She Decides to Pool Her Presents for Charity

So, are today’s kids selfish and self-centered? Not all of them.

For her 11th birthday on May 4, Carly Mann of Pasadena asked that her friends and their parents, instead of bringing presents to her party, donate to the “Swim With Mike” charity that provides scholarships for disabled athletes.

The charity began in 1981 to raise money to help get a specially equipped van for three-time USC All-American swimmer Mike Nyeholt, who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. It since has raised more than $5.5 million to provide scholarships for physically challenged athletes.

On Monday night at a “Swim With Mike” dinner at Lawry’s Prime Rib in Beverly Hills, Carly, accompanied by her mother, presented Nyeholt with donations amounting to $2,314.

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Trivia time: John Naber, a teammate of Nyeholt on the USC swim team and an active supporter of “Swim With Mike,” won how many gold medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics?

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Future donor: Among the 16 disabled athletes awarded “Swim With Mike” scholarships this year was Mike MacNamera, a graduate of Crespi High in Encino who is headed to USC.

MacNamera tore two ligaments in his neck during a basketball game as a sophomore and was temporarily paralyzed by a subsequent blood clot. He now wears a leg brace.

Said MacNamera, who plans to major in business: “My plan is to make a lot of money and give it back to ‘Swim With Mike.’ ”

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A true ringer: Jalen Rose, a guest on FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” was asked to choose between Charles Barkley and Robert Horry.

“I’ll take Charles Barkley’s bank account, but I need those rings,” Rose said.

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Real incentive: Arturo Gatti defends his world super-lightweight title against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an HBO Pay-Per-View fight Saturday night.

In “Countdown to Gatti-Mayweather,” which HBO has been televising this week, Gatti talks about a tough fight in which he rallied to stop Wilson Rodriguez in 1996 after being knocked down in the second round.

So what inspired Gatti to get up off the mat?

“I had ordered a car I couldn’t afford back then,” Gatti says. “When I went down, I thought, ‘There goes the car.’ ”

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Looking back: On this day in 1937, Joe Louis knocked out “Cinderella Man” James Braddock in the eighth round at Chicago’s Comiskey Park to win the world heavyweight title, which he held for 11 years.

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Trivia answer: Four. Naber also set four world records and won a silver medal. The silver came in the 200-meter freestyle, which was won by USC teammate Bruce Furniss, another active “Swim With Mike” supporter.

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And finally: Naber, who is 6 feet 6, on how he ended up becoming a swimmer: “On the first day of P.E. class my freshman year of high school [in Woodside, Calif.], we chose up sides for basketball, and I was the first player chosen. The next day, I was the last player chosen.”

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