NASCAR, FURNITURE ROW TO HONOR FALLEN SOLDIERS
Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 78 Toyota of Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, will honor 2nd Lt. John C. Yates in NASCAR’s Memorial Day weekend classic Sunday — the CocaCola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
All 40 cars will have windshield tributes to fallen soldiers as part of NASCAR’s 600 Miles of Remembrance.
Yates, from Fergus Falls, Minn., was 26 on Oct. 17, 1968, when he was killed in action during a heroic maneuver to save the life of a comrade in the Vietnam province of Quang Tri. He was a cousin of Woody Boyd, who is chief operating office at Furniture Row.
Furniture Row founder and Furniture Row Racing owner Barney Visser, of Cherry Hills, also is a Vietnam veteran.
State tax on Olympics axed.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper joined members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic family in Colorado Springs to celebrate the signing of House Bill 1104, which exempts most Team USA athletes from state taxes on medals and bonuses won at the Olympic Games and the Paralympics.
The new state legislation supports the federal act that was signed in October 2016, and kicks in with next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The state tax exemption does not apply to athletes who have a gross income of $500,000, or $1 million if married and filing jointly.
CSU Ram on list for best center.
Colorado State senior Jake Bennett is among 63 players named to the Rimington Trophy spring watch list. The award is presented annually to college football’s best center.
Vaughn wins title by one stroke.
Arizona State senior Monica Vaughn won the individual title at the NCAA women’s golf championships after a late collapse from Wake Forest sophomore Jennifer Kupcho.
Kupcho, from Westminster, led by four shots with five holes left and led by two shots on the 17th fairway.
Kupcho then put her approach shot into the water and finished No. 17 with a triple bogey.
Her drive into a hazard on No. 18 opened the door for Vaughn, who birdied two of her final four holes to close the round at 1-under 71. Vaughn finished at 1-over 217, one shot ahead of Kupcho and Duke’s Leona Maguire.
• Ha Na Jang is rescinding her LPGA Tour membership to return to the Korea LPGA Tour. She is No. 10 in the world rankings.
Millsap to opt out of contract.
The Atlanta Hawks’ Paul Millsap will opt out of his deal worth $21 million for the 2017-18 season as he aims for longer terms either with Atlanta or a new team. Millsap could be in line for a contract that starts at $35 million per season.
• The Orlando Magic reached an agreement to hire Toronto Raptors executive Jeff Weltman to be its president of basketball operations.
Footnotes.
Former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden died in a hospital, five days after he was hit by a car while training on his bicycle. Hayden was 35. … Indianapolis 500 pole winner Scott Dixon and retired three-time race winner Dario Franchitti were unharmed after being robbed at gunpoint in the drivethrough lane of a Taco Bell while making a late-night food run, police said . ... Five-star prospect Emmanuel Akot will graduate from high school early and enroll at Arizona next season. Akot was ranked No. 21 in the ESPN top 60 for 2018, the No. 4 small forward in the class. Also, Jontay Porter, the No. 26 prospect, committed to Missouri.