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For the Record
Died
At age 85 of natural causes, Dick Miles, a Cold War--era table tennis stalwart who was once considered the biggest American threat to the giants of Europe and Asia. Miles employed his signature underhand-gripped forehand (often played, daringly, down the middle of the table) to win a record 10 men's national championships from 1945 to '62. Internationally, he was a contender for the world title, and in '59 he became one of three Americans ever to reach the world championship semis. Later in life Miles (above) wrote about his sport in a book, The Game of Table Tennis, and as a contributor to SI; dealt in imported table tennis equipment; and put on exhibitions, including one at the invitation of a group of Chinese delegates in '71, as part of a Cold War ice breaker dubbed "Ping-Pong diplomacy."
Aided
In the rescue of two passengers whose car overturned on a highway near Pittsburgh, Jamie Dixon, head coach of the Pitt basketball team. Dixon was driving home around 10 p.m. on Saturday after a film session at the Panthers' Petersen Events Center, when he witnessed the car crash into a barrier on Interstate 279 and flip. The first person on the scene, Dixon pulled one of the women out of the vehicle through a broken windshield. Firemen later helped in extracting the other woman, whom Dixon had found unconscious. (The driver fled, according to police.) "It was one of those things where you just react," said Dixon, whose hands were bandaged after being gashed by the car's windshield. "A lot of people would have done the same thing."
Offered
For sale by the New York auction house Sotheby's, Dr. James Naismith's two-page typescript of the original 13 rules of basketball (SI, Nov. 25, 2002), which includes the inventor's handwritten notation, "Hung in the gym that the boys might learn the rules—Dec 1891." For more than a decade Naismith's grandson Ian Naismith, 72, has taken the rules on tour—carrying them in a hard-shell briefcase and once misplacing them in a Kansas City Hooters—as he and his Naismith International Basketball Foundation stumped on behalf of sportsmanship, participation, healthy living and other values espoused by Naismith, a minister who believed in "muscular Christianity." During that time, Ian told SI, the family has received a number of offers for the document, including one for $2 million in 1973 and another for $5 million 15 years ago, but the rules were never for sale. Now, with the Foundation's receipts plummeting in the recession, the Naismiths are finally looking to unload. Sotheby's expects the document to fetch at least $2 million at the Dec. 10 auction.
Upset
By relative newcomer Cain Velasquez in the main event of UFC 121 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., last Saturday, heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. A former NCAA and WWE titlist who'd made two successful defenses since capturing the UFC crown from Randy Couture in November 2008, Lesnar took the challenger down twice in the opening round. But Velasquez used a sharp jab to open a gash under his foe's left eye and turned the tide with a takedown of his own at the 2:48 mark. From there, Lesnar (above, left) mostly fled, and referee Herb Dean stopped the fight 4:12 into Round 1. "What can I say? He was better than me tonight," Lesnar said afterward. Though its star of two years no longer holds a belt, it is believed UFC might benefit from Lesnar's loss, which leaves two viable superstars (including Velasquez, who will face undefeated Junior Dos Santos next), instead of one.
Engaged
To be wed, Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic and three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova. Since the Slovenian groom-to-be and his Russian fiancée first met, at a friend's barbecue in 2009, the couple have been paparazzi fodder around L.A. Vujacic, 26, has credited his time spent training with Sharapova, 23, at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., this past summer, with preparing him for his 2010--11 season. "As two pro athletes in different sports we both understand what the other is doing and going through, and what it takes to do well," he said. "She's working hard. I'm working hard. It's good together." On Oct. 19, on the one-year anniversary of their meeting, Vujacic ensured their continued union with what he described as an "old school" proposal at his Manhattan Beach home. Now, he said, "we can focus on other things."
Died
While competing in the FINA Open Water 10-kilometer World Cup, a swimming race held Saturday near Dubai, 26-year-old Fran Crippen, a medal-winning member of the U.S. national team who in July placed fourth in the 10K and third in the 5K at the 2010 world championships in Quebec. Temperatures on Saturday had reached abnormally high levels for competition—roughly 87° in the water and 100° on land—and Crippen, who came from a swimming family (all three of his sisters swim or have swam for Division I schools) was said to have told his coach late in the race that he wasn't feeling well. When Crippen failed to finish, several competitors turned around to start a rescue effort, which concluded when deep-sea divers recovered his body near the final buoy on the triangular two-kilometer course. (Three other swimmers were hospitalized and later released with what were believed to have been heat-related issues.) Crippen's death, which was pronounced at Fujairah Hospital, marks the first fatality at a FINA event.
THEY SAID IT
DeAngelo Hall
Redskins cornerback, on his NFL-record-tying four-interception game against the Bears on Sunday:
"I had my mom, my aunt and my two cousins in the stands. The first ball went to my mom, the second ball went to my aunt and the next thing you knew, everybody had a ball."
Go Figure
3½
Increase in vertical-leap inches promised by the makers of the spring-based Concept 1 shoe, which was banned last week by the NBA.
4
Players on the Peruvian soccer team Hijos de Acosvinchos who collapsed last week, the result, the team claims, of a psychoactive drug placed in its sports drinks by an opponent.
7
People—three teammates and four fans—leaped over by 6'3" Pepperdine guard Keion Bell during a dunk at the Waves' Midnight Madness celebration.
11
Pistons fans who showed up last week when the team offered season tickets to anyone who could attend every one of its 41 home games.
$430,000
Asking price for a 2007 SLR 722 being sold by Michael Jordan, who put just 962 miles on the vehicle.
43
Yards gained by Browns punter Reggie Hodges—now Cleveland's third-leading rusher—on a fake punt against the Saints on Sunday, marking the longest gain in 65 years by a player who punted in the same game.
PHOTO
IAN KINGTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (ROONEY)
PHOTO
JOSH HEDGES/ZUFFA LLC/GETTY IMAGES (UFC)
PHOTO
DENNIS WIERZBICKI/US PRESSWIRE (HALL)
