A Moment to Swish Upon Two Stars

Bill Sharman, who will be presented with an award by John Wooden at the Paralysis Project of America dinner on Feb. 26, recalled an amazing story about Wooden’s free-throw shooting prowess.

Sharman, one of the greatest free-throw shooters in NBA history, conducted a basketball camp for boys at Oxnard with Wooden in 1973, when Sharman was coaching the Lakers and Wooden was coaching UCLA.

While showing the campers free-throw techniques, Sharman made 25 of 25 free throws and Wooden made 24 of 25.

But that’s not the amazing part. When one of the campers asked Sharman how many free throws he had made in a row in competition, he said he that he had made 56 during the NBA playoffs in 1959 while playing for the Boston Celtics. That’s still the NBA playoff record.

Wooden was asked the same question, but, always humble, hesitated giving an answer.

“I knew the answer,” Sharman said. “John Wooden made 135 free throws in a row while playing in a pro league after his college career at Purdue.”

Trivia time: Wooden and Sharman are two of three men who are in the basketball Hall of Fame as a player and a coach. Who is the third?

Correction: Sharman’s memory may be failing him. According to Wooden, Sharman was a little off. Wooden said he made 134 in a row.

Money ball: Wooden said after he made 100 free throws in a row, the owner of the team he was playing for gave him $100.

As sharp as ever: Sharman, 78, marvels at just how sharp Wooden is at 94.

“I was a junior at USC when he started coaching at UCLA” in 1948, Sharman said. “He can remember things I did in games that I can’t remember doing.”

What’s the deal? The Detroit Pistons’ Larry Brown, asked by XTRA’s Van Earl Wright how he would be spending All-Star weekend, said, “I’m going away with the family.”

Said Wright: “Out here to California to maybe have a meeting with Jerry Buss.”

Brown: “Don’t get me in trouble.”

Easing the pain: It has been a tough time for hockey fans, and Steve Bellamy, president and founder of the Tennis Channel, is feeling their pain.

Bellamy, whose network is promoting and televising the ATP Tennis Channel Open at Scottsdale, Ariz., beginning Monday, has come up with a way to ease that pain. He announced that the first 500 fans wearing a Phoenix Coyote jersey to the tournament Monday and Tuesday would get a free ticket.

Looking back: On this day in 1955, Bernie Geoffrion of the Montreal Canadiens scored five goals in a 10-2 victory over the New York Rangers.

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Trivia answer: Lenny Wilkens.

And finally: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times found a college softball player who, he says, can skip practice anytime she needs to spend more time in the lab. The player is Kansas shortstop Destiny Frankenstein.

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