Former NBA center Mel Turpin commits suicide
Former NBA center Mel Turpin committed suicide Thursday, Lexington, Ky., authorities said. He was 49.
Police and the coroner were called to his North Lexington house Thursday afternoon on a personal-injury call. They found Turpin dead.
Coroner Gary Ginn said Turpin had committed suicide, but would not say how. Ginn also would not say whether Turpin left a suicide note.
Turpin, 6-foot-11, played for Kentucky in the early 1980s.
He was the sixth player selected in the 1984 NBA draft.
Turpin was picked by the Washington Bullets, then traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. His best season was 1985-86 when he averaged 13.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
Elsewhere
Record crowd sees Clijsters top Serena
A world-record tennis crowd watched Kim Clijsters down Wimbledon champion Serena Williams 6-3, 6-2 in an exhibition match in Brussels. The crowd of 35,681 at King Baudouin Stadium surpassed the previous record of 30,472 set in 1973 at the Houston Astrodome in the Battle of the Sexes match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
College basketball: Chris McNealy, a 6-foot-4 guard from San Ramon Valley High-Danville, will attend UC Irvine.
College football: Former Riordan High and City College of San Francisco quarterback Darius Bell is headed to UCLA, according to CCSF media-relations director Bonta Hill.
As a freshman at CCSF last season, Bell threw for 2,261 yards and 25 touchdowns and ran for another 12 scores. Bell's older brother, Kahlil, was a running back for the Bruins (2005-08).
NFL: The Raiders released reserve linebacker Isaiah Ekejiuba, he announced on his Twitter account. Ekejiuba spent five seasons with Oakland and was mainly a special-teams player.
-- The Arizona Cardinals signed their seventh-round pick, tight end Jim Dray of Stanford, to a four-year contract.
-- Linebacker Antonio Pierce has retired after nine seasons and is joining ESPN as an NFL analyst.
Track and field: Usain Bolt won the 100 meters in 9.82 seconds at the Athletissima meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, returning from an Achilles tendon injury to match the year's fastest time. Bolt equaled Asafa Powell's time of 9.82 in Rome on June 10. The two Jamaicans will meet in Paris next week.
-- Olympic and world 100-meter champion Shelly-Ann Fraser has been provisionally suspended by the IAAF after a positive test for a painkiller she claims she took to alleviate a toothache. The president of Fraser's track club, Bruce James, said the Jamaican sprinter tested positive for oxycodone at the Diamond League meet May 23 in Shanghai.
Motor sports: Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher says he has written off his comeback season to focus on the 2011 Formula One championship. Schumacher, 41, is 93 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton at the midpoint.
-- Defending Indy Lights champion J.R. Hildebrand will sub for Mike Conway at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. The 22-year-old from Sausalito will drive Conway's No. 24 car at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 8 and again at Infineon Raceway on Aug. 22. Conway was injured during a crash at the Indianapolis 500 in May.
Police and the coroner were called to his North Lexington house Thursday afternoon on a personal-injury call. They found Turpin dead.
Coroner Gary Ginn said Turpin had committed suicide, but would not say how. Ginn also would not say whether Turpin left a suicide note.
Turpin, 6-foot-11, played for Kentucky in the early 1980s.
He was the sixth player selected in the 1984 NBA draft.
Turpin was picked by the Washington Bullets, then traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. His best season was 1985-86 when he averaged 13.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
Elsewhere
Record crowd sees Clijsters top Serena
A world-record tennis crowd watched Kim Clijsters down Wimbledon champion Serena Williams 6-3, 6-2 in an exhibition match in Brussels. The crowd of 35,681 at King Baudouin Stadium surpassed the previous record of 30,472 set in 1973 at the Houston Astrodome in the Battle of the Sexes match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
College basketball: Chris McNealy, a 6-foot-4 guard from San Ramon Valley High-Danville, will attend UC Irvine.
College football: Former Riordan High and City College of San Francisco quarterback Darius Bell is headed to UCLA, according to CCSF media-relations director Bonta Hill.
As a freshman at CCSF last season, Bell threw for 2,261 yards and 25 touchdowns and ran for another 12 scores. Bell's older brother, Kahlil, was a running back for the Bruins (2005-08).
NFL: The Raiders released reserve linebacker Isaiah Ekejiuba, he announced on his Twitter account. Ekejiuba spent five seasons with Oakland and was mainly a special-teams player.
-- The Arizona Cardinals signed their seventh-round pick, tight end Jim Dray of Stanford, to a four-year contract.
-- Linebacker Antonio Pierce has retired after nine seasons and is joining ESPN as an NFL analyst.
Track and field: Usain Bolt won the 100 meters in 9.82 seconds at the Athletissima meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, returning from an Achilles tendon injury to match the year's fastest time. Bolt equaled Asafa Powell's time of 9.82 in Rome on June 10. The two Jamaicans will meet in Paris next week.
-- Olympic and world 100-meter champion Shelly-Ann Fraser has been provisionally suspended by the IAAF after a positive test for a painkiller she claims she took to alleviate a toothache. The president of Fraser's track club, Bruce James, said the Jamaican sprinter tested positive for oxycodone at the Diamond League meet May 23 in Shanghai.
Motor sports: Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher says he has written off his comeback season to focus on the 2011 Formula One championship. Schumacher, 41, is 93 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton at the midpoint.
-- Defending Indy Lights champion J.R. Hildebrand will sub for Mike Conway at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. The 22-year-old from Sausalito will drive Conway's No. 24 car at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 8 and again at Infineon Raceway on Aug. 22. Conway was injured during a crash at the Indianapolis 500 in May.
