Hearn Knew It Would Be a Slam Dunk

By Larry Stewart

June 2, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

One night when Chick Hearn was working on “Chick: His Unpublished Memoirs and the Memories of Those Who Knew Him,” Marge Hearn looked over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I want to see what it looks like,” Marge said.

“You’ll have to wait and buy the book,” Chick responded. “That way, at least I know I’ll sell one copy.”

The book has sold more than one copy. This week it made The Times’ bestseller list for sales in the Southland, coming in at No. 12 among nonfiction books.

Trivia time: Hearn’s consecutive-game streak reached what number?

Better sooner than later: Oklahoma punt returner Antonio Perkins, who had a record three punt-return touchdowns against UCLA last season, has graduated ahead of schedule.

The Oklahoma City-based Oklahoman newspaper reported that Perkins, who earned a degree in criminology, still has a year of eligibility left and will play for the Sooners next season as a graduate student. Perkins, who attended summer school classes every year because of NCAA-approved stipends that paid for housing, said: “I was just trying to get some bills paid.”

Makes sense: Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers, asked by Fox Sports Net’s Lindsay Soto about the possibility of Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Gary Payton and Phil Jackson not being around next season, said, “Everybody’s talking about [how] we got a great team, we got a great dynasty. If we’re so great, if we’re such a dynasty, why don’t the powers that be keep us together?”

Royal treatment: Smarty Jones will depart Philadelphia Park this morning and be shipped by van to New York for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.

“He’ll have a police escort the whole way,” trainer John Servis said. “The police here will escort him out of Pennsylvania. Then the New Jersey police will pick him up. Then the New York police.”

Bank on it: From Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “If what goes around comes around, car co-owner David Letterman is about to hear Indy 500 champ Buddy Rice deliver his “Top 10 Reasons Why I Deserve a Pay Raise.”

All in the family: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a guest on Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” said: “Don King is one of the smartest, sharpest guys I’ve ever met. He, in my view, uses the system.... You know who is the president of Mike Tyson’s fan club at $250,000 a year? Don King’s daughter.”

Trivia answer: 3,338.

And finally: Gerry Callahan of the Boston Herald reports that new Celtic coach and current ABC commentator Doc Rivers is the nephew of former NBA player Jim Brewer and a cousin of former Baltimore Oriole outfielder Ken Singleton. He is married with four children and has a large extended family.

“So I think I’ve figured this out,” Callahan wrote. “With the Rivers family in the fold, the Celtics just doubled their fan base.”

Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].