In Orlando, Mark Matthews reports an "All-Star lineup" of current and former NBA stars is coming together tonight for a $30,000-a-plate fundraiser in support of President BARACK OBAMA's re-election campaign at Mavericks G VINCE CARTER's Isleworth, Fla., home. About 40-70 guests are expected, and organizers said that the group includes Basketball HOFer MAGIC JOHNSON, former NBAer ALONZO MOURNING and NBA Commissioner DAVID STERN. Democratic booster JOHN MORGAN, who helped organize the event, said that the dinner would be "catered by the restaurant Carter owns in his hometown of Daytona Beach and that it already has $30,000 checks from several" current NBAers, including Heat Fs LEBRON JAMES and CHRIS BOSH, and G DWYANE WADE. Guests "will meet with" Obama, and organizers "hope to raise at least $1.2 million" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/23).
THE BOOK ON LIN: Hachette Book Group announced yesterday that it will publish "JEREMY LIN: THE REASON FOR THE LINSANITY," by author TIMOTHY DALRYMPLE. The book, due in stores in May, will chronicle Lin's high school, college and early career in the NBA, while "highlighting the media explosion ignited by his success" this season (AP, 2/22).
NAMES: A statue of late NASCAR Chair BILL FRANCE JR. was unveiled yesterday at Daytona Int'l Speedway in a ceremony in front of the track's visitor center and ticket office. The statue, created by Nebraska artist JOHN LAJBA, captures France's "larger than life stature" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/23)....Former Fiesta Bowl COO NATALIE WISNESKI will plead guilty next month in U.S. District Court for her role in a fraudulent campaign-contribution scheme (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/23)....A former student-athlete has anonymously donated $3M to the Univ. of Connecticut for the construction of a new soccer stadium on campus. UConn now has "more than $4.5 million in pledges earmarked for the soccer facility project" (HARTFORD COURANT, 2/23)....Basketball HOFer MAGIC JOHNSON is backing cable net Aspire, set to launch this summer, and is "looking at concepts for reviving" the musical variety show "SOUL TRAIN" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 2/22).
