Funny, he was voted least likely to...

Funny, he was voted least likely to succeed: Folks in the Antelope Valley town of Agua Dulce, trying to decide on a name for a proposed high school, have voted to honor one of L.A.’s most famous 19th-Century bandits.

Yes, years from now, graduates may tearfully sing of their days at good ol’ Tiburcio Vasquez High. That name won out over three dozen other candidates, including John Wayne High and Magic Johnson High.

No doubt sympathy was high for Vasquez because his gang of robbers used to hide out in a nearby area now known as Vasquez Rocks Park.

Captured in 1874 in a gunfight near Hollywood--a wild area then, too--he was such a romantic figure that he became one of L.A.’s first celebrity-endorsers while in jail. A local merchant took out newspaper ads declaring:

“Tiburcio Vasquez says that Mendell Meyer has the finest and most complete stock of dry goods and clothing.”

Before he could cut any other deals, however, Vasquez was hanged on murder charges.

Disney U: What’s the fuss about the Mighty Ducks hockey team? Disney has had a college Duck mascot for more than half a century. The quacker cheers for the University of Oregon but carries the copyright of Burbank-based Disney.

The arrangement began when Oregon athletic director Leo Harris “capitalized on his personal friendship with Walt Disney and was accorded informal permission to use Donald Duck” as the mascot, according to a school history. “The Disney staff drew up a series of special renditions of Donald.’

After Walt Disney’s death, the corporation stopped doing things informally and negotiated a formal licensing agreement with Oregon to get a cut of souvenir sales, etc.

It’s just good business, as Tiburcio Vasquez would have pointed out.

List of the Day: The L.A. Downtown News has compiled a stunning array of celebrity endorsements in the exciting mayoral race, including these:

* Linda Griego: Novelist Judith Krantz.

* Nate Holden: Actor and ex-presidential candidate Tom (Billy Jack) Laughlin.

* Tom Houston: Newsman George Putnam.

* Richard Katz: Comedian Dana Carvey.

* Richard Riordan: Football announcer Pat Haden.

* Stan Sanders: Boxing champ Muhammad Ali.

* Joel Wachs: Olympic star Rafer Johnson.

* Michael Woo: Actor Charlton Heston.

We should add that the Downtown News left out an endorsement for another candidate:

* Melrose Larry Green: Radio personality Howard Stern.

X-rated SigAlert: Skip Tucker, KNX radio’s traffic reporter, announced that traffic had come to a standstill on the San Diego Freeway because “someone dropped their drawers.” Sure, he was only referring to a lost load of furniture, but at least he jolted awake any stalled motorists who had begun to snooze.

Where’s Vanna White when you really need her?A partially burned-out sign at a chain restaurant in the South Bay gives this cryptic message:

UCKY FR ED.

miscelLAny:

Parade magazine went about trying to find “the best bet for retirement living” by “taking 26 large metropolitan areas and dividing the number of days of sunshine by the cost of living.” The winner was L.A. County. No, really.