Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 1-29-21

Sports
Hammerin’ Hank Aaron, Once Baseball’s Home Run King, Dies At 86
Washington Football Team
Universally regarded as one of baseball’s greatest play- ers, Hank Aaron became the all-time home run king, a title he would hold for more than 30 years. Aaron, who was also the last of the Negro League players to move to Major League Baseball, died Friday at age 86. No cause of death was given.
Henry Louis Aaron was born Feb. 5, 1934, in the low- income Black section of Mo- bile, Ala., known as “Down the Bay,” although he grew up in the middle-class neighbor- hood of Toulminville. Aaron, one of eight children, prac- ticed baseball by hitting bottle caps with sticks.
During his first two years in high school, he played shortstop and third base, leading his team to the Mobile Negro High School Champi- onship both years. When he
signed to one of the Braves’ farm teams, the Eau Claire Bears, making $10,000 a year.
Aaron met and married Barbara Lewis in 1953, with whom he would have five chil- dren. Aaron finally made his debut with the Braves in 1954.
Aaron would reach a number of milestones over the next few years. But the achievement for which Aaron will always be best re- membered is shattering Babe Ruth’s all-time career home run record of 714 now held by Barry Bonds. Over a decade and a half, Aaron had been hitting up to 40 home runs a season. By the end of the 1973 season, Aaron was only one home run behind Ruth.
Deshaun Watson Wants Out Of Houston Regardless Of Head Coach
DESHAUN WATSON
There has been a lot of talk about the Houston Texans po- tentially salvaging their rela- tionship with Deshaun Watson if they hire the right head coach, but apparently that is not going to have any impact on the quarterback’s mindset.
Watson reportedly wants out of Houston regardless of whom the team hires as its next head coach. Watson has al- ready decided he wants a trade, and it doesn’t sound like any- thing is going to change his mind.
Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is considered one of the top can- didates for the Texans head coach job. Before Watson’s relationship with the Texans soured, there were reports that he wanted Bieniemy to be the team’s next coach. That has led many to believe Houston wants to hire Bieniemy to please Watson.
Watson has a full no-trade clause in his contract, which means he has some control over where he ends up.
Fulltime Assistant Coach
HANK AARON
was 14, his father took him to see Jackie Robinson play while the Brooklyn Dodgers were training in Mobile, and they heard Robinson give a speech in town. Aaron would later say that the experience made him determined to be- come a major-league player himself.
Aaron caught the eye of MLB scouts and received con- tract offers from two teams: the New York Giants and the Milwaukee Braves. He was as-
The Washington Football team is going to name Jen- nifer King as a fulltime of- fensive assistant coach. King will become the first full-time African-American female coach in NFL history.
King spent time with the Carolina Panthers before be- coming a coaching intern with the WFT for the 2020 season. She worked with run- ning backs coach Randy Jordan with Washington.
King worked as an intern for two years under current WFT coach Ron Rivera
JENNIFER KING
when he was in Carolina, in 2018 and ’19. She also was an assistant receivers coach for the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Foot- ball.
To Make Jennifer King
Stefon Diggs Remains On Field To Watch Chiefs Celebrate
Stefon Diggs did some- thing no other Buffalo Bills player did on Sunday.
The Bills lost 38-24 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. After the game ended, all the Bills players cleared off the field and went to the locker room, except for Diggs.
The Bills receiver stayed on the field and watched the Chiefs celebrate winning the AFC.
A lot of players don’t want to see another team celebrate after beating them, but some players do. They feel it gives
STEFON DIGGS
them fuel and motivation be- cause it’s something they want to experience for them- selves.
Diggs also received some encouragement from the Bills fans in attendance.
Tyreek Hill Feels Chiefs Have Been ‘Underestimated’
The Kansas City Chiefs played on Sunday like they had something to prove. Maybe that is because that was their attitude.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill had nine catches for 172 yards in his Chiefs’ 38-24 win over the Buffalo Bills to send his team to the Super Bowl. Hill said in a postgame inter- view on Westwood One that many of the team’s players felt they were being underes- timated. “I feel like we are being underestimated be- cause Tom Brady and the Bucs are getting all the atten- tion."
The Chiefs are the defend- ing champions, so they really shouldn’t feel that way. But maybe they felt like the Bills
TYREEK HILL
and say, Tom Brady and the Bucs, were getting more at- tention ahead of the week- end’s games. If that is what motivated them, it worked, because they’re back in the Super Bowl.
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