Ex-Wildcat Mel Turpin dead at 49
Basketball: Mel Turpin, former NBA player and All-American Kentucky center, committed suicide, authorities said. He was 49.
Police and the coroner were called to his North Lexington, Ky., house Thursday afternoon on a personal injury call. They found Turpin dead.
Coroner Gary Ginn says that Turpin had committed suicide, but would not say how.
Margaret Burrus, his sister, tearfully told reporters outside her home that her brother was diabetic and trying to keep it under control.
Turpin was the youngest sibling among six, Burrus said. Just two are still living.
Burrus said Turpin’s wife had a heart condition and authorities said she was not at home at the time of the death.
The 6-foot-11 Turpin, dubbed “The Big Dipper,” was an All-Southeastern Conference player for the Wildcats from 1980-84. He led Kentucky to the SEC championship in 1984.
The center helped lead the Wildcats to three consecutive regular-season SEC titles. He averaged a career-high 15.2 points per game in 1983-84 and shot 74.5 percent from the field.
Mitch Barnhart, Kentucky athletics director, said school supporters “will forever remember Melvin and all his contributions to our basketball program.”
Turpin was the sixth player selected in the 1984 NBA draft that included Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, but never had the NBA success of those future stars.
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Lang shoots 69 at tough Oakmont
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Lang withstood Oakmont’s slick, sun-browned greens and the unrelenting heat to shoot a 2-under 69 and take a one-shot lead over 2008 champion Inbee Park, amateur Kelli Shean and three others in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open.
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Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 72 and is tied for eighth.
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Attire conflict may force out soccer team
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The deputy head of Iran’s physical education department, Marzieh Akbarabadi, was quoted by newspapers as saying the newly designed dress was “inappropriate.”
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