Appreciative Fan Pays $200,000 After Getting Free Autograph

Sometimes, nice things do happen to nice people.

These days, many athletes are charging for their autographs but journeyman stock car driver Morgan Shepherd acts as if he’s honored when asked. Several years ago he obligingly penned his name on a jacket for Betty Campbell, a fan from Downsville, La.

Betty and her husband, James, recently looked up Shepherd and said they’d like to visit him. When they arrived, Betty handed the driver a check for $200,000.

“Morgan has been one of my heroes ever since that day,” Betty said. “We came into some unexpected money so we decided we’d share it with him.” No strings attached.

Though they did not ask him to do so, Shepherd had the Campbells’ name put on his car for the rest of the Grand National season.

Nice guy dept. (con’t): Gary McCord, who lives near the Bob Hope tournament courses in Palm Desert, returned his winnings of $2,090 in last month’s Hope Classic to tournament director Ed Heorodt with this note:

“Please forward this check to the charities involved to help offset the insurance costs incurred from all the condo windows I broke during my five days of play.”

Trivia question: Ten teams have made it into the NCAA basketball playoffs each of the last five years. Nine--UNLV, Arizona, Indiana, LSU, Georgetown, Duke, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Syracuse--are easy. Which was the 10th?

Modern conveniences: World driving champion Ayrton Senna of Brazil, who races in 16 countries during the Formula One season, enjoys coming to the United States once a year.

“It is always nice to be in America and to know that things like the phones will work properly when you need them.

Recall time: Dolph Schayes, the NBA Hall of Famer who played for NYU in the 1945 NCAA championship final against Oklahoma A&M;, now known as Oklahoma State, was asked by Steve Jacobsen of Newsday what he remembered most about the game.

“At timeouts, A&M; players would lie on the floor in a circle around the coach (Hank Iba) spaced the proper number of degrees,” Schayes said. “And the big guy with the red, red, red hair. He seemed to be bigger than anybody, so much more than seven feet.”

That would be Bob Kurland, first of the 7-foot centers.

Add Oklahoma A&M;: When the Aggies--they became the Cowboys when the school became Oklahoma State--played North Carolina in the 1946 championship game, Iba had to abandon his unique pinwheel style of conducting chalk talks during timeouts.

“Too cold,” Iba said. “There was ice under the floor.”

Business golf: Seve Ballesteros hasn’t won a major since the 1988 British Open and won only one insignificant tournament--Open Renault de Baleares in Majorca, Spain--last year, but he still draws the biggest price tag for a corporate outing. According to a Golf magazine survey, the flamboyant Spaniard gets $80,000 an appearance.

Next, at $50,000, are Greg Norman and three senior tour players, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino. Top American tour player is Payne Stewart at $30,000. Nancy Lopez tops the women at $20,000 to $25,000.

Trivia answer: Xavier of Ohio.

Quotebook: J.C. Snead, on his putting woes: “It’s so bad I could putt off a table top and still leave the ball halfway down the leg.”