During a halftime presentation at last night's T'Wolves-Mavericks game at American Airlines Center, the Mavs Foundation "donated $24,200 -- in honor of KOBE and GIANNA BRYANT -- to youth basketball organization Drive Nation Foundation." Lady Drive Nation, former Mavs player JASON TERRY's AAU team, was set to play Bryant’s team during a tournament on Jan. 26, the day Bryant died (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/25).
IN YOUR HONOR: The Jaguars last week honored DE CALAIS CAMPBELL, who earlier this month became the franchise's first player to earn the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year award, with a "day of service by more than 80 members of their staff at various organizations in Jacksonville, including Feeding Northeast Florida, the Clara White Mission, Ronald McDonald House of Jacksonville and Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 2/22)....Miami Mayor FRANCIS SUAREZ said that Northeast 7th Street, which runs perpendicular to the front of AmericanAirlines Arena, "will now be called Dwyane Wade Boulevard" (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 2/25)....SMI Chief Experience Officer JESSICA FICKENSCHER and ESPN Senior VP/College Networks ROSALYN DURANT are among the honorees in the '20 class of Women in Business Achievement Awards (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/21).
NAMES: Former Univ. of Texas men’s tennis coach MICHAEL CENTER was "sentenced to six months in prison" for accepting $100,000 in '15 to help the son of a Silicon Valley venture capitalist get into the school by "falsely designating him as a skilled athlete worthy of a scholarship." Center is the 15th person and the second coach to be sentenced in the '19 nationwide college admissions scandal (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 2/25)....The Pistons last Friday held their annual team dinner at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, which "included the full team, coaches, executives, sponsors and charitable foundation partners" (DETROIT NEWS, 2/25)....The InfieldFest at Preakness will again "feature a lineup of top EDM, rap and pop performers when it returns to Baltimore this May." Headliners include DJ MARSHMELLO, rapper DABABY and pop singer QUINN XCII (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/24)....A new autobiography featuring Baseball HOFer ROD CAREW will be "released in May." It carries the title of "ROD CAREW: ONE TOUGH OUT," and was written with JAIME ARON (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 2/24)....Univ. of Tennessee football coach JEREMY PRUITT and his family "welcomed in their first girl a month ago" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 2/22).
IN MEMORY: U.S. Lacrosse COO GEORGE MCGEENEY JR. died suddenly last Friday at age 59. He had just taken the position on Feb. 17 (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/24).
