Strange Attire

A Fly On the Wall overheard the following conversation today at a local coffeehouse, and reported it to Maly, Too:

"I went to Wayne Cooley's funeral yesterday," Guy No. 1 said.

"How was it?" Guy No. 2 asked.

"Well, there were twice as many people at Mike Henderson's funeral," No. 1 said.

[Henderson, who died a number of years ago, was the publicity guy for the Girls' High School Athletic Union, which Cooley directed.  John Naughon of the paper reported that 300 people attended Cooley's funeral].

"He was dressed kind of strange," No. 1 said.

"How strange?" No. 2 asked.

"He was wearing a pin-stripe suit, tennis shoes and a baseball cap," No. 1 said.

"Do you mean Cooley's family dressed him that way?" No. 2 asked.

"No, that's how Naughton was dressed," No. 1 said.

University of Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery said guard Patrick Ingram (6-foot-2, 211 pounds) has asked for and has been granted his release from his scholarship to transfer to another school. “Patrick is a tremendous person who was an integral part of our program last season,” said McCaffery. “Patrick indicated that he wants to be closer to home and we have granted his request. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.” The native of Indianapolis averaged six minutes, 0.9 points and 0.6 rebounds in 19 games off the bench as a freshman last season. Iowa will return 11 letterwinners from a team that went 25-13 and earned NIT runner-up honors, while also adding redshirt freshman forward Kyle Meyer, sophomore swingman Jarrod Uthoff and freshman guard Peter Jok. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Matt Weitzel of Iowa's sports information staff].

Nuts [As In Doughnuts] To You from Krispy Kreme On Mothers' Day, 2013

The name E. Wayne Cooley is synonymous with girls high school sports in Iowa. His vision and leadership is viewed by contemporaries as essential in advancement of the female athlete. The longtime Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Executive Secretary died Saturday at the age of 90. Edward Wayne Cooley was born in Mercer, Mo., on Sept. 16, 1922 to Reverend O.E. and Mae Cooley. After marrying Gertrude “Gerry” Konkol in 1944, the couple had two children, Craig and Denise. After Gerry’s death in 1982, he married Wendy Wykoff in 1987. Cooley was raised in Coon Rapids, earned a degree from Buena Vista University and later received honorary doctorates from Morningside College and Buena Vista. A commissioned naval officer during World War II, he returned to Iowa, coaching football and track at Nevada. In 1950, he served as an instructor for one year at Grinnell College and next served as assistant to the president at Grinnell for three years. In 1954, Cooley accepted the assignment as executive secretary of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, which, at the time, embraced a single interscholastic activity, basketball. In 48 years under Cooley’s leadership until his 2002 retirement, the IGHSAU expanded to include track and field, cross-country, softball, golf, swimming, tennis, volleyball and soccer, with many of those programs flourishing well before the implementation of Title IX legislation. During his tenure, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union became the nation's trailblazer in the development of girls interscholastic athletic programs. A 1973 three-part Sports Illustrated cover story on the limited access girls had in athletics during the wake of the Title IX passage used Iowa and the IGHSAU as a model of proof to the viability of equality for girls and women in sports. With the success of all of Iowa's girls programs, it is the popularity of the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament that Cooley is most synonymous with Cooley's name. Called by contemporaries "the P.T. Barnum of hoops," Cooley turned the six-day March tournament into one of Iowa's most beloved annual events. The tournament has been televised since 1951 and was seen in as many as nine states by 1968. The tournament's popularity and tremendous fan following was featured in two different photo essays by Sports Illustrated in 1969 and 1988. The tournament has also been the subject of features stories by USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, Newsday, ESPN and National Public Radio. In addition to his IGHSAU duties, Cooley also served as executive vice president to the Iowa High School Speech Association, a position he held from 1963 to his retirement in 2002. Cooley was active in many other endeavors, both in athletics and in the community. He was a longstanding member of the Drake Relays Executive Committee, a member of the board of directors of the Women's College Basketball Hall of Fame, a director for three banking institutions, the Buena Vista College Board of Trustees and his family church. He also served as a vice chairman for the Iowa Games and was chairman of the Iowa Heart Association. He also served as national president of the United States Track and Field Federation, and was a major leader in resolving two decades of conflict over control of the nation's amateur track and field administration by successfully merging the two parties into the Athletics Congress of the United States. For his efforts, he was inducted into the United States Track and Field Federation's Hall of Fame. His efforts promoting and advancing girls high school basketball led to his induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000. Cooley is survived by his wife, Wendy, a son, Craig (Elizabeth), of Prescott, Ariz., a daughter, Denise (Roger) Brode, of Chicago, grandchildren Amanda and Andrew, and one sister, Rosalee Johnson of Waterloo. He was preceded in death by his parents and first wife, Gerry. [KCCI.com/Twitter]

Cooley

Too bad about Joe Hanrahan, the veteran major league relief pitcher who was born in Des Moines and competed at Norwalk High School. Hanrahan, who now pitches for the Boston Red Sox, will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right arm and will be out six to nine months. ESPN.com reported all indications were that Hanrahan would have surgery instead of a lengthy and uncertain rehab after discussing matters with team doctors, but the need for a procedure became more obvious after he visited noted orthopedist Dr. James Andrews on Friday. "Initially I thought there might be a decision to make [between rehab and surgery] but after talking to [Andrews] he took one look at my arm, touched it, said there really wasn't a decision," Hanrahan said Saturday morning. "The flexor pretty much tore off the bone. There wasn't really a decision, it was just a matter of what kind of surgery it was going to be. As for now it's just the flexor. When he gets in there and takes a look, could be worse, could be better. That's kind of where we're at now." Hanrahan said the surgery will be next week, in all likelihood. He is hopeful, if no further damage is discovered in the arm, that his rehabilitation would take closer to six months than nine, and he said he fully expects his career to rebound. "The way I look at it, surgery, the programs that they have now, surgery is kind of like putting a band-aid on something," he said. But it does not solve any immediate issues surrounding the Red Sox bullpen, which is onto its third closer after Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey (biceps) were sidelined. When asked about the state of the pen, manager John Farrell expressed confidence in those who remain, calling the corps "healthy" and "ready to go." Bailey will continue a throwing program Saturday with long toss. Farrell said he could be back on the mound throwing in simulated games by next week. As for the 31-year-old Hanrahan, he will finish his one and potentially only season with the Red Sox with an 0-1 record and a 9.82 ERA. He did have four saves but also blew two others and gave up four home runs in 7 1/3 innings. Hanrahan spent time on the disabled list earlier in the season with a hamstring strain and returned to the DL after exiting a loss to Minnesota on Monday with pain in the arm. He called the season "a wash," and with free agency looming could be finished as a player in Boston. But Hanrahan has not ruled out a return to Fenway. "Hopefully I'll get a chance here, maybe, and try to show the fans what kind of pitcher I really am," he said. The Red Sox traded for Hanrahan in December in a bid to bolster the back end of what was once a deep bullpen. He is due to make just a shade over $7 million this season. The timing of the injury is bad, what with the pending entry into the free agent pool. Farrell said that Hanrahan's physical well-being is paramount. "He's 31 years old and yes, free agency is pending, but you have to do what's right for the guy," Farrell said. "That's to make sure he gets all the information needed. You don't want a short-term solution or a quick fix. This is something that's got to be taken care of once and then he has a long and productive career following." Hanrahan has 100 career saves, 76 of which came in the last two years with Pittsburgh. Hanrahan said Saturday he had felt something in the area of the tendon before, so it was not something that occurred on one pitch.

Joel Hanrahan, courtesy of AP

Rutgers' official bio of new men's basketball coach Eddie Jordan says he graduated from the university in 1977. But the university registrar's office says the former NBA player and coach never received a degree from Rutgers, though he earned 103 credit hours from 1973 to 1985. A Rutgers source told ESPN that it's unknown if the school did not vet Jordan's resume, or if Jordan was not truthful about earning his degree. Jordan told ESPN that he did not receive a diploma because of a registration issue, but he did complete his school hours in 1985. Jordan finished playing at Rutgers in 1977, then returned to school to complete his degree after his NBA career ended in 1984. "Some of the professors are still around and some are gone but they all know I was in class and did my work,'' Jordan said. "There was arrogance on my part when I was told I didn't register right and then I left to (coach at) Old Dominion. I was told my classes were never recorded. I saw a transcript. I will have to find it. I was there and I completed the work. My professors that are still there know that. That's it." Jordan said he learned after his final semester that he never was officially registered. [ESPN.com].

Freshman Joey King Leaves Bulldogs

I had the Associated Press story about first-year basketball coach Ray Giacoletti's rebulding plan at Drake [below] in type one minute, then came something from Ty Patton, Drake's publicity guy, to throw cold water on it.  Joey King, a freshman forward for the Bulldogs, will not return to Drake for his sophomore season.. “I want to thank the men’s basketball program and Drake University

Joey King

for giving me the tremendous opportunity to pursue my education and basketball career at Drake,” King said. “I’ve enjoyed the chance to work with the new coaching staff and know that they will do great things with this program. However, after months of careful thought and deliberation, I have made the very difficult personal decision to explore other opportunities to pursue my academic and athletic goals.” King, a native of Eagan, Minn., played in all 32 games as a freshman during the 2012-13 season and averaged 6.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game while shooting 42.8 percent from the floor. He was named to the Valley's all-Freshman team for his efforts. “We respect Joey’s decision and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors,” first-year Drake head coach Ray Giacoletti added.