Like When Shaq’s at the Line: Cover Your Eyes

The Ed O’Bannon three-on-three basketball tournament, a benefit for Southern California Special Olympics, was held at Pauley Pavilion in 1996.

Bill Sharman was the honorary chairman, and Fred Newman, who holds a number of free-throw world records, was there to put on an exhibition.

Newman is particularly proficient at making free throws while blindfolded. He once made 88 in a row, which is recognized as a world record. While wearing a blindfold at the exhibition at Pauley Pavilion, he made 43 in a row before stopping.

Newman was invited to the event by Dick Van Kirk, who had been his basketball teammate at Caltech in the late 1950s and was then the president of Southern California Special Olympics. Newman told Van Kirk, “I want to meet Bill Sharman. He can give me some tips on free-throw shooting.”

Upon hearing this story, Sharman’s longtime friend Dan Catherwood said, “I’ve got a tip for him: Take off the blindfold.”

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Trivia time: What Tulare High classmate of Bob Mathias won a gold medal in the discus at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, the year Mathias won his second decathlon gold medal?

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All aboard: Speaking of oddball records, one was set over the weekend at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast of Australia when 47 surfers managed to get on one surfboard and ride a wave.

The feat was accomplished on a 40-foot-long board, a super-sized replica of a 5-foot-11 competition board.

The Guinness Book of World Records lists the previous record for surfers on one board at 14, set at Cornwall, England.

Talk about a record being wiped out.

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No sympathy here: The Boston Globe reported that the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots now have a plan in place in which it will cost the survivors of deceased season-ticket holders from $2,000 to $5,000 to inherit the tickets. Otherwise, the tickets are forfeited.

“The Pats call this pass-away plan the ‘Pass It On’ program,” wrote Phil Mushnick of the New York Post. “Seriously. Flowers not included.”

Wrote Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “First runner-up for a slogan, we assume, was ‘Coffin-Corner Kickback.’ ”

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Looking back: On this day in 1996, Magic Johnson became the second NBA player to reach 10,000 assists, getting the milestone on the go-ahead basket in the Lakers’ 102-90 victory over Sacramento. Johnson finished his career with 10,141 assists, third in NBA history.

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Trivia answer: Sim Iness, who as a senior at USC in 1953 broke the 190-foot barrier with a world-record toss of 190 feet 7/8 inch at the NCAA championships in Lincoln, Neb. Iness, who died at 65 in 1996, will be among 29 inductees into USC’s Athletic Hall of Fame May 7.

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And finally: President Bush last week honored Jackie Robinson with a Congressional Gold Medal, which was presented to members of Robinson’s family. Bush, citing an old Martin Luther King quote to describe Robinson, said: “He was a freedom rider before freedom rides.”

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