COLLEGE HOCKEY
Minnesota Duluth defenseman Scott Perunovich won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey’s top player, becoming the Bulldogs’ record sixth recipient.
Perunovich, a junior from Hibbing, Minnesota, who recently signed with the St. Louis Blues, edged North Dakota forward Jordan Kawaguchi and Maine goalie Jeremy Swayman.
Perunovich joined Tom Kurvers (1984). Bill Watson (1985), Chris Marinucci (1994), Junior Lessard (2004) and Jack Connolly (2012) in the Bulldogs’ Hobey Baker club.
Perunovich was second in the nation with 34 assists and had six goals in 34 games, becoming the first defenseman to lead the National Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring.
The season was canceled March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) - Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy apologized for comments during the week about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gundy spoke with the media during a teleconference call Tuesday and said he hoped to have the team return to its facilities May 1, a proposed timetable that would defy federal social-distancing guidelines and was quickly disputed by the university.
Following Gundy’s comments, Oklahoma State issued a statement saying, essentially, that the decision about when to bring the football team back together wouldn’t be up to the coach.
AUTO RACING
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - NASCAR star Kyle Larson used a racial slur on a live stream during a virtual race - the second driver in a week to draw scrutiny while using the online racing platform to fill time during the coronavirus pandemic.
Larson was competing in an iRacing event when he appeared to lose communication on his headset with his spotter. During a check of his microphone, he said, “You can’t hear me?” That was followed by the N-word.
Bubba Wallace one week earlier “rage quit” an official NASCAR iRacing event televised live nationally and his sponsor fired him immediately.
It was not clear yet what fallout there could be for Larson.
Larson is half Japanese - his grandparents spent time in an interment camp in California - and he climbed from short track racing into NASCAR through its “Drive for Diversity” program. He is the only driver of Japanese descent to win a major NASCAR race.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi State hired former Old Dominion women’s basketball coach Nikki McCray-Penson to replace Vic Schaefer as the Bulldogs’ head coach.
McCray-Penson, a former Tennessee star and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer, said it’s been a dream to coach in the Southeastern Conference.
McCray-Penson was 53-40 the past three years at Old Dominion, her first head coaching job with the storied program following nine seasons as a South Carolina assistant under Dawn Staley. The Lady Monarchs posted consecutive 20-win seasons under McCray, including 24-6 overall and 14-4 in Conference USA last season, when she was conference coach of the year.
SOCCER
GENEVA (AP) - In a legal victory for former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, federal prosecutors in Switzerland announced plans to drop one of two cases open against him for suspected criminal mismanagement.
The Swiss attorney general’s office confirmed reports they intend to close an investigation into how Blatter and soccer governing body FIFA awarded World Cup broadcast rights in the Caribbean in 2005.
The decision was the latest example in recent weeks of the Swiss FIFA cases stalling, while the separate and cooperating American investigation produced new indictments and fresh allegations of World Cup bid bribery.
The criminal proceeding against Blatter was opened 4½ years ago and helped remove him from the presidential office he held for more than 17 years. He is serving a six-year FIFA ban from soccer.
A second criminal proceeding against Blatter - for a $2 million payment he authorized to FIFA vice president Michel Platini in 2011 for uncontracted salary - remains open, the Swiss prosecution office said.
OBITUARY
Doug Sanders brought a flamboyance to golf fashion ahead of his time, a colorful character known as much for the 20 times he won on the PGA Tour as the majors that got away.
Sanders died Sunday morning in Houston, the PGA Tour confirmed through a text from his ex-wife, Scotty. He was 86.
Sanders was still an amateur when he won his first PGA Tour event in 1956 at the Canadian Open in a playoff against Dow Finsterwald, and his best year was in 1961 when he won five times and finished third on the PGA Tour money list.
But he is best known for four runner-up finishes in the majors, the most memorable at St. Andrews in the 1970 British Open. He only needed par on the final hole of the Old Course to beat Jack Nicklaus, and Sanders was 3 feet away. He jabbed at the putt and missed it, and Nicklaus beat him the next day in a playoff.
TORONTO (AP) - Colby Cave, a forward who played 11 games for the Edmonton Oilers this season, died Saturday after a brain bleed during the week. He was 25.
The NHL club did not say what caused the bleed. Cave’s agent, Jason Davidson, has said the condition did not appear linked to the coronavirus.
Cave was placed in a medically induced coma Tuesday at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. He was airlifted to Toronto after being admitted to a hospital in Barrie, Ontario, on Monday. Cave underwent emergency surgery Tuesday to remove a colloid cyst causing pressure on the brain.
Cave scored one goal for the Oilers this season. He had 11 goals and 23 points in 44 games with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
Cave had four goals and five assists over 67 NHL games with Boston and Edmonton.
CHICAGO (AP) - Glenn Beckert, a four-time All-Star second baseman for the Chicago Cubs in the 1960s and ’70s, died Sunday. He was 79.
Citing his family, the Cubs said Beckert died of natural causes in Florida.
Playing alongside Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ferguson Jenkins, Beckert won a Gold Glove in 1968 and made four straight All-Star teams for Chicago starting in 1969. He batted a career-best .342 in 1971.
LONDON (AP) - Stirling Moss, a daring, speed-loving Englishman regarded as the greatest Formula One driver never to win the world championship, has died. He was 90.
Moss died peacefully at his London home following a long illness, his wife Susan said Sunday.
A national treasure affectionately known as “Mr. Motor Racing,” the balding Moss had a taste for adventure that saw him push cars to their limits across many racing categories and competitions. He was fearless, fiercely competitive and often reckless.
That attitude took a toll on his slight body. His career ended early, at age 31, after a horrific crash left him in a coma for a month in April 1962.
By the time he retired, Moss had won 16 of the 66 F1 races he entered and established a reputation as a technically excellent and versatile driver.
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