sports

The father of a former NFL player who fatally shot six people before killing himself two years ago is suing the alma mater where his son played football. An autopsy eventually diagnosed Phillip Adams with a severe form of the degenerative brain disease commonly known as CTE that has been shown to cause violent mood swings and memory loss. Now, Alonzo E. Adams says South Carolina State University did not properly train employees to treat the sustained head trauma that his son suffered during a college career that lasted from 2006 to 2009.

Ticket prices on the secondary market are substantially higher for the women's Final Four than for the men. The women play in a much smaller venue. They also have more recognizable names in the their Final Four. Only UConn on the men's side is anything close to a traditional power. An all-session ticket for the women's Final Four was at least $475 on StubHub and $335 on Vivid Seats before fees. Men's all-sessions tickets were going for at least $65 and $66.

The NCAA has gotten mostly positive reviews for its new women's Sweet 16 format during March Madness. Hosting games it two cities instead of the traditional four set attendance records higher TV ratings. The two regionals combined to set an all-time attendance mark for the Sweet 16, following up the record mark set the first weekend. The switch in format was done for a few reasons including helping get a separate TV deal for the women's tournament. The current NCAA TV deal ends next summer. The current NCAA TV deal ends next summer. The NCAA also hopes the success leads to more cities bidding to host the regional games and eventually the Final Four.

Black female representation in the coaching and sports administrative ranks has often existed on a minute scale. That's true even in a sport like basketball, which along with track and field has the highest concentration of Black female college athletes. The number of women coaching women's sports has increased in the past decade but Black women continue to lag behind most other demographic groups. Some Black female players say having been coached by a Black woman at some point in their careers was crucial to their development.

The South Carolina Secretary of State says more than 600 fake championship rings for professional and collegiate sports were confiscated by law enforcement agents last week during a raid of a South Carolina memorabilia store. Spokesperson Shannon Wiley says the haul seized from Kirk's Collectibles had an estimated retail value of about $15 million and included phony rings for the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, Stanley Cup and unnamed NCAA sports. Federal, state and local officials raided Kirk's Collectibles at an upstate mall on Feb. 8. No arrests have been made in an investigation being conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and no information has been provided about possible suspects.

When the 11- and 12-year-olds on the Cannon Street YMCA all-star team registered for a baseball tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, in July 1955, it put the team and the forces of integration on a collision. White teams refused to take the field with the Cannon Street all-stars, the first Black Little League team in South Carolina.The Cannon Street team won two tournaments by forfeit. If they won the regional tournament in Rome, Georgia, they would have advanced to the Little League World Series. But Little League officials ruled the team ineligible to play in the tournament because they had advanced by winning on forfeit and not on the field, denying the boys their dream. This became a national story for a few weeks but then faded and disappeared altogether as Americans read of other civil rights stories, including the horrific killing of 14-year-old Emmett Till.Chris Lamb, author of The 1955 Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars and Little League Baseball’s Civil War (2022, University of Nebraska Press), and John Rivers, who played shortstop on the All-Stars, join Walter Edgar to tell the story of the Cannon Street all-stars.

When the 11- and 12-year-olds on the Cannon Street YMCA all-star team registered for a baseball tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, in July 1955, it put the team and the forces of integration on a collision. White teams refused to take the field with the Cannon Street all-stars, the first Black Little League team in South Carolina.The Cannon Street team won two tournaments by forfeit. If they won the regional tournament in Rome, Georgia, they would have advanced to the Little League World Series. But Little League officials ruled the team ineligible to play in the tournament because they had advanced by winning on forfeit and not on the field, denying the boys their dream. This became a national story for a few weeks but then faded and disappeared altogether as Americans read of other civil rights stories, including the horrific killing of 14-year-old Emmett Till.Chris Lamb, author of The 1955 Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars and Little League Baseball’s Civil War (2022, University of Nebraska Press), and John Rivers, who played shortstop on the All-Stars, join Walter Edgar to tell the story of the Cannon Street all-stars.

This time on Walter Edgar’s Journal, former SoCon commissioner John Iamarino, author of A Proud Athletic History: 100 Years of The Southern Conference (2021, Mercer University Press), tells the story of the notable athletes, coaches, and athletic programs that have built such a rich tradition over so many decades. Legendary sports figures such as Jerry West, Arnold Palmer, Bear Bryant, Sam Huff, and Steph Curry are all part of the Southern Conference's past.

This time on Walter Edgar’s Journal, former SoCon commissioner John Iamarino, author of A Proud Athletic History: 100 Years of The Southern Conference (2021, Mercer University Press), tells the story of the notable athletes, coaches, and athletic programs that have built such a rich tradition over so many decades. Legendary sports figures such as Jerry West, Arnold Palmer, Bear Bryant, Sam Huff, and Steph Curry are all part of the Southern Conference's past.

A federal judge has approved a bankruptcy settlement of about $100 million over Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper's failed plan to build a practice facility for his NFL team in South Carolina. The deal approved Friday will turn the land and the incomplete steel shell of what was supposed to have been the team's new headquarters over to the city of Rock Hill. It's estimated to be worth $20 million. Tepper's real estate company will pay York County $21 million, and $60 million will be split among the contractors who worked on the project before it was abandoned this year. All sides agreed to drop their lawsuits.