Recognition for former LSU star: Tyrus Thomas, the former LSU basketball star from McKinley High grad, has been nominated for the national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service by an Athlete. Thomas, now with the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, started the Tyrus Thomas Foundation, which, in cooperation with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, provides educational and recreational programs to children. This year, he launched Tyrus Thomas, Inc., to fund a program called C.A.T.C.H. (Caring and Actively Teaching Children Hope), which targets at-risk children. Thomas is nominated along such well-known sports stars as Mia Hamm and Venus Williams. To vote for Thomas, go to allstarshelpingkids.org.
There must have been a lot of polling in SEC country: Nick Saban finished ninth in a national survey of the most disliked figures in sports, putting the former LSU coach in the same company as Michael Vick, Terrell Owens and Alex Rodriguez. E-Poll sampled over 1,000 people and 35% of them had a negative opinion of Saban, reports Forbes magazine. E-Poll blames the ranking on the publicity hit that Saban took a few years ago, when he took the coaching job at Alabama, after publicly stated a desire to stay with the Miami Dolphins. Vick, who was just released from a federal prison for running a dogfighting ring, topped the list with 72% of respondents having a negative opinion of the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback.
Pack comes back: New Orleans native Robert Pack has been hired as a Hornets assistant coach for the 2009-10 season. The 40-year-old Pack joins Byron Scott’s staff after a one-year assistant coach stint with the NBA Developmental League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The Vipers finished 21-29 last season. Pack played 13 seasons as a point guard in the NBA. During the 2002-03 season, he played in 28 games and had four starts for the Hornets, averaging 5.2 points and 2.9 assists. Pack was a former high school standout at Lawless and played in college at Southern California. Pack played for seven teams during his career: the Hornets, Denver, Portland, New Jersey, Washington, Dallas and Minnesota.
