People

By Richard Lacayo

Even in the era of big lottery prizes, the jackpot was oversize: Patrick Ewing, 7-ft. star of Georgetown University's Hoyas. At a nationally televised drawing at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, seven teams that failed to make ) this year's National Basketball Association playoffs vied for the right to take first pick in pro basketball's June 18 draft. First choice meant Ewing. In a church service on the morning of the lottery, New York Knicks Executive Vice President Dave DeBusschere called for heavenly assistance. "I said some prayers," he recalled. "And then I thought, I'll be a little selfish and ask for Patrick Ewing." The prayers were answered. Now the faltering Knicks are praying that the indomitable center will lift them back to their glory days of more than ten years ago. Even if he does, Ewing will be a mixed blessing: he will probably cost upwards of $1 million a year in salary, money that he may need to support a growing family. Days after the lottery, his high school sweetheart Sharon Stanford, 21, disclosed that last year she gave birth out of wedlock to Patrick Jr. At present there are no plans for marriage.