Editor’s daughter sees Ike’s wrath

After some anxious hours, longtime Las Vegas society editor Elizabeth Foyt has learned her daughter, Alicia Foyt Cahill, rode out Hurricane Ike in a hotel on Galveston Island in Texas.

Cahill, Galveston's public information officer, weathered the storm with other emergency response team members and city officials in the historic San Luis Hotel on Seawall Boulevard.

Cahill and her husband, Chris, are expecting the worst, her mother said. The Cahills live on the west end of the island, which remains restricted to emergency and relief workers.

She has been handling all the media relations for the storm and destruction coverage and appeared on MSNBC on Saturday.

She graduated from Chapparal High School in 1996 and attended Texas A&M at the Galveston campus, where she was student body president before graduating in 2000.

BIG NIGHT

Betty Engelstad had another jaw-dropping announcement on Saturday at Jim and Joan Hammer's annual cancer benefit.

The Engelstad Foundation was donating $20 million to the Nevada Cancer Institute, the widow of Imperial Palace owner Ralph Engelstad told attendees of the Hammers' fifth Summer's End Beach Party, which benefited the institute.

The hefty donation explained why a number of principals at the event were wearing sports jerseys emblazoned with No. 35, the Engelstad Foundation's two-year donation total is $35 million.

Paris Hilton made a surprise appearance onstage to thank everyone for their generosity.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

Small World Department: So I'm in New York, well, the New Jersey Meadowlands, on Sunday for Brett Favre's home crowd debut for the Jets' game against the New England Patriots.

Some friends came up with seventh-row seats on the 40-yard line on the Patriots' side.

Late in the first half, I noticed No. 75 of the Patriots and recognized the name "Woolfork" on the jersey.

I shared a story with my friends.

In March 2004, I received a tip that a "big NFL player" was getting married at the Little White Chapel, where Britney Spears had been hitched a few months earlier.

I showed up just before the ceremony started and was asked to be a member of the wedding party.

The two young kids getting married were Vince Woolfork, a behemoth defensive lineman out of the University of Miami, and his bride, Bianca.

I had no sooner finished retelling my only-in-Vegas story Sunday when one of my friends nudged me and pointed to a young woman two seats to my right. She was wearing a jersey with No. 75 on it, with "Wifey" on the back. Hundreds of red and clear Swarovski crystals were stitched into the jersey letters and numbering.

Well, you guessed the rest of the story: It was Bianca, whose husband went on to become the Patriots' No. 1 draft pick. She filled me in on the backstory of our first meeting.

"I almost missed the wedding. I was up $40,000 at roulette at the Hard Rock and didn't want to leave. If it wasn't for NFL Films filming it (the wedding), I wouldn't have left."

My New York sports-fix weekend continues tonight with one of the last games at Yankee Stadium. With my track record for bumping into old friends, stay tuned.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

O.J. Simpson is spending a lot of time in Summerlin. He was hanging out at T-Bones Chophouse at Red Rock Resort on Saturday at the restaurant's poolside patio.

A year ago, he was arrested after an incident at Palace Station that led to charges of armed robbery and kidnapping. A week ago Sunday, he showed at John Cutter, a bar and grill on West Charleston Boulevard, to watch some NFL games. His trial starts today.

SIGHTINGS

British boxing star Ricky Hatton, in the Crown and Anchor pub Saturday for breakfast and to watch the live feed of his hometown soccer team, Manchester City. It was a short breakfast. He was feeling bloody awful and left. ... At the grand opening of LAVO Restaurant and Nightclub at The Palazzo on Saturday: Shannen Doherty, Bar Rafaeli, Paris Hilton and Benji Madden, Nicky Hilton and David Katzenberg, Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn, Stacy Keibler, Jack Osbourne, Olympian Amanda Beard, Amber Heard, Ashley Scott, Enrique Iglesias, Kevin Federline, Jamie Foxx, Kevin Connolly, Slash, Scarlett Johansson's fiancé Ryan Reynolds and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, who hopped in the DJ booth.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Favre! You used to have a cannon. Now you got a knuckleball." -- A leather-lunged Jets fan late in Sunday's 19-10 loss to New England.

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.