Keyshawn Shows He’s Not Always on Receiving End

During Keyshawn Johnson’s playing career at USC, Richard Almeraz of Rancho Cucamonga regularly wrote him letters of encouragement and regarded himself as Johnson’s No. 1 fan.

Johnson, rookie wide receiver for the New York Jets, recently rewarded Almeraz for his support by making him the first member of his fan club. At a dinner at Planet Hollywood in Beverly Hills, Johnson donated $12,000 to the football team at West Los Angeles College, where he played before attending USC, and gave Almeraz several autographed pictures and trading cards, along with fan club membership certificate No. 1.

“I can’t believe that someone of Keyshawn’s stature would take the time to recognize someone like me,” Almeraz said.

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Trivia time: When Tiger Woods won the U.S. Amateur while also the NCAA champion from Stanford, he became the fourth player to hold both titles. Who were the three others?

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Inflation: The $30 million that Michael Jordan will be paid this year by the Chicago Bulls is more than Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and George Mikan made in their combined NBA careers.

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Clueless: In Seth Swirsky’s book, “Baseball Letters,” he writes of the time Detroit Tiger pitcher Virgil “Fire” Trucks was asked about the first major league game he pitched.

After three pitches, Trucks had given up a single and two doubles, so the manager came out and asked catcher Bob Swift, “Say, Bob, doesn’t Virgil have it today?”

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Swift answered: “How the hell do I know, I haven’t caught a pitch yet.”

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True freedom: Lightweight boxer Joel Casamayor, who defected to the United States after winning a gold medal for Cuba in the 1992 Olympics, says the best thing about life in America is, “If I want a hamburger at 1 a.m., I can go get it.”

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United religions: When George Foreman presided at the wedding of his Los Angeles attorney, Henry Holmes, to Lorrie Beban shortly after his weigh-in for the Crawford Grimsley bout in Tokyo, Ron Borges of the Boston Globe noted: “It was the kind of wedding only boxing could produce. Here was a Catholic [Holmes] being married to a Jew [Beban] by a Baptist minister [Foreman] in a country where Buddhism dominates.”

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Sound familiar?: The Coliseum isn’t the only historical stadium in need of refurbishing. The famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the finest soccer facility in the world when it opened in 1950, lost about $4 million last year and the state, which owns the stadium, is looking for a new owner.

“Whoever buys Maracana will have to fit electronic scoreboards, introduce computerized ticketing and install numbered seating,” said Raul Raposo, president of Rio’s state sports department.

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Trivia answer: Jack Nicklaus of Ohio State, 1961; Bob Murphy of Florida, 1966; and Phil Mickelson, Arizona State, 1990.

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And finally: When memorabilia from the Boston Garden was being auctioned off, one item that didn’t move was the hockey penalty box. Asked why, one bidder said, “Too smelly and too much spit.”