Giants P BARRY ZITO has "hosted a group of soldiers” every Spring Training for the past six years in connection with his Strikeouts For Troops charity. Approximately 75 guests “gathered on Monday night” at Frasher’s Steakhouse in Scottsdale, Ariz., including Giants principal partners TRINA and ROB DEAN and President & CEO LARRY BAER (MLB.com, 3/12).
AWARDS & HONORS: The Motorsports HOF of America on Aug. 21 will induct JACK CHRISMAN, HARVEY FIRESTONE, MASTEN GREGORY, BRAD LACKEY, BUD MOORE, ROBERT PETERSEN and ALEX ZANARDI (Motorsports HOF of America)….Former Charlotte Observer golf writer RON GREEN JR. and Golf Digest and Golf World’s JAIME DIAZ each won their respective seventh award in the Golf Writers Association of America’s annual writing contest, while SI’s ALAN SHIPNUCK won his sixth (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/13).
BOOK SHELF: Author MICHAEL LENEHAN's “Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963 -- The Team That Changed The Color Of College Basketball” was released on Tuesday. It is the “dramatic, deeply engrossing and meticulously researched story behind the 1963 NCAA basketball tournament, which featured seven African-American starters in the championship game” (CHICAGONOW.com, 3/13)
NAMES: Alabama AD MAL MOORE, who was admitted to a Birmingham hospital on Sunday for "treatment of an undisclosed pulmonary condition," was scheduled to be admitted to Duke Medical Center last night for follow-up tests (TUSCALOOSANEWS.com, 3/14)….Florida State football coach JIMBO FISHER and his wife, CANDI, this week celebrated their non-profit Kidz1stFund reaching the $1M mark in donations by “presenting a check for the same amount" to the doctors at the Univ. of Minnesota’s Amplatz Children’s Hospital. The Fishers started the fund in August ’11, “six months after their youngest son, ETHAN, was diagnosed with Fanconi anemia” (PALMBEACHPOST.com, 3/13)....WWE wrestler DAVID OTUNGA will star in WWE Studios’ latest release, “THE CALL” with actress HALLE BERRY (BALTIMORESUN.com, 3/13)….Former NFL coach BILL PARCELLS and former Packers GM RON WOLF visited the Braves prior to last night’s Spring Training game against the Marlins (MLB.com, 3/13)….Former Tennessee football coach DEREK DOOLEY listed his 8,800-square-foot, Knoxville house for $2.9M (KNOXNEWS.com, 3/12).
HERE ARE THE NOMINEES...: Get up early on Monday morning and look for our video announcement of the nominees for the 2013 Sports Business Awards. Nominees will be revealed in 15 categories. Look for an email that will exclusively unveil the nominees at roughly 7:00am ET on Monday. This year’s winners will be announced in a live ceremony in N.Y. on Wednesday, May 22.
