YSU

YSU
Meech, Edwardsare honored
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University athletes Kristen Meech and Will Edwards have been named to the Fall 2001 Academic All-Horizon League team.
The team honors student-athletes who have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.25 or above who participate in a sport.
Meech, a senior, was a third team Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-Horizon League Team. Edwards is a junior.
AREA
S. Range gamesare rescheduled
NORTH LIMA -- South Range High School has announced rescheduled dates for basketball games postponed last week.
The Springfield-South Range boys game will be played Jan. 8 with the junior-varsity game tipping off at 6 p.m.
The Leetonia-South Range girls game will be played Jan. 22 with the junior-varsity game tipping off at 6 p.m.
Correction
Tom Batta, the San Francisco 49ers tight end coach, was the coach of the Warren Harding state championship team in 1971. A story in Thursday's editions said Batta was a player on that team.
REGION
Steelers activateR.J. Bowers
PITTSBURGH -- R.J. Bowers, college football's all-time leading rusher, was added to the Pittsburgh Steelers' roster Friday off their practice squad.
Rookie defensive lineman Chris Hoke, an undrafted free agent from Brigham Young who unexpectedly made the team during training camp, was released. Hoke was inactive for the Steelers' first 13 games.
Bowers rushed for 7,353 yards and scored 91 touchdowns at Division III Grove City College from 1997-2000 before signing with the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent.
After being cut by the Panthers during training camp, Bowers joined the Steelers' practice squad. The 27-year-old Bowers spent six years as a minor league outfielder with the Houston Astros before returning to football.
Bowers was activated because of injuries to running backs Jerome Bettis (hip, groin) and Amos Zereoue (shoulder). Bettis won't play Sunday against Detroit, and Zereoue is listed as questionable.
Dodgers acquireDave Roberts
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired outfielder Dave Roberts from the Cleveland Indians on Friday for two minor league pitchers.
Roberts split time between the Indians, Triple-A Buffalo and Double-A Akron last season. He played in 15 games with the Indians, getting four hits in 12 at-bats and driving in two runs.
Roberts has played in 75 big league games, hitting .242 with two homers, 14 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He has 280 steals in his eight-year minor league career.
The Indians receive left-handers Christian Bridenbaugh and Nial Hughes.
Bridenbaugh, 22, was 3-6 with a 3.68 ERA in 21 games for Class-A Wilmington last season, and Hughes, 24, was 2-4 with a 3.75 ERA in 27 games with Wilmington and the rookie level Dodgers.
Hlinka sues
PITTSBURGH -- Fired Pittsburgh Penguins coach Ivan Hlinka filed a federal breach-of-contract lawsuit against the team Friday, saying the Penguins owe him $854,000.
Hlinka, who coached the Czech Republic to the 1998 Olympic gold medal, was fired Oct. 15, less than two weeks into his second season in Pittsburgh after the Penguins began the season 0-4.
Hlinka coached the Penguins to the Eastern Conference finals against New Jersey last season. His three-year contract runs through June 30, 2003.
NATION
Dick Schaapdead at 67
NEW YORK -- Dick Schaap never limited himself to just sports. He was much more versatile than that.
Schaap, who died Friday from complications following hip surgery, won three sports Emmy Awards for his work on ESPN and three more Emmys for features on ABC's "20/20" and ABC's "World News Tonight," where he worked for 20 years. He was 67.
Schaap's subjects covered the spectrum -- from comedian Sid Caesar, who fought back from drug and alcohol addiction, to Bobby McLaughlin, a young man convicted of a murder he did not commit.
But he always came back to sports, fascinated by the athletes and their accomplishments, intent on trying to find out what made them tick.
His Sunday morning ESPN show "The Sports Reporters" was a lively debate with other journalists. And rarely did any of the panelists agree, which gave the show an energy that Schaap relished.
Red Soxsign Damon
BOSTON -- Johnny Damon had his eye on the Red Sox after becoming a free agent. He sharpened his focus when Boston traded Carl Everett to Texas.
That left a gap in center field that Damon, wishing to be closer to his family in Florida, was eager to fill. So he left the Oakland Athletics and agreed Friday to a $31 million, four-year contract with Boston
But the signing of Damon, 28, could cost the Red Sox another newly acquired speedster, second baseman Pokey Reese, who already has been with three teams this week.
Staff/wire reports