A Perfect 10 Can Be a Less Than Ideal Setup

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Nadia Comaneci’s becoming the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 in Olympic competition.

She had seven of them on her way to the all-around title as a 14-year-old at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Comaneci and her husband, Bart Conner, also an Olympic gold-medal winning gymnast, were among the honorees at the 15th annual Paralysis Project of America dinner Saturday night at the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles.

Conner told the gathering that they were in Chicago recently, checking into a hotel, when he noticed the name “Nadia” on the clerk’s name tag.

“I said to her, ‘That’s a nice name,’ ” Conner said. “She said, ‘I was named after the famous gymnast.’ I pointed to my wife and said, ‘This is Nadia.’

“The clerk said, ‘Oh, were you named after the gymnast too?’ ”

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Trivia time: Conner was an All-American and two-time NCAA champion gymnast at what school?

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Now she knows: Conner, 48, and Comaneci, 44, have been married for 10 years and are expecting their first child in July. Donna de Varona, another honoree Saturday night, said she was present when the couple first met.

“Even though Bart was engaged at the time, I told him, ‘Someday you are going to marry Nadia,’ ” De Varona said.

Said Comaneci when it was her turn on the podium: “Bart, you never told me you were engaged.”

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Setting the record straight: Said Conner: “Rumors that Bela Karolyi will be in the delivery room coaching Nadia when she gives birth are not true.”

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A different time: Some people don’t have an easy time with teen stars growing up. Said Comaneci: “People are always telling me, ‘You’ve changed so much. You were so cute at 14.’ ”

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He loves L.A.: John Stockton, the former Utah Jazz star who is the NBA’s all-time leader in assists and steals, was presented with the Paralysis Project’s John R. Wooden Lifetime Achievement Award.

Wooden, who was at the dinner to make the presentation, said of Stockton: “He played basketball the way I like to see it played. As the greatest assists man in NBA history, he was a giver.” Referring to Stockton’s charity work, Wooden added, “He is also a giver away from basketball.”

Said Stockton: “This is by far the best I have ever been treated in Los Angeles.”

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Looks can be deceiving: Jockey Alex Solis, another honoree, said to Stockton, “You look so small on TV, but I still have to look up to you.”

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Trivia answer: Oklahoma.

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And finally: Conner and Comaneci live in Norman, Okla., where they run a gymnastics academy, but they still have a home in Southern California, and Conner lived here after he helped the U.S. Olympic team win gold in 1984.

“Half of our team was from UCLA,” Conner said, “so people assumed I was too. Walking around the streets, I was always hearing, ‘Go Bruins.’ ”

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