Aikman leads college hall of fame class
NEW YORK, May 1 (UPI) -- Pro Football Hall of Fame member Troy Aikman was among 15 people in the 2008 class to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Aikman, who played quarterback for Oklahoma and UCLA, was among 13 players selected along with coaches Lou Holtz and John Cooper will all be inducted in ceremonies Dec. 9 in New York. Enshrinement in the South Bend, Ind., hall itself was set for the summer of 2009.
The other players selected are: Louisiana State's Billy Cannon, Virginia's Jim Dombrowski, Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, Florida's Wilber Marshall, Washington State's Rueben Mayes, Arizona State's Randall McDaniel, Syracuse's Don McPherson, Wyoming's Jay Novacek, Texas Tech's Dave Parks, Florida State's Ron Simmons, Oklahoma State's Thurman Thomas and Army's Arnold Tucker.
Aikman, an NFL star with the Dallas Cowboys, won the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's top collegiate quarterback in 1988 and led the Bruins to two bowl victories.
Holtz racked up 249 wins as a coach at six schools. He led Notre Dame to the national championship in 1988.
Cooper had a 192-84-6 record and 14 bowl game appearances over 24 seasons at Tulsa, Arizona State and Ohio State. He is second to Woody Hayes in wins at Ohio State.
NHL names coach-of-the-year finalists
NEW YORK, May 1 (UPI) -- Mike Babcock, Bruce Boudreau and Guy Carbonneau are the finalists for the Jack Adams Award given to the National Hockey League's coach of the year.
Babcock guided Detroit to a 54-21-7 record, the Red Wings' third consecutive 50-win season, and a league-high 115 points. They surpassed 100 points for the eighth straight season and won their seventh straight Central Division title by 24 points over second-place Nashville.
Boudreau, the coach at Washington, replaced the fired Glen Hanlon on Nov. 22. The Capitals were 6-14-1 when Boudreau was hired, went 37-17-7 and won the Southeast Division title with a 43-31-8 mark (94 points).
Carbonneau guided the Montreal Canadiens to the Eastern Conference's top regular-season record at 47-25-10 (104 points). Montreal hadn't won 45 games or reached 100 points in a season in 15 years, and also won its first division title in 17 years, 10 points better than Ottawa in the Northeast Division.
The winner will be announced June 12 at the NHL's awards ceremony.
Gonzalez makes BMW Open quarterfinals
MUNICH, Germany, May 1 (UPI) -- No. 2-seeded Fernando Gonzalez, despite a shaky start, escaped the upset trend that marked Thursday's second-round play at the BMW Open in Germany.
Gonzalez managed to win just one game in the first set but came back for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Kristof Vliegen and earned a berth in Friday's quarterfinals. Awaiting Gonzalez is Marat Safin, who also was pushed to a third set before defeating Michael Berrer 706 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Igor Andreev and No. 7-seeded Steve Darcis were both ousted Thursday. Andreev was strong early but faded in a 1-6, 6-0, 6-4 match with Juan Martin Del Potro while Younes El Aynaoui took out Darcis 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Del Potro and El Aynaoui are matched against each other in a quarterfinal Friday. The other quarters have top-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu playing No. 8-seeded Marin Cilic and Lee Hyung-taik going against Simone Bolelli.
Barnes is PBA player of the year
SEATTLE, May 1 (UPI) -- Chris Barnes, who won two U.S. tournaments and appeared in nine championship rounds this season, has won the PBA's Player of the Year honors.
It is the first player of the year award won by Barnes in 10 years on the Professional Bowlers Association tour. He took the points lead for good with a win in March at the 2008 Don Johnson Buckeye State Classic in Columbus, Ohio.
Barnes was second on the tour with a 225.18 average and fifth on the money list at $142,419.
His final total of 64 points topped runner-up Walter Ray Williams Jr. by 2 points. Williams was looking for a record-breaking seventh PBA player of the year win. He did win his record seventh High Average Award with a 228.34 mark, the second highest in PBA history.
Rhino Page ran away with PBA rookie of the year honors. He set a rookie record for earnings ($84,811) and championship round appearances (five), and was the first first-year player since 1996 to win a tournament.
The PBA's Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Award went to Riga Kalfas.
