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FOR THE RECORD
July 12, 2004
InjuredCritically, in an automobile accident in Colchester, Conn., former NBA shot blocker extraordinaire Manute Bol. The 7'7" Bol, 43, suffered two cracked vertebrae and head injures in a one-car accident last Thursday. He was listed in stable condition on Monday, and doctors were still trying to determine if he had suffered any permanent paralysis. (The driver, Neville Robinson, was killed.) Since retiring in 1995, Bol has worked hard to raise money for various causes in his native Sudan—his efforts included a celebrity boxing match against William Perry and an appearance as a minor league hockey player—but his altruism has left him in poor financial shape. "He was so generous and gave so much," friend Greg Nemergut told The Hartford Courant. "He probably gave too much."
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July 12, 2004

For The Record

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Injured
Critically, in an automobile accident in Colchester, Conn., former NBA shot blocker extraordinaire Manute Bol. The 7'7" Bol, 43, suffered two cracked vertebrae and head injures in a one-car accident last Thursday. He was listed in stable condition on Monday, and doctors were still trying to determine if he had suffered any permanent paralysis. (The driver, Neville Robinson, was killed.) Since retiring in 1995, Bol has worked hard to raise money for various causes in his native Sudan—his efforts included a celebrity boxing match against William Perry and an appearance as a minor league hockey player—but his altruism has left him in poor financial shape. "He was so generous and gave so much," friend Greg Nemergut told The Hartford Courant. "He probably gave too much."

Settled
Their differences, Tiger Woods and his former swing coach Butch Harmon. After Woods shot a third-round 73 at the U.S. Open, Harmon ripped his former pupil on Sky TV, saying he was in a "bit of denial" if he didn't think his swing was in trouble. Last week Woods phoned his ex-coach, whom he hasn't worked with since winning the last of his eight majors, the 2002 U.S. Open. "We talked about every single conceivable issue and point of view that each of us had," said Woods. "Sometimes things can be spun out of hand. I wanted to hear it from his mouth, and he wanted to hear it from my mouth."

Elected
To represent Slovakia in the European Union Parliament, former Quebec Nordiques star Peter Stastny. In his first bid for public office, Stastny, 47, the most prolific scorer of the 1980s after Wayne Gretzky and a '98 inductee into the hockey Hall of Fame, campaigned on a platform of lowering taxes and reducing governmental red tape. Said Stastny after last month's vote, "The amount of adrenaline that flowed last night...is equal only to exceptional sports experiences."

Shaved
His entire body—a tonsorial act that got him suspended pending a hearing-jockey Pat Valenzuela, 41. The 1989 Kentucky Derby winner (on Sunday Silence), who resumed riding last week after a one-month drug suspension, was unable to provide samples for a hair-follicle drug test, so stewards at Hollywood Park banned him. "For the last four years, I've had my head bald," he said. "I've always shaved the rest of it."

Indicted
On charges of sexually abusing five of his daughters, NBA Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy. The former Rockets guard, who has been on leave from his job as a Rockets announcer since the allegations against him were made in March, is accused of abusing the girls from 1988 to '91, when they were between six and 13 years old. Murphy, 55, who has 14 children by nine women, denies the charges, saying they stem from a family disagreement over money. If convicted, he faces five years to life in prison.

Died
Of lung failure, Marlon Brando, 80. Though Brando, who was born in Omaha, never distinguished himself as a football player, the game led to his becoming an actor. A knee injury he suffered during a scrimmage at military school left him 4-F, so instead of joining the Army in 1943, Brando drifted to New York City and the theater scene. He played an athlete in his first big screen role—as a football star (right) who is paralyzed in World War II in 1950s The Men—and one of his most renowned parts. As Terry Malloy, a second-rate ex-boxer who "coulda been a contender" in 1954's On the Waterfront Brando won the first of his two Best Actor Oscars.

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