Apr 24, 2019 4 min read

Celtics great

John Havlicek dies

John Havlicek, the Boston Celtics great whose steal of Hal Green’s inbounds pass in the final seconds of the 1965 Eastern Conference final against the Philadelphia 76ers remains one of the most famous plays in NBA history, has died. He was 79.

The Celtics said the Hall of Famer died Thursday.

Nicknamed “Hondo” for his resemblance to John Wayne, Havlicek was drafted in the first round in 1962 out of Ohio State by a Celtics team stocked with stars Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, Tom Sanders, Tom Heinsohn and Frank Ramsey.

Havlicek went on to win eight NBA championships and an NBA Finals MVP award with Boston, setting Celtics career records for points and games. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984.

At Ohio State, he helped lead the Buckeyes to the 1960 national championship.

Wild Things

sign catcher

The Wild Things signed catcher Lucas Herbert for the 2019 season.

Herbert was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the second round of the 2015 draft, 54th overall. The San Clemente, Calif., native was rated the 52nd best player in the June draft by Baseball America and a top 5 player at his position. During his time with Atlanta, he made appearances playing for Rome (Class A) and Florida (Class A+).

The 22-year-old comes to Washington with a career .213 batting average, 20 home runs and 106 RBI to his name. His best season came in 2017, when he drove in 50 runs and swatted 21 doubles while hitting .243. While there is still room for Herbert to grow offensively, his defensive game has been his calling card. In 196 games played, he has posted an impressive 32 percent caught stealing, while also showcasing his ability to call a game and manage pitchers.

To create a roster spot for Herbert the Wild Things announced that catcher Kyle Pollock has retired. The two-time All-Star caught the most games in franchise history and was a fan favorite.

In the majors

The Los Angeles Dodgers spoiled Jon Lester’s return to the Cubs’ rotation by scoring on an error and a sacrifice fly, beating Chicago 2-1 to avoid a three-game sweep.

Lester, who spent 16 days on the injured list with a left hamstring strain, allowed one unearned run on four hits in five innings.

In golf

Scott Stallings and Trey Mullinax shot a best-ball 11-under 61 to top the Zurich Classic leaderboard after a weather delay longer than seven hours prevented half of the 80 teams from even teeing off. Stallings and Mullinax birdied their last four holes at the TPC Louisiana – and seven of nine holes after the turn – for a one-stroke lead over two teams.

College track

The California University women’s track & field team competed in a pair of relay events on Thursday at the 125th running of the Penn Relays.

The 1,600-meter relay of freshman Divonne Franklin, freshman Imani Brown, senior Jaclyn Reinbold and junior Alicia Collier recorded a time of 4:01.46, which ranks among the top-five fastest times in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference this spring. The Vulcans placed second in their heat while improving their season-best time by nearly 4.4 seconds.

In the 400-meter relay, freshman Innocense Ross, Franklin, sophomore Aaliyah Lewis and Collier finished with a time of 47.94. Cal improved its season-best time in the event by four-hundredths of a second.