Jun 5, 2023 4 min read

In college football

Michael Vick, Larry Fitzgerald and Terrell Suggs are among the college football stars who will be considered for induction to the Hall of Fame for the first time this year.

The National Football Foundation released Monday a list of 78 players and nine coaches from major college football who are on the Hall of Fame ballot. There also are 101 players and 32 coaches from lower divisions of college football up for consideration.

Vick, who led Virginia Tech to the BCS championship game against Florida State as a redshirt freshman in 1999, is among the most notable players appearing on the ballot in his first year of eligibility.

Vick finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1999. He played one season of college football before being drafted No. 1 overall by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. Vick’s professional career was interrupted when he served 21 months in prison for his involvement in dog fighting.

Fitzgerald was the Heisman runner-up in 2003 to Oklahoma quarterback Jason White. He scored 34 touchdowns in just two seasons at Pitt.

Suggs led the nation in sacks with 24 in 2002 for Arizona State.

In the NHL

Greg Cronin spent 36 years coaching at nearly every level of hockey before he finally got his first chance to be an NHL head coach.

He believes the struggling but talented Anaheim Ducks will be worth that extraordinary wait.

General manager Pat Verbeek hired the 60-year-old Cronin on Monday to lead the Ducks’ rebuilding effort out of the worst five-year stretch in franchise history. Cronin is a former NHL assistant and a former head coach in both the AHL and at Northeastern, earning widespread praise for teaching strong principles and leading young players.

Cronin spent the past five seasons leading the Colorado Avalanche’s successful AHL affiliate.

• The Montreal Canadiens signed Cole Caufield to an eight-year, $62.8 million contract extension.

The deal, which will pay the 22-year-old winger an average annual salary of $7.85 million, runs through the 2030-31 season.

Caufield scored 26 goals and added 10 assists in 46 games in 2022-23 before he underwent season-ending surgery on his right shoulder in February.

In the NFL

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul joined Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula in helping break ground Monday on the team’s new $1.54 billion stadium scheduled to be built in time for the 2026 season. The ceremony was held on the former parking lot which is being cleared for construction and located across the street from the team’s current home.

The new facility will carry over the naming rights of Highmark Stadium after the team reached a long-term agreement with the health insurance provider.

In golf

Stewart Cink doesn’t care that he turned 50 last month. He’ll do anything to play in the U.S. Open, even if that means going 36 holes against some kids who weren’t even born when he played his first one 27 years ago.

Cink got a pep talk from his wife Monday to keep patient, and he ran off five birdies over six holes at Brookside Golf & Country Club to become one of 11 players to earn spots out of the Columbus, Ohio, qualifier.

Cink was among 45 players trying to qualify for the U.S. Open, to be played June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club. Roughly 45% of the 156-man field have to qualify.

Columbus was among 10 final qualifying sites from California to Canada, from New Jersey to Florida, some of them requiring sudden-death playoffs to see who gets in.