ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602280078
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
``Every day, say just once, I love you.''
Ekaterina Gordeeva said it to her fellow skaters, a sellout crowd and her late husband Sergei Grinkov on Tuesday night in Hartford, Conn. She said it with two magnificent performances, and with an emotional concluding speech that had everyone enthralled.
``I don't have enough words,'' Katya said at the end of a 21/2-hour show that featured the finest skating imaginable.
There were smiles and tears everywhere as the Stars On Ice troupe, bolstered by such guest performers as Oksana Baiul, Brian Boitano, Viktor Petrenko, Yuka Sato, Alexander Fadeev and Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko - champions all - paid tribute to Grinkov.
The highlight was Gordeeva's solo performance at the end of the first act.
A lone spotlight lit the blue surface. The crowd rose, the applause built and lasted a half-minute, even as she skated. And the tears flowed.
Everywhere, there was support for Gordeeva. Everywhere except right next to her, where he stood for nearly 14 years.
It seemed so odd to see Gordeeva skating alone to Mahler's Fifth Symphony, her first public performance since her husband and pairs partner died of a heart attack in November.
Odd, yet beautiful, the way the couple skated when they won two Olympic gold medals. This was Katya's private tribute to Sergei, and she was allowing thousands of strangers at the Hartford Civic Center to watch.
``It is so difficult to talk,'' Gordeeva said. ``I want you to know I skated today not alone. I skated with Sergei. That is why I skated so good.''
Strock to coach Baltimore QBs
Don Strock, a 17-year NFL veteran who starred at Virginia Tech and has spent the past three years coaching in the Arena Football and World leagues, was named quarterbacks coach of Baltimore's new NFL franchise.
Marvin Lewis, the Pittsburgh Steelers' linebacker coach for the past four years, was named defensive coordinator.
Former NFL punter-defensive back and college All-America quarterback Billy Lamar Lothridge has died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Navarre, Fla. He was 54. Lothridge was an All-American at Georgia Tech in 1963 and runner-up to Roger Staubach of Navy for the Heisman Trophy that year.
A U.S. District Court judge ruled Monday to increase the NFL salary cap by almost $2 million per team. The league is appealing, saying the increase is greater than allowed by labor agreements. But the decision may not be negative to everyone because it gives teams more money with which to pursue free agents.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB