Fast Break
Olympics
Discus champ Oerter dies
Four-time Olympian Al Oerter, the first athlete to win individual gold medals in four consecutive Olympics, died Monday of heart failure. He was 71.
Oerter won a gold medal for discus throwing in Olympic Games in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968, despite numerous injuries and ailments. He retired for eight years, returning to be nationally ranked.
Oerter, who lived in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., was one of two men to have won individual event gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. The other was Carl Lewis, who won gold in the long jump in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996.
Men’s basketball
Cougars land Thompson
Klay Thompson, a 6-foot-5 senior guard at Rancho Santa Margarita High in California, has committed to WSU.
Thompson, the son of former NBA star Mychal Thompson, picked the Cougars over Notre Dame and Michigan, among others.
“It’s a chance to play in the Pac-10,” Thompson told Rivals.com. “Plus, I’m playing for a program on the rise. Coach (Tony) Bennett is a players’ coach who has been there before and is young. He’s a good coach and the players really seem to like him.”
He cannot sign a national letter of intent until Nov. 14.
Hall of Fame
Whits adding three to list
Whitworth University will induct former football All-American Larry Paradis, track and field national champion Drew Stevick and the 1978-81 era of women’s volleyball as the 18th class into the Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame.
Induction ceremonies will be Saturday at Whitworth Presbyterian Church’s Quall Hall at 8:30 a.m.
Paradis was named an Associated Press Little All-American twice, as a third-team selection in 1953 and as a first-team choice in 1954. A two-way tackle, Paradis played a key role in Whitworth’s Evergreen Conference titles in 1953 and 1954.
Stevick, from Colfax, won the javelin title in the 1970 NAIA track and field championships in Billings, Mont., at 241 feet, 6 inches.
The 1978 volleyball team won the AIAW Pacific Northwest small college regional tournament and became the first Whitworth women’s team to earn a berth in the AIAW small college national. The 1979 squad also won the regional and played at nationals. In 1980, Whitworth hosted the AIAW Division III tournament, where the Pirates finished sixth.