GMR COO BRYAN BUSKE died suddenly on Monday at the age of 52. Buske had been with GMR since graduating from the Univ. of Wisconsin-Stout in '82. He leaves behind his wife of 29 years, LAURIE, as well as his two children CLAYTON and KATELAINE. Memorial Services will be held Friday at Christ Lutheran Church in Baileys Harbor, Wis. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been set up in honor of Bryan (THE DAILY).
CHARITY STRIPE: U.S. Open champion
ANDY MURRAY is "prepared to help fund a tennis academy on an earmarked site in Edinburgh, Scotland." Murray and his mother,
JUDY, have been involved in talks with Scotland First Minister
ALEX SALMOND (
HERALD SCOTLAND, 9/18)....Nike Founder & Chair
PHIL KNIGHT made a $125M gift to establish a cardiovascular institute at Oregon Health and Science Univ. that the hospital “promises will speed the development of treatment strategies for cardiovascular disease” (
Eugene REGISTER-GUARD, 9/18)….Rams DE
CHRIS LONG has made a $300,000 contribution to the Univ. of Virginia Athletics Foundation for the new George Welsh Indoor Practice Facility (
UVa)….The PGA Tour and Golf Writers Association of America will honor late Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer and columnist
FURMAN BISHER by donating $10,000 to a scholarship fund at his alma mater, the Univ. of North Carolina (
AJC.com, 9/18)….Pro Football HOFer
EMMITT SMITH yesterday participated in the “start of the construction phase” of the Youth Education Town Center in Arlington, Texas. The $2M renovation and expansion of the Salvation Army facility was created in conjunction with Super Bowl XLV and is scheduled to open next summer (
DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 9/19)....The Ravens yesterday “pledged $125,000 to a five-year campaign of education, research, clinical care and testing” for concussions. The Ravens and MedStar Sports Medicine are seeking to “raise awareness about the long-term dangers of concussions and teach youth athletes, as well as their coaches, parents and teammates, how to recognize symptoms” (
Baltimore SUN, 9/19).
GETTING POLITICAL: 76ers co-Owner MARC LEDER in May "hosted a fund-raiser at his Spanish Mediterranean mansion in Boca Raton, Fla.," for MITT ROMNEY. At the event, Romney spoke "earnestly, spoke passionately -- and assumed he was speaking privately." However, a video "was released Monday on the website of Mother Jones, an investigative magazine, and on it Romney made some controversial statements." The Sixers in response issued this statement: "The Sixers have no comment on an event that was held completely independent of the team and in which the team was not involved in any way" (PHILLY.com, 9/18).
NAMES: Nine U.S. speedskaters, including two Olympic bronze medalists, have “come to the defense of accused short-track coach JAE SU CHUN and blasted their complaining teammates for ‘baseless allegations of abuse that are nothing more than a false attack on his character.’” The statement “illustrates a great fracture in the American short-track team that has developed” because of the allegations (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 9/19)....Former MLBer TIM WAKEFIELD was in Boston yesterday for the premiere of the documentary “KNUCKLEBALL!” (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/19)....In Boston, Ty Burr reviews the film, calling it “a must for baseball fans in general and Red Sox fans in particular” (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/19)….Gold medal-winning U.S. skier BODE MILLER yesterday announced that he is “engaged to volleyball player MORGAN BECK” (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/19).
IN MEMORY: Snowboarding pioneer TOM SIMS died last week at the age of 61. Sims was “credited with inventing one of the earliest snowboards” (N.Y. TIMES, 9/19).
