Presence

In the first week of her reporting internship for a horse-racing newspaper, Gabby Gaudet nervously approached one of the most celebrated figures in the sport. "Can you tell me how you first got involved in the game?" she asked Kelly Breen, who trained the winner of the 2011 Belmont Stakes. "Terrible question. Get back to me when you think of a better one," he replied.  She flinched but thought fast. "How about if I ride your horse?" she asked. He said yes, they fell to talking, and the story she wrote ran above the fold in The Saratoga Special.

When men's lacrosse coach Joe Breschi left Ohio State after the 2008 season to fill the same post at North Carolina, he took with him his network of connections with the Baltimore metropolitan area. Since his departure, however, the Buckeyes have maintained a pipeline to Charm City, using it to help build a roster that's only three wins from a national championship. Ohio State has six Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association players hailing from Baltimore, which is the second-most among the eight teams left in the NCAA tournament.

They planned to call a cab and visit some girls in Forest Hill. As they waited, the two teens bantered about rap songs they were writing. "Can I get on that?" one asked about a song the other had written. "You can get on two or three of them," his friend assured. The idle chatter was intended to change the subject from the dark task they had were about to carry out - to rob the cabdriver. Though one of the teens had a nickel-plated .38 caliber revolver tucked in his waistband, the two talked casually about music and CDs while they waited.

The sales force for the port of Baltimore travels the country and the world, looking for business. It could be farm equipment manufactured in the Midwest on its way to Australia or furniture coming from South America or Alabama-built Hondas headed for Russian dealerships or outdoors gear ordered by U.S. retailers. "We want it," said Richard Powers, director of trade development. Baltimore's sales plan, formed several years ago, targets autos, containers, farm and construction equipment, forest products and passenger cruises.

John H. Wilbanks, a Baltimore car impresario who popularized the slogan "The Walking Man's Friend," died Tuesday from complications of an infection at Stella Maris Hospice. He was 75 and lived in Parkville.For nearly 50 years, from a crowded office at Johnny's Auto Sales in the 4800 block of Harford Road, Mr. Wilbanks sold new and used cars. He estimated he had sold more than 100,000 cars."He had the gift of gab," said his wife of 55 years, the former Katherine Harvey, who met her future husband at a Baltimore filling station.

The Hells Angels didn't exactly get a warm welcome to Maryland. Last May in Calvert County, members of the state's inaugural chapter celebrated their first year of membership by attending the "Blessing of the Bikes" in North Beach. A few thousand other motorcyclists also went, for reasons of their own. But so did nearly a hundred policemen, who shadowed the Angels with sniper rifles and surveillance cameras. Two months later, federal agents raided the chapter's clubhouse, arresting president John Beal and another member on gun and drug charges.

Baltimore Sun reporters Jeff Barker and Don Markus and editor Matt Bracken weigh in on the three biggest topics of the past week in Maryland sports. Is Maryland better off developing Roddy Peters and Seth Allen as its point guards rather than bringing in Antonio Barton for one season? Don Markus: A lot of college coaches, Mark Turgeon included, want to take advantage of the NCAA's fairly recent legislation that allows players who have graduated from one school to finish their careers at another as long as they can find a graduate program that doesn't exist at the first school.

MISSOURI CITY, Texas -- At the mere mention of a lineman named Cortez, Max Emfinger -- the self-described national prep football recruiting expert who publishes a newsletter ranking high school football players -- flies into a tizzy in the family kitchen."

How do you clean a 2,000-year-old sarcophagus and get it ready for a road trip to Cleveland? Very, very carefully. Walters Art Museum conservators have spent the past three years restoring a 500-pound, child-size coffin, elaborately carved with winged goddesses, Medusa heads, the masks of comedy and tragedy, and the offerings of fruit and flowers left as tributes to the dead. The conservators have used an instrument resembling a space-age-style ray gun to detect lingering traces of red paint that has lasted for nearly two millennia — an accomplishment that seemingly eludes the manufacturers of modern-day wall-colorings.

After more than a century outfitting generations of Baltimore's men, women and children with new shoes, retailing institution Hess Shoes will close its remaining 11 stores, the chain said yesterday.N. Hess' Sons Inc. will begin going-out-of-business sales immediately, said Larry Drombetta, president and chief executive officer.Once the sales are completed, Hess will become the latest in a series of Baltimore retailers such as Hutzler Bros., Hochschild Kohn, Stewart's, O'Neil's and Brager-Gutman whose names have disappeared.