The Baseball HOF named Rangers play-by-play announcer ERIC NADEL the '14 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, "presented annually for excellence in broadcasting." Nadel will receive the award during the HOF's induction weekend July 26-27. The ceremony at Doubleday Field will include ROGER ANGELL, Tuesday's winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for a meritorious career of baseball writing, and JOE GARAGIOLA SR., the recipient of the 2014 Buck O'Neil Award. Nadel was "chosen from a list of 10 finalists selected in October" (MLB.com, 12/11).
TO A THEATER NEAR YOU: Pro Football HOFer DAN MARINO "has joined Permut Presentations and Sentinel Pictures to produce an inspirational biopic about Iraq war vet and college football player BRIAN STOKES." BRYAN HYLAND, Doodle Films and Scarpe Diem Productions will "serve as producers alongside Permut and Sentinel." After Stokes' military service was over, he "enrolled at Appalachian State and went on to lead the football team to back-to-back NCAA Division I-AA national championships" (VARIETY.com, 12/11).
A NEW SWEATER VEST: The Univ. of Akron yesterday promoted former Ohio State football coach JIM TRESSEL to Exec VP to "help President LUIS PROENZA achieve his goals in the waning months of his 15-year presidency." While this was the "third title for Tressel since he joined UA 18 months ago, he sidestepped the suggestion that he was being positioned to replace Proenza when the president steps down in June to return to teaching" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 12/12).
CHARITY STRIPE: D-Backs 1B MARK TRUMBO “made a surprise appearance” at the Angels Foundation Kids Holiday Party yesterday, a "day after being traded" by the team (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 12/12)....Injured Patriots TE ROB GRONKOWSKI yesterday was supposed to be at the Celebrity Gaming Challenge, but “in his place” was Red Sox 3B WILL MIDDLEBROOKS, who co-hosted with Patriots QB RYAN MALLETT (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/12)....The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation next week “plans to unveil" details of a $30M fundraising campaign to “build more youth development parks across the U.S.” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 12/11).
NAMES: GQ named free agent NBA C JASON COLLINS its “Game Changer of the Year” for coming out as the first openly gay active athlete in any of the four major sports (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/12)….Univ. of Alabama K CADE FOSTER after missing three field goal attempts Nov. 30 against Auburn Univ. “received a supportive note” from former President GEORGE W. BUSH. Foster posted a photo of the letter to his Twitter and Instagram accounts yesterday (AP, 12/11)….The Missouri Athletic Club last night honored former MLBer CHRIS CARPENTER with the “Stan the Man” award at its Jack Buck Sports Awards banquet (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/12)….Nationals 1B ADAM LAROCHE and former NFLer MATT LIGHT are on a USO tour that taken them "to Greece and Afghanistan with ‘Duck Dynasty’ cast members WILLIE and JEP ROBERTSON” (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/12)….FS1's BRIAN URLACHER will make a “one-night-only cameo” Dec. 27 in the Goodman Theatre’s production of “A CHRISTMAS CAROL” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 12/12)….The remaining parts of 38 Studios, the defunct video-game company owned by ESPN's CURT SCHILLING, were "set to be sold off Wednesday during a private auction overseen by a California-based liquidation company” (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 12/12)....Yankees 2B DEREK JETER yesterday "chatted up the more than 400 guests at an event" hosted by Morgan Stanley's wealth management group, which is "sponsoring Jeter's charitable Turn 2 Foundation" (N.Y. POST, 12/12)....Pirates CF ANDREW MCCUTCHEN proposed to his girlfriend MARIA HANSLOVAN yesterday on "ELLEN" (LATIMES.com, 12/11).
