Pistons F BLAKE GRIFFIN and his Team Griffin Foundation partnered with Fanthropic, 15 Seconds of Fame's digital philanthropic community (THE DAILY). The foundation this month is hosting the third annual “Comedy by Blake” fundraiser as part of the “Just For Laughs” comedy festival in Montreal. Griffin last night told "Tonight Show" host JIMMY FALLON he “kind of stumbled into" stand-up comedy. While he was at "Just For Laughs" about four years ago, the director of the festival asked him if he wanted to host the "Midnight Surprise Show." Griffin: “It turned out I had to do 10 minutes” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 7/17).
PHILLY SPECIAL: Former NFLer DONOVAN MCNABB and former Temple basketball coach FRAN DUNPHY will be inducted into the Philadelphia Sports HOF later this year. The two are part of the 15-member class that will be "honored at the SugarHouse Event Center on Nov. 7." Joining McNabb and Dunphy are former NBAer RASHEED WALLACE, NFL Exec VP/Football Operations TROY VINCENT, The Athletic's JAYSON STARK and ESPN's SUZY KOLBER (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/17).
LEGAL BRIEF: Nike has "settled a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by a 15-year company veteran," less than two weeks before the "start of a five-day jury trial." TERRY HILL, who is African-American, "filed the lawsuit" in '17. Terms of the settlement "were not disclosed" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 7/16)....The Las Vegas City Council "approved a liquor manufacturing license" for 7Five Brewing, which was co-founded by Golden Knights RW RYAN REAVES (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 7/17).
NAMES: Memorabilia from the '99 World Cup-winning USWNT is "being put up for auction." Boston-based RR Auction said that the items are from the "personal collection" of former G TRACY NOONAN (née DUCAR), who played on the '99 team (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/17)....Flames LW JOHNNY GAUDREAU's self-titled Scholarship Golf Tournament will take place July 26 in Pittsgrove, N.J. Proceeds will "benefit the students of Gloucester Catholic in a scholarship fund" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 7/17)....NASCAR drivers RICKY STENHOUSE JR. and RYAN NEWMAN were guests of Red Sox Owner JOHN HENRY at yesterday's Blue Jays-Red Sox game at Fenway Park. The Roush Fenway Racing teammates were “invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch” (BOSTON HERALD, 7/18)....Boxing analyst AL BERNSTEIN and Fox’ TERRY BRADSHAW both will be “headlining -- as singers” -- in Las Vegas on Aug. 2. Bradshaw is performing at 8:00pm PT at the Luxor’s Atrium showroom in “The Terry Bradshaw Show,” which runs Aug. 1-4 (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 7/18)....BILL BELICHICK invited Cowboys coach JASON GARRETT to dinner at his multimillion-dollar Nantucket compound over the weekend (N.Y. POST, 7/18).
IN MEMORY: ELIJAH “PUMPSIE” GREEN, the first African-American player on the Red Sox, has died at age 85. Green made his first MLB appearance with the team in '59 after a "flurry of off-field actions that stretched from the team’s front office into state agencies" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/18).
