u2019t work, he just wasn%u2019t trying hard enough.Willis%u2019Time Ran OutBut few of us could resist when the Knicks management crudely offered Willis as coach of the New Era. Certainly experienced executives like Mike Burke and Eddie Donovan had private doubts about Reeds%u2019s qualifications. But qualifications were hardly a top priority. Filling the Garden seats was. Red Holzman wasn%u2019t just losing games, he was emptying the seats. No matter that Red was universally respected as one of the game%u2019s finest tacticians, and that replacing him with Reed was like replacing Da Vinci with Snoopy 131. And Willis? Though he was certainly aware that his hiring was at least in part due to his mythic drawing power, he was so convinced of the certainty of his success, that he declined to spend a year as Red%u2019s assistant coach, a generous offer that came from Holzman, the ultimate company man, himself.Sure all of us knew that Willis was just a man. His body%u2019s selfbetrayal was evidence of that. But the raw courage he displayed in overcoming pain and physical limitations out of pure, stubborn pride inspired in many an admiration and affection born of a need to believe that there are people, somewhere, who are larger than life. In that moment at the Garden, when 20,000 people roared and clapped and even Wilt himself, all seven feet of him, turned and watched in awe as he limped on to the court, Willis was larger than life.But now there have been other moments. A moment last season, when Willis berated Lonnie Shelton during a timeout, humiliating him for a mistake on the court, shakin his finger insistently in Lonnie%u2019s face until Shelton, pushed to the limit, nearly came to blows with him. Another, when Willis called Earl Monroe his fourth guard, and refused the Pearl a chance to bronze his own legend with a final season as the Knick captain. A third, when Willis called Lonnie off the bus to tell him he was going to Seattle as compensation for Marvin Webster, and then refused him the chance to re-enter the bus and say goodby to his teammates. These are the acts of a small man, and small men don%u2019t wear capes, or bend steel in their bare hands, or, for that matter, coach championship teams.You rolled them once too often, Willis. And though you don%u2019t want us to write that it hurts, we can feel it inside ourselve, how much it really does hurt. Here%u2019s hoping for a moment in the future, when lliey bring dll uf .yOu back fui une uiuie gu-arounu before the fans, and they call your name, and all those people get up and remember a man big enough to fill that giant uniform hanging from the Garden roof.They owe you that much.College Football:St. John%u2019s andRutgers RemainVictoriousSt. John%u2019s and Brooklyn, a couple of schools whose football tradition harkens back to, oh, the halcyon days of Woodstock, played at Brooklyn over the weekend, with St. John%u2019s coming away with a 20-14 victory. Joe Kaso, the St. John%u2019s quarterback, hit freshmen tight end Sean McCormack with a 23-yard touchdown pass with less than four minutes left in the game, to give St. John%u2019s the victory. St. John%u2019s (4-5) hadn%u2019t beaten Brooklyn (5-3) since 1973, so the victory was particularly gratifying. The two teams were a study in contrasts. St. John%u2019s, with Kaso throwing, has a wide open passing attack, which accounted for 263 yards on Kaso%u2019s 22 completions. Brooklyn, with a more conventional attack, was led by Don Wilshire, who racked up 194 yards on an incredible 48 rushes.Rutgers (18-1) eked out a 13-10 victory over a tough Temple squad to earn another credential in establishing itself as a serious football power. The Scarlet Knights, which have lost only to number-one ranked Penn State this year, won on a 14-yard field goal by Kennan Startzell with%u201d 42 seconds remaining in the game. Both teams were hoping for a bid to the Garden State Bowl at the Meadowlands on December 16, and with scouts from the bowl on hand, Rutgers has to be pleased with its chances. Temple had also played Penn State earlier this year, and had given the Nittany Lions one of its toughest games in an undefeated season. The game%u2019s key play came in the second quarter, when running back Anthony Anderson fumbled near the Rutgers goal line, with Rutgers recovering. The Rutgers defense allowed only a field goal for the remainder of the game.Columbia suffered its third straight defeat Saturday, blowing a 14-0 lead and losing to Cornell, 35-14. Cornell, led by substitute quarterback Mike Ryan (217 yards of offense in the second half) and running back Joe Holland (36-189/ three td%u2019s), scored 28 second-half points to win going away. Cornell is now 4-3-1; Columbia dropped to 3-4-1.FOOTBALL SCORESAmerican lnt%u20191 39, Hofstra 20 Army 29, Boston College 6 Cornell 35, Columbia 14 C.W. Post 28, Edinboro State 7 Fordham 30, Wagner 19 Gettysburg 38, Iona 18 New York Tech 34, Stony Brook 14 Pace 31, St. Peters N.J. 28 Ramapo 10, Manhattan 0 Rhode Island 34, Kings Point 7 Rutgers 13, Temple 10 Seton Hall 40, Coast Guard 21 Yale 23, Princeton 7Reporters are pressing Nets officials to find out whether they have plans to draft James Bailey, the highly-touted center on Rutgers basketball team. The Nets, despite their strong early showing, have been having trouble at the gate, mostly because area residents in Piscataway don%u2019t identify with the team, and the arena, which the Nets are stuck with for at least two more years, is too far away for many New York fans. A popular local players of Bailey%u2019s ability might help.Bailey surprised many observers when he agreed to return toRutgers for his senior year rather than claim hardship and turn pro. The Nets still don%u2019t figure to finish with a strong record, and should have a good crack at Bailey, who was among the nation%u2019s leaders in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots last season, and should be among the most sought-after seniors come next year%u2019s college draft. Nets%u2019 General Manager Charles Theokas has remained noncommittal on the matter, mindful that former Rutgers stars like Phil Sellers and Mike Dabney did not succeed in the N.B.A. But Eddie Jordan, once Bailey%u2019s teammate, is a Net, and drafting Bailey, if no better player is available, would be an article of faith for local fans that the Nets are truly a New Jersey team%u2014G.H.High School Scene:P.S.A.L. TitleIn JeopardyJefferon lost star quarterback Darryl James and fell behind 6-0, but came back anyway and upset the defending P.S.A.L. football champions, Bayside, 24-12, in a semifinal playoff game at Bayside Saturday. Jefferson will meet South Shore for the Division A championship next week. South Shore earned a berth in the finals by defeating a tough Adams squad, 12-7. Jefferson%u2019s only loss this season came to South Shore, 20-16, last month.Bayside opened the scoring after a 58-yard on the opening play from scrimmage by halfback Wally Casanova. Derrick Harmon followed shortly with a five-yard run' for the score. Bayside managed to move to within the Jefferson ten-yard line twice more in the first half, but the Jefferson defense would not let them score. With Bayside still leading 6-0 late in the second quarter, Jefferson%u2019s James broke into theBayside secondary and was stopped by a last-gasp ankle tackle. The injured James was carried from the field with what has been diagnosed as ligament damage to his ankle, and a possible fracture. Jam es%u2019 replacement, Rodney Wright, continued the drive and broke two tackles on a fourth down play to score from the 16 and tie the score. The team then seemed to rally around Wright, and scored the first two times it had the ball in the second half. Kevin Breland (18- 141) scored twice, once on a 22- yard run and once on an 18-yardpass from Wright.Howie brown once again lea the South Shore offense, scoring his 18th touchdown of the season in the first quarter. But South Shore could not score until the fourth qharter. Adams, ahead 7-6, appeared headed for the win when Gary Goldman blocked an Adams punt with five minutes remaining in the game. The ball was scooped up by South Shore%u2019s Larry Davis, who ran 26 yards for the decisive score.Jefferson will be seeking its fourth P.S.A.L. title since the city championship series was inaugurated in 1971. South Shore has been a finalist three times, but has never won.Andrew Jackson and Erasmus will be the Division B finalists. Jackson scored twice in the final quarter to defeat Sheepshead Bay, 26-14, while Erasmus crushed Flushing, 30-0.Jackson (7-1) was trailing 14-12 at the start of the fourth quarter. But a 20-yard run by Jackson%u2019s Lenny Tucker (15-166) put the Hickories ahead to stay. Jeff Ranson scored twice for Sheepshead Bay. Tim Coles had two touchdown passes for Jackson, while Rod Pratt racked up four interceptions.Erasm us, the Brooklyn Division B champion, eased to a 24-0 halftime lead on the strong arm of Anthony Carter, who threw for two touchdowns and three twopoint conversions. Keith Ellis scored two touchdowns and also intercepted four Flushing passes. Ken Kenon led a strong Erasmus defense with 13 tackles.In other games:Evander 28, Stuyvesant 6 Lafeyette, 18, Tilden 6 Lehman 15, Beach Channel 14 Madison 18, Canarsie 8 Midwood 33, New Utrecht 0The Brooklyn Tech cross-country team is beginning to earn a reputation as one to be watched across the state. Tech swept the P .S .A .L . cross-country championships with an overwhelming victory at Van Cortlandt Park Saturday. Tech was led by Vernon Dye, one of the best runners in the state, who won the 5,000-meter race in 15:41.5. Dye is unbeaten this season. Jeff Bradshaw of Tech finished second in the race. Evander Childs finished a distant second in the tourney, with Susan Wagner third. Brooklyn Tech won its second consecutive city championship, and figures to give top-rated Long Island a run for the state championships .%u2014G.H.GET SET, GO: The start of the 5,000-meter race duringP.S.A.L crosis-country championships at Van CortlandtPark, November 11 (H.W. Celnik Photo).Page 32, THE PHOENIX, November 16,1978