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June 7, 2006

Whither Antonio Bryant

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 6:30 pm

The year and a half Antonio Bryant was in Cleveland, he was not considered a trouble maker by the media. He was the best healthy receiver they had, but that was damning with faint praise. When he left, it was with a shrug from the populace. Just chalking it up to him not being part of the present Browns’ strategy and planning in letting him go. Considering their two primary receiving targets are coming off broken legs (Edwards and Winslow, Jr.) it seems a little strange to me. Of course the former top Pitt receiver got a nice 4-year, $15 million deal from San Francisco. This being mini-camp time, Bryant is saying and doing all the right things (Hell, so is Terrell Owens, so what does that really mean?) (hat tip to Jon).

Bryant wasn’t the ideal replacement for Lloyd, not with Antwaan Randle El and Joe Jurevicius available in the same free-agency pool. But the 49ers have upgraded substantially, and if Bryant follows through on his promises of even-tempered maturity, the team will have its first real game-breaking threat since Terrell Owens left San Francisco.

That “if” could be one of the great dramas of the season.

The 49ers say they did their homework on Bryant and that past coaches have vouched for him. Bryant insists that he has learned to set aside the frustrations of football before they become explosive.

“I try to live my life drama-free,” he said.

That may be impossible. Bryant’s intensity is palpable. On the practice field Friday, he fidgeted frequently between plays, his energy overflowing. In an interview afterward, he was both cerebral and emotional, often expressing himself in metaphors and aphorisms. (His position coach in college, recognizing Bryant’s fondness for witty sayings, once gave him a book of quips and quotes.)

I’m kind of surprised that an article in a San Francisco paper on Bryant wouldn’t get a quote from his former coach now up in Stanford. Still, it’s obvious the writer wants to believe Bryant is different from his rep and the jersey tossing incident at Parcells.

Coaches Answering For Their Sins

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 12:15 pm

So, one of the underreported portions of now Indiana Head Coach Kelvin Sampson’s penalties for making a slew of impermissable phone calls to recruits, is the disparate penalty tossed on his former assistant coach Ray Lopes.

His top assistant at Oklahoma, at least at the time of the initial violations, was Ray Lopes. Lopes then continued the practice of making impermissible phone calls as a head coach at Fresno State. He made a total of 457 impermissable calls over a two-plus-year period (which includes time at Oklahoma, as well).

Sure, Lopes made twice as many calls, but what was his punishment? He was handed a three-year show-cause penalty (that started when he was terminated at Fresno State) and is out of work. His attorney, Toby Baldwin, has already been quoted in the local media saying he would like to appeal the penalty.

On the surface, it appears to be an inequity. Sampson didn’t get a show-cause penalty and his new school, Indiana, only has to show up at a show-cause hearing if it wants to challenge the sanctions handed down, which it doesn’t.

Well, not unemployed. He is working as a scout in the NBA.

I admit I probably would have read the article and let it slide out of my consciousness except for two points. The first is the fact that Pitt is tangentally involved.

If Lopes were hired during his three-year show-cause, the employing institution would have to go in front of an infractions committee to discuss what sanctions should or could be placed on him. Lopes has been actively trying to get a job. He made an attempt to join Pittsburgh’s staff, but to no avail.

[Emphasis added.]

Lopes was a decent recruiter, but he did nothing to distinguish himself as head coach at Fresno St. — other than fail to clean up the reputation of the school following Tarkanian. In fact, he helped continue the reputation as a basketball program that is morally void and courrupt. He has even less credibility regarding ethics from Fresno St. and the whole phone call thing there and at Oklahoma. So while he may have wanted the Pitt job, I don’t think (or at least I hope) Coach Dixon and/or the Pitt Athletic Department were interested in him regardless of the outcome of the penalty ruling.

The other reason is it lends credence to an earlier assertion I have made that the NCAA is far happier to penalizes individuals much more than the institutions and that is what happened here.

Colonial Athletic Association commissioner Tom Yeager, who was the acting chair of the infractions committee for the Sampson case, said Tuesday that there was logic behind the differentiation. He said that if Sampson and Lopes were both employed or unemployed, the penalties likely would have been the same.

“When it’s one in each category, it looks like a different deal, but with Kelvin employed, there are activities that can be directly impacted right now,” Yeager said. “If Ray were to get a job, then he might face similar sanctions, but the difference is that once [the three years is up], then he’s done.”

“To sit and say that he got three years and the head coach got one year is apples and oranges,” Yeager said. “If Kelvin were out of work, it could have been the same, and if Ray was at some place he might have gotten what Kelvin did. That’s where the distinction lies. It’s all based on whether or not you’re currently employed at an NCAA institution.

“The big difference is that Ray Lopes is working as an NBA scout right now. If Ray is in the NBA for another two years [as a year of the penalty has already elapsed], then he comes back in with no impact on his employment. But with a current employee like Kelvin, there is a direct restriction on his activity for a period of time right now.

“If all you’re looking at is three years versus one year, [then] yes, it looks like Ray Lopes got a much worse deal, but he’s beyond the reach of the NCAA.”

I do get the logic to some extent in that he is saying that if they had placed the same penalties on Lopes or even extended a bit longer, it would be meaningless since he isn’t working for a member team of the NCAA.

Of course, the argument could be that you declare that the penalty is tolled and enforced starting when he becomes employed by an NCAA member institution. Instead, by instituting a “show cause” ban on him, he is effectively unemployable until at least a few years after the ban ends. No NCAA team will touch him during the penalty and few will want to deal with negative publicity of hiring him too soon after the penalty ended. It’s not worth the risk or negative publicity.

It’s unstated, but I think the penalty was also much harsher because of where he was Head Coach. Fresno St. and following Tark. The NCAA doesn’t exactly have any love for Tark and the fact that Lopes essentially continued the behavior would fit the NCAA pattern of taking out its frustration on others when it can’t get at the one it really dislikes.

Additionally, you could argue that Sampson got off very easy because of his employment by Indiana when he has the added sin of complete and blatant hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, Sampson’s presence as one of the chairs at the National Association of Basketball Coaches ethics summit in Chicago in 2003 has prompted an angry response from one head coach in the West.

The coach, who didn’t leave his name on the voicemail at NABC director Jim Haney’s office and preferred to stay anonymous with ESPN.com, said he was furious. The coach essentially said he left a message saying the summit was a joke, that he’s done with any ethics meetings, the whole ordeal is a fraud and that all the NABC has done is open it up for people to do what they want to do with the inequities for the haves and have-nots in the coaching profession.

“What kind of message has been sent here?” the coach said. “Why aren’t other people standing up and saying something? Most coaches would be fired for this. Look, I like Kelvin and know him well but this isn’t right.”

The coach also said the NABC should publicly censure Sampson.

Haney said the ethics committee, which associate director Reggie Minton chairs, would likely look into this issue. Minton was in Kuwait (along with Sampson) the past week as part of Operation Hardwood II and could address it when he returns. Haney said one of the provisions as part of the ethics summit was to ensure that a head coach is held accountable for his assistant coaches. He said that legislation has passed.

Regardless, the events surrounding Sampson caused Haney to say, “No question that it stings. I feel it.”

Whether or not the irate coach is willing to go public soon is uncertain. He said he wants to work in the field for the next 10 years and doesn’t want to be blacklisted. Still, he said he felt it was unfair the way Lopes was treated in comparison to Sampson.

And the odds of the NABC actually saying something negative against one of their fellow coaches who is presently employed and they’d have to actually face is what? 600 -1? 1,000-1? Higher?

Let’s be honest, it takes a conviction before Congress will censure one of its own and they ostensibly have to answer to the voters. Who exactly do the coaches have to answer to for failing to censure one of their own? Their ADs?

Gray Watch:Finally Announcing A Workout

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 8:55 am

Tomorrow Aaron Gray will conduct his one and only private workout.

Gray, accompanied by his father, Mike, and coach, Jamie Dixon, was scheduled to fly to Orlando, Fla., today and will join three other college players in a private workout Thursday for interested NBA clubs at the league’s annual Pre-Draft Camp in nearby Lake Buena Vista.

“It’s only going to be one workout session,” Dixon said Tuesday. “The NBA said they’d make all the teams aware of it. Aaron is paying his own way because he’s not part of the camp.”

3 other players will be taking part in the workout.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon will accompany Gray to Orlando and will watch the workout. Because Gray is conducting a private workout separate from the Orlando predraft camp, he must pay for all expenses incurred during his trip under NCAA rules.

Gray will be one of four NBA hopefuls at the workout. The others are Corey Belser of San Diego, Jeff Horner of Iowa and Fran Steyn, a 7-foot-2 center formerly of Oklahoma State.

Those 3 are all Seniors, and if it’s a private workout, I guess they and/or their agents share in the cost.

Krauser will be in Orlando playing in the scrimmages and fully taking part in the camp.

Krauser, listed as the No. 91 player in this year’s draft class by ESPN.com, took part in the predraft camp last year in Chicago and was advised by NBA personnel to return for his senior season at Pitt.

“He’s definitely a better player now than he was last year at this time,” Dixon said. “I’m hearing the same thing from NBA people when I get feedback on Carl. I’m talking with NBA people almost every day. I heard he played very well in Boston and L.A. And I anticipate he’ll play well in Orlando, too.”

It seems that in addition to workouts with the Celtics and Raptors, Krauser has worked out for the LA Lakers.

Coach Dixon must be on a tight schedule. After the Thursday workout, he’s going to have to fly out to Hawaii. Not to mention still work in officially announcing the hiring of Mike Rice.

There has been some wondering what Dixon is doing with all this support of Gray.

Well there’s the “protecting the investment” argument. Dixon knows more than we do about Gray’s feelings about the draft. While the mock drafts and pundits make it seem like an inevitability that Gray will stay in the draft, because it doesn’t seem likely that his draft status will vary much from this year to next. That he will still be a mid- to late-first rounder. Maybe that isn’t so and Gray and his family are genuinely torn on the whole thing. So Dixon is there to both be a reminder of coming back to college and making sure Gray and his family don’t inadvertently do anything to eff up his ability to return to Pitt.

Another perspective is that Dixon is engaged in a fringe part of the kabuki dance of recruiting — or whatever other tortured analogy you want to use — demonstrating his support of one of his player’s dreams. He can go to blue-chip recruits with NBA aspirations and point to this as a tangible example of the way he will stand by their long-term decisions and do what he can to help them realize their dreams even during the off-season.

Finally, there’s this. It’s who Dixon is. Unwavering in his support and standing by his players like they are family. That when he makes that kind of pitch to kids when he recruits them, he means it.

Much the way he kept the solid support of Krauser all of last summer while Krauser debated, hemmed and hawed about the NBA draft and then going overseas. Dixon stood by and offered support to Krauser no matter what he decided while the rest of us gnashed our teeth demanded an answer or wanted to say “farewell” to Krauser, rather than being forced to wait on his decision about the rest of his life.

Ultimately, it is probably some combination of all three factors.

Finally Making It Public

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 6:57 am

Geez. Lose your leading scorer and two assistants in the offseason. Not Coach Jamie Dixon this time, St. Joe’s Phil Martelli.

Phil Martelli has had an interesting offseason. His leading scorer has transferred and 67 percent of his coaching staff has left. At first glance, these could be perceived as serious issues at Saint Joseph’s.

Upon further review, the player, Abdulai Jalloh, had his own issues that could not be resolved by staying on Hawk Hill, and the two assistants were made offers they really could not refuse.

Hawks assistant Monte Ross took the head job at Delaware in April. Tomorrow, assistant Mike Rice starts at Pittsburgh as Jamie Dixon’s associate head coach.

“The challenge of recruiting and coaching in the Big East is something I look forward to,” said Rice, a Pittsburgh native.

That gives Rice about a month to get situated at Pitt and then out for the July recruiting.

June 6, 2006

Gray Watch

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 3:24 pm

Andy Katz puts that good relationship with Coach Jamie Dixon to use with his blog post for today.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon is protecting his investment and will accompany junior center Aaron Gray to Orlando on Wednesday for a workout currently scheduled for Thursday in front of NBA personnel.

Gray will be in town for a physical at the Orlando predraft camp, but will have the private workout instead of participating in the camp. Dixon said the schedule still isn’t set, but that this was the best-case scenario to put Gray on display. Gray had considered going through a workout in the Northeast, but couldn’t settle on a date or place.

Gray is considered by most NBA personnel to be a first-round pick. How high he could go is still unknown. In a one-on-none workout, Gray’s athleticism issue likely won’t be solved. It’s not known how drill and skill work will move him up, but NBA folks have seen these kinds of workouts from big men for years.

Well, if he is almost a 1st round lock, then it will come down to a decision of whether he wants to finish his education now and see what can happen on the court with Pitt this year or just go with the money now. Not an easy decision.

Katz also notes that ESPN, CBS and the Big East are all watching this decision carefully since it will effect the games shown and who will be the favorite in the BE this season.

Bonus Non-Con Schedule Alert: Katz’s blog also said that Pitt will be playing a neutral court game at Madison Square Garden against South Carolina on December 21. This will be the early game before Gonzaga-Duke. Pitt just completed a home-and-home with South Carolina winning both games

Watching Orlando Obsessively

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 2:52 pm

Well, Apparently ESPNU will be providing some coverage (via Cracked Sidewalks) of the Orlando Pre-Draft Camp from 4-7 tomorrow and Thursday, though, the program schedule says 5-8 (What? And miss “Around the Horn”?). NBA TV is also supposed have coverage.

Not Slimmed Down

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 11:52 am

Okay, I haven’t had a chance to even do much more than an occassional trip to the driving range since my daughter was born 4 years ago. So, I should be the last to criticize a swing. But…

Photo by The Times / Lucy Schaly

That is Sean Gilbert playing his very first golf tournament.

A football player for much of his adult life, Gilbert was one of 65 or so sports personalities who played in the 14th annual Tony Dorsett/McGuire Memrial Celebrity Golf Classic. Many of the celebs who played Treesdale – half the field teed it up at Diamond Run Golf Club – were ex-gridiron behemoths like Freedom native Jimbo Covert, the ex-Pitt All-American tackle, or Pete Johnson, the former bowling-ball running back who played for the Cincinnati Bengals.

According to the story, among other things Gilbert owns a ‘Big & Tall’ men’s clothing store. Did no one mention that vertical stripes are more slimming?

Recruiting Lists

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 9:54 am

Rivals.com and Scout.com have their top-100 lists for this year’s class.

They vary at more than a few places. Pitt commit Pat Bostick is #20 on Scout and #70 on Rivals. Chris Jacobson makes the list at Scout at #80 and not at all on Rivals.

Other notables, from a quick look.

Nick Sukay — #74 Scout and #94 Rivals.
Toney Clemons — #84 Scout and NR Rivals
Stefan Wisniewski — #78 Scout and NR Rivals

Take them for whatever they are worth.

Camping In Orlando

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 6:39 am

The NBA Pre-Draft Camp gets underway today. In case you have forgotten, Carl Krauser is still trying to get drafted. According to this list he did receive an invite and will play in the games. Regarding Aaron Gray, you can read into this what you want, but take note:

Some well-known names currently are not on the list. These are players who are still technically on the fence as to whether they’re staying in the draft, but aren’t committing to Orlando or weren’t invited. That list includes: Pitt junior center Aaron Gray, UCLA sophomore guard Arron Afflalo, Nevada junior forward Nick Fazekas, Colorado sophomore guard Richard Roby, Villanova sophomore guard Kyle Lowry and George Washington junior guard Carl Elliott.

Lowry is expected to work out in front of NBA personnel on Wednesday. Gray is scheduled to be in Orlando for the physical-only portion of the camp and could end up having a workout outside of the draft camp.

Looking at the players in the company with Gray of not receiving a formal invite, I read that to mean that they just weren’t going to waste a space for players they knew weren’t going to play in the games. That they would only be there for measurements.

Going back to Krauser. He has worked out for the Celtics and the Raptors as part of a group for each. Strangely he has worked in a trip to the Virgin Islands as part of an exhibition game.

Sun Stroke Promotions has brought well-known streetballers to St. Croix in past years to challenge V.I. basketball players in showcase games. The local players haven’t fared too well in those matchups.

The locals will try again Saturday when Sun Stroke hosts streetball entertainers and AND 1 Mixtape Tour legends at Central High School’s Ronald Charles Gymnasium. As always, the streetballers will have cooler nicknames, but the V.I. players might just have enough talent to win.

Former University of Pittsburgh star Carl Krauser, whose father, Mario Krauser, is a St. Croix native and still has family ties to the island, is set to come in and lead the local squad against their high-flying, hot-dogging opponents. Krauser, a 6-foot-2 guard, was a second team All-Big East selection in each of his final three years at Pitt and was named team MVP after his senior season. He is projected as a possible second-round pick in this summer’s NBA draft.

Joining Krauser on the local squad will be former University of Oklahoma center Jabari Brown of St. Thomas, and ABA Summer League stars Kwame Bonelli and Jeff Roberts. Point guard Kareem Degrasse, Karl John and Andre McIntosh highlight the team’s local contingent.

Have to admit, never read anything before about his Virgin Island ties. Not a bad way to help pay the bills in the time leading up to the draft. Wish I knew who won the game.

June 5, 2006

2.5 More TV Appearances This Fall

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 8:37 pm

Pitt has gotten 3 more games with sort of TV coverage.

The Panthers’ new television dates include:

*The Sept. 2 season opener against Virginia, which will be a 7 p.m. ESPNU telecast at Heinz Field.

*The Sept. 16 Michigan State game at Heinz Field, which will be an ABC split-national telecast (with Miami-Louisville) at 3:30 p.m.

*The Nov. 4 game at South Florida, which will be the Big East Game of the Week and produced by ESPN Regional.

The Panthers’ other TV contests include the Sept. 8 game at Cincinnati (ESPN2), the Oct. 13 game at Central Florida (ESPN) and the Nov. 16 West Virginia contest (ESPN) at Heinz Field. Additional television clearances are expected to be added as the season progresses.

Well, for me at least the game on ESPNU isn’t a problem since that’s a home game.

Excepting the 10 other people who get “The U” that may as well be a blacked out game. Nothing worse for most fans to have a game aired on ESPNU. No one seems to carry the station, and it means that it won’t be part of the pay-per-view options that week either. Worst of both worlds.

Past Voices

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 12:51 pm

It’s a point of pride to come across the obscure. Not necessarily finding pages on “Dr. Shrinker” and hearing the old theme song as done by The Osmonds.

Can you believe he had drug issues?

I mean finding stuff that is somehow related to Pitt. So the Ohio AP Broadcasters Hall of Fame banquet was held last month. A posthumous honor for a former Steubenville sports anchor.

THE LATE Red Donley was a fixture on Ohio Valley television sets as viewers tuned in nightly to hear Donley’s descriptions of that day’s sports stories.

Born in Wellsburg and a 1941 graduate of Wellsburg High, Donley crossed the Ohio River to begin his broadcasting career at WSTV-AM in Steubenville as sports commentator and play-by-play announcer for area games.

By 1955, Donley had joined the Pittsburgh Steelers as part of their broadcast team. He remained in that capacity for six years before becoming the “Voice of the Pitt Panthers” in 1961.

That same year, Donley joined Pittsburgh’s WIIC-TV as sports director. His TV tenure in the Steel City earned Donley no less than five “Golden Quill” awards, presented to outstanding journalists in western Pennsylvania.

Donley would return to his native Ohio Valley in 1970 as news director at WSTV-TV. His outstanding work earned additional accolades, including the first President’s Media Award presented by the then-College of Steubenville.

Donley retired from television in 1988 and passed away 10 years later.

Let’s just say that Donley wasn’t calling games during the halcyon days of Pitt football. Outside of the spectacular 9-1 season of 1963, Pitt never had a winning record in the time he called games. This includes the Dave Hart era of 66-68 when Pitt went 3-27 over those 3 seasons. A record that makes every subsequent Pitt coach secure in the knowledge that he could never be considered the absolute worst coach ever in school history.

Lists, Lists, Lists

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 9:54 am

It’s that time of the off-season. You keep seeing lists of one sort or another. The true sign of the off-season doldrums. Some have more value than other. Bob Lichtenfels at Scout.com ranks the top 55 prospects in Pennsylvania. Each player has a quick comment by Lichtenfels about him. 10 have already given verbals, with Pitt having 3 of them:

#1 — Pat Bostick
#5 — Chris Jacobson
#31 – Jared Williams

Penn State has 2 and 1 each to ND, WVU, UVA, ‘Cuse and Mich. St.

Spitting The Bit

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 8:37 am

Numbers are cruel. Especially when they don’t go your way.

Preseason polls are vital because they establish expectations and give those chosen schools a decided head start in the race for a national championship. And if Behemoth U. is getting a perennial lofty ranking because of its reputation and national notoriety, well, that’s cause for a closer look. There’s little debate that biases exist in the rankings, but until preseason and postseason polls are compared side-by-side, it’s difficult to truly and tangibly know which schools have been overrated and which have earned their station on the charts.

For this exercise, we’ve sampled AP rankings from the last 35 years and are only evaluating schools that have been recognized in 10 or more preseason polls. Trying to cull some meaning out of, say, Kansas, Indiana or any other school that makes a once-every-decade cameo in summer rankings would prove fruitless.

Composite score represents the average annual number of spots a school’s final ranking fell below its preseason ranking since 1971.

The 31 teams that have been at least ten preseason AP polls …

4. Pittsburgh – Pitt was far more relevant to the rankings in the 1970s and 1980s, when players like Hugh Green, Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino called the Steel City home. Over the past two decades, however, voters have tabbed the Panthers just five times in the summer, and considering their performance, the lack of respect was warranted. In four of those years, they failed to remain in the polls, marked by a pair of 3-7-1 disasters in 1984 and 1990. Dave Wannstedt’s first Pitt team began 2005 No. 23 in the country, but only managed five wins in a forgettable return home for the coach.

*Composite Score: -11.71

There’s not a lot to say about this that skews this positive. When the expectations were there, Pitt has underachieved. It is worth noting that Walt Harris had company in producing Pitt teams that didn’t meet the expectations.

Gray Watch

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 7:11 am

I’m not saying Aaron Gray is cheap or anything. It would appear he and his family are highly pragmatic. While everyone, including plenty of other underclassmen who haven’t hired an agent, has been holding private workouts to show that they deserve to be a first round pick Gray has yet to do so. Now, it looks like he has put it off to the point where he won’t do the private workouts until he gets down to Orlando for the NBA pre-draft camp.

Scratch the NBA workout Aaron Gray was planning somewhere in the Northeast.

The Pitt center, who completed his junior year by averaging a double-double in his first college season in a starting role, apparently will wait until after he arrives this week at the NBA Pre-Draft Camp in Florida.

Gray is contemplating leaving school early to enter the NBA Draft, and while he will not take part in the camp from Tuesday through Saturday at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, near Orlando, he will undergo a physical and is expected to participate in private workouts.

It’s been somewhat amusing. In a mindless speculation thing to read how Gray is or isn’t a definite player to remain in the draft. All this when he hasn’t spoken to the media, hasn’t worked out for anyone, and hasn’t hired an agent.

I just don’t know right now. His (in)actions suggest someone who isn’t that serious this year. Alternatively, he could be working out really hard trying to get into great shape and show some more skill for the workouts. But, again, no one knows.

I think there might be a clearer idea after the camp when almost all of the private workouts are complete. There will be a better sense of where the top 5-10 picks will be. Key issues regarding Gray’s potential status in the draft are how high O’Bryant is expected to go; does the kid Sene move past Gray based on his raw potential; how about Hilton Armstrong; and which teams attend the private workouts?

If the teams attending are more in the mid-range (14-23) than in the end of the draft picks, that would push me towards thinking he would want to stay. It would suggest that the interest in him is sufficiently high enough to assure him to be a first round pick.

Very important week for Gray (not to mention Pitt).

June 4, 2006

More Golf

Filed under: Uncategorized — Chas @ 4:14 pm

I noted the Coaches vs. Cancer golf tournament that starts today. Plenty of other golf celebrity/sports golf tournaments in the area this week tying in to the football side.

On Monday, the 14th annual Tony Dorsett/McGuire Memorial Celebrity Golf Class will be played at Treesdale Golf & Country in Pine Township Mars and Diamond Run Golf in Ohio Township.

Dorsett, a Pro Football Hall of Fame running back from Hopewell, doesn’t golf in the tournament that bears his name. But he’s got a star-studded cast of sports celebrities who’ll tee it up with 65 corporate-sponsored foursomes who’ve paid $750 per golfer to play.

Last year, the tournament raised nearly $230,000 and pushed the 13-year total to nearly $2.5 million.

“I’ve said this over and over, and I’ll say it again,” Dorsett said. “We’ll keep doing this as long as it’s a first-class tournament. And it is first class. Every year it seems to get bigger and better.”

Among the celebrities expected to play are former Pitt coach Jackie Sherrill; Freedom graduate Jimbo Covert, an All-American tackle at Pitt who went on to play with the Chicago Bears; and Aliquippa native Ty Law, an NFL cornerback who played last year with the New York Jets.

Making his debut in the tournament is Sean Gilbert, a former defensive end out of Aliquippa who played 13 seasons in the NFL.

Others celebs in the field include Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko, Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, former Pitt defensive end Hugh Green and ex-Pitt coach Johnny Majors.

Then it’s time for more Pitt players and coaches to face Penn State.

The Pitt vs. Penn State Challenge – a golf event involving ex-football players from both schools – will be played Tuesday at Chestnut Ridge Golf Course in Blairsville.

The tournament raises money for two charities – The Second Mile, which was founded by former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky; and the National Youth Sports Program, run by the University of Pittsburgh. Both are non-profitable organizations that provide services and programs for children.

Co-captains for Pitt’s team will be Dorsett and Bill Fralic. Penn State’s co-captains will be Shane Conlan and Mike Zordich.

Last year, the inaugural event raised $100,000.

And of course, we can expect the coverage to bring up the lack of a certain annual rivalry game.

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