De La Hoya Puts the Gold in Nickname

Oscar De La Hoya is known as “the Golden Boy,” but Los Angeles’ original “Golden Boy” was Art Aragon, who fought here in the 1950s.

Aragon isn’t upset that De La Hoya has used his nickname.

Said Aragon: “With all the money he’s making, they can call him anything he wants.”

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Add Aragon: Aragon said that he made $120,000 when he fought Carmen Basilio here on Sept. 5, 1958, adding, “It cost me $140,000 to get out of the hospital.”

Basilio won on a TKO in the eighth round. Earlier, between rounds, Aragon’s manager had said: “Art, if you don’t start fighting this guy, I’m going to stop it.”

Replied Aragon, “Why wait?”

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Trivia time: Which was the last Pacific 10 school to advance to the Final Four, other than UCLA and Arizona?

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Promises, promises: First baseman Kent Hrbek of the Minnesota Twins, arguing a call with umpire Vic Voltaggio during a spring training game:

“Come on, I’m head of the chapel service this season. I’m not going to cheat.”

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Ouch! Reader George Kiseda offers this: “I just found out how Tonya Harding will do her 500 hours of community service. She’ll be teaching preschoolers how to tie their shoelaces.”

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Rabbit ears: Mike Lopresti of USA Today on Lute Olson, Arizona’s basketball coach: “Judging from (Olson’s) recent artillery shots at the media, he has a chip on his shoulder the size of Flagstaff.

“Maybe he has a right to it. Arizona has won an awful lot of games to be the target of so many potshots from east of the Continental Divide.”

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Adaptable: Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun, whose team lost to Florida in the NCAA East Regional semifinals on Friday, says of the Gators, “They’re the most pragmatic team I’ve seen.

“They’ll play you any way you want--fast or slow, in the 60s or the 80s--and be comfortable with it.”

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Come fly with me: The Denver Broncos are the only NFL team with two certified airplane pilots: offensive lineman Gary Zimmerman and kicker Jason Elam.

It figures; Denver is known as the Mile High City.

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Light up: Mitch Williams, the wild-throwing relief pitcher who left the Philadelphia Phillies to join the Astros, was talking to Houston Manager Terry Collins.

“You’ll go through a lot of cigarettes when I pitch,” Williams said.

“But I don’t smoke,” Collins replied.

“Well, you’d better start,” Williams said.

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Future coach: Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe: “You know there’s been too much college hoops on the tube when your 6-year-old takes his crayons to the TV screen and claims he just wants to design a play on the telestrator like Al McGuire does.”

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Trivia answer: Oregon State in 1963.

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Quotebook: Talk show host Jay Leno: “As I’m sure you know, another disaster struck Los Angeles. But enough about UCLA basketball.”