En Route

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Lost Hero By David Maraniss If ever a baseball player were deemed worthy of canonization, right fielder Roberto Clemente might be the one. Jackie Robinson may have suffered greater hardships during his career, but Clemente's nobility, charity and determination make him far more appropriate for a postage stamp than a Nike commercial. After 18 distinguished seasons, the Pirate star with the astonishing throwing arm died in a 1972 plane crash while en route to deliver relief supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.

Active athletes, coaches and officials who have died in aircraft crashes:Oct. 18, 1925: Marvin Goodwin, Cincinnati Reds pitcher, in Houston.March 31, 1931: Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach, in Kansas.May 4, 1949: 22 members of Torino, the Italian soccer champion, in Turin, Italy.Oct. 27, 1949: Marcel Cerdan, former world middleweight champion, en route to fight Jake LaMotta in Spain.July 1, 1954: John McBride, Alabama halfback, in ROTC training flight in Texas.Oct. 30, 1954: Wilbur Shaw, president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in Decatur, Ind.Sept.

First-year heavyweight Matt Belcastro won his first crown, and 140-pound teammate Richard Johnson took his second straight as Patterson coach Troy Stevenson captured his third straight Baltimore City Tournament crown at Mervo yesterday.Paul Eline (103), Jimmy Walker (145) and Kennard Wheeler (189) also won titles as the Clippers out-scored runner-up Poly, 234-174.Johnson, who expects to defend his 3A-4A East region title next weekend at Meade High in Anne Arundel County, won impressively with two first-period pins, the last in 1: 35. A junior, Johnson never wrestled before high school.

Baltimore City CC went on a 10-0 run with 13 minutes left to take control of the game en route to a 77-61 victory over Potomac State College of West Virginia yesterday in the women's Region XX tournament final.Dashann Coleman made five three-pointers in the second half en route to her game-high 26 points and added five rebounds and three assists for BCCC.Emily Jones had 14 points with 11 rebounds and Scherry Cofield contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Red Devils (27-5).Takia Barnes scored 20 to pace Potomac State.

Despite no eyewitness testimony or physical evidence to tie Thomas "Eddie" Blake to the shooting death of a Baltimore teen-ager, an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court jury convicted him yesterday of first-degree murder and four related charges in the slaying.The verdict ended a soap-opera-like trial for the first of three men accused of killing Miquel Tavon "Fats" Cauthorne, 16, of the 3600 block of West Bay Ave. along Shot Town Road in Arnold.Testimony indicated that Blake, 39, of the 1100 block of E. Patapsco Ave. in Baltimore, and Cauthorne were en route to a cookout less than a mile up the secluded road a day after they had reportedly argued.

As part of the countdown to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, a chronological look at past Olympiads is appearing each Sunday.Shabby facilities. Poor attendance. Rampant provincialism. Erratic officiating. Political overtones. This was the legacy Stockholm inherited as host for the 1912 Summer Games. The Olympic movement was on shaky ground and its future in jeopardy. But Superman alias Jim Thorpe saved the day.Thorpe, who was of American Indian (Sac and Fox), Irish and French ancestry, brought an impressive set of credentials from the Carlisle (Pa.)

Three of Baltimore County's most potent wrestling teams came together yesterday for a tri-match at Perry Hall.Just one, however, was left standing.Playing its best rendition of King of the Hill, fifth-ranked Owings Mills knocked off county contenders Perry Hall and Eastern Tech, improving the Golden Eagles to 13-0.With the Gilman Duals this weekend, the Eagles -- much to the liking of coach Guy Pritzker -- showed some of their best form."This match gets us ready for Gilman Duals, and the Gilman Duals get us ready for counties and states," said Pritzker, whose team last year lost a close match to the rival Gators en route to winning its fourth straight regional title.

Ice hockeyThe worst snowstorm of the winter couldn't stop the Howard County Youth Hockey Club Squirt A Huskies from playing their game Saturday morning at the Benfield Pines Ice Rink.rival Bowie, however, kept them from winning it.Bowie scored the winning goal with 3:58 left to pull out a 3-2 win and remain in first place in the Capitol Beltway Hockey League.Down, 2-0, after two periods, the Huskies used high-pressure offense, tight defense and standout goaltending by Kurt Carter to battle back and tie the game.

1 Western (16-0) -- Last week's ranking: 1. Chanel Wright scored a combined 38 points as the Doves routed Edmondson, 66-15, Wednesday, and Patterson, 79-15, Friday. Next game: Today at Mervo.2 Hammond (13-2) -- Last week's ranking: 2. The Golden Bears survived two near upsets by then-unranked teams. Wednesday, Hammond rallied from a two-point deficit after three quarters to edge Glenelg, 61-58. Friday, the Golden Bears held off Centennial, 43-40. Next game: Today at No. 16 Howard.3 Lake Clifton (10-2)

Longtime Dulaney coach Bob Dean likes to teach his runners to stay together in packs, continuously pushing each other until they cross the finish line.Yesterday, the top-ranked Lions listened well.Led by first-place Suzanne Sclafani, Dulaney swept the top six places en route to an overwhelming team victory at the Class 4A North Region championships at Oregon Ridge Park.L Perry Hall, placing five in the top nine, won the boys race.Crossing the tape consecutively for the defending state champions were Sclafani (20 minutes, 23 seconds)

Second-ranked Syracuse used a 6-0 first-half run and a 5-1 second-half run to pull away from visiting and No. 6 Johns Hopkins en route to a 14-11 victory yesterday in front of an announced 9,197 at the Carrier Dome. The win was the third straight for the Orange against the Blue Jays. Syracuse improved to 4-1 this season, and Hopkins dropped to 3-2. Hopkins took a 3-1 lead less than six minutes into the game as the Blue Jays scored on each of their first three shots. Brian Christopher's goal at the 11:30 mark was answered just more than a minute later by the Orange's Dan Hardy, but it took just 62 more seconds for the Blue Jays to grab a 3-1 lead as Steven Boyle and Kyle Wharton scored.

Antarctica Lonely Planet, $24.99 The "tourist" season in Antarctica is a short one - four months altogether, from the early summer of November to the late summer of February. The first "tourists" were, of course, the great explorers (James Cook, James Clark Ross, Roald Amundsen, Richard Byrd). But for the modern visitor, the more likely way to see this vast land - "If Antarctica were a country, it would be the world's second largest after Russia," notes author Jeff Rubin - is to book passage on a cruise ship.

A 17-year-old boy was fatally stabbed Sunday night across the street from City College in Northeast Baltimore, police said, continuing a wave of violence that is prompting calls to action by community leaders. Sunday's homicide was the 14th of 2009, matching the total for the entire month of January last year. Marvin L. "Doc" Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he is calling on other organizations, elected officials, faith-based groups and community residents to gather for a rally Jan. 31 to speak out against violence.

Troops march through Bel Air World War II came to Harford County as early as November 1940 when the military draft, also known as Selective Service, began. It became routine for folks along major roads to see and hear troop movements day and night. "The Caissons Went Rolling Along," according to the front page headline in the Aegis newspaper when Wednesday, June 3, 1941, a large contingent of soldiers moved through Bel Air from 2 a.m. until 10 a.m. en route from Fort Dix, N.J., to a post in Virginia.

Top-ranked Chesapeake-Anne Arundel used finesse and power in its 5-4 come-from-behind win over Arundel yesterday. Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cougars' Samantha Pettie laid down a bunt to squeeze home pinch runner Katie Galbreath and tie the score. The next batter, Erika Stasch, doubled home Pettie for what proved to be the winning run. No. 9 Mount de Sales 5, No. 8 Seton Keough 4, 10 inn. -- The Sailors' Jackie Merkel singled home Amanda France for the winning run in the top of the tenth inning.

CALL IT A NO-HURRIES WEEKEND. THE object is to take a getaway but to go slowly, engaging in a meditation of movement and enjoying the journey as much as the destination. That is the answer to those who wonder why anyone would take a six-hour train-and-bus ride from Washington to Virginia Beach when Southwest Airlines offers one-hour, nonstop service from BWI Marshall Airport. A curse upon those who insist that the trip begins when the traveling ends. Getaways are supposed to divert the daily grind -- when we navigate the city's congestion-clogged roads en route to work, zoom to the pharmacy and bank before they close, dash to church or our child's soccer practice or to the mall, with hopes of finding a good parking space.

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Lost Hero By David Maraniss If ever a baseball player were deemed worthy of canonization, right fielder Roberto Clemente might be the one. Jackie Robinson may have suffered greater hardships during his career, but Clemente's nobility, charity and determination make him far more appropriate for a postage stamp than a Nike commercial. After 18 distinguished seasons, the Pirate star with the astonishing throwing arm died in a 1972 plane crash while en route to deliver relief supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.

In the early hours of Jan. 13, 1964, phones began ringing at state police headquarters in Cumberland with callers reporting hearing loud explosions as a major blizzard was sweeping with a vengeance into the state from the Ohio Valley. Frances Green, a farmer's wife, told The Sun that she had been awakened by "a great rumbling, like thunder." "I looked out the window, and the sky was blood-red," she said. "I ran to the door and then light was dying down, and then there was another rumbling, not too loud, and a flash of fire."

A CSX freight train with a tanker containing a hazardous chemical derailed early yesterday morning along the Patapsco River near the Carroll-Howard county line, prompting residents of 100 neighboring homes to briefly evacuate as a precaution. No one was injured in the accident, which occurred on the Carroll County side of the river in Marriottsville, fire officials said. CSX crews working with hazardous-materials teams had righted and inspected the tanker by about 7 last night, allowing residents to return home.

Nearly nine months after delivering the ultimate prize to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala would rather not talk about it. Pietramala is way too busy analyzing videotape of a recent practice and contemplating tomorrow's season opener against Albany to think about that glorious Memorial Day last year when the Blue Jays ended 17 years of frustration. He is too consumed with teaching this younger team the right way to do things, whether it's positioning and rotating properly on defense or keeping the locker room spotless and staying on top of schoolwork.