They Were Just Buying It for the Articles

Chuck Arrobio, a lineman for USC in the early 1960s, introduced his friend and former teammate, Mike Garrett, at the Pasadena Quarterbacks Club luncheon Friday.

“Mike winning the Heisman wasn’t really such a big deal,” Arrobio said.

“What was a big deal was him being named to Playboy’s preseason All-American team. It gave us all an excuse to go out and buy the magazine.”

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Trivia time: Playboy named Garrett to the 1965 preseason All-American team at what position?

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Ideal opponent: Preceding Garrett to the podium at Friday’s luncheon was Tom Maher, coach of 0-8 Pasadena City College.

Garrett, who talked about schools such as Northern Illinois and Texas Christian playing easy schedules, was asked about future USC opponents.

“If we have an open date, maybe we can find room for PCC,” Garrett said.

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Got his number: Garrett was asked to tell the story about how USC safety Darnell Bing ended up with No. 20, Garrett’s number, which had been retired.

“Pete Carroll last year told me they were recruiting this kid from Long Beach Poly who wanted to keep his high school number,” Garrett said. “So I told Pete, ‘What’s the problem? Give him the number.’

“Pete said, ‘Well, it’s your number.’ I said, ‘How good is he?’ Pete said, ‘Very good.’ I said, ‘Then give him the ... number.’ ”

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Guaranteed contract: Garrett, asked how long he thought Carroll would coach at USC, said, “Based on my threat to him and his family, I think he’ll be here for a long time.”

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Old joke: Pasadena resident Pete Clentzos, 94, a former Trojan football player who competed in the pole vault at the 1932 Olympics, was another speaker at Friday’s luncheon.

“I went to the doctor the other day and told him I had a problem with loss of memory,” Clentzos said. “He asked me how long I’ve had the problem, and I said, ‘What problem?’ ”

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A good sport: After TNT aired a promo Thursday night during its NBA coverage for the network’s Winston Cup “Happy Hour” and Busch series coverage today, Charles Barkley said, “The only thing that sounds good about this whole NASCAR thing is Happy Hour.”

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Thanks but no thanks: In response to Joe Paterno’s saying he would go to Iraq if the White House asked, Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote: “We’ve seen your defense. That’s not going to happen.”

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Trivia answer: Cornerback.

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And finally: Reader Warren Larson, in response to a Leroy Hoard quote in Friday’s Morning Briefing -- “If you need two yards, I’ll get your three; if you need 10 yards, I’ll get you three.” -- e-mailed to say the quote originally came from Tom Landry, in describing former Dallas Cowboy Walt Garrison.

Larson also found this Don Meredith quote about Garrison: “Walt’s slower than the steam off horse manure, but he’s darn dependable.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.