Los Angeles Times

Taylor, Hall of Fame Packers great, dies

-

Jim Taylor, the ferocious Hall of Fame fullback who embodied the Green Bay Packers’ unstoppabl­e ground game during the Vince Lombardi era and helped the team win four NFL titles and the first Super Bowl, died. He was 83.

He died unexpected­ly at a hospital in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La., the team said. Taylor played on the great Packers teams and was the league’s MVP in 1962. He scored the first rushing touchdown in Super Bowl history.

“He was a gritty, classic player on the Lombardi teams and a key figure of those great championsh­ip runs,” Packers President Mark Murphy said of the player who left his mark on “multiple generation­s of Packers fans.”

Kurt Busch led a Stewart-Haas Racing sweep to put all four of the company cars up front at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeed­way for a critical playoff race. Busch turned a lap at 195.804 mph to qualify in the top spot for Sunday’s race. He edged teammate Clint Bowyer, who qualified second, ahead of Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola as the Ford horsepower built by Doug Yates’ engine shop proved superior in qualifying.

Timothy Peters bumped leader Noah Gragson out of his way on the final lap at Talladega Superspeed­way, then blocked traffic for the final mile to win the Truck Series race . ... Tommy Johnson Jr. powered to the No. 1 qualifying position in Funny Car in the NHRA Carolina Nationals. Brittany Force took the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel, Drew Skillman in Pro Stock, and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the fourth of six playoff events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championsh­ip . ... Mick Schumacher, son of Michael Schumacher, secured the Formula 3 European Championsh­ip title on the final weekend in Hockenheim, Germany.

Joakim Noah’s disappoint­ing New York Knicks career is over after just two seasons. Unable to find a trade, the Knicks waived the 33year-old center with two years and $37.8 million remaining on his contract . ... The New Orleans Pelicans waived guard Jarrett Jack and forward Garlon Green . ... The Atlanta Hawks waived forward Thomas Robinson and guards R.J. Hunter and C.J. Anderson.

Austin Watson’s girlfriend is taking blame for the incident that led the NHL to suspend the Nashville forward for 27 games, a punishment reduced to 18 games by an arbitrator. Jenn Guardino issued a statement saying the June 16 incident was not an act of domestic violence.

Olympic champion Simone Biles is upset about an anti-Nike tweet from USA Gymnastics interim president and Chief Executive Mary Bono. Biles responded to a tweet from the former Republican congresswo­man last month criticizin­g Nike following the release of its advertisin­g campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick. Biles quotetweet­ed Bono’s photo and wrote: “*mouth drop* don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything.” Nike is one of Biles’ sponsors.

Terence “Bud” Crawford stopped Jose Benavidez with 18 seconds left in the 12th round in Omaha, Neb., to retain his WBO welterweig­ht championsh­ip . ... Fedor Emelianenk­o won the Bellator 208 main event by defeating Chael Sonnen by first-round technical knockout in Uniondale, N.Y.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States