IN BRIEF
FLA. HIGH SCHOOL PROSPECT KILLED IN CLUB SHOOTING Rising senior Stef ’An Strawder of Lehigh High School in Lehigh Acres, Fla., was one of two people killed early Monday in a shooting at Club Blu in Fort Myers. Strawder, a promising high school player in southwest Florida who had aspirations to play Division I college basketball, was pronounced dead at Lee Memorial Hospital at 3:30 a.m., according to his mother, Stephanie White. The 18-year-old was shot in his right shoulder as he walked through Club Blu’s door on his way to the parking lot, his mother said. White said she had heard that Strawder pushed his cousin out of the way right before he was hit. Strawder’s sister, Sharrelle, 19, suffered a gunshot wound to the leg in the incident, according to their mother. Strawder was the catalyst for Lehigh’s offense during a 19-8 season, averaging 15.6 points, 5.5 assists and 2.8 steals per game.
BROWNS WIDEOUT GORDON CONDITIONALLY REINSTATED
Troubled Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon has been reinstated to the NFL on a conditional basis. Commissioner Rog
er Goodell informed Gordon on Monday in a letter that he could rejoin the team during training camp and would be allowed to participate in meetings and conditioning work. Once Gordon meets clinical requirements, he will be allowed to participate in all preseason activities, including practices and games, the league said. Gordon, who was suspended in 2015 for a year for multiple violations of the league’s drug policies, will be suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season. He is eligible to return to the team Oct. 3. During his suspension, Gordon can participate in team meetings and other activities but can’t practice. Gordon, 25, met with Goodell in New York last week, clearing the way for his partial return. In his letter to Gordon, Goodell made it clear the onus was on the 2013 Pro Bowler to stay clean. The Browns open training camp Friday. Gordon missed all of last season while serving his one-year ban. He was suspended for the first 10 games in 2014 before returning to play in five games.
FOUR DIE WHEN VAN, COWBOYS BUS COLLIDE
Four people died when their van turned left at a highway intersection in northwestern Arizona and collided with a bus carrying staffers but no players of the Dallas Cowboys, authorities said Monday. The vehicles heading in opposite directions Sunday on the main route between Las Vegas and Phoenix crashed as the van turned across U.S. 93 and onto a road, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said. Department spokesman Quentin Mehr said three females and one male in the van died, but he didn’t release their ages or names pending notification of relatives. Nobody on the bus was seriously injured, and the team said no players were on board. The group was headed for Las Vegas for a planned stop on a preseason promotional tour. “All on the bus came through OK with some bumps and bruises,” Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrym
ple said in an email. Additional information on the crash about 30 miles north of Kingman was not immediately available. The bus was seemingly intact and sitting upright in a field while the van appeared reduced to wreckage. Cowboys owner Jerry
Jones called the loss of life trag- ic. “We as an organization are deeply saddened, and our thoughts, prayers and concerns at this time are with the family members and loved ones of all who were lost,” he said in a statement issued by the team. FLORIDA ASSISTANT COLLINS JOINS $1 MILLION CLUB Florida defensive coordinator
Geoff Collins joins the ranks of college football assistant coaches making at least $1 million, according to documents released Monday by the school’s athletics department. Collins is scheduled to make $1,051,500, not including potential bonuses, during a contract year that began Feb. 1. Under an amendment to his contract that he signed in early February, his base salary will be $890,000, a $300,000 increase over what he had been scheduled to make under a three-plus-year deal he received in December 2014 when he left Mississippi State to join Jim McElwain at Florida. Collins also received $150,000 as an annual retention payment in February that originally had been scheduled to be $125,000. In addition, just like the Gators’ other football assistants, Collins gets $10,000 from Florida’s contract with Nike and $1,500 as an incentive to encourage athletes’ academic excellence.
USA GYMNASTICS BUYING PORTION OF KAROLYI RANCH
There will still be a Karolyi connection to the women’s national team even after Martha Karolyi retires. USA Gymnastics announced Monday that it had reached an agreement to buy a portion of the Karolyi ranch, where the women’s team has held monthly training camps since 2000. The 36 acres purchased include three training gyms; a dance studio; housing for 300 athletes, coaches and administrators; and a dining hall. The facility, an official U.S. Olympic Committee training site since 2011, will be renamed the USA Gymnastics Athlete Development Center at the Karolyi Ranch. Karolyi and husband Bela will continue to live on the grounds, located in the Sam Houston For- est about 60 miles north of Houston. “I am incredibly proud of the system that we have created and the success of our women’s program for the past 15 years,” said Martha Karolyi, who is retiring as national team coordinator after 15 years following the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
SEVEN RUSSIAN SWIMMERS RULED INELIGIBLE FOR RIO
Seven Russian swimmers were ruled ineligible to compete in Rio by their international federation and the Russian Olympic Committee. FINA, the international federation for swimming, declared three Russian swimmers ineligible to compete in Rio because of their inclusion in the McLaren report. Under criteria issued by the International Olympic Committee on Sunday, when it deferred all decisions on athlete eligibility to the international federations, FINA said Nikita Lobintsev, Vladimir Morozov and Daria Ustinova were ineligible for the Games. The Russian committee withdrew four athletes, including four-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Yulia
Efimova, under guidelines from the IOC that prevent Russia from entering any athlete with a previous doping violation. It also withdrew Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Natalia Lovtcova and Anastasia Krapivina.