Ex-gym coach charged
More fallout from Michigan St. case
A former head coach of Michigan State’s gymnastics team was charged Thursday with lying to an investigator when she denied that witnesses told her years ago about being sexually assaulted by ex-sports doctor Larry Nassar.
A charging document does not specify how many witnesses allegedly reported Nassar to Kathie Ann Klages, or when they did so. But former gymnast Larissa Boyce has said she told Klages of Nassar’s abuse in 1997, when Boyce was 16 — 19 years before he was first criminally charged with sexual abuse.
Klages, who resigned in 2017 after she was suspended for defending the now-imprisoned Nassar, is now the third person other than Nassar to face criminal charges related to his serial molestation of young female athletes under the guise of treatment. Numerous other people have lost their jobs or been sued.
If convicted of lying to a police officer, the 63-year-old Klages could face up to four years in prison.
Boyce, who declined comment Thursday, had been training with the Spartan youth gymnastics team in 1997. She has said Klages dissuaded her from taking the issue further, even after another teen gymnast relayed similar allegations.
TWITTER APOLOGIES
Chicago White Sox rookie pitcher
Michael Kopech has apologized for racist and homophobic tweets he posted as 17-yearold and has since deleted. The tweets from 2013 surfaced Tuesday as Kopech made his majorleague debut.
“I had to delete some stuff,” Kopech told the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday. “Things I said that were immature and inappropriate. I used some poor language in there. Obviously, I’m trying to be looked at as a role model and the last thing I want to do is have some kid look at what I’m saying and take it the wrong way.
Also recently, years-old racist, misogynistic and homophobic tweets from Milwaukee reliever Josh Hader were found during the All-Star Game. Then, Atlanta pitcher Sean
Newcomb and Washington shortstop Trea Turner had their own offensive tweets unearthed.
CALL TO HALL
Gil Brandt and Pat Bowlen have been nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame as contributors to the game.
Currently a consultant to the NFL and one of the key figures in the staging of the draft, Brandt was one of the key contributors to the building of the Dallas Cowboys.
Bowlen, the longtime owner of the Denver Broncos, is the only owner in NFL history with 300 overall victories during his first 30 seasons.
IRVING’S TRIBE
Kyrie Irving was welcomed into his mother’s Standing Rock Sioux tribe Thursday. The All-Star guard and his sister, model
Asia Irving, visited the tribe’s reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border for a day-long celebration recognizing their tribal heritage and support for the tribe’s long battle against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
Kyrie Irving’s Lakota name, Hela, is roughly pronounced (HAY’-law) and means “Little Mountain.” Asia Irving’s name, Tatanka Winyan, (tuh-TONG’-kuh WEE’yun) means “Buffalo Woman.”