Thousands fill arena for Haskins memorial
Thousands of people filled the Don Haskins Center on Thursday night to remember the basketball coach in a memorial service that took on the atmosphere of a college game.
The arena’s television screens showed a 1997 roast of Haskins, known to the basketball world as “The Bear” and to fans and players as simply “Coach,” while a spotlight shone on the 1966 NCAA national championship banner.
The scoreboard was lit up with the final score of that game – Texas Western College, 72, Kentucky 65 – as it was during a public viewing for Haskins on Tuesday.
Haskins died Sunday. He was 78.
The Texas-El Paso marching band was on hand and former referee Irv Brown even stood guard with a whistle to cut off speakers who went over their allotted time in a service that was expected to last three hours.
Nolan Richardson, who played for Haskins during his first two years in El Paso and was a national champions as a coach at Arkansas, described Haskins as a “mentor and a good friend” before the service.
“You are talking about a crown jewel,” Richardson said.
Richardson said while Haskins never acknowledged knowing what it meant for him to start to five black players in the 1966 championship game against an all-white Kentucky squad, he believes Haskins always knew what he was doing.
“He was a simple man with values,” Richardson said. “Had he known the values he had, maybe he wouldn’t have been so good.”
Nevil Shed, one of Haskins’ starters in 1966 and a one-time assistant to Haskins, said the coach was a life-long inspiration to him. Haskins recently told him something he always assumed, but never knew for sure.
“He told me he loved me, something I might not have believed when I played for him,” Shed said with a soft smile.
Countless friends and former players, including Tim Hardaway and Antonio Davis, filled the arena’s floor.
Those who knew Haskins best said this week that he would have hated the spectacle of thousands of people paying tribute to him. But family friend Jim Paul said this was the one time they didn’t give Haskins a vote.
•Hoops hall looks to honor blacks: Mannie Jackson, chairman of the Basketball Hall of Fame’s board of directors, is putting together a committee to review the Hall credentials of players and coaches from historically black schools, particularly those who played and coached during the era of segregation.
The committee will include Hall of Famers and other former players and coaches.
They’ll be asked to consider people like former Savannah State coach Teddy Wright, whose teams got little media attention and whose records are difficult to document. For instance, the school knows Wright won at least 173 games from 1948-62, but records are missing for five seasons during that time.
Golf
Feng, Rawson top LPGA Tour leaderboard
China’s Shanshan Feng shot a 5-under-par 67, playing a four-hole stretch in 5 under, for a share of the first-round lead with fellow LPGA Tour rookie Anna Rawson in the Bell Micro LPGA Classic at Mobile, Ala.
Nicole Castrale, Angela Park, Michelle Ellis and Irene Cho opened with 68s.
Cristie Kerr, coming off a playoff victory Aug. 24 in the Safeway Classic, was two strokes back at 69 along with McDonald’s LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng, Danielle Downey, Song-Hee Kim, Katie Futcher and Jeong Jang.
Wendy Ward from Edwall, Wash., shot a 1-under 71 while Rathdrum’s Tracy Hanson finished her first round at 74.
•Wilson wins: Steve Wilson had 14 one-putts in 32 holes and beat Todd Mitchell 5 and 4 in the 36-hole final of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at River Hills, Wis.
With the victory in the event for players 25 and older, Wilson earned a probable invitation to the 2009 Masters.
•Higgins takes title: Joan Higgins, 52, became the oldest winner in U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur history, using 13 pars to earn a 1-up victory over Lynn Simmons in the 18-hole final at Ann Arbor, Mich.
Higgins became the first player older than 50 to win the event since it began in 1987. Carol Semple Thompson was 48 when she won her second Mid-Am in 1997. The tournament is open to amateurs 25 or older, eliminating the college players who normally dominate the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Football
Texans move game
The Houston Texans’ game against the Baltimore Ravens has been moved to Monday night at 5:30 p.m. PDT because of Hurricane Ike.
The game was originally scheduled for Sunday.
•Company had Nazi ties: The New York Giants and New York Jets are considering awarding naming rights for their new stadium to a German company that once had ties to the Nazis.
Officials from German-based Allianz – one of the world’s largest insurance firms – said that they’ve atoned for past history and should not be judged by the company’s World War II record.
The naming rights negotiations between Allianz and the Giants and Jets were first reported by The New York Times, which estimates the potential price tag could reach $20 million to $30 million a year.
Miscellany
Habs will retire No. 33
Patrick Roy will have his No. 33 retired by the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 22 before the team’s game against the Boston Bruins.
Roy, who previously had his number retired by Colorado, is the NHL’s only three-time winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the MVP of the playoffs.
•Weightlifters banned: Two members of Bulgaria’s national weightlifting team were banned for life and nine others suspended in a doping scandal that barred the team from the Beijing Olympics.
The entire 11-member squad tested positive in June for the steroid methandienone.