LAMAR HUNT: A MAN RICH WITH HIS TIME

Monday, Dec. 18, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.

He founded the American Football League and named the Super Bowl, and when his bid to buy Alcatraz was rejected, he created Worlds of Fun - which I think is what Al Capone called the San Francisco Bay prison before Lamar Hunt appropriated the name for his Kansas City amusement park.

Yet longtime Las Vegas broadcaster Bob Blum will always remember Hunt, the personable and revered owner of the Kansas City Chiefs who died Wednesday because of complications from prostate cancer, as the guy who stuck him with the check for breakfast.

"Actually, he asked for separate checks," said Blum, who was the play-by-play voice of the Oakland Raiders after Hunt had moved the Dallas Texans to Kansas City. "I told the waitress to make it one check, which I paid for."

Blum said he first met Hunt at another coffee shop, before the very first game in AFL history - an exhibition meeting between the Texans and Raiders at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium on July 31, 1960.

"He said he drove a 1958 Oldsmobile that was dented on the passenger side and that he lived in a $35,000 house - but that it was paid for. That's what I remember about meeting Lamar Hunt," Blum said.

A couple of years later, Blum said, he gave Hunt binoculars, courtesy of one of the Raiders' sponsors, for appearing as his halftime guest. Then every time the Raiders and Chiefs would play, Hunt would ask Blum if he needed somebody to go on with him at halftime.

"He wanted those binoculars or a transistor radio or whatever we had," Blum said.

But the bottom line, Blum said, is that while Hunt may have been stingy with his money, he was more than generous with his time.

"He was a great man, and you almost forget all the things he did for people behind the scenes," Blum said.

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

Bakersfield Condors at Las Vegas Wranglers, 11:59 p.m. tonight, Orleans Arena

It's the annual midnight hockey game, which the past two years has featured girls flashing their blue lines in the stands and a concert by Mini-Kiss. This year it's a Billy Idol impersonator. I hope he leaves his shirt on.

TICKETS: $16-$35

ON THE WEB: www.lasvegaswranglers.com

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

Minnesota at UNLV men's basketball, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Thomas & Mack Center

Well, it's not Texas Corpus Christian, which is how Rebels forward Wendell White referred to Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Sunday night's opponent, on TV. These are the guys who went to the Final Four a few years back while somebody was doing their homework for them.

TICKETS: $10, $26

ON THE WEB: www.unlvtickets.com