Mar 13, 2019 4 min read

Pitt analyst Groat won’t return in 2019-20

Pitt basketball announcer Dick Groat won’t return for a 41st season as a color analyst on the team’s radio broadcasts.

Groat, a Pittsburgh native who was an All-America basketball player at Duke, is one of a select group of athletes to play in both the NBA and major league baseball. He was taken with the third overall pick by the NBA’s Fort Wayne Pistons in 1952 and spent a year in professional basketball before moving to baseball.

Groat was an eight-time All-Star and won the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award in 1960 while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who won the World Series that year. He retired in 1967 and has served as the color commentator for the Panthers since 1979.

Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke called Groat’s “legendary voice” an “asset” to the program. Lyke said the 88-year-old Groat “will always be a revered member of the Pitt family and will remain a fixture around our basketball team for many years to come.”

Groat’s responsibilities had scaled back recently. He stopped working road games last season.

Stewart headlines NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees

Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart headlined the six new nominees eligible for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Stewart joined Neil Bonnett, a popular member of the “Alabama Gang,” two-time Xfinity Series champion Sam Ard, former Daytona 500 winner Marvin Panch, short-track racer Jim Paschal and mechanic Red Vogt as the new nominees.

Kirk Shelmerdine, crew chief for four championships with Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, was dropped from the ballot after only one year. There are 20 nominees and five are elected each year.

NASCAR also announced three new nominees for the Landmark Award given for outstanding contributions to the sport. It meant Janet Guthrie was eliminated from the list after one year.

NBC, CBS swap Super Bowl years

Super Bowl telecasts by NBC and CBS will swap years in 2021 and 2022.

The switch means both networks can pair other major sporting events with the NFL championship, traditionally the year’s highest-rated program.

CBS, which carried the game this year, will now do the 2021 Super Bowl from Tampa, Florida. That will give the network the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four in a two-month span. It also gives CBS two Super Bowls in three years; it did the game from Atlanta in February.

NBC, meanwhile, gets the 2022 Super Bowl from Los Angeles, and the network then will televise the Winter Olympics from Beijing. It had both the NFL title game and the Winter Games in 2018.

Fox has the 2020 Super Bowl from Miami.

Men’s lacrosse

Washington & Jefferson picked up its first home win of the season, defeating Muskingum, 13-9, Wednesday at Alexandre Stadium.

With two straight wins the Presidents have a 3-4 record.

W&J dominated the game early, taking a 10-3 lead into halftime. Benjamin Ward and Alex Strain commanded the half with three goals each. Strain finished with four points on three goals and one assist.

In the NBA

Justise Winslow scored 16 points, and the Miami Heat opened the second half on a 21-0 run on the way to an easy 108-74 win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.

It was the biggest unanswered-point run and largest victory margin of the season for the Heat, who are trying to hang on in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Dion Waiters scored 14 points, Josh Richardson and Hassan Whiteside each scored 13 and Dwyane Wade had 11 for Miami.