Papering Over the Lack of a Venue

USC finally is going to get its on-campus arena. The Galen Center is scheduled to open in the summer of 2006.

Talk of such an arena has been going on for almost four decades, according to USC basketball radio commentator Jim Hefner.

Hefner, who was Bob Boyd’s assistant coach at USC from 1967 to 1979, said back then recruits would often ask about the proposed arena. One top prospect who did was Paul Westphal, a 1968 graduate of Aviation High in Redondo Beach.

This was one recruit Hefner didn’t want to let get away.

“I took an architect friend of mine out to lunch and asked him to do me a favor and draw up some plans for a basketball arena,” he said. “The next time I saw Paul, I said, ‘See, it’s in the works.’ ”

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Trivia time: Westphal, now Pepperdine’s basketball coach, became one of the greatest players in USC history. He, along with Joe Mackey, Ron Riley and Dennis “Mo” Layton, led the Trojans to a 24-2 record in 1970-71. (The two losses were to UCLA.) Who was the fifth starter on that team?

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Whatever it takes: Despite Hefner’s efforts, Westphal still almost went to UCLA.

Westphal said that when he went to a game at Pauley Pavilion, someone forgot to leave him a parking pass and he ended up having to walk a long way.

“Jim told me, ‘Come to USC and we’ll take care of your parking,’ ” Westphal said. “So after I got there, I said, ‘What about my parking pass?’

“Jim said, ‘Sure, just go down to the student union and write them a check. They’ll give you a parking pass.’ ”

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Foresees probe: Boxer Bernard Hopkins is 40 but says his age won’t keep him from beating Howard Eastman on Saturday at Staples Center. But he realizes there will be skeptics.

“After the fight, someone is going to launch an investigation to see if I was really born on 1-15-65,” he said.

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Additional side effects: From Channel 9’s Alan Massengale: “Listening to Jose Canseco on ’60 Minutes’ certainly has been an education. We learned steroids build muscle mass and add speed. And, we now know, steroids also dangerously inflate the ego and instill an unhealthy delusion of self-importance.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1961, Elgin Baylor scored 57 points to lead the Lakers over the Detroit Pistons, 129-106.

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Trivia answer: Chris Schrobilgen, a 6-foot-8 forward and defensive specialist. He was also on the USC teams that split with UCLA the previous two seasons. USC’s 46-44 victory in 1969 at Pauley ended a 41-game winning streak for the Lew Alcindor-led Bruins. In USC’s victory the next season, Schrobilgen guarded UCLA’s top scorer, Sidney Wicks.

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And finally: Fred Willard, who starred as the goofy sportscaster in the comedy classic “Best in Show,” told KSPN’s John Ireland and Steve Mason on Tuesday, “I hear Jose Canseco claims the dogs in the Westminster Kennel Club dog show have been injecting steroids.”

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