Boxing Challenge- WE"RE BACK!

FINALLY- Some live sports to write about!!

Whew!
Honestly, I've missed boxing the most during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both the Cavaliers and Devils were lousy and once they started canceling games to ruin my trips for the season, baseball continued to really piss me off with their actions towards the minors and now Rob Manfred's shoving a very flawed concept down the throats of the fans- I found I was living OK without it.
But boxing isn't seasonal, for me, it's been a consistent part of my everyday life and I've found that I missed it more than the rest.

Anyway, Bob Arum and Top Rank are the first to return and the ESPN platform is hungry to show something live, so Top Rank is going to have an aggressive return with cards on Tuesday's and Thursday's for each of the next five weeks.
Each of the shows will be from Las Vegas, except for a June 27th Saturday card from Mexico City.
They won't be top fights, but you will see top fighters as they attempt to crack the lesions of inactivity and in the final week, Jamel Herring will be defending his WBO junior lightweight title.
Some of the fights wouldn't normally be of the caliber for the boxing challenge, but with the dearth of sports action, I'm going to include them to have things to write about.

We start with Tuesday's main event with WBO featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson in a non-title event at junior lightweight against Felix Carabello.
The former Olympic silver medalist looked tremendous in his last fight against bitter rival Joet Gonzalez to win the vacant title and it was Stevenson, who was the last fighter to be affected by Covid-19 as his first title defense against Miguel Marriaga in New York was literally hours away before the card was canceled.
Stevenson will be fighting for the huge exposure that is expected and he should look very good against Caraballo, who appears to be overmatched and hasn't fought against a world-class level opponent, let alone one with the ability of Stevenson.

Thursday's card will feature Jessie Magdaleno in a junior lightweight fight against Yenifel Vincente.
Magdaleno, who lost his WBO junior featherweight title in April 2018 to Issac Dogboe by eleventh round knockout, has looked better in his two comeback fights at featherweight in wins over Rico Ramos and Rafael Rivera.
Vincente is a tough veteran that is a cut below Magdaleno, but has never been stopped in his four defeats and should give Magdaleno some steady work.

The co-feature pits Adam Lopez facing Luis Coria in a featherweight battle.
Lopez was a last-minute replacement against undefeated and former WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez in November and gave the bigger Valdez all he wanted in dropping Valdez in the second round and leading on my card after six rounds before Valdez stopped Lopez in the seventh in what I thought was a premature ending much to the relief of Valdez and Top Rank, who had to be sweating a bit at the thought of their planned Valdez challenge of WBC junior lightweight champion Miguel Berchelt flying out the window.
Lopez drops back to featherweight for this one against Coria, who despite a 12-2 record, has faced two fighters with winning records and is 1-1 against them with the loss against a 10-9 fighter.
Still, Coria's November 2018 to the best fighter on his resume' 17-3 Thomas Valdez was a close split decision loss, so he may give Lopez a tussle.

We return to the boxing challenge from hiatus with a lead over Ramon Malpica 45-40.

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds
Shakur Stevenson vs Felix Caraballo
R.L: Stevenson Unanimous Decision
TRS: Stevenson KO 6

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds
Jessie Magdaleno vs Yenifel Vincente
Both: Magdaleno Unanimous Decision

Featherweights. 10 Rds
Adam Lopez vs Luis Coria
Both: Lopez Unanimous Decision

Cleaning out the Inbox: Non-Sports Passings

The never-ending tributes series continues with a non-sports version as we say goodbye to more stars from the past.

Goodbye to Phyllis George at the age of 70.
The 1971 winner of the Miss America pageant, George was best remembered as the first female co-host of a network sports show in the NFL Today, was unique for her time as she managed to be loved by her audience despite two points that would have hindered most sportscasters.
By being the first female in the network field, George could have been less than accepted by the audience and the players that she wanted to interview, but instead, George was popular with both fans and players, despite not always having the level of knowledge that you would expect from someone in that position today.
George was also loved by fans even with her unabashed partisanship towards the Dallas Cowboys, as her appearances on the road in home cities of Cowboys rivals.
George would later host a few shows including a brief stint with the CBS Morning News and a show of the then-syndicated network PAX, and write several books.
George would also serve as Kentucky's first lady as the wife of John Y. Brown during his term.
Brown was at one time the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Boston Celtics, and before his marriage to George, the ABA Kentucky Colonels and made the decision to take buyout money from the NBA and keep the Colonels and Louisville out of the merger in 1976.
George is also the mother of CNN political reporter Pamela Brown.


Goodbye to Fred Willard at the age of 86.
Willard, who never had a starring vehicle of his own over six-plus decades of acting, might be the comedy version of Kevin Bacon if you desired to play that famous game.
I would wager in some way or another if you were on television or made comedy movies- you will be able to trace that person to Fred Willard somehow.
Cherie's Fred Willard role was in a recurring role of "Everyone Loves Raymond", but since I DESPISE that show and its star, I'll have to take her word for Willard's performance.
As for me, I loved Willard as "Jerry Hubbard" as the Ed McMahon to Martin Mull's Garth/Barth Gimble on "Fernwood/America 2-Night" and his various roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentaries, with my favorite "A Mighty Wind" as washed-up comedian/manager Mike LaFontaine.
Willard also made many guest appearances on the original David Letterman show on NBC and a personal favorite was his SCTV stop-by as SCTV station owner "Guy Caballero" played by Joe Flaherty is desperate for dollars to keep the failing station afloat, decides to pick a celebrity to forge a check from that "wouldn't miss it" and he chooses Fred Willard as the person to steal from.
I was surprised that Willard was 86 at his passing, I would have guessed him perhaps a decade younger than that age.



Goodbye to Ken Osmond at the age of 76.
Few people are lucky enough to make money for over sixty years from a profession and it's even fewer from making money from one position, Ken Osmond made money from his teenage years until his recent passing from one role- the insincere "Eddie Haskell", the best friend of "Wally Cleaver" on "Leave it to Beaver".
Osmond nailed the role of the snide and two-faced bully among his peers that was over the top in his faux flattery of adults and he did so to the point that "Eddie Haskell" became the name brand for that type of person.
"Eddie" became such a part of pop culture that people born multiple generations after "Leave it to Beaver" was off the air still knew what that reference meant.
Osmond had trouble finding acting after the end of "Leave it to Beaver" due to typecasting, but Osmond found a career in law enforcement as he worked as a Los Angeles police officer from 1970 to 1988 before filing for disability.
Osmond often appeared at nostalgia shows and comic cons, and revived "Eddie" in the "New Leave it to Beaver" in the eighties when the surviving cast returned for four seasons split between The Disney Channel and WTBS.
Osmond's real-life sons Eric and Christian played his sons on the show- "Freddie and Eddie Jr.", but Osmond remains famous in the wrestling world for one appearance.
On the first Clash of the Champions in March 1988, the new LITB was coming to WTBS, and Osmond was promoting the show and showed up in Greensboro, North Carolina to sit at ringside for the classic Ric Flair-Sting match that made Sting a star.
Osmond also slipped into character as "Eddie" for a memorable promo with Jim Cornette during the broadcast.


Goodbye to Kurt Thomas at the age of 64.
Thomas was a gold medal favorite in gymnastics for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow but did not compete due to the Jimmy Carter boycott.
However, what I know about gymnastics begins with Olga Korbut, moves to Nadia Comaneci and ends with my seventh-grade vault attempt that saw me launch off the "box" and never get off the pad as I slammed face-first as in a line drive into the waiting and stationary horse, so Kurt Thomas isn't here for his gymnastic talents.
Thomas is here for one reason-Gymkata.
This 1985 "action" film stars Thomas as "an American gymnastics champion that combines the skill of gymnastics with the kill of Karate in a deadly competition in a foreign country".
Uh, Yeah and it gets worse with the acting, the "action scenes", the script and other than being in focus (sometimes) as Bob Uecker mentioned in Major League II, I can't think of one thing nice to say about Gymkata other than this- It's unintentionally hilarious for all the reasons that it's an awful action film.
Gymkata is easily the worst film of its genre' and is a solid top ten worst film of all-time.
It's that bad and therefore that funny.
Kurt Thomas may not have won Olympic Gold, but in Gymkata, he left us the gift of unintentional comedy gold...

TRS Boxing Ratings-Part Two

The TRS boxing ratings return just as boxing is beginning to make its first steps forward to bringing the action back to the ring.

These rankings give a fresh start with boxers that now (for a while ) will be on the same activity schedule and include the results of matches that took place in 2020 before the pandemic began to cancel sports.

Part two will start with the lightweight division down through the lightest weight class and conclude with the pound for pound ratings.
Thanks to Ramon Malpica, Vince Samano, and John Herndon for their help with the rankings.

Notes;
Leo Santa Cruz is rated in two divisions because he holds the WBA titles in two divisions and hasn't been forced to vacate either as of this writing.

Lightweights
1: Vasyl Lomachenko WBA/WBO Champion 20 Pts
2: Teofimo Lopez IBF Champion 14 Pts
3: Devin Haney WBC Champion 13 Pts
4: Gervonta Davis 5 Pts (Unranked)
5: Luke Campbell 3 Pts (Down One)
    Jorge Linares (Unranked)
Also Received Votes: Richard Commey

Junior Lightweights
1: Miguel Berchelt WBC Champion 20 Pts
2: Joseph Diaz IBF Champion 16 Pts (Unranked)
3: Jamel Herring WBO Champion 9 Pts
4: Leo Santa Cruz WBA Champion 6 Pts
5: Rene Alvarado 4 Pts (Unranked)
Also Received Votes: Oscar Valdez, Tevin Farmer

Featherweights
1: Gary Russell WBC Champion 18 Pts (Up Two)
2: Josh Warrington IBF Champion 16 Pts
3: Shakur Stevenson WBO Champion 13 Pts (Up One)
4: Leo Santa Cruz WBA Champion 5 Pts (Down Three)
5: Xu Can 4 Pts
Also Received Votes; Tug Nyambayar, Kid Galahad, Carl Frampton

Junior Featherweights
1: Emmanuel Navarrete WBO Champion 18 Pts
2: Murodjon Akhmadaliev WBA/IBF Champion 15 Pts (Unranked)
3: Rey Vargas WBC Champion 12 Pts
4: Danny Roman 8 Pts
5: Brandon Figueroa 3 Pts
    Ryosuke Iwasa (Unranked)
Also Received Votes: Stephen Fulton

Bantamweights
1: Naoya Inoye WBA/IBF Champion 20 Pts
2: Nonito Donaire 12 Pts (Up One)
3: Nordine Ouabaali WBC Champion 9 Pts (Up One)
4: John Riel Casimero WBO Champion 8 Pts (Up One)
    Luis Nery (Down Two)
Also Received Votes: Guillermo Rigondeaux, Emmanuel Rodriguez

Junior Bantamweights
1: Juan Francisco Estrada WBC Champion 20 Pts
2: Srisaket Sor Rungvisai 14 Pts
3: Roman Gonzalez WBA Champion 13 Pts (Unranked)
4: Jerwin Ancajas IBF Champion 8 Pts (Down One)
5: Kazuto Ioka WBO Champion 6 Pts

Flyweights
1: Artem Dalakian WBA Champion 16 Pts (Up One)
    Kosei Tanaka WBO Champion
3: Julio Cesar Martinez WBC Champion 15 Pts
4: Moruti Mthalane IBF Champion 8 Pts
5: Charlie Edwards 3 Pts
Also Received Votes: Jay Harris

Junior Flyweight and Under
1: Ken Shiro 17 Pts
2: Hiroto Kyoguchi 15 Pts
3: Felix Alvarado 9 Pts
4: Wanheng Menayothin 7 Pts
5: Elwin Soto 6 Pts
Also Received Votes: CP Freshmart, Angel Acosta, Carlos Canizales

Pound for Pound
1: Vasyl Lomachenko 39 Pts
2: Terence Crawford 35 Pts
3: Naoya Inoye 32 Pts
4: Canelo Alvarez 25 Pts
    Errol Spence
6: Artur Beterbiev 15 Pts
7: Tyson Fury 10 Pts (Unranked)
    Oleksandr Usyk
9: Juan Francisco Estrada 7 Pts (Unranked)
10: Gennady Golovkin 6 Pts (Down Two)
       Luis Nery

Also Received Votes:
Wangheng Menayothin
Manny Pacquiao
Jose Ramirez

TRS Boxing Ratings-Part One

The TRS boxing ratings return just as boxing is beginning to make its first steps forward to bringing the action back to the ring.

These rankings give a fresh start with boxers that now (for a while ) will be on the same activity schedule and include the results of matches that took place in 2020 before the pandemic began to cancel sports.


Heavyweights
1: Tyson Fury WBC Champion 20 Pts
2: Anthony Joshua WBA/IBF/WBO Champion 15 Pts (Up One)
3: Deontay Wilder 13 Pts (Down Two)
4: Dillian Whyte 5 Pts (Up One)
5: Andy Ruiz 3 Pts
Also Received Votes: Luis Ortiz, Oleksandr Usyk

Cruiserweights
1: Mairis Breidis 20 Pts
2: Yuniel Dorticos IBF Champion 16 Pts
3: Ilunga Makubu WBC Champion 12 Pts (Unranked)
4: Krzystof Glowacki 9 Pts (Down One)
5: Armen Goulamirian WBA Champion 2 Pts (Down One)
Also Received Votes: Noel Mikaelian, Lawrence Okolie

Light Heavyweights
1: Artur Beterbiev WBC/IBF Champion 20 Pts
2: Dmitry Bivol WBA Champion 15 Pts
3: Oleksandr Gvozdyk 12 Pts
4: Jean Pascal 4 Pts (Unranked)
5: Eleider Alvarez 3 Pts (Down One)
    Sergey Kovalev (Unranked)
    Gilberto Ramirez (Unranked)

Super Middleweights
1: Callum Smith WBA Champion 19 Pts
2: David Benavidez WBC Champion 15 Pts
3: Billy Joe Saunders WBO Champion 10 Pts
    Caleb Plant IBF Champion
5: Anthony Dirrell 2 Pts (Unranked)
Also Received Votes: Daniel Jacobs, John Ryder

Middleweights
1: Canelo Alvarez WBA Champion 20 Pts
2: Gennady Golovkin IBF Champion 15 Pts
3: Demetrius Andrade WBO Champion 13 Pts
4: Jermall Charlo WBC Champion 8 Pts
5: Sergey Dereyvanchenko 3 Pts
Also Received Votes: Jaime Munguia

Junior Middleweights
1: Jermell Charlo WBC Champion 20 Pts (Up One)
2: Jeison Rosario WBA/IBF Champion 16 Pts (Unranked)
3: Julian Williams 12 Pts (Down Two)
4: Jarrett Hurd 6 Pts (Down One)
5: Tony Harrison 3 Pts (Down One)
Also Received Votes: Erislandy Lara, Brian Castano

Welterweights
1: Terence Crawford WBO Champion 19 Pts
2: Errol Spence WBC/IBF Champion 17 Pts
3: Manny Pacquaio WBA Champion 11 Pts
4: Shawn Porter 9 Pts
5: Keith Thurman 4 Pts

Junior Welterweights
1: Jose Ramirez WBC/WBO Champion 20 Pts
2: Josh Taylor WBA/IBF Champion 16 Pts
3: Regis Prograis 12 Pts
4: Maurice Hooker 6 Pts
5: Jose Zepeda 5 Pts
Also Received Votes: Viktor Postol

Cleaning out the inbox: Passings

The cleaning of our inbox continues with another edition of tributes from the sports world.
Hopefully, this will catch us up there with only a non-sports version coming soon.

Goodbye to Bob Watson at the age of 74.
Watson was a solid first baseman for the Houston Astros throughout the seventies after transitioning from catching and finished his career in the early eighties with stints in New York, Boston, and Atlanta.
Watson hit over .300 six times, served as the head of MLB's vice president in charge of discipline, and served as the general manager for both the Astros and Yankees with the Yankees winning the 1996 World Series under Watson's direction.
We wrote about Watson scoring baseball's one-millionth run in 1976 and the contest that was part of the chase for the honor, but Bob Watson was always a cult favorite of mine for two reasons.

The first was his brief cameo near the end of Ball Four as Watson breaks his finger after a September callup on a Jim Bouton knuckleball as Bouton warmed up in the Houston bullpen, but the second is one that a certain age demographic likely has at least some memory.
The Bad News Bears sequel "Breaking Training" isn't a satire classic as its original, but it is a fun romp anyway, and the "Let Them Play" chant still rings loudly from those that have seen the film.
It's Bob Watson that utters that line first (with Fred Landucci's good friend, the noted Slurpee cup/cocktail mixer Cesar Cedeno just behind Watson) and sent the line from what might not have been a highly remembered film otherwise into history.


Goodbye to Matt Keough at the age of 64.
Keough pitched for five teams but is usually connected with the Oakland Athletics during the end of the Charles Finley era.
Keough made the All-Star team as a rookie in 1978, would lose his first 14 decisions in 1979 in finishing 2-17, won 16 games in 1980, and then lost 18 in 1982.
Keough's career ended sadly in 1992 when he had made the Angels roster in a comeback attempt but was hit by a foul liner in the temple while sitting in the dugout during a spring training game.

Goodbye to Curtis Cokes at the age of 82.
The former world welterweight champion won his title in 1966 when he decisioned Manuel Gonzalez to win the title vacated by Emile Griffith.
Cokes would defend the title five times at a time when the division wasn't very strong, but fighters don't always have a choice in their opponents during their reign.
Cokes would lose his title via 13th round knockout to Jose Napoles in 1969 and would lose their rematch two months later in ten rounds.
Cokes would never challenge for the title again and retired in 1972 after losing three of his last five fights.


Goodbye to Johnny Majors at the age of 85.
Majors won the SEC player of the year as a Tennessee running back in 1955 and 56 and finished second in the 1956 Heisman voting to Paul Hornung.
Majors played one season in the CFL with Montreal before entering coaching, where he would become the head coach at three programs- Iowa State, Pittsburgh (Twice), and his alma mater Tennessee.
Majors would have his greatest success in his first term at Pittsburgh in landing Tony Dorsett and leading the Panthers to the 1976 national title before leaving to take over at Tennessee after the season.
Majors would win 116 games at Tennessee before being pushed out midway through the 1992 season as he recovered from heart surgery in a "really" classy move.
Majors returned to Pittsburgh, but in four years would win only twelve games.

Goodbye to Pat Dye at the age of 80.
Dye was the head coach at East Carolina and Wyoming before starting a twelve-year run at Auburn.
It was under Dye that Auburn was able to fire up their rivalry with Alabama on closer terms as it was Dye that defeated Alabama in Bear Bryant's final regular-season game that snapped a nine-game Alabama winning streak in the series, and it was Dye that worked out the contract to move the Alabama-Auburn game out of Birmingham and turned it over to the schools to alternate home games.
Dye won three SEC titles at Auburn and recruited Bo Jackson to the Tigers before being forced out by NCAA violations after a 5-5-1 season in 1992.

Goodbye to Lee Grosscup at the age of 83.
Grosscup was a journeyman quarterback in the late fifties and early sixties for teams in three leagues as a backup with the Giants, a season with the AFL's New York Titans, and a year in Canada with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Grosscup is remembered more often for his work in the broadcast booth as he announced college football for ABC for over twenty years along with all three seasons of the USFL.
Grosscup also worked on the California Golden Bears radio network for over thirty years as a game analyst and postgame host.

Making progress in catching up with more to come soon!

Cleaning out the Inbox-Non-Sports Edition

The inbox returns with a well overdue and all non-sports edition.

How overdue?
Well, we placed the Murder Hornet arrival in the inbox for use over a month ago and we are just now getting to this lovely insect.

The Murder Hornet is also known as the Asian Giant Hornet and is the world's largest hornet, which is a title that makes me think of the Crusher, "the world's most dangerous wrestler", for some reason.
Anyway, the Murder Hornet is known for its sting, which is supposedly capable of piercing through beekeeping suits and has been described as feeling like a nail has been driven into you.
The hornet has recently been discovered in Washington State and British Columbia, Canada and there is concern about the hornet establishing itself in North America.
Not for attacking humans, but for the possibilities of its devouring native insects-most notably honey bees.
A few hornets can destroy a beehive in only a few hours, so with the issues with the honeybee population currently, this could be bad news if a population establishes itself.
However, one hope might be the praying mantis, which has shown itself capable of at least killing the hornet at times.
Warning-the following video is quite graphic.


The AP writes of how author Robert Caro continues his final book in the Lyndon Johnson life series during the trials of quarantine.
The 84-year-old Caro has been working on his Johnson books for over forty years and as he reaches the final installment, there are concerns with Covid-19 that could endanger the end of the project.
Caro has been working on the book in his apartment rather than go to his office as is his normal writing routine but has managed to stay healthy to this point.

Pacific Standard writes of the mystery of "John Titor", who for a few months in 2000-01 began to show up on internet message boards claiming that he was traveling back from 2036 and stopped long enough to offer some glimpses of the "future" and offered what we would have viewed as predictions with "Titor" referring to his notes as "history".
I had never heard of Titor before a note in the Bulwark about this article and it's intriguing, yet strange at the same time.
The article discusses Titor, the people that are obsessed with the story, his predictions (right and wrong), who he could have been, and why unresolved stories bother us so.

Dawgs by Nature normally writes about the Cleveland Browns, but with news being in short supply right now, they decided to post about the perennial Cleveland Mustard Battle between Bertman's and Stadium.
It's an in-depth piece as it discussed the two companies' history, the ingredients, the battle, and even a poll for your preference of the pair.
I have written before about enjoying both mustards, but I had a taste test once at an outing, and Bertman's won by a slightly larger margin than I would have expected.

CNN writes of its first day of service, which was June 1st, 1980, which means the network is celebrating its fortieth year of bouncing signals off satellites.
The husband and wife duo of David Walker and Lois Hart started the first hour of so many since and the first day would feature a walk around the facility that is still used today in Atlanta along with commentary from CNN's owner and founder Ted Turner, who was in the middle of a tenure that saw him seem to own anything from Atlanta that was part of the national stage short of the NFL Falcons.

The inbox is close to complete other than another tributes post that needs to be posted, I have another Friends and Family series entry that I'm excited about writing, and the TRS boxing ratings will be back as boxing prepares to return with a clean restart of the ratings after Covid-19.

Cleaning out the Inbox-Basketball Passings

It's not often that there are enough basketball tributes to carry its own post, but sadly between the passings themselves and the time that I've been writing of late, this is one time that basketball can carry itself.

Goodbye to Wes Unseld at the age of 74.
Unseld, who should be considered "Mr.Bullet", played, coached, and served as general manager of the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets/Wizards and never worked in basketball for another franchise.
Unseld won the Rookie of the Year and MVP as a rookie in Baltimore, and although it appears in retrospect to be a questionable decision for the MVP, Unseld's impact took the Bullets to the playoffs where they would lose to the eventual champion New York Knicks.
The Bullets would reach four NBA Finals with Unseld, winning the franchise's only league title in 1978 with a seven-game victory over the Seattle SuperSonics with Unseld selected as series MVP.
An undersized center at 6'7, Unseld was never a huge scorer in averaging 10.8 points for his career, but he averaged just under fifteen rebounds and was known as the best outlet passer in the game other than possibly Bill Walton.
Unseld would retire after the 1980-81 season with the team retiring his number 41 as he began the transition into the front office.
Unseld worked in the front office until he was named head coach midway through the 1987-88 season.
It shows how loved Unseld was by his fanbase that they didn't scream for his head after six and a half years of coaching and seven more years as general manager only produced two playoff berths that would result in first-round exits.


Goodbye to Jerry Sloan at the age of 78.
Best known as the long-time coach of the Utah Jazz, Sloan was a hard-nosed player that was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 1966 expansion draft from Baltimore one year following the Bullets selecting Sloan in the first round of the 1965 draft.
Sloan made two All-Star teams as a Bull before knee problems forced him to retire in 1976 with the Bulls retiring his number in the following season.
Sloan coached the Bulls for parts of three seasons before being fired in 1982.
Sloan's second chance came in Utah in 1988 and despite not winning an NBA title, the Jazz won two conference titles, six division crowns, made nineteen playoff appearances and Sloan became the first coach to win 1,000 games with one team, Gregg Popovich has since joined him in that club.
Sloan ranks fourth in all-time coaching victories behind only Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, and Popovich.
An interesting note on Jerry Sloan- After retiring from the Bulls, Sloan was talked into accepting the head coaching job at his alma mater in Evansville by his college coach Branch McCracken.
Sloan decided to step down after five days and the entire Evansville team was killed in a plane crash in December 1977 as the Purple Aces were on their way to Tennessee for a game against Middle Tennessee State.

Goodbye to Eddie Sutton at the age of 84.
Sutton won over 800 games in his college coaching career and brought Arkansas (once) and Oklahoma State (twice) to Final Four spots.
Sutton also coached Kentucky to the Elite Eight and took Creighton to the NCAA's in his first college coaching stop, but despite his success at all of those schools. Sutton might be most remembered for the recruiting scandal that he was involved in at Kentucky that cost him his job with the infamous "Emery Envelope" stuffed with cash to the home of recruit Chris Mills as the tip of the iceberg.
Sutton coached teams to twenty or more wins on twenty-four occasions in his coaching career, but I still think his best job was at Arkansas, where in 1974, Sutton took over a decidedly non-hoops school that had not been to the NCAA tournament since 1958 and within three years had won 26 games, going undefeated in their conference (the now-defunct SWC) and a trip to the NCAA's.
The following season was better with 32 wins and a trip to the Final Four behind future pro's Sidney Moncrief and Ron Brewer.
Arkansas was set as a basketball school thereafter.

Goodbye to Mike Storen at the age of 84.
Storen, the father of ESPN's Hannah Storm, was a key part of the ABA's building process in running three teams during the life of the league and served for a brief time as the league commissioner.
Storen was part of the group that built the Indiana Pacers at the league's inception in 1967, hired coach Slick Leonard and signed the core of the team that would win three ABA titles.
After three seasons in Indiana, Storen would move to Kentucky as GM and a small ownership piece where he would sign Dan Issel and Artis Gilmore and build the base of the 1974-75 league champions.
Storen would become the league commissioner for a year before taking over the operations for the Memphis franchise, which was then named the Tams with Storen immediately changing the name to Sounds, which "sounded" better but didn't show results at the box office or the win column.
After working with the NBA on terms to merge the two leagues, Storen would be involved with the Atlanta Hawks for a short time before spending the remainder of his basketball days as commissioner of minor leagues such as the CBA and GBA.