Extra! Extra! If Makeover Mistress #NannyPathetic threatens to fine you for what ex-Speaker and J6 commando did at Oval Office, you can ignore phony politician (Did vile MS-13 gangster beheading Uber Eats driver in Florida and murderers of numerous U.S. females across the country have her "spark of divinity"?) and read news about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

A host of former hoopers from small Southern colleges - Fayetteville State NC (Jim Bibby), Morgan State MD (Joe Black), Morehouse GA (Donn Clendenon), Guilford NC (Rick Ferrell), Mississippi College (George Gill), Hampden-Sydney VA (Bobby Humphreys), Campbell NC (Jim Perry), Maryville College TN (Art Ruble), William Carey MS (John Stephenson), Nicholls State LA (Champ Summers) and Millsaps MS (Sammy Vick) - made MLB news on this date. Perry did it twice on this date by pitching 11 scoreless innings with two different American League teams. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 25 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 25

• RHP Jim Bibby (Fayetteville State NC backup basketball player and brother of UCLA All-American Henry Bibby) and Pittsburgh Pirates teammate Jim Winn tied a MLB record by combining to walk seven consecutive batters in the third inning of a 1983 game against the Atlanta Braves.

• RHP Joe Black (Morgan State hooper in mid-1940s) sold by the Cincinnati Reds to Philadelphia Phillies in 1957.

• New York Yankees LF Bob Cerv (ranked fourth on Nebraska's career scoring list in 1949-50 when finishing career) cracked a grand slam against the Baltimore Orioles in a 1956 game.

• Pittsburgh Pirates 1B Donn Clendenon (four-sport letterman with Morehouse GA) capped a streak of five multiple-hit games in succession with four safeties against the Chicago Cubs in a 1965 contest.

• Hall of Fame C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University hooper in early 1920s), after socking a third-inning homer for the Detroit Tigers against the New York Yankees in his final official at-bat, incurred a skull fracture in three places when beaned by a 3-1 pitch in the fifth in 1937. The player-manager never returned to active duty as a player. In 1950, Cochrane was named general manager of the Philadelphia Athletics.

• Washington Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (hooper for Mohawk Valley Community College NY in 2007-08) hurled a four-hit shutout against the Miami Marlins in 2019.

• In 1960, St. Louis Cardinals 1B George Crowe (four-year letterman from 1939-40 through 1942-43 for Indiana Central after becoming the first high school player named the state's "Mr. Basketball") clobbered a MLB career-record 11th pinch-hit homer.

• In 1928, St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California hoops letterman from 1922 through 1924) endured his only hitless contest in a 28-game span to early June.

• California Angels 2B Denny Doyle (averaged 2.7 ppg for Morehead State in 1962-63) delivered his fifth three-hit performance of the month in 1974.

• Boston Red Sox 1B Walt Dropo (Connecticut's first player ever to average 20 points for a season with 21.7 in 1942-43), en route to becoming 1950 A.L. Rookie of the Year, drove in six runs (four with grand slam) in a 15-12 verdict over the St. Louis Browns.

• Washington Senators C Rick Ferrell (forward for Guilford NC before graduating in 1928) stroked three doubles against the St. Louis Browns in a 1938 outing.

• St. Louis Cardinals RHP Bob Gibson (Creighton's leading scorer and rebounder in 1955-56 and 1956-57) hurled his third shutout of the month in 1969.

• Detroit Tigers RHP George Gill (Mississippi College hooper in early 1930s) posted his third straight complete-game victory in 1938.

• Detroit Tigers 1B Hank Greenberg (enrolled at NYU on hoops scholarship in 1929 but attended college only one semester) went 4-for-4, including two homers, against the New York Yankees in a 1938 game.

• Los Angeles Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (hooper for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) homered twice off the San Francisco Giants' Mike McCormick in a 1959 contest.

• Washington Senators RHP Bobby Humphreys (four-year hoops letterman graduated from Hampden-Sydney VA in 1958) had his streak of eight straight scoreless relief appearances come to an end in 1969.

• 2B Davey Lopes (NAIA All-District 15 selection for Iowa Wesleyan averaged 16.9 ppg as freshman in 1964-65 and 12.1 ppg as sophomore in 1965-66 before transferring with his coach to Washburn KS where he was All-CIC choice for 1968 NAIA Tournament team) lashed the last of seven homers for the Los Angeles Dodgers on a 3-0 delivery in a 17-6 whipping of the Cincinnati Reds in 1979. In Lopes' next at-bat, he was decked on four straight pitches, precipitating a brawl. Six years earlier as a rookie, Lopes notched his eighth multiple-hit contest in a 10-game span in 1973.

• Chicago White Sox RHP Ted Lyons (two-time All-SWC first-team selection for Baylor in early 1920s) notched his sixth consecutive complete-game victory during the month in 1930.

• St. Louis Cardinals rookie CF Wally Moon (averaged 4.3 ppg with Texas A&M in 1948-49 and 1949-50) swiped four bases in a 9-4 decision over the Chicago Cubs in 1954.

• Detroit Tigers OF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) contributed five RBI against the Boston Red Sox in a 1967 outing.

• In midst of six straight winning starts, Cleveland Indians RHP Jim Perry (averaged more than 20 ppg in late 1950s for former juco Campbell) tossed an 11-inning shutout against the Washington Senators in 1960. Thirteen years later with the Detroit Tigers, he hurled 11 scoreless frames against the Oakland Athletics in 1973.

• New York Yankees 3B Red Rolfe (played hoops briefly with Dartmouth in 1927-28 and 1929-30) went 5-for-5 against the Detroit Tigers in a 1938 game.

• Detroit Tigers rookie LF Art Ruble (Maryville College TN hooper in early 1920s) registered a career-high three hits in 1927 outing against the Cleveland Indians.

• Boston Red Sox RHP Mike Smithson (teammate of Tennessee All-American Ernie Grunfeld averaged 1.9 ppg and 1.6 rpg under coach Ray Mears in 1974-75 and 1975-76) twirled a shutout against the Seattle Mariners in 1989.

• In 1971, California Angels C John Stephenson (scored 1,361 points for William Carey MS in early 1960s) hit safely in his first 15 games of the month until he was held hitless by the Oakland Athletics.

• OF Champ Summers (team-high scoring averages of 15.7 ppg for Nicholls State in 1964-65 and 22.5 ppg for SIUE in 1969-70) traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Detroit Tigers in 1979.

• New York Yankees rookie RF Sammy Vick (three-sport athlete for Millsaps MS) contributed three singles and scored three runs in a 6-5 setback against the St. Louis Browns in 1919.

Jenny Sock-it-to-me (a/k/a Psaki) lied about incident in her book, but at least we no longer have a president who gazes at his watch during a casket ceremony at Dover AFB. Too many gave all (not bail money for "righteous" rioters) as we contemplate honoring authentic heroes with the 81st anniversary of D-Day on the horizon. The fallen didn't have to worry about manipulation of waiting lists and receiving proper medical care from the VA because they didn't make it back home alive. Unless you're an inferiority-complex coward comparable to BSNBC up-tight host Chris Hayes hyperventilating while uncomfortable with calling fallen military "heroes", hoops aficionado/despicable NOKO despot Kim Jong Un, #NewYorkSlimes op-ed writer or presstitute-promoted #QueenofDenial #ShrillaryRotten telling lies in front of caskets at Dover and promoting Russian collusion hoax, a Memorial Day weekend generates sobering reminders of what is really important to our freedom. It's definitely not cancel culture. College basketball ultimate-sacrifice contributions are aplenty, magnified in first-class significance when compared to low-class Logan Act scheming by FBI/CIA/DOJ upper brass regarding General Michael Flynn. Who do you really believe the memorialized specifically and military in general would and do support more - pushy ex-President Trump or pussy press pestilence infested by jet-lagged #CNNSucks, "dynastic" dolts at MSNBC fawning over "Weissmann" Report, #Dimorats dumpster diving with fossil John Dean and weepy Obama #MessMedia manipulating lackey "dude" Ben Rhodes on election night?

While Baylor's football program became Animal House, the school's basketball roster developed a reputation the previous decade for having some "soft" players who played with the fervor of a man holding his female companion's purse at the mall much of a shopping excursion afternoon. But Baylor is believed to be the only non-service academy in America to have two former athletes go on to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. Both men, Jack Lummus and John "Killer" Kane, earned the nation's highest military honor for heroics in World War II. Lummus played football, basketball and baseball for the Bears from 1938 through 1941. He was an All-Southwest Conference center fielder before signing with the NFL's New York Giants.

After one year of pro football, Lummus joined the U.S. Marines and was a platoon leader in the initial days of fighting on Iwo Jima. While leading a charge on enemy positions, Lummus stepped on a land mine and lost both legs. Despite heavy bleeding, he led his platoon to knock out several pockets of Japanese fire, a vital part of the U.S. victory. Alas, Lummus died of his wounds shortly after the battle.

Kane, who also played football and basketball, was one of the survivors on Baylor's ill-fated 1927 basketball squad that lost 10 of its 21-member traveling party in a bus-train wreck en route to Austin, Tex. As a result of the "Immortal Ten" tragedy, the remainder of the first of coach Ralph Wolf's 15 seasons was cancelled, and the first highway overpass in Texas was constructed.

Kane joined the Army Air Corps in 1932 and soon became a bomber commander of legendary proportions. It was said he was the best pilot and toughest commander in the Air Corps. It was often debated who feared him more - the Germans or his own men.

On August 1, 1943, Kane led what at the time was the deadliest air battle in history - a low-level, long-range bombing raid on Hitler's oil-refining complex in Rumania. The site produced a major portion of the Axis' fuel and was one of the most heavily-guarded locations in history.

Letting freedom ring on sacred line-of-duty ground, the heroism exhibited by ex-hoopers and their incredible stories don't stop there. Al Brown, Creighton's leading scorer in 1925-26, survived the infamous Bataan Death March in the Philippines. Another survivor of the Bataan Death March was Johnny Winterholler, an All-Mountain States Conference second-team selection for Wyoming in 1937-38. Winterholler was serving with 4th Marine Regiment in 1942 when Corregidor fell to the Japanese. He was captured and spent 34 months as a POW. A hematoma pressed against his spinal cord and caused paralysis from the waist down. The Colonel never walked again and was eventually freed in February of 1945. Wheelchair basketball got its start at hospital where he was a member of the Rolling Devils. Albert "Doc" Brown, Creighton hooper in the mid-1920s, was the oldest survivor of the death march (105) at the time of his passing in mid-August 2011. Fred Yeager, an Army letterman in 1940, was held in captivity for 3 1/2 years in five different POW camps after surviving death march.

A hooper-turned-famous airman was Captain James Angelo Verinis (played for Connecticut in early 1940s), the co-pilot of the legendary B-17 bomber "Memphis Belle" inspiring the making of two motion pictures. Maurice "Footsie" Britt, a basketball letterman with Arkansas in 1939 although known more for football, became first recipient of the top three combat decorations in a single war (WWII) after taking part in the African, Sicilian and Italian campaigns. Britt was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor after suffering numerous wounds, including one causing his right arm to be amputated. In an intense fire fight, Britt personally killed five and wounded an unknown number of Germans, wiped out one enemy machine gun crew, fired five clips of carbine and an undetermined amount of M1 rifle ammunition plus threw 32 fragmentation grenades.

Additional multi-sport athletes of note were North Carolina State's Eddie Berlinski and Georgia's George Poschner. Berlinski, a basketball letterman in 1936 and 1937 who made a daring escape with four dozen imprisoned U.S. Army officers from a German POW camp in early January 1945, braving frozen terrain and gunfire to make their way from infamous Oflag 64 for commissioned officers. Discharged with the rank of major, Berlinski had been at the camp in Poland more than two years following his capture in Tunisia. Poschner, a standout wide receiver who played hoops in 1941 and 1942, received Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Distinguished Service Cross. In early January 1945, Poschner participated as a lieutenant in the Battle of the Bulge. While advancing into enemy territory, he was severely injured by machine-gun fire and did not receive medical treatment until two days later. Poschner lost both legs and several fingers as a result of his injuries. Elsewhere, several 1945-46 hoopers (Dayton's Jim Herbig Sr., Duke's John "Bubber" Seward and Villanova's Robert "Maje" McDonnell) exhibited uncommon valor. Herbig was the only survivor on B-17 bomber "Stardust" shot down over Germany. Army Air Corps gunner walked 600 miles as POW in "The Black Death March" for three months in the middle of winter. Seward, an All-Southern Conference first-team selection in 1942-43, survived 80 consecutive days of combat on the Western front followed by 71 days of captivity for Army corporal in a German POW camp. McDonnell, a 5-6 starter after his college career under coach Alex Severance was interrupted by serving in U.S. Army, earned a Bronze Star by stabilizing a couple of wounded soldier at Omaha Beach landing on D-Day before receiving a Purple Heart after struck over an eye by shrapnel in Germany. Another Nova Bronze Star recipient at Omaha Beach was 1935-36 starter Charles Noonan, a First Lieutenant in the famed "Stonewall Brigade" leading the assault. Jack Reichenbach, a three-year letterman for Penn State from 1936 through 1938, was a squadron commander with 32 successful missions under his belt on February 7, 1945, when copilot and his crew were captured near Vienna after bailing out of crippled B-25 Liberator and brought to POW camp Stalag VIIA. Lucius "William" McClellan played for Miami (Fla.) in 1948-49 after gunner in B-24 Liberator was shot down in February 1944 and becoming a POW at Stalag XVII in Austria only one month following his older brother getting shot down and killed. Hal Beal played for Wichita after he became a POW when his B24 crew made an emergency landing.

We remember their service because freedom isn't free. Glenn Wilson, captain of Dartmouth's 18-7 team in 1954-55 when averaging around 11 ppg for the third straight season, joined the Air Force, where he served as a fighter pilot and flight instructor during the Cold War and Vietnam War. Wilson was shot down over North Vietnam and taken prisoner in early August 1967. As a POW, Major spent 2,047 days in captivity and was tortured for his role in a failed escape from Hanoi Hilton until his release in early March 1973 as part of Operation Homecoming. Similarly, Carl Crumpler, a forward who scored 91 points for Alabama in 1947-48, was on his 45th combat mission in USAF on July 5, 1968, when forced to eject over North Vietnam and spent the next 1,714 days as POW in the Hanoi Hilton. More recently, Eric "Nasty Zasty" Zastoupil (2.5 ppg and 1.7 rpg for Army from 2006-07 through 2009-10) was on foot patrol in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in mid-August 2012 when an IED explosion blew off lower half of First Lieutenant's left leg.

A well-timed case of appendicitis may have spared life of Purdue All-American and eventual UCLA Hall of Fame coach John Wooden. Surgery had him deemed sufficiently unhealthy to where he wasn't deployed as planned in January 1945 aboard the USS Franklin on a Naval mission in the South Pacific where it endured a deadly siege from Japanese dive bombers in the Battle of Okinawa. More than 800 sailors died and nearly 500 were wounded for the highest casualty count by a U.S. fleet carrier surviving WWII.

Despite not serving in military, All-Americans weren't exempt from the horrors of war. Tennessee's Ernie Grunfeld, a Romanian-born Jewish child of Holocaust survivors, never saw his father's parents because they were murdered in Auschwitz and West Virginia's Jerry West was 12 when his brother, David, was killed during the Korean Conflict.

Two players from Gettysburg College PA team in 1964-65 - Bob Morris and Chuck Richardson - perished in plane crashes during the Vietnam War. Amid bugle playing "Taps" in the background and issuing kudos to research by baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com, All-Americans Bill Menke (Indiana), Milky Phelps (San Diego State) and Wayne Sparks (Carleton MN) plus a striking number of all-conference hoopers are among the following alphabetical list of "Greatest Generation" ex-players warranting we-regret-to-inform-you salutes during Memorial Day weekend as "basketball band of brothers" making the supreme sacrifice:

• Kentucky players who competed multiple years for the Wildcats before they were killed during WWII included Mel Brewer (Army Second Lieutenant/died in France), Ken England (Army Captain of ski troop/Italy), James Goforth (Marine First Lieutenant/Marshall Islands) and Jim King (Army Second Lieutenant and co-pilot/Germany). Brewer, England and King were three of the top seven scorers for UK's first NCAA Tournament and Final Four team in 1942.

• Bart Avery, an Alabama letterman in 1942 and 1943, was killed in action on April 6, 1945, as a newly-promoted Captain aiding final push against the Germans.

• Dennis Bagley, a New Jersey native who emerged as top player for Belmont Abbey NC during second half of the 1960s, became a U.S. Marine who died in 1969 in an ammunition dump explosion in Quang Nam during the Vietnam War.

• Gene Berger, a Syracuse letterman from 1939-40 through 1941-42, died in late summer 1961 during flight maneuvers in the Pacific after taking off in AD6 Skyraider plane from the USS Lexington aircraft carrier. WWII vet was a Commander in the U.S. Navy and a Naval aviator.

• Walt Bernson, who averaged 3.3 ppg and 2 rpg for Columbia from 1957-58 through 1959-60, was an Army Private when he died at Fort Sill, Okla., in late September 1962.

• Colonel Shelton Biles Jr., a Vanderbilt hoops letterman in 1944 before transferring to Army to concentrate on football, was presiding over a court martial board in Germany in late July 2004 when he died of a heart attack.

• James Blanning, an Army hoops letterman in 1930 and 1931, was taken prisoner by the Japanese when Bataan fell. While on his third different POW "hell ship," the Major succumbed to exposure and starvation and was given up to the sea in late January 1945.

• Alan Bobrow, who played with Temple in 1938, was a First Lieutenant killed in action in early February 1943 when Air Force pilot's B-17 was damaged during bombing run and crashed in North Sea on return flight.

• Herb Bonn, a standout for Duquesne teams combining for a 32-4 record in 1935-36 and 1936-37, was a Navy fighter pilot conducting night navigation operation off Hawaii on April 7, 1943, when Lieutenant's B-24 Liberator aircraft crashed into the South Pacific Ocean (all 10 on board presumed dead).

• Thomas Boydston, Army's top scorer with 11.9 ppg as a senior in 1949-50, was killed in action during Korean Conflict while serving with Company A of the 70th Tank Battalion on April 26, 1951. First Lieutenant's tank was struck by several bazooka rounds and a fragment hit him in the back of the head.

• Bill Brehany, a football standout for Virginia Military who averaged 2.7 ppg for basketball squad from 1949-50 through 1951-52, was killed instantly in mid-year 1960 at the age of 29 in a collision between his foreign sports car and a gasoline transport truck near Air Force Captain's base in North Dakota.

• Dr. Ben Bronstein, New Hampshire's senior captain in 1936, was a Lieutenant in Medical Corps on February 28, 1942, when falling victim to a Nazi submarine sinking the destroyer Jacob Jones off Cape May, N.J.

• Don Brown, Student Body President/son of famed comedian Joe E. Brown/guard for UCLA (class of '40), died in October 1942 when Army Air Corps captain's plane crashed near Palm Springs during a training exercise.

• Frank Bryski, an All-SWC first-team selection for Baylor in 1939-40, was a Lieutenant who served in African, Sicilian and Italian campaigns prior to being killed in action in Italy on November 6, 1943.

• Archie Buckley, letterman from 1928 to 1930 as a Washington State forward, was a Lieutenant in charge of physical conditioning of Navy pilots aboard the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier on February 21, 1945, when he was among 123 crew members dead or missing after five Kamikaze bomb hits.

• John Burke, who played briefly for Georgetown in 1937-38, was a Lieutenant on May 8, 1943, when killed by friendly fire in a skirmish with Axis forces only two weeks before conclusion of the Tunisia campaign.

• Young Bussey, a letterman for Louisiana State in the late 1930s, participated in numerous landing assaults in the South Pacific during WWII before dying as head beach-master in early January 1945 during invasion of Lingayen Gulf to liberate The Philippines from Japanese occupation. His landing craft took a direct hit from mortar while storming the beach. After reportedly having his left arm blown off, he was last seen signaling with his right arm for his men to take cover.

• Robinson "Bob" Butler, a Texas letterman in 1936, was Navy fighter pilot on May 10, 1944, when he died. Stationed aboard an aircraft carrier in Hawaii, Lieutenant had been on sea duty about a month.

• Bob "Ace" Calkins, UCLA's top scorer in the late 1930s before Jackie Robinson arrived, was navigator on B-17 airplane ("The Flying Fortress") gunned down during WWII. He later died in an Italian prison camp from wounds suffered in the crash.

• Captain Ken Cameron, who averaged 2 ppg for California in 1948-49 and 1949-50, was a Prisoner of War for more than 1,230 days after Navy pilot was shot down in mid-May 1967. He was tortured so severely with ropes and beatings his fellow POWs reported when they returned home that Cameron was in extremely poor physical and mental health. In solitary confinement a great deal of the time, he refused to eat more than a minimum of food so the North Vietnamese wouldn't force him to appear in propaganda films or meet antiwar delegations due to his appearance. He passed away in Hanoi in early October of 1970.

• John Campbell, a four-year hooper for Dickinson PA, was a Second Lieutenant who failed to return from Army Air Corps sea sweep mission off northeastern Tunisia in late March 1943.

• Jindrich "Henry" Chovanec, a Texas letterman from 1936 through 1938, was bomber pilot who died in late April 1943 when First Lieutenant tried to fly a battle-damaged plane that fell apart while starting to climb into sky for another WWII mission in New Guinea.

• John Christenbury, who compiled a 25-15 coaching record for East Carolina from 1940-41 to early 1942-43, was a Navy Lieutenant on July 17, 1944, when killed along with 319 others after munitions exploded during the loading of an ammunition ship at Port Chicago, Calif.

• Edward Christl Jr., a center and Army team captain for the Cadets' unbeaten squad in 1944 (15-0), was a First Lieutenant during WWII the next year when he was killed in action in Austria in early May three days before the Germans surrendered. Artillery forward observer heroically volunteered to lead an infantry squad against fierce resistance from SS troops. Army's arena is named after him.

• Basil "Buzz" Ciriello, who averaged 5 ppg for George Washington in the mid-1950s and was a member of 1954 NCAA tourney team, became an Air Force Major. Navigator was on transport plane of military personnel traveling from Saigon to Hong Kong for R&R during Vietnam War on October 21, 1968, when pilot declared an emergency before crashing into a mountainside.

• Frank Cleary Jr., a reserve forward for Georgetown in 1941-42, was a Marine Corps Lieutenant on June 16, 1944, when killed in action during the initial days of the Battle of Saipan.

• Richard "Stretch" Clinite, who played for Navy in the late 1940s under coach Ben Carnevale, was killed in action on May 13, 1953, when his F9F-5 Panther was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery over Wonsan Harbor, Korea.

• Abe Cohen (Lafayette/class of '33) was an Army Private killed in action on October 22, 1944, in Germany.

• Bill Coleman, a Georgia Tech letterman in 1909, was in the Army in 1918 when he perished in plane crash in France during WWI.

• Joe Comer, captain of George Washington's 1940-41 squad compiling an 18-4 record under coach Bill Reinhart, was an Army Lieutenant two years later when he died in a military plane crash.

• Thomas "Dale" Crow, Toledo's captain in 1937-38, was a Navy Lieutenant fighter pilot reported missing in the Pacific in fall of 1943 and ultimately declared dead (lost at sea).

• Andy Curlee, Auburn's captain in late 1930s, died on April 6, 1943, when the First Lieutenant was leading his squadron in Tunisia.

• All-PCC second-team selection Bill Dahlke, Washington State's captain and runner-up in scoring for team winning 1937 Northern Division playoff, died on March 18, 1945, near the Rhine River. F-Company Captain was killed instantly by a panzerfaust rocket while interrogating a German prisoner with an interpreter.

• Francis "Reds" Daly, a Georgetown letterman from 1938 through 1940, served as a Major in U.S. Marines and as battalion commander was killed in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 22, 1945.

• Frederic "Fritz" Davis, who averaged 3 ppg for Navy from 1949-50 through 1951-52, was a Second Lieutenant in mid-January 1953, when he died in a plane crash during flight training near San Angelo, Tex.

• George Davison, a Washington State letterman in 1943, was a Second Lieutenant on March 18, 1945, when he was killed in action while his infantry regiment was attacking German Siegfried Line positions south of Zweibrucken.

• Jack Dean, a starting forward as freshman for DePaul's 1944 NIT runner-up was assigned to the ill-fated USS Indianapolis, which was sunk by a Japanese submarine and suffered the greatest single loss of life at sea in history of U.S. Navy. Out of 1,196 men on board, almost 300 went down with the vessel in late July 1945. The remaining 900 or so men were left floating in shark-infested waters with no lifeboats and most with no food or water. Dean reportedly survived for about 2 1/2 days in the ocean before succumbing.

• Henry Dehnert Jr., a player for Columbia in 1943-44, was a Private First Class when killed in action on February 23, 1945, while establishing a bridgehead near Linnich, Germany, Ruhr River.

• Colorado A&M's Lewis "Dude" Dent, a two-year hooper voted the best all-around athlete in the Mountain States Conference in 1943, was an Army Lieutenant among forward observers giving firing coordinates on the radio when killed in action in France in August 1944.

• Staff Sgt. Al Dente, who played for Seton Hall's 16-2 team in 1942-43, flew 31 missions with the U.S. Air Force (332nd Bomber Squadron/94th Bomber Division) over Germany before he was shot down and killed on November 4, 1944.

• Edward Drake, who played for Rutgers in 1929-30, died on December 21, 1943, in a plane crash over the Mediterranean Sea shortly after his promotion to Major. He served with the Intelligence Division of the Army Air Forces for 16 months in North Africa.

• Herman "Chuck" Drizen, a two-year starter for Villanova in the early 1940s, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by Barack Obama in 2014. The Second Lieutenant in the Second Battalion/Company E" was among the first wave of Marines landing at Iwo Jima in late February 1945. Leader of an attacking platoon of 13, cut off from their unit, advanced about a 1/4 mile into enemy territory, destroying three tanks and killing an estimated dozen Japanese soldiers while suffering only one casualty. He died during the dreaded battle the next month on March 6.

• Bob Duffey, a backup swingman for Georgetown's 1943 NCAA Tournament runner-up, was a Sergeant killed in action on November 13, 1944, in European theater combat (Hurtgen Forest). Teammate Lloyd Potolicchio, who matched DePaul legend George Mikan's 11-point output in the 1943 national semifinals when the Hoyas eliminated the Blue Demons before bowing to Wyoming in title tilt, joined the Air Force. Potolicchio was boom operator Master Sergeant when killed in a refueling mission on January 17, 1966, in a B-52 crash off the coast of southern Spain. His KC-135 tanker was completely destroyed when its fuel load ignited, resulting in the B-52G breaking apart with B28RI hydrogen weapons falling to earth and plutonium contamination occurring near the fishing village of Palomares. In March 2009, Time magazine identified the Palomares accident as one of the world's "worst nuclear disasters."

• John Ebnet, a Navy letterman in 1940-41, was a Lieutenant Commander on June 29, 1951, when he died along with seven other fliers after a twin-engine patrol bomber crashed into the ocean shortly after takeoff in Key West, Fla.

• Pete Edmond, Texas letterman from 1913 to 1916, died on October 11, 1918, charging a German machine-gun position in the Battle of the Argonne Forest, one of the bloodiest campaigns in the history of American warfare.

• Troy Eggleston, who played for Oklahoma A&M in 1942-43 under coach Hank Iba, was a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. He was the last pilot of the 82nd Fighter Squadron to be killed in action when attacked by two enemy fighters and dying on November 26, 1944, on a bomber escort mission in Germany. His brother, Lonnie, an All-Missouri Valley Conference first-team selection in 1941-42, was a B-17 bomber pilot in the Pacific Theatre.

• Second Lieutenant John Eggleton (Alfred NY) was an Army platoon leader on December 11, 1942, when he died while engaging German tanks and artillery on road outside Tunis in North Africa.

• Roy Engelbretson, a Creighton letterman in the late 1930s, died from wounds in Belgium in late January 1945. He had just been promoted to Army Captain.

• Charles "Herb" Fash averaged 7.2 ppg for Saint Louis from 1933-34 through 1935-36 before 1B played six years as a farmhand with the St. Louis Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers. On January 21, 1945, the Lieutenant was one of 52 sailors killed when a torpedo bomber, returning from a South Pacific sortie, made a routine landing on the USS Hancock, taxied and disintegrated in an explosion as one of its 500-pound bombs detonated on the aircraft carrier.

• James "Aubrey" Faust (Wofford class of '43), an Army Second Lieutenant, was believed to be leading a patrol in Normandy on July 8, 1944, when killed in action.

• Pecos Finley, an All-Border Conference first-team selection in 1937-38 as New Mexico A&M's top scorer for team undefeated in league competition before participating in 1939 NIT, died in Japanese POW camp in 1942 following Bataan Death March.

• Alexander "Pat" Finnegan Jr., who averaged 1.8 ppg for Georgetown during WWI-shortened 1917-18 season, was a Second Lieutenant on October 2, 1918, when he passed away in Philadelphia during an influenza pandemic. He had been assigned as an instructor to Temple University.

• Bob Fischer, letterman in 1941 and 1942 as a Notre Dame guard, was serving with an Army squadron on November 17, 1944, when he was killed while bailing out of his fighter plane as it went down in flames over Italy.

• Ben Ford, a center who scored team-high 14 points in 1941-42 opener to help East Stroudsburg (Pa.) snap Seton Hall's 41-game regular-season winning streak, was killed in action on January 25, 1944.

• Howard French, a Rhode Island lettermen in the late 1930s and early 1940s under coach Frank Keaney, was an Army Air Corps First Lieutenant at the controls of a B-29 Superfortress on mission to destroy enemy targets in Japan on April 7, 1945, when he was struck by anti-aircraft fire and crashed, killing the entire crew.

• William Gamber, a hooper for Tri-State IN, was a pilot who died with three aspiring Army Air Corps fliers on November 18, 1942, on a routine training mission after leaving Mather Field in Sacramento. In 1947, it was determined their plane crashed hundreds of miles off course into 13,841-foot-high Mount Darwin in Kings Canyon National Park after a hiker initially discovered some of the wreckage on a glacier. Sixty-three years later, climbers discovered his body entombed in ice.

• Jay Gano Sr., who averaged 3.4 ppg for Idaho in 1947-48, was a 1st Lieutenant in 2nd Infantry when killed on October 10, 1951, on Heartbreak Ridge in North Korea.

• Bob Gary, captain for Washington & Lee VA, was a navigator on a routine training flight in early February 1944 when his bomber crashed Southeast of El Paso.

• Montana State's Cyrus Gatton, a pilot with the 11th Aero Squadron, was killed in action in Europe the first week in November 1918, a week before the Armistice was signed ending World War I.

• James Gillespie, Georgia letterman in 1939, served with the Navy Seabees when killed in action on Guam.

• John Goodrich, named outstanding all-around athlete in the class of 1940 for St. Lawrence NY, was a Naval patrol bomber pilot lost in action in 1944 over the English Channel.

• Joe Gordon, a captain for Denison (Ohio) in the late 1930s, was an Army Lieutenant in February of 1943 when he died at Camp Shelby in Mississippi.

• Eddie Grant, who played basketball for Harvard at the turn of the 20th Century before becoming an infielder for 10 years in the majors, died from shelling on October 5, 1918, in the Argonne Forest, France, during WWI while in charge of his battalion after his commanding officer was killed.

• Chester Granville, a Texas letterman from 1939 through 1941, enlisted in Army Air Corps in early February 1943. First Lieutenant fighter pilot died during a training flight in inclement weather over the English Isles while his squadron underwent a transition from P-38 aircraft to the P-51 types. Designated missing in action, his aircraft was never found.

• Ralph Greear, a football lineman who also played basketball with Texas in the early 1930s but didn't letter, was killed in action in late November 1944 when shot while leading his platoon in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest in southwest Germany near Belgium, which occurred over a span of three months and has been called the longest battle the U.S. Army was ever involved.

• John Guckeyson, a Maryland transfer who lettered with Army in 1941, died on a strafing mission on May 21, 1944, when Captain's P-51 Mustang fighter was shot down over Germany.

• Frank Haggerty, St. John's senior co-captain in 1939-40 who averaged 5 ppg in his three-year career under legendary coach Joe Lapchick, was a Second Lieutenant in Air Force. Haggerty was killed instantly on training mission in fall of 1942 when his Warhawk fighter plane crashed into the Catawba River in Charlotte area.

• Mason "Tex" Harris, a San Diego State letterman from 1938 through 1940, was killed in action in Germany on March 3, 1945. Serving in an armored division under General Patton, he was one of the valiant men holding out at Bastogne, France, when surrounded by the enemy.

• Homer L. Hazel, an Ole Miss hoops letterman in 1940 and 1942, died in 1942 as an Aviation Cadet in training accident in Pensacola, Fla. The son of former Rebels basketball and football coach Homer H. Hazel was their gridiron co-captain and All-SEC left guard in 1941.

• Frank Hebenstreit Jr., who played for Creighton in the early 1940s, was an Army Second Lieutenant in mid-August 1944 when he died in France. While pursuing retreating German tanks, he was struck by direct fire and sustained wounds proving fatal.

• Roger "Shorty" Hicks, who converted go-ahead free throw to help give West Virginia a 47-45 victory against Western Kentucky in 1942 NIT final, was a Lieutenant on November 10, 1944, when killed by mortar fire during a patrol in Europe as part of Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army. Mountaineer reserve teammate Don Raese, nephew of coach Dyke Raese, also perished while serving his country as a Lieutenant (Army Air Corps training crash in El Paso, Tex., on September 15, 1946).

• John "Frank" Hill, a Clemson letterman in 1942 and 1943, was an Army First Lieutenant killed in action in Germany on April 10, 1945. His division was isolated at a location deep in the enemy's rear.

• Warren Hindenlang, a Yale letterman in 1942, was a naval aviator who died in 1944 after co-pilot's PB4Y Liberator plane was shot down during an early August bombing raid. Held as a POW on Chichi Jim island, he was beheaded by Japanese forces following a kangaroo trial. No information was developed that he became one of those also cannibalized. Following the war, the Japanese commander was sentenced to death and subsequently hanged.

• Oren "Max" Hindman, Michigan State's top scorer in 1940-41, was killed in action in November 1945 while field artillery captain led his men into position in Germany.

• Henry "Red" Hinkley, a letterman for Southern Illinois from 1940-41 through 1942-43, was fighting with U.S. Army at an island near New Guinea, sought for its strategic location to refuel aircraft, when killed by machine gun fire on June 7, 1944.

• Brian Hodges (Wofford class of '38), an Army First Lieutenant, was on a Boeing B-25 Mitchell bomber on a return flight following an assessment of multiple bases in Burma on March 24, 1944, when the aircraft crashed into the jungle-covered hills with all passengers perishing in the accident.

• Glenn "Shorty" Hodges, a 5-4 hoops letterman for Georgia in the mid-1930s, died at sea from Japanese anti-aircraft fire in early June 1942 while serving as pilot of a carrier-based Navy torpedo plane attached to the U.S.S. Enterprise during the "Air Battle of Midway."

• Ernie Holbrook was a three-year letterman as Southern California forward and hero of 1935 PCC playoff series against Oregon State. He died in mid-December 1944 during opening salvos of the Ardennes offensive in Luxembourg during the Battle of the Bulge.

• Don Holleder, an All-American end for Army team leading the nation in total offense and averaged 9.3 ppg in 1954-55 before 6.8 ppg in 1955-56, was a Major during the Vietnam War in mid-October, 1967, when he was killed by a sniper's bullet in an ambush 40 miles from Saigon as he hurled himself into enemy fire attempting to rescue wounded comrades.

• Bob Holmes was a forward who helped guide Central Methodist MO to MCAU title in 1942-43. In the Marines invasion of Iwo Jima in mid-February 1945, he was mortally wounded while spraying the enemy with machine gun fire. Holmes subsequently was buried at sea.

• Eugene Huntemer, a Navy letterman in 1940-41 and 1941-42, was lost on morning of November 13, 1942, when USS Cushing got sunk by torpedo during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.

• Thomas P. Hunter, a three-year letterman who was a sophomore member of Kansas' 1940 runner-up, was killed in action against the Japanese on Guam, July 21, 1944, while fighting with the Ninth Marines as a First Lieutenant. Hunter was elected posthumously as captain of the Jayhawks' 1945-46 squad compiling a 19-2 record.

• Charles Hutchison III, Army's top scorer with 12.2 ppg in 1962-63, was a platoon leader attempting to rescue a wounded soldier on May 10, 1965, when Second Lieutenant took a round in the side of his head from a 50-caliber machine-gun position in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was a part of the allies putting down a rebel insurgency with strong Communist connections.

• John "Jack" Inglis, a standout for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (N.Y.), was a Navy Seaman in fall of 1918 when stricken with influenza and dying while on furlough.

• Robert Irwin, a Colorado A&M (now Colorado State) letterman in 1937 and 1938, was a submarine communications officer (Navy Lieutenant) lost in mid-October 1943 when the USS Dorad was sunk for inconclusive reasons near the Panama Canal during its maiden war patrol. Among the 52 U.S. subs sunk over the course of WWII, it was one of only two lost in the Atlantic Ocean.

• Daniel Iverson Jr., who played for Davidson in 1937 and 1938, was a decorated Marine pilot who earned a Silver Star when wounded at Guadacanal after also surviving the Battle of Midway. Major died as an instructor in operational dive bombing on January 22, 1944, in a training accident off the coast of Vero Beach. A student pilot flying a plane below him decided to climb and flew into the bottom of Iverson's aircraft resulting in an explosion.

• Dave Kanning, who averaged 3.4 ppg and 4 rpg for Navy in 1961-62 and 1962-63, was an instructor pilot aboard a T-34B on June 2, 1980, when killed in an aircraft accident near Fairhope, Ala.

• Harper Keeler Sr., who averaged 5.5 ppg and 5 rpg for Army in 1956-57, died in South Vietnam on January 30, 1969, when his RF-RC Phantom was shot down on a night low-level reconnaissance mission.

• Track star Jack Kelleher, who briefly played hoops for Washington State's 1941 NCAA Tournament runner-up, died in mid-September 1944 from wounds the Infantryman incurred in France in an assault of Germany's Siegfried Line.

• Glenn Elbert Kerns, a center for Fairmont State (W.V./class of '37), was a Private in 16th Infantry Regiment on November 19, 1944, when killed in action in Germany's Hurtgen Forest.

• Nile Kinnick, Iowa's Heisman Trophy winner as a quarterback-halfback in 1939, played basketball for the Hawkeyes during his sophomore year, averaging 6.1 ppg to finish as their second-leading scorer. After bypassing pro football to attend law school, he was killed in a plane crash on June 2, 1943, on a routine training flight from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington off the coast of Venezuela while serving in the Navy. Kinnick's body never was recovered after his attempt to land in the water following a serious oil leak.

• Fred Koss, a freshman player for Florida in 1964-65, died on July 7, 1972, when Weapons System Officer's F-4 Phantom jet was shot down as First Lieutenant returned from a bombing mission during the Vietnam War. His brother, Bill, averaged 2.8 ppg and 2.3 rpg with the Gators from 1962-63 through 1964-65 under coach Norm Sloan.

• Donald Kristufek, a multi-sport athlete for Doane College NE (class of '38), was a First Lieutenant fighter pilot in Army Air Corps when killed in combat in North Africa on March 23, 1943.

• Eugene Leger, a letterman for Maine from 1940 through 1942, was killed at Tinker Field in Oklahoma City on January 28, 1946, when fire swept the hangar where he was working on B-29's slated to photograph the Bikini tests.

• George Lenc, a four-year letterman for Augustana IL in the late 1930s, was completing cadet training as a bombardier and navigator in mid-November 1942 when his bomber crashed near Pasco, Wash.

• Felix Little, a player for Catawba NC in the late 1930s, was a Navy bomber pilot among nine crew and passengers who perished on December 18, 1944, when a port engine exploded and plane crashed while leaving runway in Brazil.

• Si Lobello, LIU's leading scorer for 1941 NIT titlist, served in the U.S. Army in the European Theater during WWII. He went missing during the Battle of the Bulge in early March 1945 and was later found to be killed in action.

• James Loenshal, a Dickinson PA hooper, was co-pilot on a mission to bomb an oil refinery near Vienna on February 7, 1945, when the Lieutenant in Army Air Force's aircraft disintegrated in mid-air upon receiving a direct hit from enemy anti-aircraft artillery.

• Tom Lombardo, a roster member of St. Louis' hoops squad in 1942 before transferring to Army where he was captain and QB of undefeated 1944 national football champion, was a First Lieutenant mortally wounded in combat on a hilltop in late September 1950 during the Korean Conflict.

• Walter "Whitey" Loos, an EIBC honorable mention selection as a Carnegie Tech PA center, died as a navigator in B-24 plane crash in Brazil in mid-January 1944 on the final leg of a journey to Europe.

• John Lucy, a Colgate letterman in 1939, was a Navy Lieutenant stationed in China in 1943 when crash landing and dying after his plane was damaged by enemy fire.

• Harry Martin, who played for Syracuse in 1916-17, was killed in 1923 when his plane crashed during takeoff at Kelly Field, Tex. Lieutenant and Army aviator served in the AEF in France during WWI.

• Neil Martin, an Arkansas letterman in the late 1930s, was a Flight Leader for 3rd Squadron "Hells Angels" killed in action in Burma on December 23, 1941. In the midst of large air battle, Martin's P-40B Tomahawk was believed to be shot down by a Japanese bomber gunner. He was the first "Tiger" to die in combat.

• Leslie Mathews, a standout for Southern Utah in 1941-42 when school was a junior college, served as a Corporal in New Guinea and the Philippines. B-24 radio operator died on March 26, 1945, when his plane crashed during a routine flight in bad weather.

• All 11 regulars on Pittsburgh's 1941 Final Four team participated in World War II and one of them, Harry Matthews, was killed in action.

• Bobby McClintoch Jr., a multi-sport athlete for Middle Tennessee State, was an Army Private First Class in 50th Engineer Battalion assigned to build an air base on Aleutian Island of Attu in an area believed to be secure in late May 1943 when surprised by Japanese night attack.

• John "Jack" McCormick, an all-conference selection for NAIA Tournament participant in early 1940s from Bemidji State (Minn.), died during a bombing mission in mid-February 1943 while co-piloting a B-24 over the English Channel when Lieutenant's plane burst into flames after another aircraft malfunctioned and struck him.

• Vince "Red" McDonald, a hooper with St. Bonaventure in 1940-41 and 1941-42 known more for his football prowess, was an Army First Lieutenant who died at Leyte Island in the Philippines in late 1944.

• Jesse "Jay" Mechem, an All-Border Conference honoree in 1932-33 for New Mexico A&M, was a Lieutenant Colonel who led a battalion of the 382nd Regiment of the 96th Infantry Division. Son of Las Cruces mayor was killed in combat during the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines in October of 1944.

• All-American center Bill Menke, the third-leading scorer for Indiana's 1940 NCAA champion who supplied a team-high 10 points in the Hoosiers' national semifinal victory over Duquesne, later became a Navy pilot and served in World War II. In January 1945, he was declared missing in action (and presumed dead) when he didn't return from a flight in the Caribbean.

• John Messina, a member of coach Frank Keaney's innovative fast-break system at Rhode Island State in the mid-1930s, was a First Lieutenant U.S. Army paratrooper when killed on July 13, 1943, during the invasion of Sicily.

• Joe Minsavage appeared in 12 games for Syracuse before joining the Navy. On June 19, 1943, he was aboard Liberty Ship Henry Knox in the Indian Ocean when torpedoed by a Japanese submarine while en route to Iran. He was lost at sea.

• Dick Montonati, a multiple-sport athlete for Ripon College WI, died in a crash of light observation plane in the fall of 1963 while a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

• Charlie Moran II, who lettered with Western Kentucky in 1942-43 under coach Ed Diddle, was a First Lieutenant in Army Air Force Corps. After credited with the first air-to-air victory in Korean Conflict 40 days earlier, his F-82G went down on August 27, 1950, near Sunchon, North Korea, on a night intruder mission.

• Bob Morris, who averaged 6.5 ppg for Gettysburg College PA in 1964-65 while leading the Bullets in free-throw shooting (87.5%), was killed in March of 1972 when U.S. Air Force captain's plane crashed in northeast Spain.

• Harry Mosher, who led Hartwick NY with 23.2 ppg in 1964-65, was a 2nd Lieutenant in U.S. Army in early February 1968 when killed in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive.

• Milan Mosny, Army's leading scorer with 12.9 ppg in 1948-49, was a Captain on night intercept training exercise flying T33 Jet Training Aircraft in Japan on January 6, 1955, when two planes collided at 25,000 feet. His body was found in Tokyo Bay the next morning.

• Jack Mulder, a member of Oregon State's PCC North Division titlists in 1940 and 1942 under coach Slats Gill, was a Lieutenant in mid-November 1944 when killed in action along the German border less than a week after his son's birth.

• Wayne "Gus" Nees, a Kansas letterman in the late 1930s under coach Phog Allen, died on May 18, 1943, on Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. Nees was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.

• Dick "Hook" Nein, who played for Navy in 1950-51, was a Lieutenant upon perishing on routine gunnery mission when his F86 crashed on November 8, 1954, as student pilot flew from Nellis AFB in Nevada.

• Fred Norton, who played hoops from 1915 through 1917 as Ohio State's first four-sport varsity letterman, was leader of the 27th "Eagle" Pursuit Squadron. First Lieutenant posthumously earned Distinguished Service Cross during WWI. In late July 1918, he absorbed two anti-aircraft rounds to the chest in a dogfight. Norton managed to land his Nieuport 8 behind Allied lines but it took two days for his fellow soldiers to transport him to the hospital, where he died from his wounds and complications from pneumonia.

• Army Air Force Lieutenant Ralph Nutter, who played for McNeese State's first basketball team when the Louisiana school was a junior college, died in a plane crash in June 1943.

• Joe O'Connell, Iona's top scorer as a freshman in 1941-42, was a Corporal in Army Air Corps on September 5, 1943, when killed in the South Pacific.

• Mortimer "Whitey" O'Connell Jr., who averaged from 2.5 ppg to 6.3 ppg for Rutgers from 1929-30 through 1931-32, died on March 15, 1945, in a hospital in France.

• Kenneth Omley, who averaged just over 2 ppg for Rutgers each season from 1938-39 through 1940-41, died on November 25, 1944, as a result of wounds the Major in Army Air Corps received in a plane crash while returning from London to his base at Ireland.

• Harry "Porky" O'Neill paced Gettysburg PA to two Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championships in the late 1930s and caught one game for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1939. After surviving the worst of the horrific fighting at Iwo Jima, the Marine first lieutenant was killed instantly on March 6, 1945, by a sniper's bullet piercing his throat and severing his spinal cord as he prepared to bed down on a starlit night. Gettysburg teammate Gerst Buyer, a First Lieutenant, had died on May 25, 1944, in Italy amid heavy Armored Division tank losses.

• First Lieutenant Jim O'Sullivan (Bates ME) was killed in action in the South Pacific on April 3, 1943, when Marine pilot crash landed at Guadalcanal after returning from a task force coverage mission.

• Captain Scott Pace, who played for Army in 2002-03, died in Afghanistan on June 6, 2012, when the helicopter he was piloting on patrol crashed after riddled by Taliban machine-gun fire.

• Carroll Bruton Parker, a Baylor letterman in 1944, was a seaman who was mortally wounded and died while being rushed to the hospital after Japanese conducted a single-bomber air raid in one of its desperate attempts to stop the American occupation of Leyte.

• Elroy Parker, a member of hoops squad for Benedictine College (Kan.) in 1941-42, served as an Air Cadet in the U.S. Naval Reserve before he was killed in the line of duty on May 2, 1944.

• Charles "Stubby" Pearson, captain of Dartmouth's 1942 national runner-up and valedictorian of his class the same year after earning All-EIBL first-team honors the previous season, was killed in action on March 30, 1945, while dive-bombing a Japanese ship off the Palau Islands. He reportedly was diving far below the pull-out altitude the U.S. Navy asked of its dive-bomber pilots. Pearson, who also served as captain of the school's football squad, was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

• Lovic "Clyde" Pennington Jr., a Clemson letterman in 1935 and 1936, was an Army First Lieutenant who died in a non-battle accident in North Africa on July 23, 1943.

• Four-sport letterman Tommy Peters, an All-Southern Conference first-team selection when leading league in scoring with 17.5 ppg for Davidson in 1942-43, died during WWII on April 9, 1945, while with the Seventh Army in Germany. Because communications were out, Lieutenant did not know of the company withdrawal to alternate positions. Covering his platoon, he delayed the enemy in their attack by his continuous small arms fire and innumerable grenades, accounting for an estimated 50 enemy casualties.

• San Diego State's Atwell Milton "Milky" Phelps, the NAIA Tournament's first bona fide standout when he sparked the Aztecs to the 1941 title after two runner-up finishes, gave his life for his country during WWII in the crash of a Navy torpedo bomber. He was in a training flight accident in November 1942 while preparing to become an Air Force pilot.

• Curtis Popham, Texas' co-captain in 1943, was killed on his 22nd birthday (January 13, 1945). Popham's B-17, on what was to be their final mission, was hit by flak at an altitude of approximately 28,500 feet and exploded over Worth, Germany.

• Les Powell, who averaged 11.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg for Utah State in 1965-66 and 1966-67, was a Corporal killed in action in Vietnam by a land mine in April 1969.

• Joseph Edward Quigley, a Benedictine College (Kan.) hooper the second half of the 1930s, served in U.S. Army Air Corps for just under two months before he was fatally injured in a training plane crash in Oklahoma on June 18, 1941.

• William Rapp Jr., a teammate of Stanford All-American Hank Luisetti in 1937-38, was a Navy commander on June 24, 1953, when he died at age of 37 from an accidental fall off 22-foot retaining wall in Long Beach. Rapp had survived being aboard the USS Nevada when battleship was bombed and sunk by Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor.

• Dale Brough Rex, a 6-7 center for Brigham Young in the early 1940s, was killed in action on December 18, 1944, while newly-promoted Sergeant served in the 5th Infantry in Europe. Three months earlier, he earned the Distinguished Service Cross after swimming across a 300-foot cold German river (Moselle) four times in order to help the wounded and weary during a retreat. "I'm glad I had the chance to do my shooting on the basketball court," Rex said. "I believe every athlete would rather win a varsity letter than all the medals the generals can pin on him." In a birthday letter to his grandmother from battlefield in France, he wrote: "Your efforts have not bee in vain. I pray my testimony may grow as the days go by, and that I will never do anything that will bring dishonor to my name."

• Charles Richardson, who averaged 4.2 ppg and 4.6 rpg for Gettysburg College PA from 1963-64 through 1965-66, was an Air Force First Lieutenant piloting a Cessna Super Skymaster that crashed in South Vietnam on October 8, 1968. He was with a psychological air unit using a light plane equipped with loudspeaker used to urge Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops to defect.

• Dick Rider, an All-CCAA honoree in 1940-41 and 1941-42 and defensive stopper on UC Santa Barbara's 1941 NAIA Tournament semifinalist, was killed in action during WWII. The Gauchos name their team MVP award after him.

• Robert Roach, a member of Omaha's squad before entering the military, was a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Forces in July 1945 when he died in the crash of his plane in Arizona, where he was an instructor.

• Jack Robbins, who played in 1947 NCAA Tournament with [Navy](schools/navy0 before scoring 153 points for the Midshipmen the next season under coach Ben Carnevale, died on January 16, 1969, as the result of a military aircraft crash near Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana. Lieutenant Colonel was on a Marine Corps reserve unit training flight.

• Foy Roberson Jr., a three-year letterman for North Carolina from 1938 through 1940, was killed in a collision at sea off the coast of San Diego on December 21, 1941, while Second Lieutenant in Army Air Corps piloted a military aircraft (squadron of twin-fuselage P-38s). Two planes collided and locked back-to-back when they tried to maneuver to get a closer look at what they thought might be a Japanese submarine.

• Jim Robertson was an All-Northwest Conference selection for Willamette OR in 1941-42. The Marine Corps airman's bomber, damaged by Japanese anti-aircraft fire during South Pacific mission (stronghold of Kavieng on island of New Ireland), overshot an island runway attempting landing in heavy rain and crashed into a lagoon shortly before midnight on April 20, 1944.

• Roy Robertson (Wofford class of '35), an Army Air Corps Second Lieutenant, died in a plane crash in 1941 when failing to pull out of a dive during target practice and crashing on beach near Wilmington, N.C. The accident occurred three days after he got married on Christmas Eve.

• Bob Ruge, Navy's captain in 1936-37, was a Marine Corps captain, held captive since May of 1942, when dying on October 24, 1944, as a Japanese ship on which 1,800 prisoners were being transported from the Philippines got sunk by an American submarine about 200 miles off the coast in South China sea.

• John Rundell, a Wisconsin letterman from 1938 through 1940, was an Army Staff Sergeant when killed in action in Germany's Hurtgen Forest in late November 1944.

• Bernie Rupinski, who played in the mid-1960s for King's College (Pa.), was a Navy Lieutenant. His F-4 Phantom plane was shot down over North Vietnam on June 16, 1968, on a combat air patrol mission over the Gulf of Tonkin.

• John Ruthenberg, who averaged 4.7 ppg as a sophomore for Seton Hall's undefeated team in 1939-40, was a Second Lieutenant pilot of B-24 bomber on August 22, 1944, when he died in crash in Hungary.

• Glenn Sanford, who enrolled at Hillsdale MI in the late 1930s, was an Army Second Lieutenant stationed in Oakland area in early November 1943 when his plane spiraled into the ocean on a routine patrol along the coast.

• James Scondras, a Holy Cross letterman in 1941 and 1942, was a First Lieutenant in Marine Corps when killed by Japanese mortar fire on February 25, 1945, during the Battle of Iwo Jima. His brother (David) was killed in action in France in November of 1944.

• Don Scott, who made a free throw for Ohio State's national runner-up in inaugural NCAA Tournament championship contest in 1939, died on October 1, 1943, when U.S. Army Air Forces captain's B-26 Marauder bomber crashed in England while in training after football All-American halfback already completed nine bombing missions during WWII.

• Bernie "Lavoice" Scudday, a juco recruit who lettered for Texas in 1942, was a First Lieutenant in Air Force on June 27, 1944, when killed after pilot's plane was hit by flak in the flight deck over France during a bombing run, went into a steep dive, crashed and exploded.

• Robert Searle, who played in 1947 NCAA Tournament with Navy before leading the Midshipmen in scoring the next season with 233 points under coach Ben Carnevale, was an Ensign on August 10, 1950, when dying in plane crash while simulating a carrier landing at Barin Field in Foley, Ala.

• Reedy Sears, Austin Peay State's top scorer in 1941-42, was on his 26th mission with Army Air Corps on October 17, 1944, when he died. After his aircraft was shot down over Cologne, Germany, he was killed by ground fire while either parachuting from disabled plane or trying to evade capture.

• Bert Selman, a Rice letterman from 1938-39 through 1940-41, was a First Lieutenant in Army when KIA during WWII.

• Walt Shaffer, a Navy letterman in 1938-39 and 1939-40, was a Lieutenant Commander lost in mid-November 1944 when USS Scamp was sunk, possibly by a Japanese surface craft or mine, south of Tokyo Bay.

• William Shatzer Jr., a four-sport athlete who specialized in football with North Central College (Ill.), was an ensign in a Navy bomber squadron in the spring of 1944 when reported missing on mission in the Pacific.

• Joseph "Ed" Shytle, who played in North Carolina's first-ever NCAA playoff game in 1941, was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was wounded at the Battle of Saipan and evacuated to the field hospital, where he died on July 8, 1944.

• Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, Syracuse's first African-American athlete in the late 1930s, became a fighter pilot in unit known as the Tuskegee Airmen. On May 9, 1943, Sidat-Singh was on a training run over Lake Huron when he radioed his engine was on fire. He ejected from the plane but, upon striking the water, Sidat-Singh's parachute pulled him down and caused drowning.

• Lieutenant General George Simler, who scored 29 points in 14 games as a Maryland freshman in 1940-41, was killed in a T-38 jet crash on takeoff at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas on September 9, 1972, shortly before he was to have been promoted to full general and assigned to head the Military Airlift Command at Scott AFB in Southern Illinois.

• Eber Simpson, who played for Army in 1941-42 and 1942-43, was the son of an Army Colonel who followed in his father's footsteps, serving in the Air Corps flying 102 missions and 193 sorties in the European Theater. Still in the service in mid-September 1946, test pilot was returning home to Eau Claire, Wis., on leave when his flight was grounded due to bad weather. Following a delay, the A-26 plane was cleared to depart but crashed into a forest near Fort Knox, Ky., shortly after takeoff, killing Captain Simpson and the five other soldiers on board.

• Stephen Slabak, a starting center for Niagara in the late 1930s under coach Taps Gallagher, was a Technician Fifth Grade with 87th Infantry Division on March 8, 1945, when killed after struck in the head by shrapnel from an artillery barrage while fighting through the famed Siegried Line in Germany.

• Carleton MN captain F. Wayne Sparks, a "Little All-American" forward in 1936-37, died in a bomber crash during WWII.

• Captain James Standish, who was on Connecticut's roster in 1932-33, died in spring of 1943 after Army Camp Operation in Oklahoma.

• Roger Stearns, a Maine letterman in 1940-41, was Second Lieutenant killed in action in Northern Italy on April 22, 1945.

• Len Supulski, a standout end who also played basketball for Dickinson PA, died in the crash of a B-17 bomber during a routine Army Air Corps training flight near Kearney, Neb., in late August 1943.

• Charles Taggart, who played in 39 games for Syracuse in the early 1930s, was in the Navy on board the USS Frederick C. Davis on April 24, 1945, when the destroyer escort was torpedoed by a German U-boat.

• Sgt. Brooks Taylor, a star hooper for Pacific (Ore.) from its class of '43, fell to a Japanese sniper in a fierce battle at Sanananda in the New Guinea jungle.

• Earle "Zeke" Terry, a New Mexico A&M letterman in 1944, was an Army Sergeant KIA in Czechoslovakia on April 26, 1945, just 11 days before WWII ended.

• Burton "Stretch" Thomson, a 6-6 letterman for Iowa State in 1936 and 1937, was an Army Captain in early 1942 when the Japanese captured Corregidor in the Philippines. In mid-May, he was bound after traitorous sergeant in his unit betrayed him to the enemy, taken to a remote area and executed. His remains were recovered in 1946.

• Herb Tompkins, a three-year letterman for San Diego State and member of 1941 NAIB national championship team, was a Navy Corps officer who died when jet aircraft exploded and crashed near Kerr, Tex., on October 25, 1953.

• Bill Torphy, a member of Indiana's "Hurryin' Hoosiers" 1940 NCAA Tournament titlist coached by Branch McCracken, was killed in action in the hedgerows of Normandy, France, in summer of 1944 during more than two months worth of battles ensuing after D-Day invasion. Torphy, a forgotten member of national kingpin because he didn't receive a spot on 12-man traveling team during the national playoffs, is the subject of a documentary Not Pictured.

• Ed Tuttle, a forward for Lenior-Rhyne NC, was an Air Cadet in the spring of 1942 when his plane collided head-on with another during training in Florida.

• Francis Wai, a juco transfer who played multiple sports including basketball for UCLA in the late 1930s, became the first American of Chinese descent to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military honor. On October 20, 1944, the Army captain commanded a group of trapped soldiers at Red Beach in Leyte, Philippine Islands. Repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire so troops could advance, Wai lost his life as the unit captured the last Japanese pillbox.

• Jimmy Walker was an All-SEC Tournament selection in 1934 and 1935 as an Alabama forward. While on duty as first lieutenant with the Navy, he was seriously wounded in an accident and died on December 22, 1943, in Brazil.

• William Ward, a Maine letterman in 1938-39, was taken prisoner with the fall of Bataan and died at Cabanatuan Prison Camp, Luzon, on July 20, 1942.

• Four-time All-MCAU forward Eugene "Peaches" Westover, class of '38 for Drury MO, was killed December 12, 1944, at the Battle of the Bulge while private first class served in Armored Division.

• Claude Whitney, an Indiana letterman in 1910 and 1911, was killed during World War I.

• W.C. Williams, a Clemson letterman in 1940, was an Army Air Corps Major who died while piloting personnel on a ferrying mission in a plane accident in Alaska's Aleutian Islands on August 29, 1944.

• Charles Wilson Jr., a Maine letterman from 1937-38 through 1939-40, was Commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Forces. Flying instructor was killed at Londonderry, N.H., on September 30, 1943.

• John Winzler, an All-Yankee Conference first-team selection for Connecticut in 1941-42, was a first lieutenant with the Marine Corps when wounded in the Battle of Iwo Jima. Doctors reportedly did not want him to return to battle, but he insisted on returning to Fifth Division before dying in action on March 3, 1945.

• Billy Wohn, a guard for Rice in 1952-53, died in a plane accident in August 1953 while on active duty in the Naval ROTC.

• Henry Woodward, a Clemson letterman from 1933 through 1935, was an Army Major killed in non-battle jeep accident on the Pennsylvania turnpike during maneuvers late in 1943.

• Daniel Woolcock Jr. (Lafayette/class of '44) was an Army First Lieutenant killed in action on January 13, 1945, in Belgium in the Battle of the Bulge.

• Gene Wright played for Georgia Tech in 1943-44 before he was called into the Navy between the regular season and SEC Tournament. He died months later on Utah Beach in the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.

• Oliver "Ott" Young, top scorer for Arkansas' freshman squad in 1941 before withdrawing from school in wake of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the next season when Razorbacks were SWC co-champions, died on February 3, 1945 on Luzon Island in the Philippines. Army Sergeant, a heavily-decorated combat veteran (two silver stars/bronze star/purple heart), was killed by machine-gun fire during an effort to secure a vital roadway.

• Gene "Little Zipper" Ziesel, who also played football for Creighton, was an Army First Lieutenant co-pilot on a bomber shot down from behind by a German plane at high altitude on January 11, 1943, over Italy. The B-24 became engulfed in flames and exploded before hitting the ground. Previously, he was interned in neutral Turkey after his plane was grounded there before escaping.

Numerous standout players had their college playing careers sidetracked by WWII. Following is a list of All-Americans who had their college days interrupted in the mid-1940s while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces:

Air Force - Charles Black (Kansas) and Jack Parkinson (Kentucky).

Army - Don Barksdale (UCLA), Lew Beck (Oregon State), A.L. Bennett (Oklahoma A&M), Gale Bishop (Washington State), Vince Boryla (Notre Dame/Denver), Harry Boykoff (St. John's), Bob Brannum (Kentucky), Arnie Ferrin (Utah), Alex Groza (Kentucky), Ralph Hamilton (Indiana), Walt Kirk (Illinois), Allie Paine (Oklahoma), Don Rehfeldt (Wisconsin), Jack Smiley (Illinois), Odie Spears (Western Kentucky) and Gerry Tucker (Oklahoma).

Marine Corps - Aud Brindley (Dartmouth), John Hargis (Texas), Mickey Marty (Loras), Andy Phillip (Illinois), Gene Rock (southern California) and Kenny Sailors (Wyoming).

Navy - Bobby Cook (Wisconsin), Howie Dallmar (Stanford/Penn), Dick Dickey (North Carolina State), Bob Faught (Notre Dame), Harold Gensichen (Western Michigan), Wyndol Gray (Bowling Green State), Hal Haskins (Hamline), Leo Klier (Notre Dame), Dick McGuire (St. John's) and John Oldham (Western Kentucky).

In an incredible achievement, Phillip and Tucker returned to first-team All-American status in 1946-47 after missing three seasons while serving in the military. Black and Sailors also returned to All-American acclaim after missing two seasons. Meanwhile, Whitey Skoog served in the U.S. Navy before becoming a three-time All-American with Minnesota in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Gus Broberg, an aviator with the Marines after being named an NCAA consensus first-team All-American for Dartmouth in 1940 and 1941, lost his right arm in a plane crash. He went on to study law and become a respected judge in Florida. Eventual Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas Maurice Britt was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor after suffering numerous wounds, including one causing his right arm to be amputated. In an intense fire fight during WWII, Britt personally killed five and wounded an unknown number of Germans, wiped out one enemy machine gun crew, fired five clips of carbine and an undetermined amount of M1 rifle ammunition plus threw 32 fragmentation grenades.

Fallen heroes also emerged post-WWII. Don Holleder, who averaged 9.3 ppg as a junior and 6.8 ppg as a senior for Army in the mid-1950s, was a major during the Vietnam War in October, 1967, when he was killed by a sniper's bullet in an ambush 40 miles from Saigon as he hurled himself into enemy fire attempting to rescue wounded comrades. Three months earlier, Don Steinbrunner, who averaged 3.9 ppg for Washington State in 1951-52 before playing with the NFL's Cleveland Browns, was an Air Force navigator shot down and killed over Vietnam.

Proud Americans honor and remember after they went from the playing field to battlefield! For instance, former Dayton standout Bucky Buckhorn had older brothers killed in WWII and the Korean War. That's why right-thinking Americans are disgusted when a Demonrat-controlled Senate several years ago had time for signing a letter encouraging the NFL to have the Washington Redskins change their "bigoted" nickname but wasn't "big" enough or sufficiently honorable to prevent stalling of a three-page veterans health bill. Perpetually-perplexing petty political parasites, transitioning from Tear Down This Wall to Tear Down This Stall, may forget their "sacred obligation" similar to previous POTUS' lame emphasis on climate change rather than military salutes at a Coast Guard ceremony. However, the remainder of us will be "Rolling Thunder" and not forget genuine heroes while tolerating kneeling knuckleheads/social scholars in the NFL, petty politicians (#SickWillie, #ShrillaryRotten, Schmucky Schumer, Speaker #NannyPathetic, #ShiftySackofSchiff, fake squaw Liz-lies-a-lotta War(whoop)ren, #AlBore, #DuhBlasio, Governor Half-Whitmer, avowed Odd Squad socialist Sandy "AOC" Eeyore, Know-Nothing "Biggest Loser" Urkel Nadler, et al), lame-stream #MessMedia misfits such as textbook "Meathead" Rob Reiner and humiliated heavyset Hollyweird heavyweight Harvey Swinestein plus putrid press like "hacked" Joy-less Reid and Behar more invested in denying #TheDonald any success than inching closer to world peace. If haggard Michael Moore is going to put his fine body on the line and God is on side of know-nothing nags #MadMaxine and wacky "Get Out of My Butt" Whoopi, then this view is we'd be in deep spit if not for supreme sacrifices made by authentic heroes honored during Memorial Day celebration. In the meantime, Plagiarist Biden's "not very good people" in his cover-up administration will have to decide whether to be castigated by self-righteous leftists for intentionally killing people by failing to don a mask and practice "socialism" distancing or be labeled a racist for not supporting walking-in-close-quarters protesters, donning a BLM T-shirt and defunding law enforcement.

Extra! Extra! If weary of listening to lamestream #MessMedia misfits whine about being duped by Plagiarist Biden's staff as they became replicas of Sgt. "I Know Nothing" Schultz, you can read news in your office about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Former college hoopers George Altman (Tennessee State), Bruce Bochte (Santa Clara), Bill Davis (Minnesota), Chubby Dean (Duke), Dick Gernert (Temple) and Gil Hodges (St. Joseph's IN/Oakland City IN) made news as MLB first basemen on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 22 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 22

• Chicago Cubs 1B George Altman (appeared in 1953 and 1954 NAIA Basketball Tournament with Tennessee State) swatted two homers in a 4-3 win against the Atlanta Braves in the nightcap of 1966 doubleheader.

• San Diego Padres RHP Andy Benes (joined Evansville's shorthanded basketball squad in 1985-86 under coach Jim Crews) tossed a three-hit shutout against the Chicago Cubs in 1992.

• Seattle Mariners 1B Bruce Bochte (starting forward for Santa Clara's NCAA playoff team in 1969-70) went 4-for-4 and chipped in with six RBI in a 12-11 win against the Kansas City Royals in 1979.

• 1B Bill Davis (averaged 12.5 ppg in 1963-64 for a Minnesota team including eventual NBA standouts Archie Clark and Lou Hudson) traded by the San Diego Padres to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1969.

• Philadelphia Athletics 1B Chubby Dean (reserve guard for Duke in 1936) smacked a game-tying homer with two outs in bottom of the ninth in eventual 10-9 win in 11 innings against the Chicago White Sox in 1937.

• 1B-LF Dick Gernert (Temple hoops letterman in 1948-49) was one of four Boston Red Sox players to wallop a homer in the sixth inning of an 11-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians in 1957.

• Baltimore Orioles RHP Dick Hall (averaged 13.5 ppg from 1948-49 through 1950-51 with Swarthmore PA Southern Division champions in Middle Atlantic States Conference) notched his fourth relief win of the month in 1964.

• San Francisco Giants C Tom Haller (backup forward for Illinois in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Harry Combes) banged out four hits against the Houston Astros in the opener of a 1965 doubleheader.

• Pittsburgh Pirates 3B Lee Handley (Bradley hoops letterman from 1932-33 through 1934-35) went 4-for-4 against the New York Giants in a 1939 game.

• Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (hooper for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) collected two homers and six RBI against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 1951 contest. Twelve years later, Hodges became manager of the Washington Senators in 1963 after his acquisition from the New York Mets for OF Jimmy Piersall.

• Los Angeles Dodgers rookie RF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection when leading Ohio State in scoring and rebounding in 1956-57 and 1957-58) contributed four hits against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1960 contest.

• 3B Jerry Lumpe (hooper for Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament championship team) notched the New York Yankees only hit (a single) in a 5-0 setback against knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm of the Baltimore Orioles in 1959. The next year as a Kansas City Athletics 2B in a 1960 outing, Lumpe launched two homers against his original team (Yankees).

• Chicago White Sox RHP Ted Lyons (two-time All-SWC first-team selection with Baylor in the early 1920s) beat the Washington Senators, 9-2, in 1938 for his 200th career victory.

• In 1965, Detroit Tigers rookie RF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) jacked his first MLB homer (off Hall of Famer Robin Roberts of Baltimore Orioles).

• Montreal Expos LF Curtis Pride (led William & Mary in steals three times and assists twice while averaging 5.6 ppg and 3.1 apg from 1986-87 through 1989-90) went 3-for-3 against the New York Mets in a 2001 contest.

• Chicago Cubs LF Dave Robertson (one of two reserves on North Carolina State's first basketball team in 1911) went 3-for-3 with five RBI in 1920 game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

• OF Art Ruble (Maryville College TN hooper in early 1920s) traded by the Cincinnati Reds to Oakland (PCL) in 1934.

• Baltimore Orioles RF Ken Singleton (Hofstra freshman hoops squad in mid-1960s) smacked a game-ending grand slam in the bottom of ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers in 1976.

• Utilityman Jimmy Stewart (All-Volunteer State Athletic Conference hoops selection for Austin Peay State in 1959-60 and 1960-61) purchased from the Chicago Cubs by the Chicago White Sox in 1967.

• Chicago White Sox DH Jim Thome (played junior-college hoops for Illinois Central in 1988-89) whacked a two-run double and three-run homer in 2007 game against the Oakland Athletics.

• Pittsburgh Pirates LHP Bob Veale (scored 1,160 points from 1955-56 through 1957-58 with Benedictine KS) tossed his second shutout of the month in 1966.

• Kansas City Royals RHP Chris Young (All-Ivy League first-team selection as Princeton's leading scorer and rebounder in 1999-00) won first four decisions and compiled 0.78 ERA through his first 10 outings of 2015 campaign.

Extra! Extra! Rather than watching #Dimorats scurry around trying to thwart any investigation of Plagiarist Biden coverup after his cancer diagnosis, you can read news about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Former Big Ten Conference basketball players Frank Howard (Ohio State) and Jerry Kindall (Minnesota) each hit two homers in an American League game on this date. Four ex-hoopers from Pennsylvania colleges - Glenn Beckert (Allegheny), Al Downing (Muhlenberg), Charlie Gelbert (Lebanon Valley) and Fritz Knothe (Penn) - plus three from Louisiana universities - Zeke Bonura (Loyola New Orleans), Alvin Dark (LSU) and Ed Morgan (Tulane) - also made MLB news on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 20 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 20

• Chicago Cubs 2B Glenn Beckert (three-year basketball letterman for Allegheny PA) stroked an inside-the-park HR in a 20-3 romp over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1967. RF Ted Savage (Lincoln MO scoring average leader in 1955-56) rounded out the Cubbies' scoring by stealing home in the seventh inning, prompting Dodgers P Don Drysdale to wave a white handkerchief of surrender.

• Pittsburgh Pirates LF Carson "Skeeter" Bigbee (Oregon hoops letterman in 1915) provided three extra-base hits among his four safeties against the New York Giants in a 1922 game.

• Chicago White Sox rookie 1B Zeke Bonura (best basketball forward for Loyola LA in late 1920s and early 1930s) belted two homers in his second consecutive contest in 1934, giving him 10 round-trippers in his first 25 outings.

• Philadelphia Athletics RHP Jack Coombs (captain and starting hoops center for Colby ME) went 4-for-4 with three RBI and scored three runs in 14-12 win against the Detroit Tigers en route to switch-hitter posting A.L.-leading 28 victories in 1911.

• SS Alvin Dark (hoops letterman for Louisiana State and Southwestern Louisiana during World War II) traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to Chicago Cubs in 1958.

• Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Al Downing (attended Muhlenberg PA on hoops scholarship but left before ever playing) tossed a two-hit shutout against the Houston Astros in 1972.

• Chicago White Sox C Carlton Fisk (runner-up in scoring with 13.7 ppg and top rebounder for New Hampshire's 1965-66 freshman squad) supplied four hits in a 6-5 triumph against the Toronto Blue Jays in 1981.

• St. Louis Cardinals SS Charlie Gelbert (scored at least 125 points each of last three seasons in late 1920s for Lebanon Valley PA) collected five RBI against the Chicago Cubs in a 1930 contest.

• Oakland Athletics rookie 3B Wayne Gross (Cal Poly Pomona hoops leader in assists in 1974-75) contributed five RBI against the Seattle Mariners in a 1977 outing.

• RHP Rich Hand (averaged 6.2 ppg for Puget Sound WA in 1967-68) traded by the Texas Rangers to the California Angels in 1973.

• Washington Senators LF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection when he led Ohio State in scoring and rebounding in 1956-57 and 1957-58) hammered two homers against the Baltimore Orioles in a 1967 game.

• Cleveland Indians 2B Jerry Kindall (averaged 6.9 ppg for Minnesota as junior in 1955-56) clubbed two homers against the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a 1962 doubleheader.

• Boston Braves rookie 3B Fritz Knothe (member of Penn's freshman hoops squad in 1923-24) stroked three doubles among his four hits in a 1932 game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

• Detroit Tigers LF Don Lund (Michigan hoops starter in 1943-44 and 1944-45) delivered four hits against the New York Yankees in a 1953 contest.

• St. Louis Cardinals RHP Lindy McDaniel (hooper for Oklahoma's 1954-55 freshman squad) tossed a shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1958.

• In the midst of a 14-game hitting streak, Cleveland Indians RF Ed Morgan (Tulane hoops letterman from 1923-24 through 1925-26) manufactured four RBI against the Chicago White Sox in the nightcap of a 1930 doubleheader.

• Chicago Cubs RHP Claude Passeau (Millsaps MS hooper in late 1920s and early 1930s) saw his record of 273 consecutive errorless chances come to an end in 1946. Four years earlier, Passeau homered for the second time in back-to-back starts in 1942.

• RHP Jim Perry (averaged more than 20 ppg in late 1950s for former juco Campbell) traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Oakland Athletics in 1975.

• Detroit Tigers LF Tony Phillips (New Mexico Military juco hooper in 1977-78 as teammate of eventual Drake All-American Lewis Lloyd) banged out four hits and scored four runs in a 10-4 triumph against the Milwaukee Brewers in 1994.

• RF Ted Tappe (leading scorer in 1949 NJCAA Tournament was Washington State's third-leading scorer following year), batting just before Hall of Famer Ernie Banks in the Chicago Cubs' lineup, ripped a homer in his second straight contest in 1955.

• C Birdie Tebbetts (Providence hooper in 1932) traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Boston Red Sox in 1947.

• Cleveland Indians 3B Jim Thome (played junior-college hoops for Illinois Central in 1988-89) whacked decisive three-run homer in top of eighth inning of 7-5 win against the Boston Red Sox in 1995.

• In the midst of seven straight seasons hurling more than 200 innings, Pittsburgh Pirates LHP Bob Veale (scored 1,160 points from 1955-56 through 1957-58 for Benedictine KS) won his first six decisions in 1967.

• Los Angeles Angels LF Leon Wagner (Tuskegee AL hooper in 1952-53) provided two homers and five RBI in a 1963 outing against the Cleveland Indians.

• Washington Senators RHP Monte Weaver (hoops center for Emory & Henry VA in mid-1920s) hurled a five-hit shutout against the Chicago White Sox in 1933.

• New York Giants rookie 1B Bill White (two-year Hiram OH hooper in early 1950s) went 5-for-7 in 1956 doubleheader sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. Three years later as member of Cards, White supplied three hits for the third time in a four-game span in 1959.

• In the midst of a career-high 20-game hitting streak, San Francisco Giants CF Randy Winn (Santa Clara backcourtmate of eventual two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash in 1993-94) registered his third three-hit outing in a span of six contests in 2007.

• Boston Braves 3B Chuck Workman (two-time All-MIAA first-five selection was leading hoops scorer in 1937 when Central Missouri won inaugural NAIA Tournament) contributed three hits in both ends of a 1945 doubleheader split against the Cincinnati Reds.

• Washington Senators 3B Eddie Yost (NYU freshman hooper in 1943-44 under coach Howard Cann) was issued at least one walk in his ninth consecutive contest in 1950 en route to A.L.-leading 141 bases on balls. Nine years later with the Detroit Tigers, Yost homered twice, scored three of his league-leading 115 runs and amassed six RBI in a 1959 game against the New York Yankees.

Extra! Extra! Instead of belly laughing at #Dimorat Congressional representative Dummy Crockett from TX amid accounts of Plagiarist Biledumb's bumbling and stumbling, criminality on nation's streets, out-of-control educational systems indoctrinating young children with all types of liberal lunacy including sexual/gender matters and illegal-alien support by #Dimorats, you should read news about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Former college hoopers Joe Adcock (Louisiana State), George Altman (Tennessee State), Dick Gernert (Temple), Don Lock (Wichita State) and Dave Winfield (Minnesota) each hit two homers in a MLB game on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 18 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 18

• In a 1958 game, Milwaukee Braves 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading basketball scorer in 1945-46) smacked two homers against his original team (Cincinnati Reds).

• Cincinnati Reds CF Ethan Allen (Cincinnati hoops letterman in 1924-25 and 1925-26) went 4-for-4 in a 7-6 win against the Brooklyn Robins in 1928.

• Chicago Cubs RF George Altman (hooper appeared in 1953 and 1954 NAIA Tournament with Tennessee State) provided two homers for the second time in three contests in 1962.

• OF Brant Alyea (Hofstra's leading scorer and rebounder in 1960-61 after being runner-up in both categories the previous season) traded by the Oakland Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1972.

• New York Yankees RHP Jim Beattie (Dartmouth's top rebounder in 1974-75 when selected team MVP and honorable mention All-Ivy League) hurled a four-hit shutout against the Boston Red Sox in 1979.

• Detroit Tigers 2B Frank Bolling (averaged 7.3 ppg for Spring Hill AL in 1950-51) scored five runs in a 14-2 victory against the Boston Red Sox in 1959.

• Detroit Tigers 1B Tony Clark (San Diego State's leading scorer in WAC games in 1991-92) stroked four hits against the Kansas City Royals in a 1997 outing.

• Boston Red Sox RHP Gene Conley (All-Pacific Coast Conference first-team selection led the North Division in scoring as Washington State sophomore in 1949-50) tossed a four-hit shutout against the Detroit Tigers in 1961.

• Philadelphia Athletics 1B Chubby Dean (reserve guard for Duke in 1936) ripped a game-winning, three-run homer in bottom of the eighth inning in 8-7 win against the Detroit Tigers in 1937. Five years later as a LHP, Dean won his first three appearances of the 1942 season with the Cleveland Indians.

• In 1985, Detroit Tigers 1B Darrell Evans (member of Jerry Tarkanian-coached Pasadena City CA club winning 1967 state community college crown) homered in his fourth consecutive contest, going 4-for-4 for the second time in that span.

• OF Hoot Evers (hoops starter for Illinois in 1939-40) awarded on waivers from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Giants in 1954.

• Chicago White Sox RHP Eddie Fisher (played for Oklahoma's 1954-55 freshman squad) posted his sixth save in as many relief appearances in a seven-day span in 1965.

• Boston Red Sox 1B Dick Gernert (Temple letterman in 1948-49 swatted two homers in an 8-4 win against the Baltimore Orioles in 1958.

• Philadelphia Phillies 1B Harvey Hendrick (Vanderbilt hoops letterman in 1918) went 4-for-4 for the second time in a five-game span in 1934. Five years earlier in the midst of a career-high 25-game hitting streak for the Brooklyn Robins, Hendrick homered in back-to-back contests against the Phillies in 1929.

• San Francisco Giants LHP Bill Henry (hoops letterman for Houston's 1947 NAIA Tournament team featuring co-captain Guy Lewis) allowed his only earned run in first 17 relief appearances of 1966 season.

• Washington Senators LF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection when All-American led Ohio State in scoring and rebounding in 1956-57 and 1957-58) tied an A.L. record with a homer in six consecutive contests in 1968.

• New York Giants OF Monte Irvin (Lincoln PA hooper for 1 1/2 years in late 1930s) clobbered a grand slam in rain-shortened, 10-4 triumph over the Chicago Cubs in 1950.

• Chicago White Sox RHP Bart Johnson (averaged 30.5 ppg for Brigham Young's freshman squad in 1967-68) hurled a three-hit shutout against the California Angels in 1976.

• New York Yankees LF Charlie Keller (three-year hoops letterman with Maryland from 1934-35 through 1936-37) contributed three extra-base hits against the St. Louis Browns in a 1948 outing.

• Chicago Cubs SS Don Kessinger (three-time All-SEC selection for Mississippi from 1961-62 through 1963-64 collected four hits and scored four runs in a 1970 game against the Cincinnati Reds.

• Washington Senators CF Don Lock (led Wichita State in field-goal percentage in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Ralph Miller) smashed back-to-back homers against the Detroit Tigers in a 1964 contest.

• LF Jerry Martin (1971 Southern Conference MVP after he was Furman's runner-up in scoring the previous season), pinch-hitting for Richie Hebner, slapped a game-winning, three-run homer for the Philadelphia Phillies in 8-5 victory against the Houston Astros in 1978.

• Chicago Cubs RF Bill Nicholson (Washington College MD hoops guard for two years in mid-1930s) amassed five RBI against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a 1945 game.

• INF-OF Tony Phillips (New Mexico Military juco hooper in 1977-78 as teammate of eventual Drake All-American Lewis Lloyd) traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Anaheim Angels in 1997.

• New York Yankees RF Sammy Vick (three-sport athlete for Millsaps MS), subbing for legendary Babe Ruth (sidelined by mild strain), stroked a three-run double in 1920 game against the Cleveland Indians.

• New York Yankees RF Dave Winfield (starting forward for Minnesota's first NCAA playoff team in 1972) whacked two homers against the Oakland Athletics in a 2-1 win in 1987.

• Washington Senators 3B Eddie Yost (NYU freshman hooper in 1943-44 under coach Howard Cann) reached base eight times in nine plate appearances (five singles and three walks) in a 1952 doubleheader split against the Chicago White Sox.

Extra! Extra! If double-masked still staying at home because you put stock into fluctuating opinions of feeble baseball thrower/doctor Anthony Fraudci, human garbage James "86-47" Comey and much of misguided #MessMedia misfits comprising the epitome of AI and NI (No Intelligence), you have time to read news about double plays plus memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Springfield, MO-based small college Drury had two former hoopers - Roy Smalley Jr. and Bill Virdon - impact MLB on this date. Ditto in-state hoopers Jim Gleeson (Rockhurst), Sonny Siebert (Missouri) and Preston Ward (Springfield-based Southwest Missouri State). Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 16 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 16

• Chicago Cubs RF Frankie Baumholtz (MVP in 1941 NIT and first player in Ohio University history to score 1,000 career points) banged out three extra-base hits in a 14-4 rout of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951.

• Cleveland Indians SS Lou Boudreau (leading scorer for Illinois' 1937 Big Ten Conference co-champion) went 4-for-4 against the Chicago White Sox in the nightcap of a 1948 twinbill.

• St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California hoops letterman from 1922 through 1924) amassed five hits and four RBI in a 9-8 win against the Chicago Cubs in 1930.

• Boston Red Sox 1B Walt Dropo (first player in Connecticut history to average 20 ppg in single season with 21.7 in 1942-43) homered twice in a 1951 game against the Chicago White Sox.

• Los Angeles Dodgers RF-C Joe Ferguson (hooper in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) furnished four hits, including a game-winning homer, in an 8-6 triumph against the Cincinnati Reds in 1973.

• Chicago White Sox C Carlton Fisk (runner-up in scoring with 13.7 ppg and top rebounder for New Hampshire's 1965-66 freshman squad) hit for the cycle in 1984 game against the Kansas City Royals.

• RHP Marion Fricano (SUNY-Cortland hooper in early 1940s) shipped by Toronto (International) to Chicago White Sox in 1956 transaction.

• St. Louis Cardinals SS Charlie Gelbert (scored at least 125 points each of last three seasons in late 1920s for Lebanon Valley PA) went 5-for-5 and scored four runs in 9-8 victory against the Chicago Cubs in 1930.

• Cleveland Indians rookie RF Jim Gleeson (hoops captain and all-league honoree graduated in 1933 from Rockhurst MO) registered four hits in a 10-3 victory against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the opener of a 1940 doubleheader.

• Atlanta Braves RHP Kevin Gryboski (backup hooper for Wilkes PA in 1991-92 and 1992-93) collected his second relief victory within a week in 2003.

• San Francisco Giants LHP Atlee Hammaker (averaged 5 ppg for East Tennessee State in 1976-77 and 1977-78) allowed only two hits in first 6 1/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies while providing three safeties himself along with three RBI.

• Utilityman Chuck Harmon (freshman starter was Toledo's second-leading scorer for 1943 NIT runner-up) traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals for INF Alex Grammas and OF Joe Frazier in 1956.

• Washington Senators LF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection when leading Ohio State in scoring and rebounding in 1956-57 and 1957-58) notched his third two-homer contest in a four-game span in 1968.

• Atlanta Braves 1B Davey Johnson (averaged 1.7 ppg for Texas A&M in 1961-62) smacked two homers against the San Diego Padres in a 1974 contest.

• Boston Red Sox rookie LHP Vic Johnson (Wisconsin-Eau Claire hoops letterman in 1942-43) hurled 11 2/3 innings in a loss against the St. Louis Browns in a 1944 start.

• Atlanta Braves RF David Justice (Thomas More KY assists leader in 1984-85 while averaging 9.3 ppg and 3.5 rpg) stroked three extra-base hits against the Colorado Rockies in a 1995 outing.

• Boston Braves RHP Andy Karl (Manhattan letterman from 1933 through 1935) sustained his first defeat of the 1947 season after failing to allow a run in first six relief appearances.

• Chicago Cubs SS Don Kessinger (three-time All-SEC selection for Mississippi from 1961-62 through 1963-64 while finishing among nation's top 45 scorers each year) went 4-for-4 against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1972 game.

• A bases-loaded pinch triple by Rick Leach (averaged 15.5 ppg for Michigan's JV hoops squad in 1975-76) put the Toronto Blue Jays ahead to stay in an 8-7 triumph against the Minnesota Twins in 1984.

• New York Giants RHP Christy Mathewson (Bucknell hooper at turn of 20th Century) had his string of 47 straight innings without issuing a walk end against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1913.

• St. Louis Cardinals RHP Lindy McDaniel (hooper for Oklahoma's 1954-55 freshman squad) fired a four-hit shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1957.

• New York Yankees 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) whacked two homers against the Detroit Tigers in a 1979 contest.

• INF Tony Phillips (New Mexico Military juco hooper in 1977-78 as teammate of eventual Drake All-American Lewis Lloyd) became first member of Oakland Athletics to hit for the cycle, going 5-for-5 against the Baltimore Orioles in 1986.

• Chicago White Sox RF Carl Reynolds (Southwestern TX hoops MVP and captain in mid-1920s) stroked two safeties in his seventh straight contest in 1931.

• Philadelphia Phillies LHP Eppa Rixey (Virginia hoops letterman in 1912 and 1914) hurled a 15-inning complete game at Cincinnati and won, 3-2, via his sacrifice fly in 1920.

• Detroit Tigers RF Leon Roberts (grabbed one rebound in four basketball games for Michigan in 1970-71 under coach Johnny Orr) provided three safeties against the Texas Rangers to extend his career-high hitting streak to 17 games since the opening of 1975 campaign. Nine years later as LF with the Kansas City Royals, Roberts drilled a decisive run-scoring triple in 7-6 win against the Chicago White Sox in 1984.

• Detroit Tigers RHP Jeff Robinson (two-time NAIA All-District 3 hoops honoree in early 1980s left Azusa Pacific CA as school's No. 9 all-time scorer) hurled a four-hit shutout against the Texas Rangers in 1990.

• OF Art Ruble (Maryville College TN hooper in early 1920s) traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to Cincinnati Reds in 1934.

• In his lone MLB appearance, California Angels RHP Harvey Shank (averaged 9.2 ppg and led Wheaton College IL with 50.3% field-goal shooting as freshman in 1964-65) hurled three scoreless innings of relief against the Oakland Athletics (fanning C Dave Duncan after he homered earlier in game).

• Cincinnati Reds RHP Jeff Shaw (freshman guard for Rio Grande OH squad compiling 31-5 record and reaching second round of 1985 NAIA Tournament) allowed his only earned run in 13 relief appearances during the month in 1997.

• RHP Sonny Siebert (team-high 16.7 ppg for Missouri in 1957-58 as All-Big Eight Conference second-team selection) traded by the San Diego Padres to the Oakland Athletics in 1975.

• Washington Senators RHP Dave Sisler (All-Ivy League second-team selection for Princeton's first NCAA Tournament team in 1952) didn't allow an earned run in his first 12 relief appearances of the 1961 campaign.

• In his debut with the Milwaukee Braves, SS Roy Smalley Jr. (one of top scorers for Drury MO in 1942-43 and 1943-44) smacked a pinch homer against the New York Giants in the nightcap of a 1954 doubleheader.

• Washington Senators rookie RHP Dave Stenhouse (three-time All-Yankee Conference hoops selection for Rhode Island from 1952-53 through 1954-55), lowering his ERA to 0.88 through initial seven outings, won first three MLB starts in 1962.

• Cincinnati Reds utilityman Jimmy Stewart (All-VSAC hoops selection for Austin Peay's NCAA DII Tournament teams in 1959-60 and 1960-61) contributed a pinch-hit, three-run homer against the New York Mets in a 1969 game.

• New York Yankees rookie 2B George "Snuffy" Stirnweiss (North Carolina hooper as sophomore in 1937-38) stroked three doubles in nightcap of 1943 twinbill against the St. Louis Browns.

• Boston Red Sox rookie 3B Jim Tabor (Alabama hoops letterman in 1936-37) knocked in five runs against the Chicago White Sox in a 1939 contest.

• Pittsburgh Pirates CF Bill Virdon (Drury MO hooper in 1949) stroked two triples against the Milwaukee Braves in a 1962 outing.

• 1B-OF Preston Ward (second-leading scorer for Southwest Missouri State in 1946-47 and 1948-49) traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Cleveland Indians in 1956.

• Brooklyn Dodgers LHP Tom Zachary (Guilford NC hoops letterman in 1916) hurled a 13-inning shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1935 after allowing one earned run in each of his previous two complete-game starts.

In any credible assessment involving Duke's Cooper Flagg, an observer shouldn't get too caught up in the NBA lottery moment. But it's probably not stretching credulity to project Flagg as one of the best all-round freshmen in NCAA history if he lives up to billing with the Dallas Mavericks and any subsequent team(s).

A championship ring in 2011-12 certainly propelled Kentucky's Anthony Davis into the discussion for acknowledging the best freshman center of all-time along with Patrick Ewing, Keith Lee, Greg Oden, Robert Parish, Jeff Ruland, Ralph Sampson, Joe Smith and Wayman Tisdale. The NCAA title is a credential making it easier to possibly place Davis atop the list of premium frosh pivotmen although Ohio State's Oden reached the NCAA final with comparable statistics a mere nine years ago prior to flopping in the NBA.

UK fans could build a case that John Wall's freshman campaign was more significant. After all, the Wildcats improved their record from the previous season with Wall in coach John Calipari's debut by a stunning 12 games, which was 50% higher than what they improved with Davis manning the middle.

Frankly, it's frequently disconcerting how much many pundits either have memory loss or possess little more than an amateurish knowledge of hoops history outside the region where they work. Jabari Parker (Duke), Derrick Rose (Memphis), Ben Simmons (Louisiana State), Andrew Wiggins (Kansas) and Zion Williamson (Duke) were proclaimed as God's gifts to basketball. But they aren't included among the following CollegeHoopedia.com's national perspective of the all-time freshman squads:

FIRST TEAM
Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse (2002-03: 22.2 ppg, 10 rpg)
Leading scorer and rebounder for 2003 NCAA Tournament champion was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player. Posted a remarkable 22 double-doubles in 35 games.

Kevin Durant, Texas (2006-07: 25.8 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 1.9 bpg, 40.4 3FG%)
Forced by the NBA's new rule requiring draftees to attend college at least one year, he became national player of the year. Finished fourth in the nation in scoring and rebounding. Led the Big 12 Conference in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and double-doubles (20).

Chris Jackson, Louisiana State (1988-89: 30.2 ppg, 4.1 apg, 81.5 FT%)
Exploded for 53 points vs. Florida and 55 vs. Ole Miss en route to setting NCAA freshman scoring records with 965 points and 30.2 average. Consensus SEC player of the year was an AP and USBWA first-team All-American.

Bernard King, Tennessee (1974-75: 26.4 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 62.2 FG%)
No freshman has matched his overall statistical figures. The Volunteers improved their overall record by only one game from the previous season, however.

Robert Parish, Centenary (1972-73: 23 ppg, 18.7 rpg, 57.9 FG%)
Scored school-record 50 points at Lamar in a game he also grabbed 30 rebounds. Collected 31 points and 33 rebounds vs. Southern Mississippi and 38 points and 29 rebounds vs. Texas-Arlington. Contributed 14 contests with at least 20 rebounds as a frosh, averaging 21.3 rpg in a 14-game, mid-season stretch.

Trae Young, Oklahoma (2017-18: 27.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 8.7 apg, 1.7 spg, 86.1 FT%, 36 3FG%)
Only player in NCAA history to lead nation in scoring and assists in same season.

SECOND TEAM
Mark Aguirre, DePaul (1978-79: 24 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 52.0 FG%)
Top freshman scorer in the nation broke the Blue Demons' scoring record with 767 points. He had a 29-point, eight-rebound performance vs. UCLA in his college debut and finished the season by being named to the All-Final Four team.

Anthony Davis, Kentucky ( 2011-12: 14.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 4.7 bpg, 62.3 FG%)
Lowest-ever scoring average for a national POY, but he set an NCAA record for most blocked shots by a freshman en route to becoming Final Four Most Outstanding Player despite scoring only six points on 1-of-10 field-goal shooting in NCAA championship contest.

Magic Johnson, Michigan State (1977-78: 17 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 7.4 apg)
Led the Big Ten Conference in league play in assists (6.8 apg), tied for third in scoring (19.8 ppg) and finished sixth in rebounding (8.2 rpg) to help the Spartans go from a 10-17 record the previous year to 25-5 and capture the Big Ten title.

Keith Lee, Memphis State (1981-82: 18.3 ppg, 11 rpg, 3.5 bpg, 53.8 FG%)
Led the Tigers in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots as they improved their record from 13-14 the previous season to 24-5. Set Metro Conference record with 11.5 rebounds per game in league competition.

Wayman Tisdale, Oklahoma (1982-83: 24.5 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 58.0 FG%)
NCAA consensus first-team All-American. Big Eight Conference player of the year broke Wilt Chamberlain's league scoring record with 810 points, including 46 vs. Iowa State.

THIRD TEAM
Shareef Abdur-Rahim, California (1995-96: 21.1 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 51.8 FG%)
The first freshman ever to be named Pacific-10 Conference player of the year led the Bears in steals with 52. His best game overall was a 32-point, 18-rebound performance at Washington State.

Adrian Dantley, Notre Dame (1973-74: 18.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 55.8 FG%)
Led the Irish in free-throw shooting (82.6%) and was second on the team in scoring and rebounding. He had a 41-point outing vs. West Virginia. Notre Dame improved its record from 18-12 the previous season to 26-3.

Mark Macon, Temple (1987-88: 20.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.9 apg)
Scored in double figures in 33 of 34 games. Led the 32-2 Owls in scoring and was second in assists. He was the first freshman ever to be the leading scorer for a team ranking No. 1 in a final AP national poll.

Mark Price, Georgia Tech (1982-83: 20.3 ppg, 4.3 apg, 87.7 FT%)
First freshman ever to lead the vaunted Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring. He also paced the ACC in free-throw percentage and three-point field goals.

Ralph Sampson, Virginia (1979-80: 14.9 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 4.6 bpg, 54.7 FG%)
Led the Cavaliers to the NIT championship. He was the headliner of perhaps the greatest single crop of freshman recruits in NCAA history.

FOURTH TEAM
Kenny Anderson, Georgia Tech (1989-90: 20.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 8.1 apg)
Only freshman ever to score more than 20 points in four straight NCAA playoff games. He led the ACC in assists.

Michael Beasley, Kansas State (2007-08: 26.2 ppg, 12.4 rpg, 1.6 bpg, 53.2 FG%)
He had a total of 13 30-point games en route to 28 double-doubles.

Greg Oden, Ohio State (2006-07: 15.7 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 3.3 bpg, 61.6 FG%)
Powered the Buckeyes to the NCAA playoff championship game where they lost to two-time champion Florida.

Quentin Richardson, DePaul (1998-99: 18.9 ppg, 10.5 rpg)
Conference USA player of the year when he led the league in rebounding and was second in scoring, seventh in field-goal percentage and ninth in free-throw percentage, making him the only player in the C-USA to rank in the top 10 in each of those categories. He led the Blue Demons in scoring 21 times and in rebounding on 23 occasions.

Joe Smith, Maryland (1993-94: 19.4 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 3.1 bpg)
One of only two players in ACC history to be an all-league first-team selection in both his freshman and sophomore seasons.

FIFTH TEAM
Kevin Love, UCLA (2007-08: 17.5 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 55.9 FG%)
Led the Bruins' Final Four squad in scoring and rebounding, contributing 23 double-doubles.

Jahlil Okafor, Duke (2014-15: 17.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 66.4 FG%)
Centerpiece for the Blue Devils' freshman-dominated NCAA Tournament championship club.

Lionel Simmons, La Salle (1986-87: 20.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 52.6 FG%)
Set the stage for becoming three-time MAAC MVP and one of only four major-college players ever to score more than 600 points in each of four seasons. La Salle's Tom Gola is the only individual to finish his college career with a higher total of points and rebounds (4,663 from 1952-55).

Jared Sullinger, Ohio State (2010-11: 17.2 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 54.1 FG%)
Helped the Buckeyes spend the entire season ranked among the nation's top four teams.

John Wall, Kentucky (2009-10: 16.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 6.5 apg, 1.8 spg)
He was SEC MVP but how impactful was his season when teammate DeMarcus Cousins earned the SEC Freshman of the Year award?

TEN MOST OVERLOOKED FRESHMAN SEASONS

Freshman, School (Season: Statistical Achievements)
Jason Conley, Virginia Military (2001-02: 29.3 ppg, 8 rpg, 81.8 FT%)
Stephen Curry, Davidson (2006-07: 21.5 ppg, 85.5 FT%, 40.8 3FG%)
Jacky Dorsey, Georgia (1974-75: 25.8 ppg, 11.8 rpg)
Larry Hughes, Saint Louis (1997-98: 20.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.2 spg)
Harry Kelly, Texas Southern (1979-80: 29 ppg, 7.8 rpg)
Karl Malone, Louisiana Tech (1982-83: 20.9 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 58.2 FG%)
CJ McCollum, Lehigh (2009-10: 19.1 ppg, 5 rpg, 2.4 apg, 42.1 3FG%)
Jeff Ruland, Iona ( 1977-78: 22.3 ppg, 12.8 rpg, 59.4 FG%)
Rodney Stuckey, Eastern Washington (2005-06: 24.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.1 apg, 2.2 spg)
Gary Trent, Ohio University (1992-93: 19 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 65.1 FG%)

Extra! Extra! Instead of wondering if bird-flu carrier will do more than poop on petty Plagiarist Biledumb next time whispering hair-sniffer blames everyone but himself for record-breaking inflation, crime chaos, inability to adequately deal with Hamas, illegal-alien fiasco along Southern border and complete failure of Build Back Never initiative, you have time to read news about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Duke basketball All-Americans Dick Groat and Billy Werber each hit at least three doubles in National League games on this date. Former college hoopers Beau Bell (Texas A&M), Ed Bouchee (Washington State), Larry Doby (Virginia Union), Hoot Evers (Illinois), George Gill (Mississippi College), Vern Kennedy (Central Missouri State) and Cal Neeman (Illinois Wesleyan) were involved in MLB transactions on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 13 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 13

• Cincinnati Reds LF Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading basketball scorer in 1945-46) socked two homers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a 1951 twinbill.

• OF-1B Beau Bell (Texas A&M two-year hoops letterman in early 1930s) traded by the St. Louis Browns to the Detroit Tigers for RHP George Gill (Mississippi College hooper in early 1930s) in a 10-player deal in 1939. Two years earlier in his first MLB start, Gill spun a five-hit shutout against the Boston Red Sox in 1937.

• 1B Ed Bouchee (freshman hooper for Washington State in 1951-52) traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Chicago Cubs in 1960.

• Brooklyn Dodgers RHP Ownie Carroll (Holy Cross hoops letterman in 1922), in the midst of winning five straight decisions, didn't allow an earned run in a 10-inning, 1-1 tie against the Cincinnati Reds in 1933.

• OF Larry Doby (reserve hoops guard for Virginia Union's 1943 CIAA titlist) purchased from the Detroit Tigers by the Chicago White Sox in 1959.

• RF Hoot Evers (hoops starter for Illinois in 1939-40) traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Baltimore Orioles in 1956.

• Los Angeles Dodgers RF Joe Ferguson (hooper in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) smacked a homer in his third consecutive contest against the Montreal Expos in 1979.

• Boston Red Sox rookie RHP Boo Ferriss (Mississippi State hoops letterman in 1941) set an A.L. record for scoreless innings at the start of a MLB career by reaching 22 shutout frames before allowing a tally in 1945. Ferriss struck out Detroit Tigers 1B Rudy York four times - all on called third strikes in an 8-2 win in the opener of a doubleheader.

• St. Louis Cardinals SS Charlie Gelbert (scored at least 125 points each of last three seasons in late 1920s for Lebanon Valley PA) contributed four hits in an 8-7 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1932.

• Pittsburgh Pirates SS Dick Groat (two-time hoops All-American with Duke in 1950-51 and 1951-52 when finishing among nation's top five scorers each season) went 6-for-6 (including three doubles) in an 8-2 triumph over the Milwaukee Braves in 1960.

• In 1984, 3B Wayne Gross (led Cal Poly Pomona in assists in 1974-75) knocked in all of the Baltimore Orioles' runs in a 5-1 win against his former team (Oakland Athletics).

• Pittsburgh Pirates RHP Dick Hall (averaged 12.8 ppg for three MASC Southern Division champions with Swarthmore PA from 1948-49 through 1950-51), a former big-league OF, singled in both ends of 1956 twinbill, igniting a 6-for-7 spurt at the plate for him through early August.

• Chicago Cubs RF Harvey Hendrick (Vanderbilt hoops letterman in 1918) banged out four hits in a 7-5 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a 1933 doubleheader.

• Cleveland Indians 1B Doug Howard (second-team All-WAC choice for Brigham Young in 1968-69 and 1969-70) delivered a career-high three hits against the Boston Red Sox in 1976.

• New York Yankees LF Charlie Keller (three-year hoops letterman with Maryland from 1934-35 through 1936-37) clobbered two homers against the St. Louis Browns in a 1947 game.

• RHP Vern Kennedy (Central Missouri State hooper in mid-1920s) traded by the Detroit Tigers to St. Louis Browns in 1939.

• C Cal Neeman (Illinois Wesleyan's leading hoops scorer in 1947-48 and 1948-49) traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies in a four-player swap in 1960. The next year, Neeman's RBI double in fourth inning provided go-ahead run for Phils in 3-1 decision over the St. Louis Cardinals in 1961.

• Boston Red Sox rookie RHP Dick Radatz (center on Michigan State's freshman hoops squad in 1955-56) didn't allow an earned run in his first 12 relief appearances covering 16 1/3 innings.

• Philadelphia Phillies RHP Robin Roberts (Michigan State's second-leading scorer in 1945-46 and 1946-47) yielded a lead-off HR before retiring the next 27 Cincinnati Reds batters to prevail, 8-1, in 1954.

• Chicago White Sox RHP Charlie Robertson (Austin College TX hooper before joining U.S. Army during WWI) hurled a three-hit shutout against the New York Yankees in 1925.

• Baltimore Orioles LF Larry Sheets (All-ODAC hoops selection in 1981-82 and 1982-83 with Eastern Mennonite VA) socked two homers against the Kansas City Royals in a 1987 outing.

• Baltimore Orioles DH Ken Singleton (Hofstra freshman hoops squad in mid-1960s) cracked two homers against the Texas Rangers in a 1983 game.

• In 1940, Cincinnati Reds 3B Billy Werber (first Duke hoops All-American in 1929-30) became the only player to hit four consecutive doubles in a game in each league (14-inning, 8-8 tie with St. Louis Cardinals).

• In the midst of an eight-game hitting streak, Chicago Cubs RF Bob Will (all-league athlete was hoops captain for Mankato State MN in 1954-55) supplied three hits against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 1961 contest.

Extra! Extra! Rather than listening to deranged #Dimorats defend accosting ICE officials after failing to say a word during Bathhouse Barry's numerous deportations, you can read news about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Former Texas A&M hoopers Beau Bell and Wally Moon supplied significant offensive performances as National League outfielders on this date. Ditto ex-Santa Clara hoopers Bruce Bochte and Randy Winn making American League news. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 11 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 11

• Cincinnati Reds LF Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading basketball scorer in 1945-46) cracked two homers against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 1952 game.

• St. Louis Browns RF Beau Bell (two-year hoops letterman for Texas A&M in early 1930s) went 4-for-4 in a 7-5 win against the Washington Senators in 1937.

• OF-1B Bruce Bochte (starting forward for Santa Clara's 1970 NCAA playoff team) traded by the California Angels to the Cleveland Indians in 1977.

• Cleveland Indians SS Lou Boudreau (leading scorer for Illinois' 1937 Big Ten Conference co-champion) went 4-for-4 against the Philadelphia Athletics in a 1950 contest.

• 1B Cal Emery (scored four points in three Penn State basketball games in 1957-58) purchased from the Philadelphia Phillies by Los Angeles Angels in 1964.

• Hall of Fame C Rick Ferrell (Guilford NC hooper in mid-1920s) traded by the St. Louis Browns to the Boston Red Sox in 1933.

• Detroit Tigers 1B Hank Greenberg (enrolled at NYU on hoop scholarship in 1929 but attended college only one semester) socked a homer in his third consecutive contest in 1935.

• New York Mets 2B Tommy Herr (hooper with Delaware's freshman team in 1974-75) whacked a homer among his four hits in 6-2 win against the San Francisco Giants in 1991.

• Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection when leading Ohio State in scoring and rebounding in 1956-57 and 1957-58) hammered two homers for the Washington Senators but they weren't enough to prevent a 6-5 defeat at Seattle in 1969.

• Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati's freshman hoops squad in 1953-54), continuing his comeback from a circulatory ailment in his left index finger, hurled a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants in 1963.

• INF Vance Law (averaged 6.8 ppg for Brigham Young from 1974-75 through 1976-77) contributed a 10th-inning squeeze bunt to give the Chicago Cubs a 1-0 victory against the San Diego Padres in 1988.

• OF Danny Litwhiler (member of JV hoops squad with Bloomsburg PA in mid-1930s) traded by the Boston Braves to the Cincinnati Reds in 1948.

• Washington Senators OF Don Lock (Wichita State field-goal percentage leader in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Ralph Miller) banged out four hits against the California Angels in a 1966 outing.

• St. Louis Cardinals LF Les Mann (Springfield MA hooper in 1913 and 1914) lashed two homers against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1923 contest.

• New York Yankees SS Gene Michael (Kent State scoring leader with 14 ppg in 1957-58) generated his fifth two-hit outing in first seven games of the month in 1973.

• In the midst of a career-high 24-game hitting streak in 1957, St. Louis Cardinals LF Wally Moon (averaged 4.3 ppg with Texas A&M in 1948-49 and 1949-50) homered in four consecutive contests. Moon assembled a 20-game hitting string later in the season.

• Boston Red Sox 1B Ed Morgan (Tulane hoops letterman from 1923-24 through 1925-26) manufactured four hits against the Cleveland Indians in a 1934 contest.

• New York Yankees RHP Allie Reynolds (listed on roster of Hank Iba-coached Oklahoma A&M squad in game program for first-ever contest at Gallagher-Iba Arena in 1938-39) won his first five starts in 1948.

• Chicago Cubs CF Dave Robertson (one of two reserves on North Carolina State's first basketball team in 1911) knocked in six runs in 1921 outing against the Philadelphia Phillies.

• Philadelphia Phillies rookie LF Ted Savage (Lincoln MO scoring average leader in 1955-56) stroked four hits against the Chicago Cubs in a 1962 contest. Nine years later, Savage was traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Kansas City Royals in 1971.

• Utilityman Roe Skidmore (scored 41 points for Millikin IL in game against Illinois College on 1-28-66) purchased from the St. Louis Cardinals by Houston Astros in 1974.

• Boston Red Sox 3B Jim Tabor (Alabama hoops letterman in 1936-37) knocked in five runs against the New York Yankees in a 1941 game.

• Philadelphia Phillies CF Cy Williams (Notre Dame forward in 1909-10) contributed three homers and seven RBI against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 1923 outing.

• RF Dave Winfield (starting forward with Minnesota's first NCAA playoff team in 1972), citing a no-trade clause in his contract with the New York Yankees, refused to report to the Angels after being traded in 1990. Five days later, he accepted the deal.

• RF Randy Winn (Santa Clara backcourtmate of eventual two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash in 1993-94) whacked a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth inning to give Tampa Bay a 6-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in 2002, snapping the Devil Rays' 15-game losing streak.

Extra! Extra! Rather than debating whether petty Plagiarist Biledumb knows anything about appropriate-age shower standards, protecting Southern border and how many grandchildren the creep has (fewer than the 20-plus shell companies with pseudonym-riddled names concealing millions of dollars in foreign donations to his family members), you have time to read news about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Two former hoopers from Minnesota small colleges - Rip Repulski (St. Cloud State) and Howie Schultz (Hamline) - made MLB news on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 10 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 10

• Baltimore Orioles 2B Jerry Adair (one of Oklahoma State's top three basketball scorers in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Hank Iba while ranking among nation's top 12 free-throw shooters each season) jacked two homers against the Minnesota Twins in a 1961 game.

• Philadelphia Phillies RHP Ray Benge (multi-year hoops letterman for Sam Houston State first half of 1920s) tossed a five-hit shutout against the Cincinnati Reds in 1932.

• Cleveland Indians RHP Jim Bibby (Fayetteville State NC backup player and brother of UCLA All-American Henry Bibby) hurled a 1-0 shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers in the opener of a 1977 doubleheader.

• Cleveland Indians SS Lou Boudreau (leading scorer for Illinois' 1937 Big Ten Conference co-champion) banged out two hits in six straight games in 1942.

• 1B Donn Clendenon (four-sport letterman with Morehouse GA) went hitless in his first 18 at-bats with the St. Louis Cardinals until stroking two safeties against the Houston Astros in 1972.

• Philadelphia Athletics C Mickey Cochrane (five-sport athlete with Boston University) collected four hits against the St. Louis Browns in a 1928 contest.

• St. Louis Cardinals RF Grant Dunlap (Pacific hoops letterman in 1942-43 and 1946-47) hammered a pinch-hit homer against the Cincinnati Reds in 1953. The circuit clout was Dunlap's lone MLB round-tripper.

• Chicago White Sox C Carlton Fisk (runner-up in scoring with 13.7 ppg and top rebounder for New Hampshire's 1965-66 freshman squad) supplied four hits in a 12-inning, 5-3 win against the Toronto Blue Jays in 1991.

• Brooklyn Robins 2B Jake Flowers (member of 1923 "Flying Pentagon" championship squad for Washington College MD) contributed four hits against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 1930 outing.

• RHP Marion Fricano (SUNY-Cortland hooper in early 1940s) purchased from the Brooklyn Dodgers by Philadelphia Athletics in 1952.

• 1B-OF Dick Gernert (hoops letterman with Temple in 1948-49 when he averaged 2.7 ppg) traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Cincinnati Reds in 1961.

• The first MLB shutout supplied by Kansas City Athletics RHP Dick Hall (averaged 13.5 ppg from 1948-49 through 1950-51 with Swarthmore PA Southern Division champions in Middle Atlantic States Conference), 10-0 against the Baltimore Orioles, was one of three complete-game triumphs for him this month in 1960.

• Utilityman Chuck Harmon (freshman starter was Toledo's second-leading scorer for 1943 NIT runner-up) traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1957.

• Cincinnati Reds LHP Bill Henry (hoops letterman for Houston's 1947 NAIA Tournament team featuring co-captain Guy Lewis) fanned three St. Louis Cardinals batters in one inning of relief in his seventh scoreless outing in first seven relief appearances of 1961.

• Milwaukee Braves SS Johnny Logan (Binghamton hooper in 1948-49) went 4-for-4 with five RBI in a 10-5 win against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1957.

• Boston Red Sox OF Rip Repulski (started several basketball games for St. Cloud State MN) ripped a grand slam against the Chicago White Sox in 1960.

• 1B Howie Schultz (Hamline MN product played and coached professional basketball) purchased from the Brooklyn Dodgers by the Philadelphia Phillies for $50,000 in 1947.

• Chicago Cubs RHP Lee Smith (averaged 3.4 ppg and 1.9 rpg for Northwestern State in 1976-77) posted a perfect three-inning save against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1983.

• Minnesota Twins 3B Jay Ward (McKendree IL hooper in 1956-57 before forgoing hoops to concentrate solely on pro baseball) accounted for both of game's tallies with a two-run double in 2-0 decision over the Kansas City Athletics in 1963.

• 3B John Werhas (led Southern California in scoring average in 1958-59 and 1959-60) traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the California Angels for fellow USC product Len Gabrielson in 1967.

• San Francisco Giants OF Randy Winn (Santa Clara backcourtmate of eventual two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash in 1993-94) collected four hits and scored four runs in a 7-5 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 2009 game. The next day, Winn chipped in with three hits and three runs against the Washington Nationals.

Extra! Extra! Rather than deriding Ka-ringe predecessor and hand-gesture extraordinaire Jen "Circle Back" Psaki (a/k/a Jenny Sock-it-to-me by Gold Star families denigrated in her book) as political/press pestilence version of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, you can read news about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Former Duke basketball All-Americans Dick Groat and Billy Werber supplied significant performances as MLB infielders on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 8 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 8

• Jerry Adair (one of Oklahoma State's three leading basketball scorers in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Hank Iba while ranking among the nation's top 12 free-throw shooters each season) committed an eighth-inning miscue for the Baltimore Orioles against the Detroit Tigers in 1965, ending his MLB-record streaks for consecutive errorless games by a 2B (89) and consecutive chances handled without an error (458).

• San Diego Padres RHP Mike Adams (Texas A&M-Kingsville hooper in 1996-97) notched his fourth hold in nine days but was scored upon for the first time in last 16 relief appearances in 2011.

• Philadelphia Phillies CF Ethan Allen (Cincinnati hoops letterman in 1924-25 and 1925-26) supplied five RBI in a 13-6 triumph against the Chicago Cubs in 1934.

• Brooklyn Dodgers C Ferrell Anderson (Kansas hoops letterman in 1936-37 and 1937-38) furnished four hits in an 8-5 win against the Cincinnati Reds in 1946.

• Washington Senators 1B Zeke Bonura (best basketball forward for Loyola LA in late 1920s and early 1930s) banged out three hits for third time in four-game span in 1938.

• LF Bob Cerv (ranked fourth on Nebraska's career scoring list in 1949-50 at conclusion of career) acquired from the Los Angeles Angels by the New York Yankees in 1961 for his third tour of duty in pinstripes.

• Philadelphia Athletics C Mickey Cochrane (five-sport athlete with Boston University) collected three doubles against the Cleveland Indians in a 1932 game.

• Cincinnati Reds 1B George Crowe (four-year letterman from 1939-40 through 1942-43 for Indiana Central after becoming first high school player named state's Mr. Basketball) clobbered two homers in a 7-6 victory against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957.

• In 1948, Cleveland Indians RF Larry Doby (reserve guard for Virginia Union's 1943 CIAA titlist) whacked the longest home run at Washington's Griffith Stadium since Babe Ruth in 1922.

• St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California hoops letterman from 1922 through 1924) contributed four hits against the Boston Braves in the first of six straight outings with multiple safeties in 1929.

• Pittsburgh Pirates SS Dick Groat (two-time All-American with Duke in 1950-51 and 1951-52 when finishing among nation's top five scorers each season) provided three hits in each game of a 1955 doubleheader split against the New York Giants.

• After dismal debut in 1976, California Angels rookie RHP Paul Hartzell (averaged 5.9 ppg and 3.4 rpg for Lehigh in 1972-73) yielded only one earned run in seven-game span covering 23 1/3 innings.

• Philadelphia Phillies 1B Harvey Hendrick (Vanderbilt hoops letterman in 1918) went 4-for-4 against the Chicago Cubs in a 1934 contest.

• RHP Jay Hook (Northwestern's third-leading scorer with 10.7 ppg as a sophomore in 1955-56) traded by the New York Mets to the Milwaukee Braves in 1964.

• Atlanta Braves 2B Davey Johnson (averaged 1.7 ppg for Texas A&M in 1961-62) delivered two homers and five RBI against the New York Mets in a 1973 outing.

• LF "Sweet" Lou Johnson (Kentucky State hoops teammate of legendary HBCU coach Davey Whitney averaged 5.7 ppg and 2 rpg in 1951-52) traded by the Milwaukee Braves with cash to the Detroit Tigers in 1963.

• Chicago White Sox RHP Bob Keegan (Bucknell hoops letterman in 1941-42 and 1942-43) yielded three homers to Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame OF Ted Williams in a 4-1 defeat in 1957.

• Detroit Tigers SS Harvey Kuenn (played briefly for Wisconsin in 1951-52 after competing on JV hoops squad previous season) registered his second four-hit outing in a six-game span in 1956.

• Chicago Cubs 3B Vance Law (averaged 6.8 ppg for Brigham Young from 1974-75 through 1976-77) went 3-for-3 with six RBI against the San Francisco Giants in a 1988 game.

• Pittsburgh Pirates SS Johnny Logan (Binghamton hooper in 1948-49) hit safely as a pinch-hitter for the third straight time in 1963.

• Chicago Cubs CF Jerry Martin (1971 Southern Conference MVP after he was Furman's runner-up in scoring previous season) stroked four hits against the Cincinnati Reds in a 1979 contest.

• Baltimore Orioles RHP Ben McDonald (started six times as freshman forward for Louisiana State in 1986-87 under coach Dale Brown) won his first seven starts in 1994.

• New York Giants LF Red Murray (played hoops for Lock Haven PA in early 1900s) stole three bases in a 1911 game against the Boston Rustlers.

• Philadelphia Phillies RF Bill Nicholson (Washington College MD hoops guard for two years in mid-1930s) provided five RBI against the Cincinnati Reds in the nightcap of a 1949 twinbill.

• Boston Red Sox 2B Marv Olson (All-Iowa Conference hoops selection in 1929-30 with Luther IA) manufactured four hits in a 7-5 win against the St. Louis Browns in 1932.

• Brooklyn Dodgers C-OF Don Padgett (freshman in 1934 excelled in multiple sports for Lenoir-Rhyne NC) smacked a decisive three-run pinch homer in an 8-5 triumph against the Cincinnati Reds in 1946.

• Philadelphia Athletics 3B Billy Werber (first Duke hoops All-American in 1929-30) supplied five RBI in a 7-6 victory against the Detroit Tigers in 1938.

• New York Giants rookie 1B Babe Young (Fordham hoops letterman in 1935-36) collected four hits and four RBI against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 1940 game.