Clay

Lester Clay, the Wilde Lake boys basketball coach whose martinet style of coaching often frustrated and infuriated his players and their parents, will not return for the 2000-2001 season. But he might not be leaving without a fight. Wilde Lake principal Roger Plunkett notified Clay in a letter dated Aug. 1 that Clay's basketball coaching contract was not being renewed. Clay contends that his due process was violated, citing county policy that such terminations must be made in writing within 60 days of the conclusion of the season.

An FBI review of the 2005 death of Robert Lee Clay, a prominent Baltimore businessman and advocate for minority entrepreneurs, supports a conclusion by city police and the state medical examiner's office that he committed suicide, according to an FBI letter made public yesterday. The agency said investigators reviewed police reports "covering Mr. Clay's background, business relationships, and financial affairs leading up to his death," which revealed "a somewhat stressful time in his life.

From the standpoint of local tennis, it is somewhat sobering to put the T. Rowe Price National Intercollegiate Clay Court Championships in perspective.Sobering whether you're talking about the men or women.There is only one woman from the state in the main draw of 32 that will begin play tomorrow at Suburban Club after four days of qualifying. She is Lauren Gavaris of Potomac, a senior from Wisconsin who is No. 13 in the Rolex preseason collegiate rankings and the No. 6 seed here."Lauren went to summer school and played in only a few tournaments," said Wisconsin coach Patti Henderson.

The most intriguing thing about the T. Rowe Price National Intercollegiate Clay Court Championships is the likelihood of surprises.The eight-day event running through Sunday at the Suburban Club is the first leg of college tennis' grand slam, to be followed by the All-America Championships in mid-October, the Rolex National Indoor Championships in February and the NCAA Championships in May.As the school year's first event, it is full of surprises. Coaches don't dare place too much faith in final NCAA rankings from last spring because talented freshmen pop up everywhere.

Just days before the city's mayoral primary, thousands of racist leaflets began appearing on the street corners of Baltimore exhorting white voters to support the candidacy of City Councilman Martin O'Malley to save the city from "Blacks and Jews."Attached to each handout is a letter signed by Robert L. Clay Sr., an African-American businessman who claims to have intercepted the hate-filled diatribe purportedly from a group calling itself the Aryan Blood Brotherhood."I'm not necessarily interested in tarnishing anyone's candidacy," said Clay, who paid to duplicate and distribute thousands of copies of the letter.

Rafael Nadal's phone rang last week. On the other end was Guillermo Vilas, owner of four Grand Slam titles and the man whose 1977 record for consecutive victories on clay Nadal was approaching. "I'm angry. You're showing a lack of respect for your elders," Vilas told the Spanish teen, tongue squarely in cheek. "If I see you, I don't know what I'm going to do to you." Caught off-guard and uncertain whether Vilas was joking, Nadal stammered for a moment before catching on. Turns out, they saw each other yesterday on center court at the French Open in Paris, and Vilas greeted him with a hug. Nadal broke Vilas' mark with his 54th straight win on clay, beating Robin Soderling of Sweden, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1, at Roland Garros to begin defense of his first Grand Slam title.

When artist Jim McKee can't sleep, he goes to his basement studio, picks up a board and starts "slapping" on a hunk of clay. Before long,the clay begins to take shape, and eventually, a ceramic sculpture emerges like the one called "Frog From The Reflecting Pool" -- a sculpture of a giant amphibian devouring the Washington Monument.Angeris one obvious ingredient in the soft-spoken, 39-year-old Ellicott City artist's success. Most often, it emerges in sculpture with a message about the environment.

PARIS -- Call it Le Malediction de la Terre Battue, the Curse of the Red Clay.It is a horror story at Stade Roland Garros. At this French Open, the top men's seeds have fallen on a daily basis. Name a favorite and say, "Au revoir."No. 1 seed Pete Sampras, No. 4 Goran Ivanisevic, No. 5 Thomas Muster, No. 6 Richard Krajicek and No. 7 Alex Corretja were victims of the curse days ago. Yesterday, No. 2 seed Michael Chang and No. 16 seed Sergi Bruguera met on Court Central and, of course, it was Chang, the highest seed left and the last American in the draw, who was stomped into the red dust, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.It's even disconcerting to the men who are winning.

Despite the state medical examiner's official ruling that Robert Lee Clay's death was a suicide, friends of the prominent businessman say they will continue their efforts to show that he might have been murdered. A cash reward posted last month by Clay's associates has been increased to $60,000 for information about the May 16 fatal shooting of Clay, 58, whose daughter found his body in his Reservoir Hill office. In addition, they are hiring a forensic scientist to review the medical examiner's investigation.

Talk to the hand puppet. It isn't shy. Baldy here will speak its clay-baked mind as it serves as your personal proxy at the next family get-together. Unglazed and unfazed, this terra-cotta sidekick might not hesitate to say something hard and true. "I'm more like the person behind the puppet," says the artist, Mary Cloonan. "I love my family... but sometimes ..." Say no more. Everyone has family stuff. Standard family kits should probably include handy clay puppets. "It's this idea of transmitting tedious or difficult information.