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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2020)
Sports 7A Thursday, June 18, 2020 Th e Observer Golf match to fund new Trice scholarship Match takes place Saturday at Buffalo Peak Golf Course By Ronald Bond The Observer UNION — An event coming on Saturday will help ensure Doug Trice’s impact lives on. Buffalo Peak Golf Course, Union, is the site this weekend for the fi rst “Battle at the Peak,” a fundraising golf match to sup- port the newly formed Doug Leon Trice Memorial Scholar- ship, which was established in honor of the local sports legend and Special Olympics coordi- nator who died in early May. The match will feature Dana Londin, Buffalo Peak golf pro, and Eastern Oregon University men’s basketball coach Carlito Labarda Jr. against Kyle Dodds, producer of the Johnny Ballgame Show, and LHS graduate Joel McCraw. “Doug touched a lot of people in the community,” Dodds said. “I’ve known his family since I moved here. I know his daughter, son, (and knew) him.” The match, which Dodds said will be a scramble match play format for the fi rst nine holes and an alternate shot match play format on the back nine, came together from a series of discus- sions between Dodds and Londin. In fact, Londin said it started partly due to him being a “key- board warrior” commenting during a segment on the Ball- game Show, which is aired on Facebook and YouTube. Londin was watching a segment where Labarda was being interviewed and commented about taking Labarda on his team in a 2-on-2 golf match against Dodds and Mallory, the show’s host. “The next day I read Doug’s obit,” he said. “I didn’t know Doug. I met him a couple times briefl y, but that is the man every man should strive to be.” The Ballgame Show had recently changed the name of a segment focusing on area sports standouts to the “Doug Trice Memorial Local Legends” for Trice, who died May 6. Londin contacted Dodds with the idea of honoring Trice with a match-play tournament, and Dodds was fully on board. “It was on my heart and it needed to happen,” he said of honoring Trice. “Basically (Londin) turned the light on and I kind of ran with it. I contacted Doug’s daughter Kiley and made sure it was OK. We had the fam- ily’s blessing, so from there I just ran with it.” All proceeds, Dodds said, will go to the scholarship fund, which will be $1,000 scholarships given to one male and one female stu- dent from La Grande High School who “demonstrates aca- demic and athletic achievement, excellence of character with an emphasis on volunteerism.” The fi rst scholarships will be given out in 2021. Dodds said in the short time since the golf match was announced, the effort has received the amount needed to fund the fi rst year of the scholarship. “We’re just right around two grand right now. We have this year’s scholarships covered,” he said. “We’re hoping to get dona- tions out there.” Londin said he hope the fi rst couple of year’s worth of scholar- ships can be taken care of. “Now it’s kind of grown to where we’re going to have hope- fully a ton of people out at Buf- falo Peak (watching),” he said. The match itself will start at 10 a.m., but Londin said there likely will be a gathering ear- lier, around 9 a.m., for individ- uals to share stories about Trice. In addition to what is raised through donations and sponsor- ship, there a putting contest and other golf games to help bring in more funds. Observer fi le photo A golf match Saturday at Buffalo Peak in Union will help fund the 2021 Doug Leon Trice Memorial Scholarship, which was estab- lished in honor of the local sports legend and Special Olympics co- ordinator who died in early May. AP Source: MLB makes fourth proposal to players’ union By Ronald Blum The Associated Press NEW YORK — Major League Baseball has made a fourth proposal to the players’ union aimed at starting the pandemic-de- layed season, a person with knowledge of the proposal said Wednesday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made. Another person familiar with the session said baseball Commis- sioner Rob Manfred met with players’ union head Tony Clark in Arizona in an attempt to restart talks on the delayed season. The person who disclosed the meeting also spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made. Clark has homes in the Phoenix area and in New Jersey, and he has been in Arizona since spring training was cut short on March 12. The meeting Monday was called at Manfred’s request, the As Florida virus test numbers rise, NBA prepares for Disney person with knowledge of the meeting said. The union has made two proposals to start the season, and the sides remain about $1 billion apart in guaranteed salary. Players originally were set to earn $4 billion in sala- ries before the coronavirus outbreak began. The union cut off talks players agreed to prorated salaries, part of an agree- ment that included a guar- antee of service time even if no games are played this year. Teams say they need more pay cuts to afford to play in empty ballparks. Players say they will not accept additional salary reductions. The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. TREASURE VALLEY STEEL, INC. By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. — The rate of positive corona- virus tests in the Orlando, Florida, area has been soaring in recent days. The NBA hopes that doesn’t matter. After spending weeks putting together an incred- ibly elaborate series of health and safety proto- cols — the word “testing” appears 282 times in the document — the NBA and the National Basket- ball Players Association believe they have done what’s necessary for the health and safety of the 22 teams and others that will be part of the season restart at the Disney campus near Orlando next month. Ready or not, basketball is almost back. “No one is suggesting that this is going to be an infection-free, guaranteed environment,” NBPA exec- utive director Michele Rob- erts told The Associated Press. “I guess, unless we go to ... well, where would we go? What state has the lowest rate? There’s just no way of fi nding a sterile environment probably on this planet, but certainly, not in this country.” Among the details that were included in the pro- tocols released to teams Tuesday night: players will be invited to wear what the league calls a “proximity alarm” that will set off an audio alert when the person is within 6 feet of another person for more than fi ve seconds and therefore not following social distancing guidelines, plus they can choose to wear a ring that will generate “a wellness assessment derived from metrics such as body tem- perature and respiratory and heart rate.” Players and staff also will be given thermome- ters and a pulse oximeter so they can track their data and record it on the league’s daily health platform. Saturday, a day after MLB’s last proposal, and said additional negotia- tions were futile. Players told MLB to unilaterally set the schedule but Manfred said MLB would not while there was a threat of a grievance. The sides reached a deal on March 26 in which Photo by Stephen M. Dowell/The Associated Press This March 12, 2020, fi le photo shows empty seats at the Amway Center in Orlando, home of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. The NBA makes about $1.2 million in gate reve- nue for each regular-season game played with fans, and there were 259 games remaining when the season was suspended. “I am optimistic about the NBA’s return-to-play policies and procedures,” said Denver coach Michael Malone, who found out last month that he had already beaten COVID-19 after an antibody test showed he had the virus. “They are going to do whatever it takes to make this the safest envi- ronment as possible. There are no guarantees and there will be a risk, but I feel con- fi dent in the measures to be taken pre-Orlando and once in Orlando.” True, there will be a risk. And the league acknowl- edges that no plan can be perfect. “These Protocols are designed to promote pre- vention and mitigation strategies to reduce expo- sure to, and transmission of, the coronavirus,” the league said. “However, it is possible that staff, players, or other participants in the resumption of the 2019-20 season nonetheless may test positive or contract the coronavirus.” But by following strict rules — including reg- ular testing, no leaving the Disney campus without returning to quarantine, no unauthorized guests, no family members being per- mitted to arrive until late August and, though this likely didn’t need to be said, no spitting on the court — the NBA and the NBPA hope the risk is minimal as teams prepare for a Disney stay that could exceed three months for the teams that make the NBA Finals. “It’ll still probably bother everybody that we’re not home,” Miami center Bam Adebayo said. “But at the end of the day, we’ll be happy to play basketball.” The NBA’s arrival at Disney is looming as the rate of positive tests around the state is rising, and offi - cials such as Gov. Ron DeSantis are facing criti- cism for re-opening many parts of the state’s economy. But if NBA players aren’t venturing out among the public, the hope is that no matter what’s going on beyond Disney’s fences, the quasi-bubble for basketball won’t be affected. The rate of positive tests in Orange County, which includes Orlando, in the seven-day period ending Tuesday was 6.5%. For the seven days preceding that, it was 2.5% — meaning the rate has more than doubled in a one-week span. For tests conducted Tuesday, state offi cials said that Orange County’s pos- itive rate was 11.9% — almost 10 times the rate of 1.4% recorded as recently as June 3. Manufacturing Zee & Cee Purlins In-HouseCustom Cut Exact Lengths • 24 Colors • Custom Trim • 2 1/2” Corrugated • Delivery Available • Full Soffitt Line • 3 ft. Gulf Coast Panel • 3 ft. PBR Panel • 3 ft. Mesa Panel • 3 ft. Tuff Rib Panel • Standing Seam DELIVERY • 2 ft. Delta Rib AVAILABLE • 3 ft. 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