– End of an era: She moved to Houston at the tender age of 10, but over the weekend Olympic medalist Phoebe Mills bid Bela Karolyi and her gymnastics career farewell. Now 16, she showed up Monday morning at New Trier High School for the summer session. ”I feel like a little pressure has been lifted off my shoulders,” Mills told us. ”I just didn`t have as much motivation, and I knew that if I was going to try for another Olympics, I`d have to put more into it. I think I was a little burnt out. I`m ready for another lifestyle.” That lifestyle includes joining the junior class at New Trier in the fall and rejoining her family after a six-year absence. Will she find life in Northfield too tame? ”I don`t think so,” she said with a giggle.
– Playing through: Who opens a Chicago golf club and prays for rain? Ed Moltzen could see no harm done by Monday`s showers, because his Pro Golf & Country Club is located inside the Washington Square Building in the city`s River West area. The new facility, which has former LPGA pro Mary Belcaster as a teaching pro, features computerized golf course simulation equipment to go with a large pro shop. The equipment is currently programmed for Pebble Beach. Moltzen, a member of Prestwick in the south suburbs, has already found it convenient to have his own club. ”My regular course was booked over the weekend,” he told us, ”and I just came here and played instead.”
– Real support: As commissioner of the problem-plagued Southwest Conference, Fred Jacoby has more than his share of headaches. But the next time Jacoby`s beeper sounds, it could be life and death. He`s on red alert for a heart transplant, which means medical officials are looking for a donor. When one is found, Jacoby gets beeped and has two hours to get to his Dallas hospital for surgery. We understand Fred got a pep talk the other day from former Minnesota coach Cal Stoll, who went through the same process last August.
– Making points: Michigan guard Glen Rice has no trouble seeing himself alongside Michael Jordan next season in the National Basketball Association.
”I`ve thought about it,” he said. ”Right now they need more scoring power other than (Jordan). They need a big man, too.” Rice didn`t participate in the recent NBA tryout camp in Chicago. ”If anyone out there still feels Glen Rice has something to prove,” he added, ”he should get some tapes and look at the tournament performance I had.”
– Anticlimax: After a quiet celebration with family and friends, Michael Chang left Paris Monday to play a special event in Holland. The Continental Grass Court Championships in Rosmalen was penciled into Chang`s schedule long before the French Open. Others in the eight-man field are Johan Kriek, Dan Goldie and Miloslav Mecir, and lesser lights Michael Schapers from the Netherlands, Kelly Everndon from New Zealand, Slobodan Zivojinovic from Yugoslavia and Carl-Uwe Steeb from West Germany. Accompanying Chang will be Advantage agent Jeff Austin, who probably experienced a sense of deja vu watching his client win the French. His sister, Tracy Austin, was the youngest woman to win the U.S. Open.
– Marshalling forces: The day before Super Bowl `90, Louisiana State basketball coach Dale Brown hopes to use the Super Dome for a special purpose. He`s trying to arrange a game against Notre Dame on Jan. 27, and wants to use the proceeds to build a shelter for the homeless in New Orleans. Louisiana Sen. J. Bennett Johnston has even gotten into the act, enlisting the services of Pete Rozelle to work out logistics during Super Bowl weekend.
– News, notes and nonsense: Mike Singletary made an unusual acceptance speech when he picked up the Byron White Humanitarian Award Sunday night at the Mackey Awards Dinner. ”I really hoped Doug Williams would win it,”
Singletary told the crowd. ”Doug Williams has been a role model as a quarterback and a person. Many young quarterbacks want the opportunity to play. When he took the Redskins to the Super Bowl, I was so proud of him.”
. . . Is Jim Valvano out of the picture as Knicks coach? You have to think so with news that he`s replacing Jay Johnstone as host of ESPN`s ”Lighter Side of Sports,” which has a production format Valvano says is compatible with his current job as North Carolina State coach and AD. . . . Carlton Fisk will have no trouble shaking hands at Friday`s Chi-Sox Luncheon at the Drury Lane Oak Brook. Fisk had just broken his hand before last year`s event, but mended from this year`s break just in time for the event. . . . Admirers of Minnesota`s Kirby Puckett should consider sending their kids to a camp led by Triton baseball coach Bob Symonds. Puckett played for Symonds, whose camp runs from June 19-30 on the River Grove campus. . . . Kids from Maryville Academy and other children`s charities proved seaworthy Monday morning when they braved stormy skies over Lake Michigan to participate in the Variety Club`s annual fishing derby. We hear WGN`s Al Lerner was under some duress, but managed to stick it out until his crew caught two coho.
– And finally: Red Wings scoring star Steve Yzerman is no dummy. He picked a goalie, Darren Pang of the Blackhawks, to be best man at his wedding last weekend. Maybe Yzerman just wanted to look taller.
