INSIDE: COMICS, OPINIONS & CLASSIFIEDS
B
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 2021
WOMEN’S
COLLEGE HOOPS
Ducks sweep
series with Cougs
EUGENE — Sedona
Prince scored 14 points,
Taylor Mikesell added
11 — including four free
throws in the closing
seconds — and No. 13
Oregon beat Washing-
ton State 58-50 on Friday
night.
Washington State’s
Cherilyn Molina hit a
3-pointer to tied it at 44
with 4:09 to play, but Te-
Hina Paopao answered
with a layup 19 seconds
later as Oregon scored
10 of the next 12 points
to take an eight-point
lead with 27 seconds re-
maining. WSU missed
seven straight shots over
than span and the Ducks
made 10 of 12 from the
free-throw line in the final
three minutes.
Charlisse Leger-Walker
led Washington State
(7-4, 5-4 Pac-12) with 24
points, eight rebounds
and three steals. She
went into the game No. 2
among freshmen nation-
ally in scoring (19.7 per
game) and leads the Pac-
12 in steals (3.0). No fresh-
man has ever finished the
season as the conference’s
leading scorer.
Krystal Leger-Walker
hit a 3-pointer to spark
a 12-0 run that made it
12-2 with 1:28 left in the
first quarter. Washington
State didn’t trail again un-
til Angela Dugalic made a
layup to give the Ducks a
40-38 lead with 9:33 left
in the game. The Cougars,
who led for nearly 28
minutes on Friday, led for
31 minutes in a 69-65 loss
to Oregon (10-3, 8-3) on
Dec. 21.
Oregon’s Nyara Sabally
left the game early in the
fourth quarter with an
apparent left ankle in-
jury but returned, with a
noticeable limp, midway
through the period. The
6-foot-5 redshirt sopho-
more, and the younger
sister of Satou — the No.
2 pick in the 2020 WNBA
draft out of Oregon — sat
out each of the last two
seasons due to ACL inju-
ries to her right knee.
— Associated Press
bendbulletin.com/sports
MLB | IN MEMORIAM
One-time home-run king Hank Aaron dies at 86
BY PAUL NEWBERRY
AP National Writer
Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP file
Hank Aaron looks at his statue at SunTrust Park, home of the Atlanta
Braves, after the unveiling ceremony in Atlanta in 2017.
See Aaron / B3
New DC is
exactly
what the
Ducks need
Wait and
see for PPP
BY JOHN CANZANO
The Oregonian
Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin file photos
Kayakers paddle up the Deschutes River while competing in the paddle portion of the 42nd Pole Pedal Paddle race in Bend in May 2018.
After getting canceled in 2020, Pole Pedal Paddle race still uncertain for this year
Tim DeRuyter is not per-
fect.
Let’s get that out of the
way right up front. Super
personable and smart guy
by all ac-
INSIDE
counts.
Outstand-
• 4 things to
ing defen-
know about
Ducks’ new
sive co-
DC Tim
ordinator
DeRuyter, B3
with an at-
tacking 3-4
scheme that gives offenses
fits. But when DeRuyter
was a head coach at Fresno
State he misfired badly
when he recruited a kid
from Texas over a Fresno
County native named Josh
Allen.
Allen went to Wyoming.
DeRuyter went 30-30.
See Ducks / B3
BY MARK MORICAL
The Bulletin
Beavs reschedule
postponed games
T
— The Oregonian
with Ruth or Ali or Jordan.
Before a sellout crowd at At-
lanta Stadium and a national
television audience, Aaron
broke Ruth’s home run record
with No. 715 off Al Downing of
the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Hall of Famer finished
his career with 755, a total sur-
passed by Barry Bonds in 2007
— though many continued
to call the Hammer the true
home-run king because of alle-
gations that Bonds used perfor-
mance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds finished his tarnished
career with 762, though Aaron
never begrudged someone
eclipsing his mark.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
COMMENTARY
Local Sports
MEN’S
COLLEGE HOOPS
Oregon State’s post-
poned men’s basketball
games at Utah and Colo-
rado due to a COVID-19
outbreak have new dates,
the school announced
Friday.
The Beavers (7-5, 3-3
Pac-12) play Colorado on
Monday, Feb. 8, at 4 p.m.
in Boulder, a game tele-
vised on the Pac-12 Net-
work. Two weeks later,
OSU plays at Utah on
Monday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m.
ESPN2 will televise the
game.
The games were previ-
ously scheduled as a two-
game road trip for Oregon
State, with stops at Utah
on Jan. 6 and Colorado on
Jan. 9. The Beavers were
unable to play as their
program was paused due
to a COVID-19 positive
test and contact tracing.
Both games are sched-
uled at the outset of a
road trip. OSU plays Utah
before heading to Tuc-
son play Arizona (Feb. 11)
and Arizona State (Feb.
14). The Colorado game
is played before the Bay
Area road swing, when
the Beavers play at Califor-
nia (Feb. 25) and Stanford
(Feb. 27).
Utah presents a unique
situation in that the Bea-
vers face the Utes twice
in a five-day period. OSU
plays host to Utah on Feb.
18 in Corvallis.
ATLANTA — Hank Aaron,
who endured racist threats with
stoic dignity during his pursuit
of Babe Ruth’s home run record
and gracefully left his mark as
one of baseball’s greatest all-
around players, died Friday.
He was 86. The Atlanta Braves,
Aaron’s longtime team, said he
died peacefully in his sleep. No
cause was given.
Aaron made his last pub-
lic appearance just 2½ weeks
ago, when he received the
COVID-19 vaccine. He said he
wanted to help spread the to
Black Americans that the vac-
cine was safe.
“Hammerin’ Hank” set a
wide array of career hitting re-
cords during a 23-year career
spent mostly with the Milwau-
kee and Atlanta Braves, includ-
ing RBIs, extra-base hits and
total bases.
But the Hall of Famer will
be remembered for one swing
above all others, the one that
made him baseball’s home-run
king.
It was a title he would be hold
for more than 33 years, a period
in which the Hammer slowly
but surely claimed his right-
ful place as one of America’s
most iconic sporting figures, a
true national treasure worthy
of mention in the same breath
he Pole Pedal Paddle has
MIXED MARTIAL
ARTS | UFC 257
been a Central Oregon
tradition since 1977,
McGregor
returns with
dreams intact
but last year the region’s signature
sporting event did not take place
for the first time in more than 40
years.
BY GREG BEACHAM
Associated Press
Organizers for the PPP hope
Normally we have between 2,000 to
3,200 participants. I don’t know what we
would limit it to, but it would be smaller
numbers for sure.”
Racers who pre-registered for the PPP
last year had the option of rolling over
their entry fee to 2021 or donating their
entry fee to MBSEF, according to Kelley.
She said about 300 people rolled over
their entry fees and they would automat-
ically be entered into the 2021 event if it
is staged.
“We would open up registration to
others, too, but not sure how many,” she
said. “We wouldn’t have a celebration at
the finish in the Old Mill. We really don’t
want spectators. We would just have a
good, well-organized, timed race.”
The PPP stages include an alpine ski
down an intermediate run at Mt. Bach-
elor ski area, an 8-kilometer nordic ski,
a 22-mile bike ride from Bachelor to
Bend, a 5-mile run along the Deschutes
River, a 1.5-mile paddle on the river and
a finishing run of less than a mile.
Conor McGregor had
ambitious plans for 2020.
Like most everybody’s big
plans last year, they were
ruined by the coronavirus
pandemic.
Now safely inside the
UFC’s Fight Island bub-
ble, the most popular man
in combat sports is getting
back to work on accom-
plishing everything he set
out to do when he reded-
icated himself to fighting
over a year ago.
“I feel like I’m only start-
ing, man,” the 32-year-old
McGregor said this week.
“Everyone wants to say,
‘Hey, Conor, you’ve done
it all! You’re so rich! You’re
richer than Dana! What are
you doing here?’ I want to
be here. I want to perform
for the fans.”
McGregor (22-4) returns
at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi
on Sunday for a rematch
with Dustin Poirier, a fellow
power puncher with a flair
for dramatic finishes.
See PPP / B2
See MMA / B3
the event can return for its 44th
edition on May 15, but it is still too
early to know if it can be staged in
a safe manner due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic.
The PPP includes teams,
pairs and individuals racing in
alpine skiing, nordic skiing, road
cycling, running, paddling and
sprinting along a course from
Mount Bachelor to Bend. The
event has drawn more than 3,000
participants some years — more
than half of whom come from
outside Central Oregon — and
hundreds more spectators.
Participants scramble to quickly get in their boats while competing in the 43rd annual Pole
Pedal Paddle in May 2019.
The PPP is the biggest fundraiser for
the Bend-based Mt. Bachelor Sports Ed-
ucation Foundation (MBSEF), a non-
profit that serves more than 600 youth
athletes in competitive alpine and nordic
skiing, freeride skiing, freeride snow-
boarding and cycling.
“We would be so thrilled if we could
have the event but obviously we’re in a
total holding pattern,” said Molly Cog-
swell-Kelley, events director for MBSEF.
“We’re getting really good at just being
patient and waiting for things to start
looking better, as far as COVID. We
want to be responsible and safe for our
community.”
Cogswell-Kelley added that it might
be as late as mid-April before MBSEF
makes a decision on whether to hold the
event. Organizers would only need a few
weeks of preparation, she said.
“We could, at the last minute, pull off
a race,” Cogswell-Kelley said. “That’s
what I’m hoping. If we did, it would be
scaled back. We’d limit participation.
We would have a streamlined event.