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Former
TCU All-American dies at age 60
Former TCU football
standout Tommy Joe Crutcher, who helped lead TCU to one of the biggest
upsets in school history, died in his sleep on Saturday. He was
60.
Crutcher played
both fullback and linebacker at TCU, lettering from 1961-63. He
earned All-America honors at fullback as a senior following the
1963 season. He was a key figure in the Horned Frogs’ 6-0 upset
of No. 1 Texas on November 18, 1961.
The Fort Worth
Star-Telegram selected Mr. Crutcher to its all-time TCU team as
a linebacker in 1995.
Crutcher began
and ended his nine-year NFL career in Green Bay. He was drafted
by Green Bay out of TCU in 1964 and helped the Packers win three
straight NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls.
He was traded
to the New York Giants following the team’s third straight
championship in 1967. He started two seasons for the Giants before
being traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1970, where he spent the
year on injured reserve.
Crutcher rejoined
the Packers in 1971 and retired after the 1972 season.
Crutcher was
part owner and manager of the Southwest Grain Co. in McCook, Texas.
“He was a tough, hard-nosed football player in the Texas tradition,”
said Lee Remmel, who covered the Packers for the Green Bay Press-Gazette
during the Vince Lombardi era.
“He played
with a great love for the game and always had a smile on his face.”
The funeral
will be at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Turrentine Jackson & Morrow Funeral
Home in McKinney, Texas. There is also a wake scheduled for family
and friends at the funeral home at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Pro
Bowler Boselli drafted to Houston Texans
HOUSTON (AP)
— Tony Boselli, the five-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle, was
the first pick Monday in the expansion draft to stock the Houston
Texans.
Boselli also
was the first college draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in
1995.
He was made
available to the Texans because of injuries that forced him to miss
much of the last two seasons, along with a salary cap figure of
$6.9 million, nearly 10 percent of the team’s $71.8 million
cap.
The Texans must
choose players with cap numbers that total $38 million or at least
30 players.
They have said
they will choose 15-25 players with the $38 million number.
“He’s
an All-Pro on the field, he’s an All-Pro off the field,”
Texans owner Bob McNair said.
Boselli has allowed only 14.5 sacks in his seven-year career, although
he played in only three games last season because of shoulder injuries.
He also is considered
a team leader, the kind of player the Texans say they want to use
as an example.
Connecticut
women’s basketball holds No. 1 spot
Connecticut
held its familiar place as the unanimous No. 1 and Cincinnati made
it as the only newcomer Monday in the Associated Press women’s
basketball poll.
Oklahoma returned
to the No. 3 spot it held earlier in the season, which had been
the highest the Sooners had ever been ranked. Tennessee slipped
one spot to fourth losing at home to Texas.
Connecticut
(27-0), closing in on its eighth 30-win season in the last nine
years, received all 44 first-place votes from a national media panel
to remain unanimous at No. 1 for the seventh straight week.
The Huskies,
who beat Syracuse 85-55 in their only game last week, have led the
poll all season. They have three regular-season games left.
Cincinnati (21-4),
which has won eight straight, replaced Wisconsin at No. 25 and is
looking for a longer stay than the last time it was ranked.
The Bearcats
started 11-0 and joined the poll at No. 25 on Dec. 31. But they
lost their next two games and fell out the following week.
Johnson
replaces Skiles as Phoenix Suns’ head coach
PHOENIX (AP)
— Scott Skiles, who inherited a team in disarray when he succeeded
Danny Ainge as coach of the Phoenix Suns, left them in much the
same condition.
Former assistant Frank Johnson ran the team Sunday night, but couldn’t
keep the Dallas Mavericks from handing the Suns their third straight
loss, 105-92. Phoenix is 25-27, in 10th place in the Western Conference
and in danger of sitting out the NBA playoffs for the first time
since 1988.
Skiles and Suns
management called the parting amicable, but team chairman Jerry
Colangelo left little doubt he wanted a change.
“We have
underachieved,” Colangelo said. “You take a step at a
time. The one thing I will tell you is that this step is the next
logical step. Frank now has an opportunity to take this group of
people and see what he can do with them. The commitment is there
to do whatever is necessary to keep moving forward with our franchise.
“If it
means adding, if it means starting over, if it means somewhere between,
we’ll do whatever it takes to be as competitive as we can and
extract as much as we can out of the talent that we have.”
The 43-year-old
Johnson, the first black head coach in franchise history, thinks
a change of attitude is needed, not an overhaul.
Maryland
gymnasium stage for upset of No. 1 Duke
COLLEGE PARK,
Md. (AP) — The last guy out of the Cole Field House should
have shut the lights, closed the door and put a padlock on the place.
It would be
entirely appropriate if the final two games scheduled for the venerable
building were held at another venue. Such a move would enable Maryland
fans to further savor the lasting memory of one final upset at the
arena they’ve called home since 1955.
What can the
Terrapins possibly do for an encore after their emotionally charged
87-73 rout of top-ranked Duke on Sunday?
Third-ranked
Maryland led from the start, and when the final buzzer sounded,
many in the crowd of 14,500 stormed the court to celebrate the Terrapins’
first win over Duke at Cole in five tries since 1997.
“It was
a great day,” said Chris Wilcox, who had 23 points and 11 rebounds
for Maryland. “At the beginning of the season, we came to an
agreement that we would not lose another game at Cole Field House
this year. We wanted to close Cole with an undefeated record.”
Mobley
leads Rockets to victory over Washington
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Cuttino Mobley had 31 points, and Steve Francis, questionable
before tip-off with a migraine, overcame a slow start to score 16
of his 20 points in the second half as the Houston Rockets upset
the Washington Wizards 102-89 Monday.
Francis, Mobley
and Kenny Thomas scored all the points in 22-8 run that broke open
a tight game and gave the Rockets an 80-70 lead early in the fourth
quarter. Thomas, whose jump shots kept Houston in the game in the
first half, finished with 21 points.
Richard Hamilton
scored 21 points, Chris Whitney had 19, and Michael Jordan had 11
points and 11 assists one day after his 39th birthday for the Wizards,
who had won four straight at home and six of eight overall.
Moochie Norris
had 15 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds for the Rockets, who
had lost four of six. Coach Rudy Tomjanovich got his 450th NBA victory
on the 10th anniversary of his hiring as the Rockets coach.
Jordan played
36 minutes, shooting 6-for-15. Six of his 11 points came in the
second quarter, the only period in which he was a real factor.
Thomas started
the decisive run with two jump shots, and Mobley followed with a
3-pointer. Francis, who was having a quiet game, then beat Jordan
down the court on a fast break, converted the lay-up and drew the
foul for a three-point play with 4:48 to go in the third quarter.
Francis capped
the quarter with a pair of 3-pointers, including one after a chaotic
scramble with 1.8 seconds left after he had a shot blocked by Brendan
Haywood.
Play in the first quarter was so clean and steady it became monotonous.
The 12 minutes included just one turnover, two free throws and four
fouls and ended with the score tied at 20.
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