Lakers’ Black Also Bags Wimbledon Trophy

The tale of the Wimbledon trophy that Pete Sampras won Sunday did not end with a last kiss for photographers.

For a while, it became Laker property.

John Black, director of public relations for the Lakers and a longtime friend of Sampras, woke to a phone call Monday morning in the Wimbledon-area house where he had stayed with Sampras and some of Sampras’ friends.

The caller was saying that the trophy, which had had its maximum exposure for a TV audience of millions during Sampras’ postmatch ceremonies, was packed up and ready to go and that Sampras could come and get it any time. Problem was, Sampras and his entourage had left early Monday to fly to New York for various TV appearances. That left Black as guardian of the trophy.

So, as Shaquille O’Neal taught him so well during the recent playoffs, Black made a decisive move to make sure Sampras’ hard-earned hardware made it back to L.A. He went to Wimbledon, boxed it up and carried it on his flight home later that day.

During the flight, the woman sitting next to Black started talking about how she had been at Wimbledon for Sampras’ triumph. Black mentioned that he too had been there and that, matter of fact, he had the trophy. Eventually, he got the box out of the overhead luggage compartment and broke it open for her to see.

As of Wednesday, the trophy was still at Black’s house. “I called Pete and told him to get over here and get it,” Black said. “I’m now too nervous to go anywhere with it for fear I’ll drop it or something.”

Sampras may not be in all that big a rush. Black is forgetting that he has six others just like it.