Andrew Beal

It's hard to imagine that Texas banker Andrew Beal--visionary, opportunist, entrepreneur--never factored in the booby bird when he found a better and cheaper way to reach outer space from this desolate slab of rock. Beal, 46, parlayed real estate investments in the '70s into the largest privately owned bank in Dallas with assets of $1.4 billion.

It's hard to imagine that Texas banker Andrew Beal--visionary, opportunist, entrepreneur--never factored in the booby bird when he found a better and cheaper way to reach outer space from this desolate slab of rock. Beal, 46, parlayed real estate investments in the '70s into the largest privately owned bank in Dallas with assets of $1.4 billion.

Andrew Beal of Palos Verdes Estates, Chris Valaika of Valencia, Jeff Flaig of Placentia, Daniel Perales of Orange and Zechry Zinicola of San Bernardino have been selected to the 2001 USA Baseball youth national team that will compete in the International Baseball Federation World Youth Baseball Championships Friday through Aug. 12 in Veracruz, Mexico.

Andrew Beal of Palos Verdes Peninsula High pitched a five-hitter as the USA Baseball youth national team defeated Venezuela, 6-2, in the gold-medal game Sunday at the International Baseball Federation World Youth Championships in Veracruz, Mexico. Beal (1-0), a right-hander, struck out 14 and walked three in nine innings. He also had two hits, including a leadoff single in a three-run fifth inning for the U.S., which went 7-0 in the weeklong tournament and has won 25 consecutive games. The U.S.

A smorgasbord of notes, quotes and opinions from across Southern California: Troy Starr, football coach at Woodland Hills Taft High, has repeatedly lectured reporters not to hype junior receiver/cornerback Steve Smith, but even Starr is having trouble controlling his enthusiasm. "Did you see his cape flapping in the wind as he ran by?" Starr blurted out last week after Smith ran 51 yards for a touchdown with an interception. Smith has a school-record 11 interceptions in seven games.

In the movie "Good Will Hunting," an impoverished South Boston kid who scrapes by mopping floors at MIT astonishes prize-winning professors with his ability to solve--at a glance--math problems that have stumped the experts. How likely is this scenario? Could a person with no specialized education instantaneously see his way through intellectual thickets impenetrable to the top people in the field? Even if he is a natural-born genius?