SPORTS BRIEFS
Lewis on Jim Thorpe
“watch list”
Oregon safety Keith Lewis has been
named as one of 37 leading candi
dates for the 2003 Jim Thorpe Award
in a pre-season "watch list" released
by the Jim Thorpe Association Friday
Lewis was a second-team all Pacif
ic- 10 Conference pick from a year ago
and tied for second in the conference
in interceptions his junior season
with five. Lewis, a senior, was Ore
gon's third-leading tackier with 80.
1 le is one of five players from the
Pac-10 included on the list and is
joined by Washington State's Jason
David, UCLA junior Matt Ware, and
juniors R.J. Oliver and Jason Shivers
of Arizona State.
The Thorpe Award, one of college
football's most sought after and pres
tigious awards, is presented annually
to the nation's best college defensive
back. The award is named after histo
ry' s greatest all-around athlete, a man
who excelled as a running back, pass
er and kicker on offense, but also was
a great defensive back.
Thorpe, who is recognized in the
Pro Football Hall of Fame simply as
"The Legend," also played profes
sional baseball and won Olympic
gold medals in the decathlon and
pentathlon.
The watch list will be narrowed to
10 semi-finalists the first Monday in
November and then to three finalists
the Monday before Thanksgiving.
The winner will be announced on
ESPN's College Football Awards
show, telecast from Disney World on
December 11.
Ihe "watch list" is derived through
a point system based on All-American
teams and I lonorable Mentions pub
lished in at least six pre-season foot
ball magazines.
A candidate must be listed as third
team All-American in at least one
publication or as fourth team or hon
orable mention in at least three of
these publications.
Wrestling team
signs recruits
The Oregon wrestling team fin
ished its recruiting class and an
nounced Monday that six wrestlers
will be joining the Ducks for the
2003-04 season.
In addition to Stewart Bogart and
Aaron Pedeferri, who both signed
during Oregon's 2002-03 campaign,
the Ducks bring Joey Bracamonte,
Nate Gipson, Cyle Hartzell and Joey
Lucas to the lineup.
"We are very excited about the ad
dition of this All-American recruiting
class to our program," Oregon head
coach Chuck Kearney said. "To be
able to continue to successfully re
cruit student-athletes of this caliber
who have the work ethic, desire and
toughness to compete at the highest
levels both athletically and academi
cally says a lot about what we are do
ing as a program."
Bracamonte, who spent his first
year at Lassen Community College in
California and sat out last season,
earned a fifth-place finish at the na
tional junior college championships
in the 157-pound weight class. He
also won three state championships
in high school.
Gipson, who will likely wrestle at
141 pounds, placed three times at the
state championships. Bogart should
also wrestle at 141 for the Ducks.
Hartzell, a two-time state champi
on from Redmond, Ore., will join
Oregon at 149 pounds. He was sched
uled to join last season but sat out the
year and will begin this fall.
Lucas, a state champion from Hills
boro, and Pedeferri, a native of Cedar
crest, Wash., will both compete at ei
ther 125 or 133 pounds.
The six wresders combined earned
10 state championships in high school.
"All of these student-athletes will
contribute immediately with sever
al of them really making an impact
as soon as this next season," Kear
ney said.
Ganes selected
to Pan Am team
Sophomore Carolyn Ganes was
one of 12 Canadian women selected
Friday to compete in the Pan Am
Games Aug. 1 to 9 in Santo Domin
go, Dominican Republic. This is the
first time in 24 years that a member
of the Oregon women's basketball
team has participated.
Current Oregon coach Bev Smith
and teammate Alison Lang were the
last two Oregon players to represent
Canada in 1979.
"Carolyn had a great camp," said
Oregon associate head coach Allison
McNeil, who also heads up the Pan
Am team. "She is much improved
from last summer after a year of colle
giate basketball."
Canes, a 6-foot 3-inch center, co
led the Ducks in scoring last season
with a 10.9 points-per-game average.
Ganes was also recognized by the
Pacific-10 Conference as an All
Freshman Team honoree for the
2002-03 season.
"Carolyn's presence of the national
steam is a great reflection of our
whole program here at Oregon and is
exciting for our future," Smith said.
The Pan Am squad, also known as
the Senior Women's National Team,
will train in Toronto from July 20 to
26 before leaving for the Dominican
Republic on July 27.
"The Pan Am games and the na
tional team training camps will pay
dividends for Carolyn and the Ducks
next season," McNeil said.
-Jesse Thomas
Ridnour
continued from page 5
Seattle's selection of Ridnour wa
greeted by criticism from some of the
ESPN draft analysts, including Dick
Vitale, who felt the Sonics should
have chosen point guard Reece
Gaines. Gaines was selected as the No.
15 pick by the Orlando Magic.
On ESPN's Web site, Chad Ford —
who had originally picked Ridnour to
go No. 11 — said, 'The Sonics had
major needs to fill at the point and at
power forward. While both of their
choices were solid, I think they
could've done better. Maybe Ridnour
will be the next Steve Nash and Colli
sion will be the next Austin Croshere.
But right now, I just don't see it."
Ridnour said he has tried to ignore
the criticism as much as possible.
"There's a lot of criticism that goes
on, and they try to break players'
* games down," he said.
Despite an invitation, Ridnour
did not attend the draft at Madison
Square Garden due to an abdominal
injury he sustained in a previous
team workout.
The 6-foot 2-inch point guard
was the only Pac-10 veteran chosen
in the first round. Other names in
clude UCLA's Jason Kapono and
Arizona's Luke Walton, who went
second and third to Cleveland and
the Los Angeles Lakers in the sec
ond round.
Contact the sports editor
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
Emerald
Former Duck Luke Ridnour will play for Seattle, just hours from his home in Blaine, Wash.
. Miami
continued from page 5
best way to ensure the future security
of the athletic department .
The Big East counterproposal, which
included supplemental money to de
fray the Hurricanes' travel expenses,
was "much sweeter" than the ACCs in
the short term, but "we're banking on
the future" with the ACC, Shalala said.
ACC schools share revenue evenly,
and each school made an estimated
$9.7 million each of the past two sea
sons. The Big East coffers are divided
based on performance, so in a year
Miami plays in a Bowl Champi
onship Series football game, the Hur
ricanes would get approximately $9
million. But other years, the payout
could be in the $7 million range.
Two years ago, UM won the foot
ball national championship and the
basketball team played in the NCAA
Tournament but the athletic depart
ment lost more than $ 1 million.
The Big East loses two of its football
powers and is left with just six football
schools — Boston College, Syracuse,
Connecticut, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and
West Virginia. Boston College and Syra
cuse spearheaded the effort to keep Mia
mi. The other four are embroiled in a
lawsuit against Miami and the ACC, su
ing to block expansion and accusing Mi
ami of conspiring to weaken the Big East
"Although we are certainly disap
pointed with the actions taken this
week by the ACC, we as a conference
will now turn our attention to the fu
ture and the challenges that lie
ahead," Big East Commissioner Mike
Tranghese said.
Syracuse Athletic Director Jake
Crouthamel, a close friend of Dee's,
said Miami's decision "leaves the re
maining Big East schools in a precari
ous situation. We're clearly weakened
by this."
Shalala and Dee stressed how dis
appointed they were that the ACC de
cided against adding Syracuse and
Boston College along with Miami, the
original plan, and going with Virginia
Tech. Dee said that informing
Crouthamel and Boston College Ath
letic Director Gene DiFilippo of UM's
decision was one of the hardest things
he has done. Shalala, who earned her
Ph.D. from Syracuse, said those phone
calls were "painful" and that UM "re
luctantly" accepted the ACC offer
without its original partners.
Meanwhile, ACC officials were
celebrating at their Greensboro,
N.C., offices.
"It's time to celebrate new
friends,"1 ACC Commissioner John
Swofford said. "This certainly puts us
on par football-wise with any confer
ence in the country and gives us an
extraordinary balance."
Shalala was thrilled to see the saga
reach its end.
"I called Clemson president James
Barker," Shalala said, "and said,
'Ready or not, here we come.'"
(c) 2003, The Miami Herald.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Former basketballer
allegedly shot friend
Former teammates Patrick Dennehy
and Carlton Dotson allegedly fought
before Dennehy’s death
By Bill Hanna and Jeff Caplan
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
WACO, Texas — A former team
mate of Baylor University basketball
player Patrick Dennehy allegedly
shot Dennehy in the head while the
two men were firing weapons some
where in McLennan County, accord
ing to a search warrant affidavit re
leased Monday.
The June 23 affidavit, which was
obtained by the Waco Tribune Her
ald, said an informant told the
Seaburg Police Department in
Delaware that former Baylor basket
ball player Carlton Dotson confessed
to his cousin that he shot Dennehy af
ter they began arguing. Dennehy has
been missing more than two weeks.
Dotson said his "roommate had
pointed his gun at him as if to shoot
him and that he had shot his room
mate in the head with a 9-mm pistol,"
Waco police Detective Robert Fuller
said in the affidavit.
Dotson told the cousin he drove to
Hurlock, Md., and dumped the guns
along the way.
Dennehy's 1996 Chevrolet Tahoe
was found last week in a Virginia
Beach, Va., shopping mall parking lot,
about 150 miles from Hurlock. The li
cense plates were missing.
Calls to Dotson's grandmother in
Hurlock were notanswered after news
of the affidavit became public. The
previous two days she said she did not
know her grandson's whereabouts.
Before the affidavit became public,
Waco police appeared to back off a
Friday news release that said team
mates were potential suspects.
"It just got misconstrued," Waco
police spokesman Steve Anderson
said. " ■... Some people interpreted it
one way. Other people took it com
pletely the other. At one point
somebody called wanting to know
if we thought the entire team was
suspected."
Waco Police Chief Alberto Melis
advised at a Monday afternoon news
conference "not to assume that a per
son or persons that we have spoken
with is deemed a suspect. If informa
tioft is obtained from these inter
views that positively identifies a per
son or persons as a suspect, we
would not release the identity until a
warrant was obtained."
Reached by telephone in Carson
City Nev., Dennehy's stepfather, Bri
an Brabazon, was skeptical that his
stepson had been shot.
"I can't believe it; I don't believe it. I
won't believe it until they show me
the body," Brabazon said.
"The Waco PD has been nothing
but forthcoming to me and they never
told me about him getting shot in the
head or about this affidavit. I only
know what I've been hearing tonight
from the media."
Dennehy was reported missing on
June 19. Initially, Brabazon was angry
at Baylor University officials for fail
ing to notify him of his stepson's dis
appearance. Baylor officials have said
they have been in constant contact
with his mother, Valorie.
Earlier reports said Dennehy was
last seen on June 11, but police said he
may have been spotted around Waco
on June 12 or 13.
Baylor officials, while not com
menting about the affidavit, issued a
statement Monday intended to quell
some reports about Dennehy's char
acter. Before he transferred to Baylor,
Dennehy was dismissed from the
University of New Mexico basketball
team after several flare-ups with play
ers and coaches.
"At the moment, all the University
can do is confirm that the individual
named in the latest news reports
(Dotson) is a former member of the
men's basketball team," Baylor ath
letic director Tom Stanton said in
prepared statement. " ... I want to
stop some of the speculation about
Patrick as a team player. There has
been incorrect information that
made negative suggestions about his
temperament.
"We saw a young man who got
along well with his teammates and
was extremely anxious to compete
this year. Patrick has been a model
student-athlete since coming to Bay
lor. That's why these incredible
events have stunned and upset
us all."
Melis said Dennehy's disappear
ance is still classified as a missing per
son's case but is being investigated as
a homicide.
(c) 2003, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.