Names In The News
Former Sharks President ART SAVAGE died Saturday at the age of 58. Savage "had been battling lung cancer, though the cause of death was not known." Sharks President & CEO GREG JAMISON: "It was Art's progressive thinking that helped bring the Sharks and major league sports to San Jose" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 11/22). Savage, who owned the Triple-A PCL Sacramento River Cats and Raley Field, was "cancer-free by the start of the season in 2008." His son, Jeff Savage, said, "He had a clean bill of health. We were all very optimistic, so as you can imagine, this came as kind of a shock." River Cats President, COO & GM ALAN LEDFORD said, "He had a great vision and passion and level of perseverance unlike anybody I've worked for before" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 11/22).
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Wise To Serve On
Nike's BOD |
GETTING ONBOARD: Univ. of Washington Provost PHYLLIS WISE "has taken on a second job" -- as a member of the Nike BOD. Nike directors "usually meet five teams each year." The appointment comes "one year after the UW athletic department signed a 10-year contract with Nike ... to be the school's exclusive provider of footwear, apparel and certain sports equipment." But Wise said that she "had nothing to do with the Nike contract and won't be involved with it in the future" (SEATTLE TIMES, 11/21).
BOOK REVIEW: In N.Y., Sam Tanenhaus reviewed ANDRE AGASSI's autobiography "OPEN," and wrote it is "one of the most passionately anti-sports books ever written by a superstar athlete." Self-knowledge "irradiates almost every page of 'Open,' thanks in great part to Agassi's inspired choice of collaborator," J.R. MOEHRINGER. The result is "not just a first-rate sports memoir but a genuine bildungsroman, darkly funny yet also anguished and soulful" (N.Y. TIMES BOOK REVIEW, 11/22 issue).
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Chapman Fires Agent, Signs With
Randy And Alan Hendricks |
NAMES: Free agent P AROLDIS CHAPMAN has fired Athletes Premier Int'l agent EDWIN MEJIA, "who helped him defect from Cuba," and has signed with RANDY and ALAN HENDRICKS. Mejia is a "lawyer with little experience in baseball" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/22)....Bobcats Owner BOB JOHNSON and Managing Member of Basketball Operations MICHAEL JORDAN attended Friday's Bobcats-Bucks game at Bradley Center (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 11/21)....Tennis player ANDY MURRAY has recorded a line in the rap song "Autograph" by doubles players BOB and MIKE BRYAN. The track is "about the attention famous sportsmen receive from autograph hunters." The LONDON TIMES' Stuart MacDonald: "Never has the maxim, never give up your day job, been more apt" (LONDON TIMES, 11/22)....Dolphins RB RICKY WILLIAMS and free agent RB RUDI JOHNSON will open their new restaurant, Proof, tomorrow in the Z Ocean Hotel in Miami (MIAMI HERALD, 11/23)....Comedian FRANK CALIENDO will serve as the host of NASCAR's annual Sprint Cup Series award ceremony on December 4 at Wynn Las Vegas. Fox' MIKE JOY and Speed's KRISTA VODA will serve as emcees (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 11/21).
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