Five-time NCAA champion baseball coach Garrido dies
Wherever Augie Garrido went in his six decades in college baseball, wins and championships always followed.
His ability to motivate and innovate produced five College World Series titles with two schools and the most wins of any coach in college baseball history.
“I coached against him and watched hundreds and hundreds of other coaches, and he’s the best I’ve ever seen,” said Skip Bertman, the retired coach who won five national titles at LSU.
Garrido, who had been hospitalized in Newport Beach following a stroke on Sunday, died Thursday. He was 79. The University of Texas, where Garrido wrapped up his career in 2016, announced his death.
“We lost one of the greatest coaches of all time, a truly special Longhorn legend and college athletics icon,” athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “If you were fortunate enough to have spent time with Augie, or if you followed him in anyway, he had a great effect on you with his brilliant combination of wisdom, wit and charm. He was just an incredible coach, molder of men and a great person.”
Garrido won three national championships with Cal State Fullerton in 1979, 1984 and 1995. He also won titles at Texas in 2002 and 2005. He stepped away from coaching two years ago and was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame the same year. His 1,975 career wins date to 1969.
The Vallejo native played college baseball at Fresno State, where he played in the CWS in 1959.
Golf
STENSON LEADS AT BAY HILL » Henrik Stenson had a hot putter, a much quieter crowd and a one-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Fla.
One week after Stenson returned from his winter break and spent two days with Tiger Woods and his raucous crowds, he made birdie on half of the holes at Bay Hill for an 8-under 64, his lowest round ever on the course the King built.
PGA Tour rookies Aaron Wise and Talor Gooch each had 65.
Woods again brought out big crowds in the unseasonable chill Thursday morning and gave them quite a show. He hit a tee shot that was out- of- bounds by inches. He atoned for that with a 70-foot birdie putt. And he wound up with a 68, his best opening round since he returned this year from a fourth back surgery.
“I feel like I’m not really thinking as much around the golf course,” Woods said. “I can just see and feel it and go.”
Cal junior Collin Morikawa shot an even-par 72. Morikawa is one of two amateurs in the field.
Motorsports
FOYT ATTACKED BY KILLER BEES » Four-time Indianapolis 500winner A. J. Foyt was briefly hospitalized after an attack of Africanized killer bees he encountered while working on his ranch.
Wednesday’s attack was the second time the 83-yearold has disturbed beehives while working on his bulldozer. He sustained over 200 stings to his head alone in a 2005 bee attack.
A. J. Foyt Racing said in a statement that Foyt was released from a Texas hospital once he was stabilized. The teamsaid this second bee attack was more serious than the first because the first encounter made Foyt more sensitive to bee stings.
Tennis
KASATKINA ROUTS KERBER » Daria Kasatkina kept her focus for all of 58 minutes. That’s how long it took to dispatch former No. 1 Angelique Kerber 6- 0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
The 20-year- old Russian hasn’t dropped a set in four matches at Indian Wells, knocking out U. S. Open champion Sloane Stephens and No. 2-ranked Caroline Wozniacki along the way.
“Maybe, yeah, from the side or with the score it looks like it was simple, but of course it’s not,” Kasatkina said.
Kerber never managed a break point against Kasatkina’s serve.
Venus Williams defeated Carla SuarezNavarro 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semis. Williams has never reached the final of the desert tournament.
In the men’s quarterfinals, Borna Coric of Croatia upset No. 7 seed Kevin Anderson 2- 6, 6- 4, 7- 6 (3) for his first win in four tries against the South African. Coric next faces No. 1 Roger Federer, a 7- 5, 6-1 winner over Chung Hyeon of South Korea.
Baseball
PRICE PITCHES 4 SCORELESS INNINGS IN DEBUT » David Price made his delayed spring training debut for Boston, allowing one hit over four scoreless innings in a 7-5 win over Toronto in Fort Myers, Fla.
Price struck out five and walked one. An elbow injury limited to a career-low 11 starts last season.
Media
ESPN PRESIDENT RESIGNED OVER COCAINE EXTORTION PLOT » The former president of ESPN said he resigned from the sports network after an extortion plot by someone who sold him cocaine.
John Skipper told the Hollywood Reporter that the drug seller, whom he did not name, tried to extort him in December. He said he hadn’t had dealings with the seller before, and previously had been “careful” about buying cocaine.
“They threatened me, and I understood immediately that threat put me and my family at risk, and this exposure would put my professional life at risk as well,” Skipper said.
He said he discussed the situation with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger on Dec. 15, 2017, and they agreed Skipper “had placed the company in an untenable position.” He resigned on Dec. 18 after leading ESPN since 2012, saying he was going to seek treatment for a substance abuse problem.
He said he used drugs recreationally and that it never impacted his work at ESPN.
“Look, it was inappropriate for the president of ESPN and an officer of The Walt Disney Co. to be associated in any way with any of this,” he said.
Basketball
DREXLER NEW BIG 3 COMMISSIONER» Hall of Fame basketball player Clyde Drexler is the new commissioner of the Big3 league.
Drexler coached a team last year in the inaugural season of Ice Cube’s 3-on-3 league of former NBA players. He’s signed a three-year deal as commissioner, the Big3 announced.
He replaces former NBA player Roger Mason Jr., who left following a dispute with the league.