Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Bus crash kills NC State's Lorenzo Charles

Former North Carolina State basketball player Lorenzo Charles, whose last-second dunk gave the underdog Wolfpack the 1983 NCAA championship, was killed Monday when a bus he was driving crashed, a company official said.

An Elite Coach executive said Mr. Charles, 47, was driving one of its buses on Interstate 40 near Raleigh, N.C. Police said no passengers were aboard.

Mr. Charles secured his spot in N.C. State lore 28 years ago in the final moments of the Wolfpack's national championship game against Houston.

He grabbed Dereck Whittenburg's 30-foot airball and dunked it at the buzzer to give N.C. State a 54-52 win and its second national title, sending coach Jim Valvano scrambling for someone to hug in what has become one of the lasting images of the NCAA Tournament.

Elsewhere

Gamecocks 1 win from repeating

Christian Walker, cleared to play with a broken wrist a half-hour before the game, scored from first base on two throwing errors in the 11th inning and defending champion South Carolina beat Florida 2-1 in Game 1 of the best-of-three College World Series final in Omaha, Neb. The Gamecocks threw out two runners at the plate in the bottom of the ninth and another in the 10th.

Game 2 is today.

College basketball: Kentucky gave John Calipari an extension that will keep him coaching the Wildcats through 2019. He is guaranteed $3.8 million annually, with bonuses and incentives potentially adding nearly $2 million a season.

-- UConn's Maya Moore won her second straight Honda-Broderick Cup as the top female college athlete.

College football: Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said former North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson, who most recently played in the Rockies' minor-league system, will quit baseball and compete for the Badgers' starting job.

Olympics: The International Olympic Committee "actively encourages" competitors at the 2012 London Olympics to "post, blog and tweet their experiences," but forbids athletes from using social media for commercial or advertising purposes or sharing videos from Olympic venues.

"Postings, blogs or tweets should be in a ... diary-type format and should not be in the role of a journalist," the new IOC rules state.

The IOC also urged athletes not to comment on opponents or reveal confidential information, and posts, tweets and blogs should be "in good taste, and not contain vulgar or obscene words or images."

Golf: Britons hold the top three spots in the world ranking, the first time that has happened in the list's 25-year history. Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland rose to third following his U.S. Open win. Englishmen Luke Donald and Lee Westwood are Nos. 1 and 2.

NHL: The Sharks agreed to one-year contracts with forward Andrew Desjardins and goalie Alex Stalock. ... The Vancouver Canucks signed defenseman Kevin Bieksa to a five-year, $23 million contract extension.


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