Sport: Playing Catch

When the pros got around to divvying up the college catch at last week's annual draft in Manhattan, one big fish was missing: Quarterback Jerry Rhome, 22, of the University of Tulsa Missing, but not forgotten. Three teams, the New York Jets, the Dallas Cowboys, Canada's Calgary Stampeders, drafted Rhome last year, when he was a junior, and the only question now is how much he is going to cost the lucky bidder. Last week Rhome hiked the starting price another notch by flinging 29 passes and completing 18 for 234 yds. and two touchdowns, leading Tulsa to a 21-7 victory over Wichita and a berth in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

By Rhome's standards, that was a horrible day. Oklahoma State boasted the nation's second-best pass defense before it ran into Tulsa in October Rhome hit on 35 of 43 for 488 yds.' and moved an awestruck pro scout to exclaim: "We couldn't complete that many if we were only playing catch." Against the University of Louisville, Rhome threw seven touchdown passes; against Houston, he threw one that traveled a fantastic 60 yds. in the air. In Tulsa's ten games (eight wins, two losses) this season, Rhome has completed 224 out of 326 passes (a percentage of .687) for 2,870 yds. and 32 TDs—major college records all. His 3,128 yds.

of total offense is an alltime record as well, and he has broken another dozen or so minor marks during his three varsity years.

The pro bidding for Rhome will probably start somewhere around $20,-000 for a bonus—which is more than the Jets apparently want to spend. Last week they gave Houston their rights to Rhome in return for a draft choice Jets Coach Weeb Ewbank did his best to explain the decision: "I'd have to say that the boy is accurate in the 10-to 15-yd. range," he said. "But I can't tell you whether he can throw long." Then, too, Rhome is only 6 ft. tall: "He might be too short for the pros." Only a cynic would point out that if Jerry Rhome is too short, so are such pros as Washington's Sonny Jurgenson, St. Louis' Charley Johnson New York's Y. A. Tittle, Minnesota's' Fran Tarkenton, and San Francisco's George Mira.