COACHES CORNER.

REGGIE JACKSON, on how he became a baseball legend: "I couldn't fight my natural birthright."

HANK JOHNSON, of Miami, FL, on the NFL coach who specializes in recruiting fugitives from law and order: "He looks for four things in players: speed, intensity, intelligence, and his chances for acquittal."

RED AUERBACH: "I got two degrees in college, then spent my whole life teaching young guys to put a round ball into a round hole."

JIM CAMP, the old George Washington U. football coach on why he couldn't use a lonesome end in his formation: "Our practice field had a parkway along one sideline and a river along the other. The first time I tried to set up with a lonesome end on each side, one guy got hit by a car and the other guy drowned."

EDDIE FUTCH, boxing trainer extraordinaire, upon showing up at the Playboy mansion to celebrate his 88th birthday and demanding to be paid a lump sum to pose in the nude, only to be told: "Sorry, Eddie, you gotta do it pay-per-view."

STEPHON MARBURY, upon matriculating at Georgia Tech: "I'm gonna graduate on time no matter how long it takes." (He quit after his freshman year needing 117 points to graduate. He offered to toss a coin, double or nothing, with his guidance counselor.)

DICK YOUNG, the great sports columnist, to the young, cocky Tommy Lasorda: "Don't be a wise guy Remember, the pen is always mightier than Lasorda."

AL MICHAELS, voice of Monday Night Football, on John Madden: "A great guy. Has never let success go to his clothes."

BILL McCLARD, Arkansas kicker, on why he gave up shot-putting: "Every time I practiced the shot, I kept thinking what would happen if I got absent-minded and punted it."

HILLARY CLINTON, on the opening night of the NHL's exhibition season: "I've loved hockey for years and there's nothing more exciting than the last two minutes of the fourth quarter."

EARL WEAVER: "The key to winning baseball is intelligence, savvy, science, and lots of three-run homers."

JOHN ELWAY, on the strange bond that linked him with Albert Einstein: "Winning."

BOBBY VALENTINE, Met manager, on the artful batting style of Tony Gwynn: "He has the uncanny ability to move the bat around as if it were a magic wand or a sword in Errol Flynn's hand."

MICKEY MANTLE, on the tough, mean, fearsome Don Drysdale: "I used to hate to bat against him. He'd hit me in the arm, then come down and look at me and say, "That's a real bad bruise, and it's never gonna get better."

WADE BOGGS, on what it's like hitting against Randy Johnson: "It's like a religious experience. You do a lot of praying, but most of the time the answer is no."

DON MEREDITH, former Dallas quarterback, upon playing a bombardier in a war film: "It was just like the NFL. I dropped 11 bombs and 11 were incomplete."