Sports briefs
WPCW, KDKA to air WPIAL football finals
Pittsburgh’s CW (WPCW) will televise all six WPIAL football championship games next month. Two of the games will be simulcast on KDKA.
The Class A, 3A, 4A and 6A championship games will be played Nov. 17 at Heinz Field. The Class 5A is scheduled for Norwin High School Nov. 23 and the Class 2A final is Nov. 24 at Robert Morris University.
KDKA will simulcast the Class A and Class 2A games.
Basketball recruiting insiders convicted
An Adidas executive and two other insiders from the high-stakes world of college basketball recruiting were convicted Wednesday in a corruption case that prosecutors said exposed the underbelly of the sport.
A federal jury in Manhattan found former Adidas executive James Gatto, business manager Christian Dawkins and amateur league director Merl Code guilty of fraud charges.
The trial centered on whether the men’s admitted efforts to channel secret payments to the families of top recruits luring them to major basketball programs sponsored by Adidas was criminal. At stake was a fortune in revenue for the basketball programs and potential endorsement deals for the players if they went pro.
Evidence included text messages between the defendants and coaches from top-tier coaches like Bill Self of Kansas and Rick Pitino of Louisville and testimony from the father of prized recruit Brian Bowen Jr. describing how a Louisville assistant handed him an envelope stuffed with cash.
Prosecutors claimed the schools were in the dark about the payment schemes, including $100,000 promised to Bowen’s family, that are outlawed by the NCAA. They accused the defendants of defrauding universities by tricking them into passing out scholarships to players who should have been ineligible.
Field hockey
No. 18 Washington & Jefferson surrendered two unanswered goals Wednesday after opening the scoring and lost its first match of the season, 2-1, to Juniata.
The loss snaps the Presidents’ school-record 14-game winning streak. W&J is 14-1 overall.
Rachel Fromm scored the first goal of the night 19:04 into play but Juniata tied the score two minutes later and produced the game-winning goal with 16 minutes left in the second half.
Former Steelers coach Rust dies
Rod Rust, who coached Hall of Fame defensive lineman “Mean” Joe Greene at North Texas and later served as defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots’ 1985 Super Bowl team, has died. He was 90.
The Patriots announced Rust’s death Wednesday. He died Tuesday at his home in Ocean City, New Jersey, according to family friend Bobby April.
Rust spent more than four decades as a football coach, mostly as a defensive coordinator in the NFL with Kansas City, New England, Pittsburgh, the New York Giants and Atlanta. He spent one season as an NFL head coach with a Patriots team that went 1-15 in 1990. He also held several coaching jobs in the CFL.
Broncos cut Kelly
The Denver Broncos have waived backup quarterback Chad Kelly a day after he was arrested on suspicion of criminal trespass after a couple reported he came into their suburban home uninvited and sat down on their couch “mumbling incoherently.”
General manager John Elway huddled with coach Vance Joseph and team president Joe Ellis and “we agreed that releasing Chad was the right thing to do,” Elway said in a statement.
Cards’ Molina wins Clemente Award
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina has won the Roberto Clemente Award, a fitting honor for the star who grew up on Puerto Rico and idolized the island’s late Hall of Famer.
Major League Baseball presented the award Wednesday before Game 2 of the World Series. It is given to the player who best represents Clemente’s humanitarian efforts.
Molina has worked tirelessly to help Puerto Rico recover from the effects of Hurricane Maria last year.
The 36-year-old Molina and his wife, Wanda, in 2010 created the Foundation4 (Fundacion4) to improve the lives of underprivileged children on the island who have been affected by poverty, abuse and cancer.
The nine-time All-Star is an eight-time Gold Glove winner and has spent all 15 of his big league seasons with the Cardinals.