Whoever decides next to take on the challenge of assigning a roster number to a single Southern California sports person through the years - nailing down the one whose identity it helped create, had the greatest credentials or just happened to be lucky enough no one else of importance did those digits - needs to know going in there are some occupational hazards. The number of waking hours spent going over and over each individual list won't add up. A uniform number that suddenly pops into your head out of nowhere at the most inopportune time will continue to distract you from whatever else you're doing. And no matter how hard you try, Nos. 60 to 69 won't get any better. But there are a number of reasons why this was worth the effort, from appropos 00 of Benoit Benjamin, through Jimmie Reese's 50, all the way to the one and only 99, Wayne Gretzky. In the end, we came to these numeric conclusions, based on our research and your feedback:

Greatest competition over one number: Nos.11, 20, 23, 30, 31, 34 and 42 created very intense debate. Cases could easily have been made for any one star over another. But without question, No. 32 carries more star power in a star-driven town: Two Basketball Hall of Famers, a Baseball Hall of Famer, a College Football Hall of Famer (and Heisman Trophy winner) and a Pro Football Hall of Famer (also a Heisman winner). Our eventual choice of Magic Johnson over Sandy Koufax, Bill Walton, O.J. Simpson and Marcus Allen had more to do with the spell Magic cast over the city, and still does, during a career that impacted more lives than he could have imagined. In 1979, the Lakers gave him No. 32 - the same number he wore for the Everett (Mich.) Vikings - because the No. 33 he wore at Michigan State was already taken by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. By the time he put the basketball down as a player in 1996, he had become a Hall of Famer, AIDS activist, entrepreneur, part-team owner and L.A. mayoral candidate. He owned the city - and if you count up his number of fitness centers, coffee shops, movie theaters, burger joints and TGIFridays around town, that might be more literal than figurative. They've built a statue for him outside Staples Center (where he never played, but is always seen sitting next to Dyan Cannon). And, if you happen to have a 24-Hour Fitness membership, drop by the facility at the Sherman Oaks Galleria and you might see him on the abs machine. Koufax's dominance over baseball from 1960-66 was more an extension of Kennedy's Camelot in the White House. But it was a comet that came and went, showing only brief brilliance. Many sport his No. 32 jersey at Dodger Stadium today the same way Yankees fans wear No. 5 or No. 7. Walton took No. 33 at Helix High in honor of Lew Alcindor, but knew he couldn't get it when he arrived at UCLA in 1971. "That's the number Coach Wooden gave me," Walton said. "You know, coach never started anything by saying, `What do you guys want to do today?"' In an era in which no dunking was allowed, Walton became as graceful a big man as the game has ever known. His performance in college alone was enough to get him in the hoop Hall, and he ended up among the NBA's 50 Greatest Players, wearing No. 32 for the Clippers when they moved to L.A. Simpson had only two years to make a name for himself in Southern California with No. 32 at USC. What he did after that, we can't recall. And then there's Allen, another USC Heisman winner who couldn't break through this list with either his college number (33) or with his L.A. Raiders number, despite a Hall of Fame career on both ends. Along with Simpson and Allen, another Heisman winner, Mike Garrett of USC, lost out with his number, 20, to the Kings' Luc Robitaille. Worst competition over one number: If you've got someone better than Tom Niedenfuer (No. 49), Bob Brudzinski (No. 59), Bill Bain (No. 62), Mike McDonald (No. 63), Chad Overhauser (No. 69), Danny Farmer (No. 87), Rick Tocchet (No. 92) or Jeremy Roenick (No. 97) at their respective numbers, cross 'em out and write in your own. Longest tenure with one number: USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux (44 years with No. 1) and Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda (19 years with No. 2, after he switched over from wearing No. 52 as a coach) had an advantage from their position of management over an active athlete. Jackie Slater wore No. 78 for the Rams from 1976-95 - 19 years - but he doesn't match Lasorda because only 18 of them were in L.A. (the last was in St. Louis). The Kings' Dave Taylor wore No.18 for 17 seasons. Maybe it was Don Mosebar, an outstanding offensive lineman at USC (1979-82) and with the Raiders (1983-95), who surprised us the most by being able to maintain No. 72 for a combined total of 15 years (the last in Oakland). Shortest tenure with one number: Dennis Rodman spent 50 glorious days - 23 games - wearing No. 73 with the Lakers at the tail end of the lockout-shortened season in 1999, the team's last at the Forum. He arrived Feb. 23, the day after Del Harris was fired. Rodman was waived April 15. The team went 17-6 while he was averaging 11.2 rebounds a game. He took a "leave of absence for personal reasons" before he was released. He reappeared with the ABA's LongBeach Jam a few years ago, rocking No. 91, and that didn't last long, either. The number hog: We tried, but we couldn't give No. 8, nor No. 24, to anyone but Kobe Bryant. Our apologies to Steve Young (L.A. Express) and Troy Aikman (UCLA) on one end, and Walter Alston (Dodgers) on the other. Best argument for a race car owner/driver to have ownership of a number: Parnelli Jones, who grew up in Southern California making a name for himself at the old Ascot Park in Gardena before becoming an Indianapolis 500 legend, was our pick for No. 98. Reader Jim Thurman of Lancaster agreed it's not exactly correct to link a number with a driver - it's really the owner who has the number, meaning J.C. Agajanian should be listed at No. 98. And he picked that number because of his admiration for Tom Harmon, the former Heisman winner from Michigan who later played for the Rams. Jones, in 1963, and San Bernardino's Troy Ruttman, in 1952, won driving Aggie's No. 98 car at the Indianapolis 500. Agajanian's No. 98 lives on, even for the upcoming Turkey Night Grand Prix USAC National/Western Midget race at Irwindale Speedway on Thanksgiving Night. The race will run 98 laps in his honor. As for Jones, Thurman recalls being in attendance at the 1970 NASCAR Motor Trend 500 at the old Riverside International Raceway and seeing him win the pole with a new lap record. However, NASCAR officials disallowed his time, as well as those of several other West Coast drivers, because they were using a limited-edition Firestone tire. NASCAR ruled that it wasn't available in sufficient numbers, giving him and the others an unfair advantage. Of course, NASCAR had just signed a deal with Goodyear. "Parnelli had a chain of Firestone tire stores and argued that he could supply enough tires to everyone," Thurman recalled. "He showed up race morning with trucks full of the tires he'd qualified on, offering them to the rest of the field. NASCAR still forced Jones and the other West Coast drivers to start behind the drivers that had Goodyear tires, so Parnelli started 35th. "Parnelli drove spectacularly through the field. On lap 43, as he came off turn 9 and when he crossed the start/finish line, he was leading. My older brother and I were seated in the main grandstand right there. "As Parnelli came by, he stuck his left hand out the window, raised it upward and emphatically gave a salute with a single digit. You see, the NASCAR officials, including Bill France, were in the press box located atop the grandstand. The crowd erupted. The only account one can find of this was a waggish comment in Autoweek magazine that Parnelli came by and let the crowd know what position he was in." Best argument for a horse to have ownership of a number: They've built a statue to honor Seabiscuit at Santa Anita, after he won the 1940 Santa Anita Derby, so in essence, the thoroughbred immortalized in book and movies is still in the Southern California sports scene. He wore No. 1 in that amazing race. If Dedeaux hadn't already laid claim to that number, we could have saddled up with an equine. Keep the number, change the name: Two of 'em did it. Lew Alcindor stayed with No. 33 between transitioning from UCLA basketball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during his NBA days. Keith Wilkes' last name remained the same when he had No. 52 at UCLA from 1971-74 and then became known as Jamaal Wilkes when he was with the Lakers (1977-85) and then, in his final forgotten NBA season, with the Clippers (1985-86). Most SoCal teams played for while wearing the same number: Aside from Wilkes wearing No. 52 on three rosters, Anthony Davis was able to stretch No. 28 from USC (1972-74) to the Southern California Sun of the World Football League ('75), then with the Los Angeles Express of the USFL ('83). He also had a short hop with the Rams in '79, but wore No. 23 there. Best crossover number: 53, worn both by Don Drysdale with the Dodgers, and adoped by Herbie the Love Bug. Bill Walsh, who produced the 1968 movie about the VW that wanted to be a race car, took the number from Drysdale, then at the height of his consecutive scoreless innings streak. Check for Herbie's number on the Hollywood list. Best (only) husband-wife number combo: Drysdale's 53 matched up with Ann Meyers' 15 at UCLA. Their love bug marriage lasted seven years before Drysdale's passing in 1993. Best mirror image use of a number: The McKeever twins, while playing at USC from 1958-60, wore numbers 86 (Marlin) and 68 (Mike). Marlin also wore No. 86 with the Rams (1961-72). Mike (but not Marlin) was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Most interesting discoveries: No one has yet to produce evidence of what number Jackie Robinson wore while playing baseball during the 1940 season at UCLA. We've even turned the guys at the Society for American Baseball Research on the case. Then there was a person on the Dodgers' roster in 1994 we came across who was issued No. 94 - Don Yi. He was given a uniform, and number, to act as the interpreter for the team during the first year South Korean Chan Ho Park was in L.A.

Biggest complaint about the list: The name.
One asked: Shouldn't it be "Greater Los Angeles and Orange County" if you're not including San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino or Imperial County? Another asked: Why didn't you include the Padres, Chargers and other San Diego schools and teams if it's Southern California?
If you've got the focus, energy and want something to consume all waking hours, may the numbers be with you.

--Here's a link to the entire list, which has individual links to each number from 00-99.

A sampling of how some of the athletes who won ownership on our list came about having their numbers:
No. 4 Rob Blake with the Kings: "It was just hanging in my stall the first day I arrived (1990)."
No. 6 Steve Garvey with the Dodgers: "I wore No. 10 in baseball at Michigan State (and No. 24 in football), but No. 6 was just what I was given with the Dodgers (in the late '60s). You usually don't have a lot of say in the matter. But as a batboy for the Dodgers from age 7 to 13 in spring training, I knew No. 6 was Carl Furillo, and then Ron Fairly. When I was growing up, I really admired Al Kaline and Stan Musial, both whom wore No. 6. I felt like I was just like them when I started becoming the steward for it. And now it's kind of funny to see the Dodgers give it to Joe Torre. I know they don't retire numbers unless you get into the Hall of Fame. The Padres retired it for me, and that was quite an honor."
No. 15 Ann Meyers Drysdale with UCLA: "My dad (Bob Meyers) wore No. 15 at Marquette (1944-47), and I was also a huge Hal Greer fan, and he was one of the few NBA guys who wore No. 15 back then. I had No. 17 in junior high because I was a huge John Havlicek fan growing up. In high school, for my senior year, I wore my brother David's No. 34, when he was at UCLA. On the 1976 Olympic team, I was able to wear No. 6, which I took in honor of Bill Russell and, then, Julius Erving, and both are very good friends of mine now, as is Hondo. When I got drafted by the (NBA's Indiana) Pacers, I was going to be No. 15, too."
No. 20 Luc Robitaille with the Kings: "During my first two training camps with the Kings, they game me No. 56 to wear. And then when I came in for my third camp, I got No. 20. I was so happy to have No. 20 I never asked for anything else. I grew up wearing No. 15 or No. 7, but never No. 20. I felt getting No. 20 was a lucky thing for me because I was 20 years old at the time and it was the Kings' 20th anniversary (1986-87), so I thought that was all good timing. The funny thing about No. 20 is when I signed with the New York Rangers (1995-96), I wanted to keep No. 20, but the team had just signed Ray Ferraro, and they already gave him that number. The GM called Ray and asked if I could have it and Ray said, 'OK.' Then, years later, I came back to L.A. (1997) and Ferraro was with the Kings - wearing No. 20. I asked Ray if he minded again, and he didn't, so as a thank you, I bought him and his family a trip to Hawaii."
No. 23 Eric Karros with the Dodgers: "I had No. 26 through high school and college, and in the minor leagues had No. 35. My first year on the roster I was given No. 23 (1991, the year after Kirk Gibson wore it and left). It was my understanding that the general manager, Fred Claire, was responsible for assigning the numbers to new players. I was obviously aware of the significance of the number, not only in Dodger history, but in general, with the popularity of Michael Jordan at that time. In fact during my run with the Cubs in '03, Jordan was around quite a bit during the September chase and in the locker room for our playoff celebrations. During one conversation we had, he brought up the fact that I was the guy who wore 23 for the Dodgers. I ended up wearing No. 32 in Chicago - reversing No. 23 - because the team had not issued No. 23 since Ryne Sandberg retired. My next choice was No. 14, after Pete Rose, who was my favorite player as a kid, but that was already retired for Billy Williams."
No. 29 Eric Dickerson with the Rams: "The numbers two and nine stand for my birthday. Sort of. My birthday is actually Sept. 2 - or 9-2 - but that doesn't work for a running back so I flipped the numbers around."
No. 82 Greg Hopkins with the Arena Football League's Avengers: "I wore No. 17 at Slippery Rock - it was sort of tossed at me through the equipment-room service window along with something like, Here, wear this one freshman.' I wore it my entire career in college. When I started with Albany, No. 17 was already worn by Eddie Brown, who was voted No. 1 of the all-time greats in AFL history. I knew asking for that would probably not be a wise decision in hopes of making the squad. So as history repeats itself, No. 82 was thrown at me with, 'Here you go, wear this one rookie.' I had plenty of superstitions while playing but the No. 82 was never one of them."