The Patriots and Kraft Enterprises LLC have "been named as co-defendants in a civil wrongful death lawsuit" against former NFLer AARON HERNANDEZ, as the lawyer representing families of two Dorchester men is "seeking a court order to prevent the football team from paying" $3.25M to the disgraced player. Attorney WILLIAM KENNEDY this week filed a motion "seeking to halt the Pats from awarding the disputed payment to Hernandez -- a contract signing bonus that is being sought on his behalf" by the NFLPA. Kennedy in a separate motion also seeks "to freeze any assets from the sale" of Hernandez’ $5M North Attleboro, Mass. home (BOSTON HERALD, 6/20).
CREATING A LEGACY: Spurs F and NBA Finals MVP KAWHI LEONARD has hired The Legacy Agency to work on his off-the-court opportunities, including branding, endorsements, personal appearances and memorabilia. TLA Principal PETER RASKIN will lead a team of marketers to represent him. TLA will work closely with Leonard's contract agents, BRIAN ELFUS and MITCH FRANKEL of Impact Sports (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer).
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Louisville football coach BOBBY PETRINO and his family on Thursday announced the "creation of the new Petrino Family Foundation" and revealed a $1M gift to the Kosair Children's Hospital, a new scholarship for future UL students and a donation to the UL marching band. Petrino's daughter, KELSEY PETRINO SCOTT, has been tabbed to run the foundation and said that the coach will donate 100% of "his endorsement earnings to the Foundation." Petrino said that the motivation behind the announcement "came after a tour of the hospital, during which he and his family saw prematurely born babies and the nurses and doctors working to help the newborns." Petrino Scott said that part of their donation "will be put toward a new Petrino Family Trauma Room in the state's only Level 1 pediatric trauma center" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 6/20).
FEEL THE RHYTHM: Current Yankees players, including OFs CARLOS BELTRAN and BRETT GARDNER, were joined by former MLBer BERNIE WILLIAMS on Thursday at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital at New York-Presbyterian, where they "were part of a concert performed by the non-profit group Musicians on Call in the hospital’s 'Wintergarden' as part of Hope Week" (N.Y. POST, 6/20).
BUFFALO SOLDIER: Bills players and coaches "gathered on the practice field Thursday to hear a stirring talk" from Pro Football HOFer JIM KELLY before their final workout of the spring. Kelly just two weeks ago "finished a six-week course of chemotherapy and radiation treatments to treat the upper jaw and sinus cancer that he is battling." His voice was "surprisingly strong considering the cancer treatments have been tough on his mouth" (BUFFALO NEWS, 6/20).
NAMES: The Univ. of Tennessee is naming its new volleyball practice facility the "Joan Cronan Volleyball Practice Facility" after former UT women's AD JOAN CRONAN (TNTODAY.com, 6/19)....The jury in the civil case of BRYAN STOW, a MLB Giants fan who suffered a beating at Dodgers Stadium in ’11, “toured Dodger Stadium Thursday morning.” L.A. Superior Court Judge VICTOR CHAVEZ said that he made the arrangements after a juror “requested to see the stadium up close” (L.A. TIMES, 6/20)….ONE DIRECTION singer LOUIS TOMLINSON is the new co-owner of English League One soccer club Doncaster Rovers, which plays two levels below the EPL (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 6/19)….Nets F KEVIN GARNETT has sold his home in Concord, Mass., for $3.635M. He paid $4.625M for the 11,000-square-foot home in ’07 (LATIMES.com, 6/19).
