It Pays to Have an Angel Sleep Over

Michael Furillo, one of Bud Furillo’s six children, delivered the eulogy at his father’s funeral Monday and talked about what it was like growing up in the Furillo household in Downey.

He said that in 1962 his father was covering the Angels for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. One night, his parents went out with Bo Belinsky, who had pitched a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles only a few nights before.

They got home very late, and the next morning his parents were sleeping on the couch -- and Belinsky was in their bed. Michael’s older brothers and sisters, being the enterprising types, invited all the neighborhood kids over and, for a 50-cent charge, allowed them into the house to see the Angels rookie sleeping.

Trivia time: On Saturday, pitchers Livan Hernandez of the Washington Nationals, Orlando Hernandez of the New York Mets and Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners all started for their respective teams. The same group also all started on May 16. Name the last trio of pitchers to share a surname and start the same day.

More Furillo: Attendees at the funeral for the former Herald Examiner sports editor and longtime L.A. sports radio personality included Peter O’Malley, Mike Garrett, Elgin Baylor, Marlin McKeever, Super Dave Osborne and Aline Furillo, the mother of Furillo’s six children. The Furillos were married in 1946.

“Just last week I called them both,” Michael Furillo said in his eulogy, “and wished them happy anniversary on 60 years of marriage. OK, so they were divorced for 39 of them.”

Michael Furillo also said that his father called her in the week before his death and asked her out -- to his birthday party on Aug. 19. Looking over at his mother, he added: “Mom, he was hitting on you.”

One more story: The younger Furillo said that his father in 1973 took a friend, Jody Fox, to San Diego to cover a heavyweight title fight between Ken Norton and Muhammad Ali. The night before the afternoon fight, Furillo and Fox went across the border to check out Tijuana.

The next morning, they arrived at the San Diego Sports Arena and decided to take a nap in the car. By the time they woke up, the fight was over.

“My dad drove like mad to 1111 South Broadway, where the Herald Examiner was located,” Michael Furillo said. “He ripped the fight stories off Associated Press and United Press International and wrote the story about the fight using those wire service reports. It turned out that story won the Hearst Corp.’s sports story of the year.”

Looking back: On this day in 1952, Bob Mathias, from Tulare, Calif., won his second consecutive Olympic decathlon championship at Helsinki.

Trivia answer: It was Jamey, Jaret and Dan Wright on Sept. 4, 2002, according to Stats Inc.

And finally: Of City Affair, the horse that was head-butted by his jockey, Paul O’Neill, in England, reader Bill Littlejohn said, “City Affair denied that he had insulted O’Neill’s sister and mother.”

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