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How Clark County college football players fared, Week 8
Here’s how Clark County players fared on the college gridiron this weekend: 2015 Clark County College football players * — has used redshirt year Carroll College Last week: Lost 42-7 to Montana Tech. The loss dropped the Saints to 3-4 both overall and in the Frontier Conference. William Noce-Sheldon, Seton Catholic, Fr., QB – Will […]
Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders dies of cancer
MINNEAPOLIS — Flip Saunders, the longtime NBA coach who won more than 650 games in nearly two decades and was trying to rebuild the Minnesota Timberwolves as team president, coach and part owner, died Sunday, the team said. He was 60.
Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma in June and doctors called it "treatable and curable" when the Timberwolves made the diagnosis public in August. But he took a leave of absence from the team in September after complications arose during his recovery.
Saunders went 654-592 in 17 NBA seasons with the Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards.
Sam Mitchell has been named interim head coach of the Timberwolves and GM Milt Newton is heading the team's personnel department.
Philip Daniel Saunders was born on Feb. 23, 1955, in Cleveland and was a prep basketball star at Cuyahoga Heights High School. His mother Kay nicknamed him Flip after hearing the name at a beauty salon. He played in college at Minnesota, teaming with Kevin McHale and Mychal Thompson as a senior to lead the Golden Gophers to a 24-3 record.
Not long after graduating, Saunders decided to get into coaching and set about a long and winding path to the NBA. He started at Golden Valley Lutheran College just outside of Minneapolis and served as an assistant at Minnesota and Tulsa before spending seven seasons in the Continental Basketball Association.
Saunders often credited his stint in the CBA with instilling in him the work ethic and breadth of organizational knowledge that would help him as a coach and executive in the NBA. He made stops in Rapid City, S.D.; La Crosse, Wis.; and Sioux Falls, S.D., and would often relay stories of his backwater adventures in the minor league and his affinity for the NBA coaches who followed similar paths.
He landed in the NBA in 1995, when he wrote a letter to new owner Glen Taylor asking for a job. His college buddy, McHale, took over the basketball operations with the Timberwolves and Saunders became the team's general manager. When Bill Blair was fired 20 games into the season, Saunders was suddenly the head coach of a struggling franchise that had never made the playoffs. But he teamed with a young Kevin Garnett to turn the Timberwolves into a perennial playoff team.
Saunders led the Wolves to eight straight playoff appearances, the last a trip to the Western Conference finals in 2004. He was fired the next season when the team disintegrated thanks in large part to contractual battles with Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell. The Wolves have not been back to the playoffs since.
Saunders won 64 games in his first season in Detroit in 2005-06 and 176 in his three seasons coaching the Pistons. But he couldn't quite get a veteran-laden team over the hump and into the NBA Finals, so he was dismissed in 2008.
He coached three more years in Washington before returning to Minnesota as president of basketball operations in 2013. Again, he took over a franchise in turmoil and was steadily bringing the Timberwolves back to relevance before he fell ill.
Saunders deftly handled the exit of disgruntled forward Kevin Love, trading him to Cleveland for a package including budding young star Andrew Wiggins and Thaddeus Young, who was flipped to Brooklyn in February to secure Garnett's return. Saunders also signed Ricky Rubio to a four-year contract extension, drafted Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and Karl-Anthony Towns, brought in veterans Andre Miller and Tayshaun Prince and helped design a new $25 million practice facility across the street from Target Center.
As team president, coach and a minority owner, Saunders grabbed a level of influence within his organization that was unmatched in the NBA. His fingerprints were on everything, from personnel decisions to in-game strategies, even down to the pregame entertainment.
He liked to sneak up behind unsuspecting visitors to Target Center, clamp his hand down on a shoulder and squeeze with a vise-like grip that came from hours of massaging his polio-stricken mother in his youth.
He would carry around autographed cards of himself to hand out to fans, and playfully give them to media members as well with a mischievous grin on his face.
Gregarious and outgoing, he endeared himself to a Twin Cities community that viewed him as a hometown boy done good, with his Gophers roots overshadowing his Cleveland upbringing. And Flip loved Minnesota right back. When he returned to the organization after 10 years away, he recounted a story about working for ESPN and being asked why he still lived in Minnesota so long after he was fired.
"And I'd say 'Well, you don't really understand unless you're from Minnesota. You really don't get it. Even when it snows on May 3rd you really don't get it,'" Saunders said. "And the loyalty and the passion that the people have here is what always drives me back."
Tucson’s downtown funky, fun
TUCSON, Ariz. -- As a kid growing up in Tucson, Eddie Gallego remembers "when everything was downtown." Then businesses began to move out to the malls, and downtown suffered. Now, he says, the neighborhood has come full circle.
"Downtown has gotten so much better," said Gallego from behind the counter of his gift and craft shop, Tolteca Tlacuilo. "We're revitalizing."
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EL PRESIDIO AND EL BARRIO
El Presidio's historic district is where the 18th-century walled settlement that grew into Tucson was originally located. Today you'll see a reconstructed Spanish fort at 196 N. Court St., adobe and brick homes on side streets, and the mosaic dome of the Old Pima County Courthouse at 115 N. Church Ave., surrounded by a lovely park.
Across the street from the courthouse is the Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave. In addition to notable Latin American, pre-Columbian and American West collections, the museum is hosting a Day of the Dead-themed installation called "Banda Calaca," with a large-scale seven-piece skeleton band marching toward a community memorial altar. Tucson is known for its Day of the Dead celebration, the All Souls Procession, scheduled for Nov. 8, which typically attracts 100,000 people.
If you're shopping for gifts or souvenirs, be sure to sift through the treasures at Old Town Artisans, 201 N. Court Ave. Nearby at 311 N. Court Ave., the fun and charming El Charro Cafe -- run by the same family since 1922 -- serves tasty old-school Mexican food and great sangria.
Another historic area is Barrio Viejo. Leave an offering at El Tiradito, 420 S. Main Ave., a shrine covered with candles and flowers. Around the corner, a colorful mural decorates the site of an old spring, El Ojito, which supplied early settlers with water.
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CONGRESS STREET
Congress Street is hopping with venues both classic and new. The historic Hotel Congress has a real working pay phone in the lobby -- yes, with a dial! -- but there's nothing old-fashioned about its bloody mary bar, offered Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., where options for your drink range from artichokes to goat cheese. The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., has hosted everyone from The Lumineers to Merle Haggard.
For some innovative treats, try the Hub Ice Cream Factory, 245 E. Congress St., where flavors include bourbon almond brittle, Mexican wedding cookie, vanilla lavender and brandied cherry goat cheese. Cafe Poca Cosa, 100 E. Pennington St., is known for its "plato poca cosa," which includes samples of three entrees from the day's menu.
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FOURTH AVENUE
An underpass leads from Congress Street to funky Fourth Avenue. Storefronts house a food co-op, the Hippie Gypsy, vintage clothing stores, shops selling books, gifts, crafts and art, and The Hut, where a 35-foot-high tiki head draws folks for tropical drinks and live music.
Week 8 prep football player of the week nominees
Here are the nominees for The Columbian prep football player of the week, sponsored by Athletes Corner, for the week ending Oct. 24.
Players may win the honor once in a month and cannot be nominated in consecutive weeks.
Voting will continue until 8 p.m. Tuesday, with results announced in Wednesday’s edition of The Columbian.
STEVEN CARLISLE, HOCKINSON: Carlisle rushed for 102 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown in the Hawks’ win over Woodland.
LIAM FITZGERALD, CAMAS: Fitzgerald passed for 229 yards and two TD and ran for another TD in Camas’ win over Mountain View.
TOMMY HERZ, RIDGEFIELD: Herz rushed for 147 yards and one touchdown in the Spudders’ win over Mark Morris.
BLAKE INGRAM, SKYVIEW: Ingram rushed for three touchdowns and had a team-high 10 tackles in the Storm’s win over Evergreen.
GARRETT MCKEE, COLUMBIA RIVER: McKee passed for 242 yards and two TDs and kicked two field goals in River’s win over Prairie.
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Driver seriously injured in head-on crash
A driver was seriously injured early Sunday morning in a three-vehicle crash in the Walnut Grove area.
Woman hurt when car hits highway barrier
An Oregon woman was taken to a hospital Saturday night after the car she was driving struck a concrete barrier on a highway in east Vancouver, according to the Washington State Patrol.
