MLB.com's Steve Gilbert noted D'Backs President & CEO DERRICK HALL's recent prostate-specific antigen test “showed an increase from his last one and could indicate he will need to undergo further treatment.” Hall was diagnosed in September with prostate cancer and had his prostate removed in November (MLB.com, 7/6).
COWBOY UP: The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Zimmerman & Scism examined the relationship between BP Capital Management Chair T. BOONE PICKENS and Oklahoma State Univ. under the header, “Boone Calls The Plays As Largess Complicates Life At Alma Mater.” Pickens donated $165M to OSU for a plan that “included gussying up the redbrick football stadium with luxury suites and razing 200 homes near campus to make way for an athletic village that was to feature a baseball stadium, indoor track and tennis complex.” While the football team is now a “power, with one of the most lavish stadiums in college athletics, there is a 100-acre dirt tract where a neighborhood used to stand in this leafy college town northeast of Oklahoma City.” The baseball, tennis, track and soccer facilities Pickens “envisioned when he made his donation seven years ago haven't even been started because Cowboy Athletics, the endowment that was supposed to fund the projects, is essentially broke.” The “problems that bedeviled his athletics-development plan offer a cautionary tale about the risks colleges take when they allow big donors to call many of the shots” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/7).
TEE TIME: In N.Y., Adam Schupak noted Golf HOFer TOM KITE and 17-year-old golfer DANIEL GENTILUCCI this weekend were “partners in the First Tee Open at Pebble Beach," a Champions Tour event that pairs junior golfers ages 15-18 with pros in a 54-hole better-ball competition. Gentilucci was “one of 81 junior golfers -- 34 percent of them female -- from 50 chapters of the First Tee.” Golfer PETER JACOBSEN said, “It’s a real-life fantasy camp. There’s nothing else like it in any other sport.” Schupak noted First Tee has received more than $75M in pledges and gifts (N.Y. TIMES, 7/7).
NAMES: Patriots TE ROB GRONKOWSKI and his Gronk Nation Youth Foundation has teamed with G&G Fitness, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, New York-New Jersey High Intensity Drug Area program and the Buffalo Bills Youth Foundation to “fund over $30,000 of workout equipment for the Renaissance Campus” (CSNNE.com, 7/5). The weightlifting equipment for the facility “was provided by G&G Fitness, which is owned by Rob’s father, GORDON (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/8)....Former boxer LAILA ALI competed in her first Aquaphor New York City Triathlon. She “finished the race in 3:06:22, falling just short of her goal of three hours” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/9)….MLB Exec VP/Baseball Operations JOE TORRE “stopped by Disney’s Broadway show ‘Newsies’ a few days ago and met the cast” (ESPN.com, 7/8)….Maple Leafs President & GM BRIAN BURKE last Sunday marched in Toronto’s Pride parade, in honor of his late son BRENDAN (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/8).
IN MEMORY: Double-A Southern League Jacksonville Suns Owner PETER BRAGAN died Saturday of heart failure at the age of 89. A memorial service will be held tomorrow at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. Bragan has owned the Suns for the last 28 years (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 7/9)….A memorial service will be held tomorrow for longtime IndyCar Media Relations rep LYNDA HAVENS, who died unexpectedly July 3 at the age of 60 (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 7/9).
GAME CHANGERS: SportsBusiness Journal again this fall will shine the light on women who are making key contributions in sports business. If you know someone who should be considered for the second annual Game Changers: Women in Sports Business section, please send her name, company/title and -- in 300 words or less -- reason for consideration to women@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
