Cricket-Australia's Head declared fit for Boxing Day test v IndiaThis past September, I reached my 42nd anniversary as a full-time sports writer at The Morning Call. I moved into that role in 1982, but I began my Morning Call career even earlier. In 1979, fresh out of high school and attending Penn State’s Allentown campus in Fogelsville, I started as a part-time agate clerk. That meant I answered phone calls and typed up everything from the Upper & Lower Macungie Knee-Hi League baseball and softball games to the local trapshooting results. There was an occasional byline starting with Allentown Central Catholic’s Sheila O’Donnell winning the first of her four District 11 tennis singles titles at the Vantage Point Racquet Club, but I was mostly at a typewriter answering phones at 6th and Linden streets in Allentown. Today, Vantage Point is a St. Luke’s pickleball center and the 6th and Linden office I entered in 1979 is now home to the Community Services for Children and the newsroom where I spent 37 years from 1984 to 2020 is a plot of ground targeted for a big apartment complex. Things change and no business has changed more than the newspaper business over the last 45 years. But one thing that has stayed the same is the interactions with people. I’ve averaged about 500 stories per year have done about 21,000 stories. And that means there have been 21,000 interactions with various people over the years. Ask me who won a a basketball championship in 1988 or a football title in 1991, I’d have to look it up. Ask me what the score was from the District 11 6A title game just last mont and I’d have to look it up. The kids, coaches, athletic directors, trainers and sometimes even the fans involved in the game, that’s what you remember. The more years that go by, and the more relationships that are created, the more it hurts when you lose people you came to know. And, in 2024, we lost more than our share in the Lehigh Valley sports world. Whether they were folks in their 90s such as Palmerton and Temple basketball legend Bill Mlkvy or Blue Mountain League baseball Hall of Famer Earl Dreisbach or they left us tragically in a blink of an eye like Stroudsburg athletic director Sean Richmond, Northwestern Lehigh football player Tucker Wessner or former Nazareth basketball player and multi-sport coach Ryan Peck, the losses all sting the same and leave a hole in our collective hearts. While we think about those who left us over the past 12 months we never forget those who touched our lives over the years, especially those who left us much too soon like Jeff Dailey, Justin Sheftel, Krysta Hankee, Mia Due and others. So, as we gather tonight on Christmas Eve and over the next few days to celebrate with our loved ones, take a moment to remember those families who no longer have their loved ones around them this holiday season. With an assist from and a special thank you to former Easton Express-Times sports writer Joe DeVivo, here’s a list of many of those sports personalities who died in 2024. Please keep them and their families in your prayers: Jerry Mahoney, 81, Jan. 1: The Hokendauqua resident served 50 years as president of Lehigh Valley Girls Softball League. Victoria Calantoni, 81, Jan. 4: Thoroughbred race horse owner from Bethlehem Township whose career achievement came when she paid $7,000 at auction for Sir Beaufort and he went on to win the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap in California. Russell “Skip” Fegely, 88, Jan. 6: A 1957 Moravian grad was one of school’s 10 1,000-point scorers in basketball and member of school’s Hall of Fame. Ross Moore, 73, Jan. 21: The 1969 Dieruff grad was one of the school’s all-time best athletes. He led the Huskies to three straight East Penn League and District 11 basketball titles and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,269 points. He was also a first-team all-state and first-team All-American in football and was recruited by Woody Hayes to play at Ohio State. Mike Vincovitch, 87, Jan. 31: Nazareth resident was a well-known PIAA official in basketball, softball, field hockey and track. David St. John, Feb. 2: Assistant softball coach at Allen and Parkland. Bruce Krasley, 73, Feb. 7: Head football coach at Jim Thorpe 1975-83, later served as principal at Palmerton and Catasauqua. Bill Reese, 77, Feb. 19: Named best all-around athlete as a senior at East Stroudsburg High in 1964 and member of the school’s Hall of Fame. Head baseball coach at Stroudsburg 1975-96, JV basketball coach at East Stroudsburg South 2001-2003. Mark Benetsky, 75, Feb. 19: Longtime assistant baseball coach at Liberty and a member of the National Football Foundation Lehigh Valley Chapter. Nick “Gooch” Coombe, 64, Feb. 15: A Whitehall grad who pitched a no-hitter in a Lehigh Valley Legion game in June 1977. Betty Brader, 79, Feb. 20: The secretary in Dieruff athletic office for 25 years. Dave Druckenmiller, 63, Feb. 25: College football scout who worked for PA Football News and Lehigh Valley Football Network. James Oplinger, 87, Feb. 19: A 1954 Northampton grad pitched three seasons in the minors leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals. Member of Blue Mountain League, ESU, Northampton High, and Lehigh Valley Halls of Fame. Won three Lehigh Valley League titles and his teams went 82-19 in football at Northampton. H. Eugene Harrison, 91, Feb. 26: A second-team all-state quarterback on Phillipsburg’s undefeated New Jersey state title football team in 1949 and a four-year QB at Lafayette. He served as golf coach at Notre Dame-Green Pond for seven years. Ed Ott, 72, March 3: Catcher on 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates World Series champions and manager of the independent league Allentown Ambassadors. Sonja Horbowyj Kustafic 62, March 5: A standout basketball and volleyball player who was Dieruff’s female Athlete of Year as a senior in 1979 and went on to play at Seton Hall. William Poretta, 89, March 13: Member of Lehigh Valley Sports Hall of Fame and past president of Lehigh Valley chapter of National Football Foundation. Brian Dominic, 71, March 17: 1969 MVP for Phillipsburg in Thanksgiving Day football game vs. Easton. 1970 scholar athlete and second team New Jersey Group 4 All-State selection. Earl Dreisbach, 90, March 20: Fountain Hill native played minor league baseball in St. Louis Cardinals system 1953-56. Played and managed championship Bethlehem Cardinals in the Blue Mountain League from 1959-79. Bob Zirinsky, 78, March 23: A three-sport athlete at Catasauqua who went on to play football and baseball at Lafayette. Coached Quakertown football for more than 15 years. Dan Dolphin, 71, April 6: Coached Allentown Central Catholic lacrosse team for 14 seasons, highlighted by a state title in 2021. Tony Koury, 77, April 10: The Notre Dame-Green Pond athletic director for 43 years, 1969-2012. Thomas “Turkey” Weaver, 88, April 12: A lineman on Nazareth football teams that went undefeated from 1949-52. Member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame and the founder of Nazareth Clippers Athletic Association. Tony Zonca, 84, April 15: The Lansford native was best known as a sports writer, columnist and editor at Reading Eagle from 1965-2002. Sean Richmond, 38, May 11: A 2004 Easton grad went 109-26 with two Northeast Regional wrestling titles. Head wrestling coach at Stroudsburg for eight seasons and the school’s athletic director at time of death. Chuck Madson, 75, May 11: A District 11 Hall of Fame wrestler and football player at Wilson who coached baseball, football and wrestling for Palmer Township Athletic Association and served as assistant wrestling coach at Nazareth. Stephen Banko, 90, May 15: A Palmerton grad who raced cars at Mahoning Valley, Nazareth and Dorney Park speedways and rolled several 300 games as a bowler. Alex DeLucia, 87, May 16: A 1955 ACCHS grad and Wall of Fame honoree set an East Penn League, Rockne Hall and school record by scoring 46 points in a basketball game. Went on to star in basketball, baseball and football at Penn. Preston Moritz, 84, June 1: Catasauqua’s Athlete of Year in 1957, he coached youth football for East Lawn Clippers for more than 25 years. Became president of Lehigh Valley Football All-Star Classic for more than a decade. Bobby Neff, 73, June 16: An ACCHS basketball player who scored 1,000 points and was named East Penn League MVP in 1969. Andy Kistler, 61, June 18: The golf pro at Brookside Country Club, Allentown Municipal and Willowbrook Golf Club. Charlie Williams, 94, June 19: Longtime athletic director at Panther Valley and president of the Eastern Conference. Inducted into the Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame. Dave Paffenroth, 63, June 23: A standout in football and track at Stroudsburg, where he was named Lehigh Valley Athlete of the Year and a Big 33 selection. He was a also a member of Penn State’s first national championship football team in 1982. Gary Martell, 73, June 30: A standout football player at Moravian, he stayed at the school for nearly 50 years and was also an assistant coach baseball at Bethlehem Catholic and executive director at the Bethlehem Boys and Girls Club. Dr. Bob Brennan 89, July 5: He was captain of Moravian’s baseball team and became a top-notch amateur golfer who registered six career holes-in-one and was Senior Men’s champ at Saucon Valley Country Club. Willy Edwards, 46, July 9: A two-way lineman and popular driving force on Central Catholic’s 1993 PIAA football title team. Donald “DeG” DeGerolamo, 88, July 10: The 1955 Phillipsburg grad earned all-state honors in football and was one of the first 10 inducted into the Phillipsburg-Easton Hall of Fame. Anthony Casciano, 68, July 10: The baseball coach at Pius X in Roseto for 21 years, his teams went 276-135-1 and won multiple District 11 titles. He was inducted into the Northampton County American Legion League Hall of Fame. He was also the football defensive coordinator at Notre Dame-Green Pond for his nephew, Phil Stambaugh. Dick Hunt, 85, July 15: A 1957 Nazareth grad excelled in football, basketball and baseball. He was a 2023 inductee into the school’s Hall of Fame. Tucker Wessner, 16, July 16: Died prior to the start of his junior year at Northwestern after playing JV and varsity football as a sophomore. The Tigers dedicated their undefeated state championship season to their fallen teammate. Bob Heinsohn, 83, July 28: The Palisades girls basketball coach for 17 years, he led the Pirates to 209 wins and three league and one district championship. Janice Stem, 86, July 29: The wife of legendary football coach Bob Stem for 60 years. She was the cheerleading coach for 19 years at Bethlehem Catholic, where she was inducted into the school’s Wall of Fame, and volunteered for the McDonald’s Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic for many years. Chuck Givler, 85, Aug. 5: Longtime auto racing writer at Express-Times and a PIAA basketball official. Coached boys and girls basketball and softball at Belvidere High School. Ken Shiffert, 76, Aug. 10: The Nazareth boys basketball coach from 1993-97 and brother of longtime Easton football coach Steve Shiffert. Kevin Kane, 53, Aug. 12: New Jersey state champion wrestler and star football player at Phillipsburg. He was also an assistant football coach for Stateliners under Stem. Ryan Peck, 34, Aug. 15: The 2008 Nazareth grad starred in soccer and basketball and later coached middle school basketball at Pen Argyl and Nazareth. Afa Anoai Sr., 81, Aug. 16: A WWE Hall of Fame wrestler who was part of Wild Samoans tag team with brother Sika. He also ran a training center for pro wrestlers in Allentown and Hazleton. John Larry Endy, 80, Aug. 17: A co-captain of 1964 and 1965 East Stroudsburg University soccer teams that are part of the school’s Hall of Fame, he went on to officiate soccer and and softball official for 58 years. He was inducted into three Halls of Fame. Dick Fahringer, 85, Aug. 21: A1957 Whitehall grad who excelled in track and field and worked as a PIAA football official for 20 years. Tom Donchez, 72, Aug. 28: The Liberty High football star was an all-state and Big 33 selection as a senior in 1969. He went on to play at Penn State and was a fullback on the undefeated 1973 team. Warren “Nonny” Landis, 80, Sept. 10: The Emmaus High grad was East Stroudsburg University’s basketball MVP in 1964. He was the golf coach at Emmaus for 27 years with his teams winning multiple league titles. Sherwood Gum, 89, Sept. 13: A football co-captain of Pen Argyl’s 1951 Lehigh-Northampton League championship team who was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame. Kim Davis, 72, Sept. 18: The 1970 Northampton grad was the school’s longtime tennis coach and public address announcer for Konkrete Kids and Lehigh Valley Steelhawks indoor football team. Roger Pence, 64, Sept. 18: Former member of sports staff at Morning Call and a co-host of Calling All Sports radio show. Dennis Nemes, 76, Sept. 23: The principal at Northwestern Lehigh and Allentown Central Catholic for a total of 33 years, he also served on the District 11 committee for 30 years and PIAA board for 29 years. John Schoenberger Jr., 74, Sept. 25: Longtime coach of Nazareth Clippers football, baseball and softball programs. Mike Kloiber, 63, Oct. 2: A Parkland baseball star who earned a scholarship to play at North Carolina State. Also a cleanup hitter for the 1980 South Parkland Lehigh Valley Legion champions. Johnny Williams, 77, Oct. 12: A 1965 Allen grad played football at Muhlenberg and served as soccer commissioner for the South Parkland Youth Association. William “Pic” Pichler, 83, Oct. 15: The 1959 Liberty grad was a PIAA basketball official for 18 years, and coached Muhlenberg’s softball team for three seasons. Francis Bolez, 77, Nov. 10: A 1965 Central Catholic grad who was MVP in baseball and a member of the school’s 1964 PCIAA state championship basketball team and 1965 East Penn League championship basketball team. Also played on a championship baseball at Kutztown University later became a coach and athletic director at Brandywine Heights. Richard Frantz, 87, Nov. 16: The East Stroudsburg University graduate was an athletic trainer at Northern Lehigh. Andrew McGeehin III, 78, Nov. 25: A longtime area basketball, football and golf coach and sports personality who was perhaps best known for his storytelling at Jordan AC and Hogan’s Social Club, was also the brother of the Allentown Central Catholic football and basketball legend Jeff McGeehin. Bill Mlkvy, 93, Dec. 12: A legendary basketball player at Palmerton High and Temple University, who as an Owls junior in 1950-51 became a first-team All-American. He averaged 29.2 points per game and scored 73 points in a game against Wilkes, including 54 in a row. Jack Ortelli, 75, Dec. 18: A 1967 Easton grad coached football at Emmaus and Pius X in Roseto, where he was an assistant on the undefeated 1976 Royals team. ©2024 The Morning Call. Visit mcall.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.7xm app for android 。

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pick your adjective to describe the Kansas City Chiefs this season — charmed, serendipitous, fortunate or just plain lucky — and it probably fits, and not just because they keep winning games that come down to the wire. Every time they need help at a position, they've found someone sitting on the couch, seemingly waiting for their call. First it was wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who returned to the Chiefs just before the season after Marquise Brown was lost to shoulder surgery. Then it was running back Kareem Hunt, who likewise returned to his former team when Isiah Pacheco broke his fibula. Left tackle D.J. Humphries came next when other options at the position were struggling, and this week it was Steven Nelson, who came out of retirement to help a secondary that has struggled for weeks. "Just got an opportunity, got a call. Was very excited about it," said Nelson, who spent his first four seasons in Kansas City before stints in Pittsburgh and Houston, and ultimately calling it quits in June so he could spend more time with his family. "I've got two daughters and been spending a lot of time with him," Nelson said, "but still trying to work out. It was kind of the perfect scenario, getting the call, especially where this team has been and this point in the season. Great opportunity." It's been a perfect opportunity for all of them. Perfect fits for the Chiefs, too. Each could have signed just about anywhere else and been able to contribute, yet they were still sitting around when Chiefs general manager Brett Veach reached out. In the case of Smith-Schuster, Hunt and Humphries, there were some concerns about injuries that had kept some teams away, but the Chiefs were willing to take a risk on them. Smith-Schuster, who has dealt with knee trouble for years, missed some time with a hamstring injury this season. But he still has 202 yards and a touchdown receiving, and has provided some veteran leadership in the locker room. Hunt was coming off a sports hernia surgery, a big reason why the Browns — whom the Chiefs visit Sunday — declined to bring him back after five years spent in a one-two punch with Nick Chubb. But when Pacheco went down, Hunt stepped in and their offense barely missed a beat; he has run for a team-leading 608 yards and five touchdowns in 10 games. Humphries was still rehabbing a torn ACL at the start of the season, but the former Pro Bowl tackle was cleared just before the Chiefs called him. Kingsley Suamataia and Wanya Morris had struggled to protect Patrick Mahomes' blind side, so they brought in Humphries to help out. And while he hurt his hamstring late in his debut last week against the Chargers, the Chiefs still hope he'll be recovered and fully up to speed in time for the stretch run and the playoffs. "I'm in Kansas City, bro. I'm pretty ecstatic. It don't get much better than this," Humphries said. "Everybody is excited for me to be here and that's a really good feeling. You're getting All-Pro guys' arms outstretched, like, 'We're so glad you're here.'" The providential signings don't stop at those four players, either. When the Chiefs lost kicker Harrison Butker to knee surgery, they signed Spencer Shrader off the Jets practice squad, and he promptly kicked a game-winner against Carolina. But then Shrader hurt his hamstring and landed on injured reserve. The 49ers had just waived Matthew Wright, and the Chiefs signed him up. He's gone 8 for 9 on field-goal tries, has been perfect on PATs, and banged the game-winner off the upright and through last week against Los Angeles. Just like Smith-Schuster, Hunt and Nelson, Wright had been with Kansas City a couple of years ago. "It definitely helps, him knowing how we do things, how we practice and what we expect," Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub said. "That all helped, for sure. And he's a veteran. He's been a lot of places. It wasn't like he was a rookie off the street." Or off the couch, for that matter. NOTES: Butker planned to kick again Thursday and could come off IR to face the Browns on Sunday. "He looked good," Toub said. "We have to see how he responds." ... Humphries (hamstring) did not practice Thursday. RT Jawaan Taylor (knee) was limited. ... SS Justin Reid will likely handle kickoffs against Cleveland. He has a stronger leg than Wright and also puts another athletic and adept tackler on the field on special teams. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Restoration of caretaker system to be proposedBy ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions. Related Articles National Politics | Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreams National Politics | Trump’s picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but ‘team of opponents’ National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can’t take it back on his own Trump criticized Biden’s decision on Monday to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims. Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder. “Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” he wrote on his social media site. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!” Presidents historically have no involvement in dictating or recommending the punishments that federal prosecutors seek for defendants in criminal cases, though Trump has long sought more direct control over the Justice Department’s operations. The president-elect wrote that he would direct the department to pursue the death penalty “as soon as I am inaugurated,” but was vague on what specific actions he may take and said they would be in cases of “violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.” He highlighted the cases of two men who were on federal death row for slaying a woman and a girl, had admitted to killing more and had their sentences commuted by Biden. On the campaign trail, Trump often called for expanding the federal death penalty — including for those who kill police officers, those convicted of drug and human trafficking, and migrants who kill U.S. citizens. “Trump has been fairly consistent in wanting to sort of say that he thinks the death penalty is an important tool and he wants to use it,” said Douglas Berman, an expert on sentencing at Ohio State University’s law school. “But whether practically any of that can happen, either under existing law or other laws, is a heavy lift.” Berman said Trump’s statement at this point seems to be just a response to Biden’s commutation. “I’m inclined to think it’s still in sort of more the rhetoric phase. Just, ‘don’t worry. The new sheriff is coming. I like the death penalty,’” he said. Most Americans have historically supported the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to decades of annual polling by Gallup, but support has declined over the past few decades. About half of Americans were in favor in an October poll, while roughly 7 in 10 Americans backed capital punishment for murderers in 2007. Before Biden’s commutation, there were 40 federal death row inmates compared with more than 2,000 who have been sentenced to death by states. “The reality is all of these crimes are typically handled by the states,” Berman said. A question is whether the Trump administration would try to take over some state murder cases, such as those related to drug trafficking or smuggling. He could also attempt to take cases from states that have abolished the death penalty. Berman said Trump’s statement, along with some recent actions by states, may present an effort to get the Supreme Court to reconsider a precedent that considers the death penalty disproportionate punishment for rape. “That would literally take decades to unfold. It’s not something that is going to happen overnight,” Berman said. Before one of Trump’s rallies on Aug. 20, his prepared remarks released to the media said he would announce he would ask for the death penalty for child rapists and child traffickers. But Trump never delivered the line. One of the men Trump highlighted on Tuesday was ex-Marine Jorge Avila Torrez, who was sentenced to death for killing a sailor in Virginia and later pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbing of an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old girl in a suburban Chicago park several years before. The other man, Thomas Steven Sanders, was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and slaying of a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana, days after shooting the girl’s mother in a wildlife park in Arizona. Court records show he admitted to both killings. Some families of victims expressed anger with Biden’s decision, but the president had faced pressure from advocacy groups urging him to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The ACLU and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were some of the groups that applauded the decision. Biden left three federal inmates to face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Michelle L. Price and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

McClain's 14 lead Texas Southern over Texas A&M-Kingsville 80-72

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty had the benefit of a conference championship appearance to help his case to win the Heisman Trophy. Colorado Buffaloes two-way star Travis Hunter finished his regular season in a 52-0 win over Oklahoma State on Nov. 29. Jeanty ran for 209 yards and one touchdown on 32 carries as the Broncos defeated UNLV 21-7 in the Mountain West Conference Championship Game on Friday night. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Thanks for the feedback.