Local

Local

Bjelac out at Falls; applications sought

NEWTON FALLS — Following the district school board’s decision not to retain Marc Bjelac, Newton Falls is looking for a head football coach.

The school is accepting applicatiions for those interested in the position. All applicants should apply in writing to David J. Wilson, superintendent of schools, 909 1/2 Milton Blvd., Newton Falls, Oh. 44444.

Deadline is March 11.

Trumbull Panthers holding practice

WARREN — The Trumbull County Panthers Adult Amatuer Football Club will hold its second practice today at 6:30 p.m. at St Mary’s Gymnasium in Warren. 261 Elm Road.

The Panthers held their first practice on Tuesday and 25 players participated, announced Joe Caruso, co-chief operating officer. He shares CEO duties with John Galbraith. The team’s coach is Chuck Arn.

The Panthers’ website is www.leaguelineup.com/tcpanthers.

McDonald hirings

McDONALD—The McDonald board of education has approved hiring the following coaches for the 2007 to 2008 school year: John Fields, girls assistant track coach and Randy Riccitelli, boys assistant track coach.

Frank Turocy off to good start

AKRON, Ohio – University of Akron pitcher Frank Turocy was named the Great Lakes Region’s top performer of the week by InsidePitching.com.

Turocy struck out a career-high nine batters while scattering four hits in eight superb innings to lead the Zips (2-2) to a season-opening victory over West Virginia last Friday. The right-hander allowed just one unearned run and two walks - with his first free pas coming in the seventh inning with one out - in the 5-1 decision. Moveover, the fourth-year junior retired the side in order in the first, fifth and sixth innings.

Each week, InsidePitching.com awards the performances and accomplishments of five pitchers around the country. After being nominated as one of the three best pitching performances for the week, a panel of 30 NCAA Division I coaches around the nation are pooled for voting.

Akron travels to UNC-Asheville this weekend for a three-game series starting Friday at 2 p.m. EST.

Boardman’s Ford player of week

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Lenoir-Rhyne College’s Daniel Ford, a Boardman High graduate, has been named the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Player Of The Week.

Ford, a junior third baseman batted .773 (17-of-22) with two home runs and 14 runs batted in to lead Lenoir-Rhyne to a 4-1 week including a three-game series sweep of future South Atlantic Conference opponent Brevard this past weekend at home.

Ford currently leads the team in batting (.492), runs scored (20), home runs (three), RBI (20) and slugging percentage (.763).

Region

Browns part ways with Orpheus Roye

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Browns terminated the contract of defensive lineman Orpheus Roye on Wednesday, cutting loose one of their most productive players ahead of free agency.

A 12-year veteran, Roye battled knee injuries the past two seasons. The 35-year-old was scheduled to make $3 million in 2008.

Roye had a career-high 95 tackles for the Browns in 2005. He made five starts last season, appeared in 13 games and finished with 34 tackles.

“Orpheus has been a mainstay for the Browns since 2000 with his reliable play and overall dependability,” Browns general manager Phil Savage said in a statement. “A professional in every sense of the word. These are the kinds of decisions that make this a difficult time of year.”

Roye spent four seasons with the Steelers before joining the Browns as a free agent.

Former announcer Myron Cope dies

PITTSBURGH — Myron Cope, the screechy-voiced announcer whose colorful catch phrases and twirling Terrible Towel became symbols of the Pittsburgh Steelers during an unrivaled 35 seasons in the broadcast booth, has died. He was 79.

Cope died Wednesday morning at a nursing home in Mount Lebanon, a Pittsburgh suburb, Joe Gordon, a former Steelers executive and a longtime friend of Cope’s, told The Associated Press. Cope had been treated for respiratory problems and heart failure in recent months, Gordon said.

Cope’s tenure from 1970-2004 as the color analyst on the Steelers’ radio network is the longest in NFL history for a broadcaster with a single team and led to his induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2005.

“His memorable voice and unique broadcasting style became synonymous with Steelers football,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said Wednesday. “They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery and no Pittsburgh broadcaster was impersonated more than Myron.”

Beyond Pittsburgh’s three rivers, Cope is best known for the yellow cloth twirled by fans as a good luck charm.

at Steelers games since the mid-1970s. The towel is arguably the best-known fan symbol of any major pro sports team, has raised millions of dollars for charity and is displayed at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“His creation of The Terrible Towel has developed into a worldwide symbol that is synonymous with Steelers football,” Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said Wednesday.

“You were part of the team,” Dan Rooney told Cope in 2005. “The Terrible Towel many times got us over the goal line.”

Even after retiring, Cope — a sports talk show host for 23 years — continued to appear in numerous radio, TV and print ads, emblematic of a local popularity that sometimes surpassed that of the stars he covered.

Cope’s biggest regret was not being on the air during perhaps the most famous play in NFL history — Franco Harris’ famed Immaculate Reception against Oakland in 1972, during the first postseason win in Steelers history.

Cope was on the field to grab guests for his postgame show when Harris, on what seemingly was the last play of the Steelers’ season, grabbed the soaring rebound of a tipped Terry Bradshaw pass after it deflected off either the Raiders’ Jack Tatum or the Steelers’ Frenchy Fuqua and scored a game-winning 60-yard touchdown. As a result, play-by-play man Jack Fleming’s voice is the only one heard on what has been countless replays over the years.

“He ran straight to me in the corner, and I’m yelling, ‘C’mon Franco, c’mon on!,”’ said Cope, who, acting on a fan’s advice, tagged the play “The Immaculate Reception” during a TV commentary that night.

Nation

Former writer Bill Heinz dies

MONTPELIER, Vt. — W.C. “Bill” Heinz, who witnessed the Normandy invasion on D-Day, covered some of the greatest sports moments of his time and helped write the book “MASH,” has died. He was 93.

He had been in declining health for several years and died Wednesday at the assisted living facility where he’d lived since 2002, said his daughter, Gayl Heinz, of Amesbury, Mass.