Football Player

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- A former Penn State football player from Maryland was convicted yesterday of murder in the stabbing death of a former roommate. LaVon Chisley, 23, a former defensive lineman for the Nittany Lions, was found guilty of first- and third-degree murder. He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, as Pennsylvania law requires for a first-degree murder conviction. Chisley showed no emotion when the Centre County jury returned its verdict after about five hours of deliberation.

WASHINGTON -- In a marathon day in court that foreshadowed the key elements of a former Navy football player's military trial on sexual misconduct charges, prosecution and defense lawyers whittled down a potential jury pool from 15 officers to four yesterday. The Naval Academy officers answered detailed, personal questions on a variety of topics, including Navy football, sexual assault at the academy, the definition of "indecent" sex and the credibility of an alleged victim who admitted to drinking alcohol underage and who did not cry out for help while she was allegedly being assaulted.

As far as football aspirations and accomplishments go, 19-year-old Sergeii Berzhniuk hasn't done much by design. Though at 6 feet 2, 240 pounds it seems only natural he's a football player, he has taken an untraditional route to the sport.He happened to be working out in a weight room in Dusseldorf, his hometown in Germany, when he bumped into someone from the Dusseldorf Panthers. The gentleman took one look at the kid and asked him to play football."Sure, why not?" Berzhniuk said. "It sounds like fun."

Building a state championship team around Jason Wingeart, a freshman soccer stalwart turned two-time All-Metro football player -- that was one thing.But using a senior in his first year of organized football to replace Wingeart and hoping for similar success -- isn't that a stretch?Not if you're Hereford coach Steve Turnbaugh and 6-foot-4, 195-pound Luke Gilbert is the player you selected.Turnbaugh has received surprising efforts from several newcomers on his almost totally rebuilt, still unbeaten team, which some Baltimore County Class 1A-2A teams are itching to face.

Wilde Lake High coach Doug DuVall called it "the one fear in coaching that something like this happens."Poly coach John Hammond said, "That really sent shivers," and he decided to have his players observe a moment of silence at yesterday's football practice.They were among many local coaches and players who were shocked by the death of a 13-year-old freshman football player from St. John's College High School Tuesday night at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington.Daniel Bell of Silver Spring collapsed on Aug. 18 on during the second day of football practice.

Fardan Carter readily admits that football is his top sport, the one he hopes to play at the Division I level in college.Carter, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards and was named Offensive Player of the Year by the county coaches, is considering North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Maryland, Pitt and Temple.Anyone looking at his current stats, however, would say he's also a pretty good basketball player. Carter is averaging 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists through seven games."People look at me and think I'm just a football player," Carter said.

As the car left the small town of Kaplan, La., and sped down Highway 167 en route to the hospital in Lafayette 35 minutes away, the unborn Donald Richard was moving a little bit faster then the car. Before the car holding his pregnant mother, father, aunt and his aunt's boyfriend could arrive at the hospital, Richard was born in the back seat.There was one problem: He was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, so he was not breathing or crying. Luckily, his aunt had taken a few nursing classes and knew how to unwrap the cord.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland's football schedule is full of backpedaling cornerbacks and coaches who wished they had taken a chance on Jermaine Lewis.A senior outside receiver, Lewis already holds the Terps' record for receiving yards, and shares the mark for touchdown receptions. He needs just two more catches to surpass Frank Wycheck's career record of 134, which he expects to do to morrow night against West Virginia at Byrd Stadium, and none of it was expected by the football recruiters who ignored Lewis four years ago."

RICHARD M. Nixon knew baseball and football as no other president in history. When Baltimore returned to the major leagues in 1954, Mr. Nixon was elated to be the one to throw out the ceremonial first ball because his boss, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was off somewhere playing golf.Mr. Nixon reveled in the role of sports fan. He attended the only world championship football game Baltimore hosted when the Colts beat the New York Giants in 1959 at Memorial Stadium.I recall two other occasions when Mr. Nixon's familiarity with and love for sports were demonstrated impressively.

Carroll County's first female high school football player -- who was seriously injured in a 1989 practice game -- can't hold the county school board responsible for her injuries, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals said yesterday.Upholding a Carroll Circuit judge's dismissal of Tawana Hammond's $1.2 million lawsuit against the board, the appellate court disputed Ms. Hammond's contention that she was owed a warning about the dangers of football."The central theory espoused by the Hammonds, that the school board had a duty to warn them of the severe injuries that might result from voluntarily participating on a varsity high school tackle football team, is one that, as far as we can determine, has never been adopted by any court in this country," Judge Diana G. Motz wrote for the court in an 11-page opinion.

Gary Steele didn't attribute much significance to the pass he'd just caught. He was merely doing his job as the sophomore tight end for Army's football team. But in the stands at Michie Stadium, two older men gently knocked knees. It was a subtle gesture between friends, both of whom had spent time at West Point as Buffalo Soldiers in the 1940s. One of the men was Steele's father, the other his godfather. They had never dreamed they'd see a black cadet, much less a member of the family, catch a pass on that field.

When a college football player first scores a touchdown before the home fans, it should be a moment of unfettered joy, of promise fulfilled. For Darryl Hill, who integrated the U.S. Naval Academy's football program, then became the ACC's first black football player, it was more complicated. After he caught his first touchdown pass at the University of Maryland's Byrd Stadium, the traditional cannon shot sounded. Hill threw up his arms and discarded the ball in fright. He had been told by school officials that someone had threatened to shoot him from the top of the stands.

If you ever doubt that America is the land of opportunity, look no farther than Ricky Williams, the running back who is on his fourth or fifth chance at a pro football career with his recent return to the Miami Dolphins. Williams looks different. He's clean-shaven, from dome to chin. And he sounds a bit different. He's not utterly the vague, navel-gazing guy we had come to know. Last week, he said he wanted to be a football player and that he realized it was what most fulfilled him. "Someone asked me a question.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- A former Penn State football player from Maryland was convicted yesterday of murder in the stabbing death of a former roommate. LaVon Chisley, 23, a former defensive lineman for the Nittany Lions, was found guilty of first- and third-degree murder. He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, as Pennsylvania law requires for a first-degree murder conviction. Chisley showed no emotion when the Centre County jury returned its verdict after about five hours of deliberation.

At last, the National Football League draft! April 28 is about to arrive - the day big-time college football players finally can throw off their chains. Soon they'll have real money in the pockets of their jeans. At long last, they'll be getting paid. From letter-of-intent day, when they were high school seniors, until draft day, nobody has given them a paycheck. Coaches have made millions, players nothing. When, some February past, they signed that four-page contract with 20 stipulations, the athletes agreed to go unpaid and give their colleges a monopoly on their services.

WASHINGTON -- In a marathon day in court that foreshadowed the key elements of a former Navy football player's military trial on sexual misconduct charges, prosecution and defense lawyers whittled down a potential jury pool from 15 officers to four yesterday. The Naval Academy officers answered detailed, personal questions on a variety of topics, including Navy football, sexual assault at the academy, the definition of "indecent" sex and the credibility of an alleged victim who admitted to drinking alcohol underage and who did not cry out for help while she was allegedly being assaulted.

Robert R. Ward, an All-America football player at the University of Maryland who became the Terps' head coach for two seasons in the 1960s, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Friday at a son's home in Laytonsville. The Annapolis resident was 77. Mr. Ward was the only Terrapin player to earn All-America honors at both offensive and defensive positions, according to a university press statement released on his death. He was named most valuable player of the 1950 Gator Bowl, where the Terps defeated Missouri, 20-7, and he earned Southern Conference Player of the Year honors.

WITH JUST a flip of the radio dial, the listener's mood can change so quickly. Like yesterday, for instance. I'm just driving along, minding my own business, when, all of a sudden, ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd is praising - that's right, praising - the graduation rates for schools in the major bowl games. He's citing how busy a college football player's day is, contrasting it with the slacker lifestyle of a typical student and saying how any rate comparable with the overall school rate is great.

COLLEGE PARK -- What do you want to talk about? Football? Maryland's chances at a fourth straight 10-win season? Sure, Domonique Foxworth can do that. He can tell you anything you need to know about the 2004 Terps, about what it's like to be an all-conference cornerback, about how it feels to be a leader on a team that's finally getting some national respect. He's happy to give you his take on Maryland's quarterback competition, and if asked, he'll even (reluctantly) talk about conference expansion.

A McDaniel College student surrendered to Westminster police yesterday after being charged with assaulting two sophomores from the school this month in an argument with racial overtones, authorities said. Nicholaos G. Alevrogiannis, a fifth-year student and a former stand-out football player at McDaniel, is accused of using racial slurs during a confrontation leading to a fight that left one man with a broken finger and 40 stitches to close a wound to his jaw and neck, according to court documents.