A Chance to Invest Knocked Only Once

Former child star Jackie Cooper, now a director and producer who moonlights as a thoroughbred trainer, says that in the 1930s, Hal Roach, producer of the “Our Gang” comedies, tried to talk Jackie’s mother into investing $10,000 in a proposed race track to be called Santa Anita.

“My mother talked with our business manager,” says Cooper, “and they felt racing was going to be like miniature golf and it might not last here. So she said, ‘No thanks.’

“Somebody in the board room a few years back looked it up, and that $10,000 was worth something in excess of $3 million.”

Would-you-believe-it dept.: Tim Rossovich, former All-American defensive end at USC, will play the part of a former Notre Dame quarterback in a CBS special called “The Fourth Man.”

Rossovich was something of a wild man with the Philadelphia Eagles. His off-field pursuits included eating light bulbs.

So there could be some fun on the set when shooting starts Tuesday. Also in the cast is Lyle Alzado.

Trivia time: Since the NCAA started keeping official rebounding statistics in 1951, what two players have led the nation in both scoring and rebounding the same season?

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: Bill Sullivan of the Houston Chronicle tells how Louisiana State basketball Coach Dale Brown landed 7-foot center Shaquille O’Neal: “The two first met when Brown was giving a clinic at a military base in West Germany. O’Neal, then 13, approached Brown for some tips on jumping. When Brown learned O’Neal was not an enlisted man, but a teen-ager, he asked to see the boy’s father.

“This is how Brown found himself in a sauna, fully clothed, chatting with a bemused sergeant. Four years later, Shaquille O’Neal is an LSU Tiger.”

Enough, already: From Don Chaney, beleaguered coach of the Houston Rockets: “I’m tired of people telling me that Sleepy Floyd once scored 51 points in a playoff game against the Lakers. That was one game. One time, I scored 36 points with the Celtics, and I wasn’t even a scorer. It’s what you do every night that counts.”

Not so hot: Since UCLA played in the championship game in 1979-80, the Pacific 10 Conference’s record in NCAA tournament play is 13-23. That includes a 4-1 record by Arizona in 1987-88 when it reached the Final Four.

Roosting away: Seattle pitcher Randy Johnson bought a condominium overlooking Lake Union in Seattle for $150,000. His only furnishings are a TV and a stereo.

“I sleep on the floor with two pillows and five blankets,” said Johnson, a former Trojan. “I just don’t want to dig into my savings with a lockout in progress.”

Add lockout: Said Whitey Herzog, St. Louis manager, when asked what the players could do: “If they can’t work out on the field, they just might buy the field.”

Trivia answer: Xavier McDaniel (Wichita State, 1984-85) and Hank Gathers (Loyola Marymount, 1988-89).

Quotebook: Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun, noting that ESPN announcer Mike Patrick works with Joe Theismann in football and Dick Vitale in basketball: “I hope he doesn’t get paid by the word.”