Writer Can Put a Happy Ending on His Story

Steve Rom, a former sportswriter for the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News who has done freelance writing for The Times, is a leukemia survivor, thanks to a bone marrow transplant.

During a “Celebration of Life” ceremony at the City of Hope in Duarte on Friday, Rom met his bone marrow donor, a 38-year-old woman from Germany.

Rom’s best friend, Rod Payne, an All-American center from Michigan who was a member of the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl championship team, flew in from his home in Miami.

“It reminds me of visiting the president after winning the Super Bowl,” Payne said. “The hard work has already been done.”

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Trivia time: Who was the Ravens’ starting quarterback when they defeated the New York Giants, 34-7, in Super Bowl XXXV on Jan. 28, 2001, at Tampa, Fla.?

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Spell check no help: Danielle Amiee of Newport Beach will be playing in her first LPGA tournament, beginning Thursday, thanks to reality television.

In Tuesday night’s final episode of the Golf Channel’s 11-week reality series, “Big Break III: Ladies Only,” Amiee defeated Pamela Crikelair of Highland Beach, Fla., in 18-hole, match-play competition, 2 and 1, to earn a spot on the LPGA Tour.

Among Amiee’s concerns about turning pro is that her name is spelled correctly.

It was spelled Aimee on her caddie’s coveralls during her match with Crikelair. Amiee took care of that by ripping the name tag off.

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Hot item: Curt Schilling “bobble-ankle” dolls, complete with bloody sock, are being sold for $25 to benefit research into ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Schilling pitched with an injured ankle in the 2004 postseason.

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Good excuse: Thoroughbred trainer Wayne Lukas, a celebrity guest at the 23rd annual Padua Village Charity Golf Classic on Monday at Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga, said the boxes at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby were always packed.

“I think they sell eight tickets for six seats,” he said.

One time he spotted an empty chair in the box in front of his and asked an elderly woman in the box if he could borrow it.

She politely said yes, then explained that the chair had belonged to her late husband.

“I said, ‘Gee, why didn’t you invite one of your friends to sit with you?’ ” Lukas said. “She said, ‘Oh, they’re all at his funeral.’ ”

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Looking back: On this day in 1994, Scott Erickson, who had given up the most hits in the majors the previous season, pitched Minnesota’s first no-hitter in 27 years as the Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-0.

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Trivia answer: Trent Dilfer.

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And finally: Lukas, who flies a lot, says he usually doesn’t like to talk on planes, that when he tells the person next to him he’s a horse trainer, he invariably gets lots of questions.

“If I don’t feel like talking and the person next to me asks me what I do for a living, I say, ‘I’m in the insurance business. What do you do?’ ”

Lukas says that does the trick every time.

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