Newsmakers

Named Penn State chose Boston University’s Pat Chambers to take over the Nittany Lions men’s basketball program on Friday, capping a whirlwind coaching search following the surprise departure of Ed DeChellis. Chambers said he signed a five-year deal, but terms were not made available.

Introduced Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander officially introduced Kevin McHale as the team’s new coach. Alexander said he found a “leader of men” and the “perfect fit” in the former Boston Celtics great.

Waiting Current Minnesota Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis still doesn’t know whether he’ll be back with the team and is frustrated by being kept in limbo. Rambis said he has had only short conversations with team president David Kahn since the season ended. He admitted being frustrated by the situation.

Announced The New York Knicks announced in a statement that president Donnie Walsh and Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan mutually agreed that Walsh will not return to the team when his contract expires at the end of June.

Filed West Point cadet and former Army football player Richard King is suing veteran R&B diva Patti LaBelle, saying she ordered her bodyguards to beat him up as he waited for a ride home outside a Houston airport terminal on March 11.

Diagnosed After seven weeks of extensive testing, a team of three veterinarians diagnosed Uncle Mo’s chronic ailment. The 3-year-old colt is suffering from cholangiohepatitis, which the Merck veterinary manual defines as “severe inflammation of the bile passages and the adjacent liver.”

Determined Jockey Michael Baze, who won nearly 1,000 horse races in a nine-year career, died from an accidental overdose of cocaine and a prescription pain medication before his body was found at Churchill Downs on May 10, Jefferson County (Ky.) Deputy Coroner Jim Wesley announced.

Died Running back John Henry Johnson, a member of the 49ers’ famed “Million Dollar Backfield” in the mid-1950s, died in Tracy, Calif., on Friday at the age of 81, according to several relatives and close friends. Johnson’s pro playing career spanned 14 seasons and culminated with his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.