Oscar-winning actor William Hurt dead at age 71-Deadline

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Gerry Faust, the gravel-voiced Cincinnati high school coach who lived a dream by becoming the coach at Notre Dame, has died. He was 89.

Notre Dame said in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday that the family confirmed Faust’s death. No details were immediately provided.

Faust guided the Fighting Irish from 1981 through 1985, compiling a record of 30-26-1. He succeeded Dan Devine as coach of Notre Dame and preceded Lou Holtz.

“I have always loved Notre Dame and still do,” he said after he was fired following the 1985 season.

He spent the next nine seasons as the head coach at the University of Akron, bringing the program from Division II to major-college status. His record was 43-53-3 with the Zips.

He remained at Akron after his coaching days, working as a fundraiser and in the development office before retiring in 2001.

It was as a high school coach that Faust first stepped into the spotlight.

After graduating in 1958 from the University of Dayton with a degree in marketing and management, Faust accepted his first coaching position as an assistant at his high school alma mater, Dayton Chaminade. His father, Gerry Sr., had coached at Chaminade for 49 years.

Two seasons later, Faust accepted an offer to build a football program at a new high school, Archbishop Moeller, in suburban Cincinnati.

He spent three years constructing the foundation of what would become a legendary program in high school athletics.

In 1963, Moeller’s first varsity team surprised many with a 9-1 record.

In the next 17 years, Faust’s Moeller teams posted nine undefeated seasons, won 10 city championships, eight regional titles and five big-school state championships.

Four times Faust teams were awarded mythical national championships, each following unbeaten and untied seasons in 1976, ’77, ’79 and ’80.

The 1980 team completed a 13-0 season and capped Faust’s high school coaching record at a remarkable 174-17-2, a success rate of nearly 91%.

There was a public outcry when Faust was selected to take over at Notre Dame in the spring of 1981. The school’s administrators were admonished for elevating a high school coach to the most revered position in college coaching.

Faust’s first team in South Bend went 5-6 and he followed that with marks of 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 and 5-6.

His first Akron team in 1986 went 7-4, but his teams — playing a difficult Division I-AA schedule and, eventually, some of the top teams in I-A — never reached that level again.

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Rusty Miller, a longtime Associated Press journalist, was the principal writer of this obituary.

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The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.

The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.

She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.

Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.

Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.

The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

SALEM, N.J. (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, as they were cycling on a rural New Jersey road briefly appeared in court Tuesday, where the judge extended the window for prosecutors to seek an indictment.

The brief hearing, in which the judge granted prosecutors 30 additional days in which to seek formal charges in the Gaudreaus’ Aug. 29 deaths, marked the first time the Gaudreau family and the 44-year-old defendant, Sean M. Higgins, faced one another in court. Previously, Higgins appeared at hearings via video from behind bars.

Authorities say Higgins, who is from Woodstown, in southwestern New Jersey, was impaired after he drank five or six beers on the day he drove into the brothers’ bicycles, and that he has a history of road rage and aggressive driving.

Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and Matthew Gaudreau, 29, were killed near their childhood home in South Jersey on Aug. 29, on the eve of their sister’s wedding. The family, including their father, Gus Gaudreau, declined to comment on the case Tuesday at the Salem County Courthouse.

Higgins told police that on the day of his arrest, he had been driving around for two hours while talking to a friend on the phone after having an upsetting conversation with his mother.

A driver who was in front of Higgins told police that Higgins had been driving aggressively. When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and moved left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreaus, she said.

Higgins had a blood-alcohol level of .087, which is above the state’s .08 legal limit, and he failed a field sobriety test, police said. He faces preliminary charges of two counts of death by auto, reckless driving, possession of an open container, and consuming alcohol in a vehicle.

Higgins faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. The judge said that made him a flight risk and ordered him jailed until the trial.

Defense lawyer Matthew Portella has called Higgins “a loving father of two daughters,” and a good person who “made a horrible decision that night.” Portella declined to comment after Tuesday’s hearing.

Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the NHL and was set to start his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.