News Nuggets, 05.14.06
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Southern Cal cager shot and killed

The Los Angeles Times has reported that Southern California freshman point guard Ryan Francis was shot multiple times and killed early this morning while riding in a car in Baton Rouge, LA, about a mile from his home.

According to the account, Francis and three other passengers in the vehicle pulled up to a stoplight at an intersection in the northern part of the city about 3 a.m. The driver of an adjacent vehicle exited his car wielding a firearm, according to Lt. Keith Bates of the Baton Rouge Police Dept.

The driver of the vehicle Francis was riding in noticed the gunman and attempted to drive away, Bates said, but the assailant opened fire and Francis, sitting in the left-rear-passenger seat, was struck by multiple bullets. The 19-year-old died upon arrival at a trauma center several minutes later.

Police have arrested one suspect and "are leaving open the possibility of additional arrests," Bates said. No one else in the vehicle was injured.

Francis had returned home after completing spring semester exams at USC.

"We're all devastated," Trojan Coach Tim Floyd said in a statement. "We've lost a special young man who in his short time at USC made an impression that will last forever. He was a wonderful young man, a fine student and a leader who was admired by his teammates. He came from a great family, he loved his mother and talked about her all the time. This is just so, so sad."

Lightly recruited out of Baton Rouge Glen Oaks High, Francis made a major impact on a USC team that finished 17-13 and upset UCLA, North Carolina and Arizona. The 5-foot-11 guard averaged 7.1 points and ranked seventh in the Pacific 10 Conference in assists (111) and fifth in steals (47).

Last month at the team's postseason banquet, Francis, who often guarded the opponent's best player despite being significantly shorter, was given the John Rudometkin Award as the player who always gave 110% effort.

ECU's Hewett moves into C-USA sprint finals

East Carolina sprinter Jerek Hewett bested NCAA regional qualification minimums and advanced to the league finals in two events to pace the Pirates through second-day action at the Conference USA Track & Field Championships at Kidd Field late Friday night.

Hewett, a freshman from Shallotte, earned regional post-season appearances in the 100 and 200-meter preliminary heats with 10.50 (6th) and 21.19 (6th) times, respectively.

ECU freshman Akintunde Abisogun also surpassed NCAA standards, finishing fourth in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 7.36 meters. Abisogun is from Raleigh.

Houston's 80 points leads the men's standings while host Texas-El Paso has 62 points for second place. Rice and ECU follow with 36 and 33 points and Memphis (28) is fifth entering the last day of competition.

From ECU Athletics Media Relations.

Tulsa wins softball crown on walkoff homer

Tulsa freshman Brooke Smart made the last swing of the 2006 Conference USA Softball Championship an important one as she belted a walk-off home run to give the top-seeded Golden Hurricane a 3-0 victory over No. 2 seed Marshall in the title game, according to a report on the league website.

Tulsa's first conference tournament title gives the school its first trip to the NCAA championship as the Golden Hurricane earned the league's automatic bid.

The game went scoreless through six innings at the Donna J. Hardesty Sports Complex in Tulsa before Smart connected on her team-leading 10th home run of the season on a two-out, two-strike count in the bottom of the seventh.

Black college football pioneer Robinson dies

MANHATTAN, KS — Harold Robinson, a 2004 inductee to the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame and the first black scholarship athlete in what was then the Big Seven Conference, passed away this week at the age of 76.

Robinson, who was born in Manhattan, KS, in 1930, died at his home in Wharton, NJ, on Tuesday, May 9. He is the second K-State pioneer to pass away in the last two weeks.

Earl Woods, a member of Kansas State's 1952 baseball team and the first black baseball player in the Big Seven Conference, died last Wednesday morning at his home in Cypress, CA. Woods was 74.

"I had the opportunity to get to know Mr. Robinson and he was a very engaging, inspiring person," head football coach Ron Prince said. "His story was so compelling and the challenges he faced were so great, that we cannot comprehend them. I feel so lucky that he embraced us and truly wanted to know us.

"With the passing of Earl Woods and now Harold Robinson, K-State has lost important voices and symbols of its history."

Robinson effectively broke the color barrier in the Big Seven Conference in 1949, when he became the first African-American to be awarded an athletic scholarship as a sophomore. The Big Seven later expanded to become the Big Eight and then the Big Twelve.

A center on the Wildcat football team, Robinson earned first team All-Big Seven honors in 1950, despite playing on a 1-9-1 team.

He went on to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he was injured and received a Purple Heart.

Following his military service, Robinson was employed by Western Electric, a division of AT&T, in Union, NJ, for 25 years until retiring in 1985. He then worked at Morris County Community College, Randolph, NJ, until 1997. He was treasurer and an active member of Local 1095, a CWA-AFLCIO Local, and the Telephone Pioneers Club of America.

Robinson is survived by his wife, Ann, and daughters Beth R. Shann of Bloomfield, NJ, Melanie Robinson of Long Valley, NJ, Judith Robinson-Phillips (Pernell) of Wharton, NJ, and Sherry L. Robinson of Long Valley, NJ.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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