Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Recently, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Sacramento Monarchs icon Yolanda Griffith a seven-time WNBA All-Star, the 1999 WNBA MVP and a WNBA champion in 2005 has been nominated for induction into its hallowed halls. Related
A 2014 inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Griffith not only is a deserving Hall of Famer because of all she accomplished on the basketball court which was
a lot but also because of how she is a symbol of a particular, important era of women’s basketball history.
Griffith’s peripatetic basketball path was exemplary of elite women’s basketball players of her generation, coming of professional age just as the ABL and WNBA were established. Griffith, like many of her peers, had to navigate struggles and sacrifices before, eventually, finding great success.
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
Four individuals with New Mexico ties have recently won or are in contention for national honors in the world of sports – but the awards are not just for what they’ve done on the court or field.
• • •
In football, offensive linemen rarely gain national attention. But UNM’s Teton Saltes, now in law school, hasn’t been an ordinary lineman. Both on and off the field, Saltes has made the most of his collegiate career, involving himself with children, literacy and suicide and bullying prevention.
Last week, Saltes was named one of three finalists for the 2020 Wuerffel Trophy, college football’s premier award for community service. Oh, by the way, the 6-foot-6, 322-pound Valley High alumnus was also named All-Mountain West Conference honorable mention this year and has been a perennial Lobo Scholar-Athlete.
December 30, 2020
Of the thousands of pitchers who have reached the majors, fewer than a hundred mastered the knuckleball that maddeningly erratic, spin-free butterfly well enough to rely upon it as their primary pitch. None of them succeeded to the extent that Phil Niekro did. “Knucksie” learned the pitch from his father, a coal miner and semiprofessional hurler, at the age of eight, and while he didn’t establish himself as a big league starter for another 20 years, he carved out a 24-year-career in the majors, winning 318 games, striking out 3,342 batters, starting more games than all but four pitchers, and earning a spot in the Hall of Fame.
“There are never enough hours in a day to be blessed and grateful for the priceless gifts of someone’s time and knowledge of the game and the industry,” the EWP said in a caption on an Instagram photo showing McGrady talking with the four players.
“But even more important was the discussion around the game of life,” it added.
Sotto was joined by Cholo Anonuevo, Sage Tolentino and the agency’s newest recruit EJ Kapihe in the session.
McGrady, fondly called T-Mac, was one of the few players who entered the NBA straight out of high school and got drafted as the ninth overall pick in 1997. He played in the league for 16 seasons and earned multiple accolades.
April 3: Detective Vivianne Newton is appointed Deputy Chief of Police for St. John.
April 3: U.S. District Court Judge Curtis Gomez rules that the V.I. government must pay the Government Employeesâ Retirement System $63,143,506 â including more than $3 million in interest alone â for nearly two decades worth of unpaid employer contributions.
April 4: The territory records its first death related to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
April 5: St. Croix native Tim Duncan is named for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
April 6: Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. expands his order closing beach bars and restaurants to include the beaches as well.