Injured critically, in an automobile accident in Colchester,
Conn., former NBA shot blocker extraordinaire Manute Bol. The
7'7" Bol, 43, suffered two cracked vertebrae and head injures in
a one-car accident last Thursday. He was listed in stable
condition on Monday, and doctors were still trying to determine
if he had suffered any permanent paralysis. (The driver, Neville
Robinson, was killed.) Since retiring in 1995, Bol has worked
hard to raise money for various causes in his native Sudan--his
efforts included a celebrity boxing match against William Perry
and an appearance as a minor league hockey player--but his
altruism has left him in poor financial shape. "He was so
generous and gave so much," friend Greg Nemergut told The
Hartford Courant. "He probably gave too much."
Settled their differences, Tiger Woods and his former swing coach
Butch Harmon. After Woods shot a third-round 73 at the U.S. Open,
Harmon ripped his former pupil on Sky TV, saying he was in a "bit
of denial" if he didn't think his swing was in trouble. Last week
Woods phoned his ex-coach, whom he hasn't worked with since
winning the last of his eight majors, the 2002 U.S. Open. "We
talked about every single conceivable issue and point of view
that each of us had," said Woods. "Sometimes things can be spun
out of hand. I wanted to hear it from his mouth, and he wanted to
hear it from my mouth."
Elected to represent Slovakia in the European Union Parliament,
former Quebec Nordiques star Peter Stastny. In his first bid for
public office, Stastny, 47, the most prolific scorer of the 1980s
after Wayne Gretzky and a '98 inductee into the hockey Hall of
Fame, campaigned on a platform of lowering taxes and reducing
governmental red tape. Said Stastny after last month's vote, "The
amount of adrenaline that flowed last night ... is equal only to
exceptional sports experiences."
Shaved his entire body--a tonsorial act that got him suspended
pending a hearing--jockey Pat Valenzuela, 41. The 1989 Kentucky
Derby winner (on Sunday Silence), who resumed riding last week
after a one-month drug suspension, was unable to provide samples
for a hair-follicle drug test, so stewards at Hollywood Park
banned him. "For the last four years, I've had my head bald," he
said. "I've always shaved the rest of it."
Indicted on charges of sexually abusing five of his daughters,
NBA Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy. The former Rockets guard, who
has been on leave from his job as a Rockets announcer since the
allegations against him were made in March, is accused of abusing
the girls from 1988 to '91, when they were between six and 13
years old. Murphy, 55, who has 14 children by nine women, denies
the charges, saying they stem from a family disagreement over
money. If convicted, he faces five years to life in prison.
Died of lung failure, Marlon Brando, 80. Though Brando, who was
born in Omaha, never distinguished himself as a football player,
the game led to his becoming an actor. A knee injury he suffered
during a scrimmage at military school left him 4-F, so instead of
joining the Army in 1943, Brando drifted to New York City and the
theater scene. He played an athlete in his first big screen
role--as a football star (right) who is paralyzed in World War II
in 1950's The Men--and one of his most renowned parts. As Terry
Malloy, a second-rate ex-boxer who "coulda been a contender" in
1954's On the Waterfront, Brando won the first of his two Best
Actor Oscars.
COLOR PHOTO: JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (BOL)
B/W PHOTO: ZUMA PRESS, INC. (BRANDO)
B/W PHOTO: PHOTOFEST (BRANDO KICKING)
