AP News, May 4th, 2007
Tiny L. Laster Jr.
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) _ Tiny L. Laster Jr., the longtime Hampton University women's coach who led the softball team to a regular-season championship on Tuesday, died Thursday from kidney failure, the school said. He was 61.
Laster was undergoing dialysis treatment twice a week in the morning so he could continue coaching softball, sports information director Jamar Ross said.
His death leaves the school in a quandary because Laster didn't have any assistant coaches. The school hasn't yet decided who will coach the team in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, which begins Saturday in Greensboro, N.C.
Laster, who took over as the Lady Pirates softball coach in 1989, compiled a career record of 535-300-1 in the sport, the school said. He also had a 215-250 record in 13 years as volleyball coach, and a 139-67 record as Hampton's women's basketball coach.
He also coached women's basketball at Talladega College and then at Tuskegee University, both in Alabama, and compiled a record of 245-128 at Tuskegee.
Laster guided the Lady Pirates to Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles in softball in 1994 and 1995, and in basketball in 1994. After the Pirates made the move up to Division I, he guided the softball team to the MEAC tourney title in 1996.
___
Donald Lay
ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Donald Lay, a retired federal judge who led the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for more than a decade, has died. He was 80.
Lay died Sunday at his home in North Oaks, Minn., the court said. Chief Judge James Loken said Lay's health had been declining for some time and that he retired in January.
Lay served on the St. Louis-based appeals court for more than 40 years after being appointed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966, when Lay was 39. He was the second youngest person ever to be appointed.
He served as chief judge from 1980 to 1991, when he took senior status and handled a slightly reduced caseload, said Maureen Gornik of the 8th Circuit's St. Paul, Minn., office.
Lay was born in Princeton, Ill. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and earned his bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Iowa.
___
Walter M. Schirra Jr.
SAN DIEGO (AP) _ Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., who as one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts combined the Right Stuff _ textbook-perfect flying ability and steely nerves _ with a pronounced rebellious streak, died Thursday. He was 84.
Schirra died of a heart attack at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, said Ruth Chandler Varonfakis, a family friend and spokeswoman for the San Diego Aerospace Museum.
He was the only astronaut to fly in all three of NASA's original manned spaceflight programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
Although he never walked on the moon, Schirra laid some of the groundwork that made the lunar landings possible and won the space race for the United States.
In 1962, the former Navy test pilot became the fifth American in space and the third American to orbit the Earth.
Schirra was practically born to fly. His father was a fighter pilot during World War I and later barnstormed at county fairs with Schirra's mother, who sometimes stood on the wing of a biplane during flights.
Schirra took his first flight with his father at 13 and already knew how to fly when he left home for the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Schirra flew 90 combat missions during the Korean War. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Air Medals.
___
Gordon Scott
BALTIMORE (AP) _ Gordon Scott, a handsome, muscle-bound actor who portrayed Tarzan in the 1950s, has died. He was 80.
Scott, who had been living in a working class section of south Baltimore, died Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of post-heart surgery complications, a hospital spokesman said.
Scott made 24 movies including "Tarzan and the Lost Safari" (1957), "Tarzan's Fight for Life" (1958), "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958), "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" (1959) and "Tarzan the Magnificent" (1960).
The cast in the 1959 movie included Sean Connery and Anthony Quayle.
Tarzan, the vine-swinging hero of the jungle, was created by the author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Scott was among a long line of actors, including Johnny Weissmuller and Larry "Buster" Crabbe, who portrayed him.
Scott was a lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas when he was discovered by Hollywood producer Sol Lesser, said Scott's brother Rayfield Werschkull of Portland, Ore.
He was signed to a seven-year-contract after he outperformed 200 other international candidates.
During the 1954 production of his first film, "Tarzan's Hidden Jungle," he fell in love with co-star Vera Miles. The couple married that year and divorced four years later.
After the Tarzan movies, Scott appeared in Westerns and gladiator films.
___
Nicos Symeonides
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) _ Cypriot Defense Minister Nicos Symeonides died Thursday after being hospitalized for a month with lung problems, the government said. He was 68.
Symeonides was appointed defense minister on Oct. 6, a month after the resignation of Fivos Klokaris.
A lawyer and economist, Symeonides held various government posts throughout his career, and had served as special secretary at the ministries of justice, education, transport, health and labor.
A second minister of Cyprus' 11-member cabinet, Education Minister Pefkios Georgiades, died in January after suffering a heart attack. He was 72.
