Dempsey, Jack

Heavyweight champion

 Honey, I just forgot to duck.
[to his wife after losing his title to Gene Tunney]

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Dickey, Glenn

Sportswriter

 The guy with the biggest stomach will be the first to take off his shirt at a baseball game.

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Dickey, Lynn

NFL Quarterback

 What's one more torpedo in a sinking ship?
[asked why he was still playing football after having suffered a dislocated hipbone, shattered hip socket, broken fibula, and a variety of other injuries]

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Dietzel, Paul

College football Coach

 There are no office hours for champions.

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DiMaggio, Joe

Hall of Fame outfielder

 You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.
[on Opening Day]

 You start chasing a ball and your brain immediately commands your body to "Run forward! Bend! Scoop up the ball! Peg it to first!" Then your body says "Who, me?"

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Ditka, Mike

NFL tight end and coach

 In life and in football, talent is no accomplishment. . . Excellence in life and in football is when you recognize your opportunity and go after it. That is accomplishment.

 Success isn't measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.

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Dobbs, Glenn

College football coach

 If you spend a lot of time on sportsmanship, you're going to spend a lot of time losing.

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Dobler, Conrad

NFL offensive lineman

 Religiously speaking, it is an advancement from a Cardinal to a Saint.
[On being traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the New Orleans Saints]

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Doby, Larry

American League's first black player

 You know those junk yards along the highways in Jersey? Well, they have scrap heaps just like that for athletes, most of them black. Black athletes are cattle. They're raised, fed, sold and killed. . . Baseball moved me toward the front of the bus, and it let me ride there as long as I could run. And then it told me to get off at the back door.

 I knew being accepted was going to be hard, but I knew I was involved in a situation that was going to bring opportunities to other blacks. There were some players who didn't like that I was coming on the team, but there was nothing they could do about it. People from the South let you know how they stood, but the northerner would use politics. He would pretend, and when it came time for him to prove his sincerity, he would find an exit. But not all of them. Some of them were sincere and didn't mind proving it to anyone.

 Baseball has done a lot for the Negro, but the Negro has done more for baseball. Black players have meant gold for baseball owners. I drew a lot of people into Cleveland in those days. I was surprised at two things. Surprised I ever got a chance to play in the big leagues and more surprised I didn't get a chance to stay in when I was through playing. After all, I was a pioneer.

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Ken Doherty

Snooker champion

 The five S's of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit.

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Dorsett, Tony

Hall of Fame running back

 To succeed, you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.

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Doughty, Larry

Baseball executive

 Ballplayers and deer hunters are alike. They both want the big bucks.

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Durocher, Leo

Major league manager

 You don't save pitchers for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain.

 Nice guys finish last.

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Durso, Joseph

Sportswriter

 Baseball reflected the language of America, and spiced it, too. Presidents, politicians, executives, generals and parents touched all the bases regularly so that nobody would be out in left field or caught off the base in the greater pursuits of life. If you did it right, you hit a grand slam home run; if not you struck out.

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Duva, Dan

Boxing manager/promoter

 Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton.
(on Mike Tyson signing up with promoter Don King)

 He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning regardless of what time it is.
[on the training habits of heavyweight figher Andrew Golota]

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Dykes, Jimmie

Major league manager

 The manager's toughest job is not calling the right play with the bases full and the score tied in an extra inning game. It's telling a ballplayer that he's through, done, finished.

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