Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
Richard Montgomery immediately recognized the tall blond in the tennis dress in the deli section of his local Ralphs, so he walked up and introduced himself to tennis star Maria Sharapova.
Montgomery, who had heard she lived in Manhattan Beach, told Sharapova he was a City Council member and wondered if she would donate something to a school district fundraiser. A few months later, the chance to watch Sharapova in a photo shoot was auctioned off for about $4,000.
What Silicon Valley is for programmers and Nashville is for musicians, Manhattan Beach has become for professional athletes. Besides Sharapova, there are Lakers and Clippers, Dodgers and Kings. There are pro volleyball players, soccer players and football players.
Athletes in Manhattan Beach: An article in Sunday's Section A about the unusually large number of professional athletes living in Manhattan Beach gave the wrong first name for a member of the New York Rangers. He is Chris Drury, not Rob Drury.
Tampa Bay Buccaneer Jeff Garcia has a house there, and he never played on an L.A. team. The same with New York Rangers star Rob Drury.
Tiger Woods once lived in Manhattan Beach and so did Shaquille O'Neal. Football coach Norm Chow bought a home there while he coached at USC, kept it when he moved to the NFL's Tennessee Titans and is back living in the city now that's he's at UCLA.
"On everybody's street they have a Kings player," said a blase-sounding Penny Bordokas, a hedge fund manager and a Manhattan Beach resident. She said so many athletes live in town that when another one moves in, "it's a non-event. We don't even hear about it."
Resident Jan Gable, who won the photo shoot with Sharapova, saw Kings center Derek Armstrong recently at a talent show at the school their children attend.
Lakers reserve guard Coby Karl said that although he doesn't live in the South Bay city, "I want to." He would join teammates Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton and Lamar Odom, trainer Gary Vitti and coaches Kurt Rambis, Brian Shaw and Jim Cleamons, who is in the process of buying his fourth home in Manhattan Beach.
All these athletes -- have we mentioned soccer star Landon Donovan yet? -- can be found in a city of about 35,000 people pressed into less than four square miles.
Ed Kaminsky, president of SportsStar Relocation, a Manhattan Beach firm that specializes in finding homes for athletes nationally, said that the only areas across the country that might have as many pro players are the far larger Scottsdale, Ariz., and South Florida.
