May 11, 2008
Head of his class
St. John's legend leaves bobbling treasure
When St. John's basketball legend Alan Seiden passed away last week, the former All-American left behind a spectacular sports bobblehead/figurine collection his brother says "could fill up two museums." Ronnie Seiden is looking to sell the collection, which totals an estimated 100,000 sports dolls ranging from three inches to three feet. It spreads across two rooms in Alan's Hollis, Queens basement and was a welcome diversion to visitors last week paying their respects during "Shiva" calls.
According to Ronnie, Seiden began the collection in 1987. It contains droves of one-of-a-kind, custom-made statuettes, including figurines of his entire St. John's team that won the 1959 NIT and Holiday Festival and his 1955 Jamaica High club that won the PSAL title. Certainly, St. John's might be interested in some of this stash, but Ronnie also believes a sports bar would go crazy for the collection of football, baseball and basketball heroes, including 500 Michael Jordan figurines. Alan Seiden was also a mentor to Cold Spring Harbor's Wally Szczerbiak and used to take him shopping to sports stores and buy him bobbleheads. "He got hooked," Ronnie told The Post's Marc Berman. "It was his hobby."
Fit to be Tiger
In the next Men's Fitness issue, Tiger Woods captured the magazine's annual "most fittest guy" award, The Rumble has learned. The only other athlete in the top 7 was boxer Vladimir Klitschko. Men's Fitness ranked its top 25. Woods placed No. 1 "because he's the first golfer we've ever thought of as an athlete, because he has a bangin' hot wife and because he made us care about a sport we didn't think was, well, a sport." Brady Quinn, Chase Utley, Dwight Howard and sprinter Walter Dix also made the list.
Yogi's quotes for kids
Yogi Berra will hold a "mock" press conference with campers at the seventh annual Bruce Beck & Ian Eagle Sports Broadcasting Camp during the week of July 21-25. The camp, for middle school, high school and college students, will be held at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center at Montclair State University. . . . The world-famous Harlem Globetrotters will play a game at Boris Trajkovski Sports Hall in Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia, on May 22. This marks the 119th country in which the Globetrotters will have played during their storied 82-year history.
SNY's 'Beer' here!
