It happened one day in Iowa

By Ron Kantowski

Monday, June 8, 2009 | 1:16 p.m.

NOW

One of the neat things about this job is that every now and then I get to bring people together -- like Jim Lange, on The Dating Game.

Last week I received an e-mail from a guy in Overland Park, Kan., named John McCarthy, who said a friend had e-mailed him a story I had written in 2006 about Bobby Florence, the star of Jerry Tarkanian's first UNLV basketball team. McCarthy will be inducted into his high school hall of fame in September, and one of the photos he submitted to the committee showed Florence guarding him when both were high school stars in Des Moines, Iowa.

He said he often wondered what happened to Bobby Florence in the 40 years since that photo was taken.

I e-mailed him Florence's phone number, hoping that Bobby didn't still owe him $20 or anything like that.

Within the hour I received another e-mail from John McCarthy, who said he had just gotten off the phone with Bobby and that they had a nice talk about growing up and playing ball in Iowa during the turbulent 1960s.

I felt warm all over, like bachelor No. 2 when Marcia Brady picked him.

THEN

Did you know that Tom Selleck appeared on The Dating Game twice before he was Magnum P.I. -- and lost both times?

That piece of information and $8 will get you a cold beer at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis.