Cager

Steve Key has the world in a slam dunk right now. And he couldn't be happier.To the surprise of many people, he's now earning fame and fortune playing in the European professional basketball leagues.In 1986 Key led Atholton High to its only county basketball title in the past 16 years."He was only about 6-foot-1 when he played for me, so I didn't envision him as playing professional ball, although he had great potential and had a great senior season," said Jim Albert, his coach at Atholton.

Tom Smith never could be accused of being a pupil of the John Thompson school of early season scheduling.Thompson, Georgetown University men's basketball coach, is notorious for spoiling his squad with cream-puff teams before facing a murderous Big East Conference schedule.In contrast, Smith, the second-year Anne Arundel Community College women's basketball coach, wants his team to be more than battle-tested once the Maryland JuCo conference season rolls around in early January.Just by checking the Pioneers' slate through the end of December -- which includes four non-league foes -- the team should know what it has to work on to finish among the conference's elite.

Ten county basketball players, including 1990-1991 Anne Arundel County Sun Player of the Year Rob Wooster of Annapolis, are going to get a unique opportunity for exposure the last weekend in September.The 6-foot-6 Wooster, who averaged 14.1 points per game for the 4A state finalist Panthers last year, will join nine other county cagers inthe first Charlie Weber Maryland Invitational at Cole Field House, the University of Maryland at College Park, Sept. 27-29.The 17-and-under tournament involves 12 teams from Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and Virginia which will compete before a host of college scouts and coaches.

Two-sport student-athlete Laura Coakley of St. Mary's High in Annapolis became the first female athlete in school history to receive a full scholarship yesterday.She signed a letter of intent with Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C., to play basketball for the Demon Deacons."Laura is the first girl athlete from our school to get a full scholarship, and we are very proud of her," said athletic director and head girls basketball coach Carmine Blades."She's wanted to go to Wake Forest since she was a sophomore."

The Atholton boys basketball team, which is experiencing one of its worst seasons, must forfeit two games because a key player has been living outside the school district.School officials learned recently that guard David Morris, one of Atholton's best players, has been living in the Oakland Mills school district while attending classes at Atholton. A parent of another student discovered the address discrepancy and notified the school, officials said."We have a pretty strict system, and you really have to go out ofyour way to beat it," said Don Disney, executive supervisor of health and physical education.

`Sabbatical Exhibition' Jack Wilgus, the longtime head of undergraduate photography programs at the Maryland Institute College of Art, took time off during the 2006-2007 academic year to focus on his own work. Judging from his hilarious pictures of giant picnic baskets and oversized ducks, on view at the school's faculty Sabbatical Exhibition, Wilgus had a ball. Other instructors represented in the show include Chezia Thompson Cager, Lois Hennessey, Margaret Morrison, Piper Shepard, Whitney Sherman, Laurie Snyder and Susan Waters-Eller.

LEROY TENNYSON WHEATLEY, Age 80, departed his life on Saturday, June 26, 2004 in Millersville, MD. Born August 7, 1923, in Smithfield, MD, son of the late Mabel Hill and John Howard Wheatley. Mr. Wheatley worked several jobs after high school in various parts of state. He later was employed by, and a member of the International Longshoreman Association (AFL-CIO), Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore, Inc. After working many years on the docks in Baltimore, he pursued his career to advance to the position of Vice President of Local Union 1429 for nearly a quarter of a century.

An 18-wheel truck smashed into the back of a stalled sedan on the Bay Bridge yesterday, pushed the car more than 100 feet and killing the driver and his two passengers, a mother and her 10-year-old son.The accident, which occurred at 9:32 a.m., forced police to close the bridge's westbound span for three hours. Police used eastbound lanes for two-way traffic until they cleared the scene of shattered glass and debris.According to the Maryland Transportation Authority, Michael Leslie Cager of Severna Park was westbound on the 4-mile-long Bay Bridge when the 1985 Ford LTD II he was driving lost power about a mile from the Eastern Shore.

Anne Arundel County established its dominance in the weight events on the first day of the state track and field championships yesterday at Western Maryland College.County boys took the top three spots in the Class 4A shot put, while the girls took the top two spots in the Class 4A discus.Carlos Cromwell of Broadneck won the shot put with a toss of 47 feet, 4 inches, Brian Evans of Old Mill was second (46-11 1/2), and Severna Park's Teddy Jennings placed third (46-1 1/2)."It's like a rivalry," Cromwell said of the three-way battle between the county foes.

They've waited 13 years for this day to finally come – Graduation Day. For the hundreds of members of the Class of 2013 in Harford's public and private schools, it's the end to 13 years of hard work and the beginning of something new, whether it be full-time employment, going off to college or joining the military. One chapter of their lives is closing, another just starting. Students at John Archer, Harford Christian and John Carroll schools and Aberdeen, Bel Air and C. Milton Wright high schools have already accepted their diplomas.