It Was a Big Moment for Her, Anyway

The Los Angeles Sports Council asked fans to vote on the greatest moments of the year in L.A. sports, and the winners were named Sunday night at a dinner in Century City.

The Dodgers and Lakers were hard-pressed to come up with many great moments. Voted the greatest moment for the Dodgers was Jeff Kent’s 2,000th hit. The Lakers’ greatest moment was the return of Phil Jackson.

Jeanie Buss, representing the Lakers, said, “OK, maybe I voted more than a few times.”

She added, “Maybe the 2006 moment will be something more than just Phil’s hiring.”

Trivia time: Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago was the first Heisman Trophy winner in 1935. Who was the first from a West Coast school?

A nifty trick: King announcer Bob Miller was the emcee of Sunday night’s Sports Council award ceremony.

Miller said that during last season’s NHL lockout, he took magic lessons at the Magic Castle.

“My greatest trick was making the whole hockey season disappear,” he said.

More magic: Jason Latimer, 23, the reigning World Champion of Magic who will be performing at Saturday night’s Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation dinner at the Beverly Hilton, once performed for Princess Stephanie of Monaco in Monte Carlo.

Among Latimer’s tricks was making Princess Stephanie’s watch disappear, which was so realistic that her guards wanted to arrest the magician.

Mutt and Jeff: Linebacker DeMeco Ryans of Alabama, who Sunday night at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach was named the winner of the Lott Trophy as the nation’s best defensive player, was presented by former Trojan Sam Cunningham, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound fullback during his playing days.

Said emcee Pat Haden, “I always wanted to walk next to Sam when I got off the team bus. Fans would look at Sam and say, ‘Wow.’ They’d look at me and say, ‘Is he the team manager?’ ”

Could be a problem: Another presenter at the Lott dinner was Marcus Allen, who was a fullback at USC before becoming a tailback.

Former San Francisco 49er and Stanford coach Bill Walsh, a speaker, said, “Sam and Marcus would not have been successful at Stanford. We recruited small backs because our offensive line only opened tiny holes.”

Looking back: On this day in 2000, all-time NBA assist leader John Stockton recorded his 14,000th regular-season assist in the final minute of the Utah Jazz’s 111-102 loss to Milwaukee. Stockton finished his career with 15,806. Second on the list is Mark Jackson with 10,334 and third is Magic Johnson with 10,141.

Trivia answer: Terry Baker of Oregon State in 1962.

And finally: The Clippers’ Elton Brand was named the NBA Western Conference player of the week Monday after averaging 31 points in the Clippers’ four games last week.

Said TNT’s Charles Barkley, “If Elton Brand is not an All-Star this year, I’m not going.”

*

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