SERENA WILLIAMS on Thursday married Reddit co-Founder ALEXIS OHANIAN at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans. Celebrity guests included, BEYONCE, KIM KARDASHIAN, EVA LONGORIA, LA LA ANTHONY and KELLY ROWLAND. The couple "began dating" in October '15 and "got engaged" last December in Rome (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/17). Newly engaged couple CAROLINE WOZNIACKI and free agent NBAer DAVID LEE also were in attendance (NYPOST.com, 11/17).
SING ALONG: BRYAN ADAMS “will be the musical headliner” for the NHL 100 Classic outdoor game between the Senators and Canadiens at Ottawa’s TD Place Stadium on Dec. 16 (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 11/17)....HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS and the GOO GOO DOLLS will perform at the ’18 PGA Tour CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta, Calif. (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 11/17)....
NAMES: Gold Medal-winning U.S. track & field star JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE will "receive the Stan Musial Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor for sportsmanship, during the Musial Awards at the Peabody Opera House" in St. Louis on Saturday night (STLTODAY.com, 11/17)....Former NFLer MIKE ADAMLE will be inducted into the National Italian American Sports HOF on Saturday (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 11/17)....News startup Axios has raised $20M in "second-round funding" from investors that include NBCU and Monumental Sports & Entertainment investor LAURENE POWELL JOBS' Emerson Collective (VARIETY.com, 11/17)....VERNE LUNDQUIST is “recovering nicely at his Steamboat Springs, Colo., home from an eight-hour back operation” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 11/17)....Burglars stole $400,000 worth of goods from VENUS WILLIAMS’ Florida home “while she was at the U.S. Open." Palm Beach Gardens Police “redacted details” of what was stolen from a police report (ESPN.com, 11/17)....The Univ. of Alabama's rowing team recently "christened a pair of boats" to honor former school President ROBERT E. WITT and former AD BILL BATTLE (SECCOUNTRY.com, 11/17).
IN MEMORY: Former MUHAMMAD ALI ringside physician DR. FERDIE PACHECO, 89, "died in his sleep Thursday morning at his Miami home." Pacheco was the "lone surviving member of Ali's training team" and went on to work for NBC as a boxing analyst. Pacheco "served as Ali's cornerman and personal physician" from '62-77. He became "almost as famous as Ali" during their partnership. Pacheco worked with NBC for 19 years "following his retirement" as a ringside physician in '81 (MIAMI HERALD, 11/17).
