Talk about ancient history: Sports fans are...

Talk about ancient history: Sports fans are familiar with the so-called Sports Illustrated Jinx, which holds that personalities featured in the magazine invariably suffer setbacks afterward. A similar curse seems to have struck UCLA Historian, a school newsletter.

Cover boy of the Spring, 1993, issue was L.A. Kings President Bruce McNall, who was listed as “Distinguished UCLA Graduate.” The now-bankrupt McNall, who may owe creditors as much as $300 million, has agreed to plead guilty to four counts stemming from a federal investigation into his banking practices.

In the newsletter, McNall quips that if the History Department had had a stronger emphasis on ancient Rome when he was there, “I might have persevered (in the doctoral program) and now be an assistant professor or an unemployed Ph.D.”

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McNall ain’t all: Two other luminaries saluted by UCLA Historian in the Fall, 1993, issue have also had problems, though of a lesser nature. Mike Medavoy (BA 1963) resigned as chairman of TriStar Pictures, reportedly under pressure from the studio’s parent company, Sony Pictures.

And UCLA football coach Terry Donahue (BA 1966), his team hampered by injuries, has lost three of five games this season. And his name was spelled Donohue in the newsletter.

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Schools for scandal: We mentioned that several grads from West L.A.’s Hamilton High are involved in high-profile cases, including Robert L. Shapiro, O.J. Simpson’s attorney.

David Tokofsky, a teacher at Marshall High in Los Feliz, points out that his school also has some alumni in the legal limelight, including Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito. There’s also attorney Mike Nasatir, who is representing actress Paula Barbieri, a friend of Simpson’s. And there’s one well-known businesswoman who attended but did not graduate from Marshall--Heidi Fleiss.

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Drama of the year: Consider the elements--a celebrity is accused of murdering a lover during a jealous range in an exclusive section of L.A. Then the suspect makes a dramatic surrender before the media as camera crews record the event.

We’re referring to “Sunset Boulevard,” of course. The Billy Wilder movie about washed-up silent screen star Norma Desmond reappeared on the stage last December as an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

It’s somewhat surprising that, in the current climate, no one has thought of concocting a sequel to the movie:

“Sunset Boulevard: The Trial.”

We bet they’d never hang a conviction on Norma. After all, as we recall, the shooting in “Sunset Boulevard” had no witnesses.

miscelLAny Four years ago, men in frontier garb staged a mock holdup of an Agoura Hills bank to promote a Pony Express Days event. An alarmed onlooker phoned L.A. County sheriff’s deputies, who dispatched four patrol cars. “I don’t know why someone would be so stupid to think it was a real robbery. . . ,” one of the organizers said. “There were a bunch of people in antique costumes with antique guns and a whole lot of photographers all around taking pictures.”