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By BILL PLASCHKE

Jan. 28, 2001 12 AM PT

It was an event that, sadly, symbolized a week.

The United Way/Heisman Super Celebration was touted as a $100-per-plate chance to mingle with this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Chris Weinke of Florida State.

But when the event was held Friday at the Coliseum in nearby St. Petersburg, Weinke didn’t show up. He didn’t sign autographs as planned. He didn’t make his scheduled speech.

The only three Heisman winners in attendance were Howard “Hopalong” Cassady (1955), John Lattner (1953) and Danny Wuerffel (1996).

The event was a huge success, raising $60,000 for the United Way from ticket sales and a memorabilia auction. But there was still disappointment in Weinke, who completed a hat trick that began when he missed an NFL golf tournament on Thursday and the Heisman Foundation Charity golf tournament on Friday.

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Bill Plaschke

Bill Plaschke, an L.A. Times sports columnist since 1996, is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and California Sports Hall of Fame. He has been named national Sports Columnist of the Year nine times by the Associated Press, and twice by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. He is the author of six books, including a collection of his columns entitled “Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoilsports, Foul Balls and Oddballs.” Plaschke is also a panelist on the popular ESPN daily talk show, “Around the Horn.” He is in the national Big Brothers/Big Sisters Alumni Hall of Fame and has been named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters as well as receiving a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center. Plaschke has appeared in a movie (“Ali”), a dramatic HBO series (“Luck”) and, in a crowning cultural moment he still does not quite understand, his name can be found in a rap song “Females Welcome” by Asher Roth.

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