$1 Million Couldn’t Have Saved This Baby

The Oscar victory for “Million Dollar Baby” prompts this question: How long has women’s boxing been around?

The first women’s fight in California was held April 28, 1976, at the Forum, with Kim Maybee knocking out Patricia Pineda in the first round.

“It was a terrible fight,” said Don Fraser, the former Forum boxing promoter who will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on June 12. “It wasn’t one of my shining moments.”

The Times’ Jim Murray, in advance of the fight, wrote: “Apparently the Bill of Rights includes the right to a detached retina, or a hemorrhage, or a nosebleed, aphasia or any of the traumas of the prize ring. Women don’t want men having all the fun.”

Trivia time: Maybee and Pineda fought on a card that featured Danny “Little Red” Lopez, who stopped Famoso Gomez. Two fights later, on Nov. 5, 1976, Lopez won a world featherweight title fight in Ghana. Who was his opponent?

This Cowboy could shoot: It was reported in Morning Briefing recently that at a basketball camp for teenage boys in 1973, John Wooden made 24 of 25 free throws during an exhibition and Bill Sharman made 25 of 25.

Sharman remembered the camp being held in Oxnard, but Wooden, 94, correctly remembered that it was held at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks. Wooden also remembered that, because the Dallas Cowboys were training there, quarterback Roger Staubach took part in the exhibition. “He also made 24 of 25, which was very impressive,” Wooden said.

Free-throw lesson: Wooden, as noted here recently, once made 134 consecutive free throws in competition in a pro league. He said he shot them underhanded, as was common in those days. But, he said, his form was different from that used years later by Rick Barry. Wooden said he put his left foot ahead of his right and didn’t dip as much as Barry.

Repeating the exact motion every time was the key, he said, recalling that he could close his eyes and still make his free throws.

Wife knows best: After Andy Granatelli had put on a show at Saturday’s Paralysis Project of America dinner, emcee Al Michaels suggested that someone should advance Granatelli’s wife of 48 years $50,000 to write a book titled “My Life With Andy.”

Later, Dolly Granatelli told Michaels, “A better title would be, ‘The Care and Feeding of Andy.’ ”

Looking back: On this day in 1988, Wayne Gretzky, in his last season with the Edmonton Oilers before being traded to the Kings, became the NHL’s all-time assists leader. He picked up No. 1,050 in a game against the Kings. It was Gretzky’s 681st NHL game. It had taken Gordie Howe 1,767 games to set the previous record of 1,049.

Trivia answer: David Kotey.

And finally: Jay Leno, on the recent rains: “Well folks, it’s official. We have just set a new all-time record for rain here in California. A new record, and we did it without steroids.”

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