Brains Before Brawn

Worrying about the strength of the dollar isn’t the only thing that keeps aspiring economist Leo Reherman busy.

Worrying about strength of his opponents does as well.

Reherman, who is working toward a Ph.D in econometrics and business forecasting at UCLA, doubles as “Hawk” on the muscle-packed, and sometimes campy, syndicated television show “American Gladiators.”

The show pits a regular group of muscular heroes against contenders selected from nationwide tryouts. It numbers among its fans President Clinton, who has said he sometimes watches it with daughter Chelsea.

Reherman, a Cornell graduate who earned his MBA from UCLA, is 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 245 pounds.

When he isn’t in spandex shooting tennis balls at contestants or jousting on seven-foot-high platforms, Reherman can be found working as a teaching assistant to well-known California business forecaster Larry J. Kimbell.

And the Winner Won’t Be. . .

Unlike last year, tonight’s Oscar celebrations won’t be like a box of chocolates for North Hollywood candy maker Frank Sheftel.

Sheftel’s Candy Factory last summer settled for $1,500 an infringement lawsuit filed against it by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after it was discovered Sheftel made 10-inch chocolate Oscar statuettes for a studio party.

In settling the case, Sheftel agreed to refrain from making “any naked male victory figurine holding its hands or any object in front of its chest or abdomen,” according to court papers.

Still, Sheftel is selling his own “chocolate Oscars.” These, he says, are dedicated to his pet dachshund, Oscar, and feature the dog’s likeness on a pedestal.

Beating the Bushes

As the fund-raising season gears up, it’s not just the friends of would-be presidents who are out on the hustings.

In an unusual appeal, friends of former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall are trying to raise money for the beleaguered sports mogul.

The money is earmarked not for a defense fund but to defray legal expenses incurred in trying to persuade a judge to give him a lighter prison sentence.

A letter circulated by the Beverly Hills-based “Friends of Bruce McNall” begins: “Unless you have been in outer space, you certainly must have heard and read about our friend Bruce McNall’s recent legal problems.”

The letter is signed by Los Angeles businessman and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey owner Howard L. Baldwin and is co-signed by Kings executive and former hockey great Rogie Vachon.

McNall pleaded guilty last year to four federal criminal counts of fraud, including two of bank fraud, and is expected to be sentenced this summer in Los Angeles.

The letter says it was sent out to a small number of McNall’s friends--presumably wealthy. As an incentive, a self-addressed stamped envelope was included.