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Home > SECWB News & More! > Our Staff & Contributors > LeAnne Harrington > Featured Columns > News and Notes From Around the SEC
News and Notes From Around the SEC
by LeAnne Harrington, SECWB.com
Posted: October 30th, 2007 @ 11:52pm
With two and a half weeks of practice under their belts and several teams hitting the hardwood tomorrow night for exhibition games, lets take a look back at some of the developments from around the SEC since the end of last season.
Alabama freshman Katie Hancock, a 5’11” swing player from Tupelo, MS suffered a tragedy when her older brother was killed in an auto accident on April 29, 2007. Josh Hancock, who had pitched in the College World Series for Auburn University, was entering his sixth year in the majors, having pitched for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds prior to joining the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006. Josh Hancock was killed when the SUV he was driving struck a parked tow truck at a high rate of speed in the early morning hours. He was 29 years old. The Cardinals wore a special #32 patch to honor him for the entire 2007 MLB season.
Drew Landers, the son of Georgia coach Andy Landers and a rising senior at North Oconee High in Athens, was critically injured in a car accident on June 24, 2007. Drew, along with 2 other varsity basketball players, were passengers in a Honda Accord being driven by North Oconee assistant basketball coach Shawn Smith as the North Oconee team returned from attending a weekend camp at Jacksonville State University. While traveling on I-20 in Oxford, AL, their vehicle was struck by a jack-knifed tractor trailer which crossed the median and hit the Accord head-on. Smith was killed in the collision and the three students were transported to Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center in Anniston, AL. Landers suffered a head injury and a bruised lung, and was later life-flighted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. His injuries were considered non-life-threatening but required intensive care for a number of days. The other 2 students were treated and released.
LSU senior point guard Katie Antony has decided to forego playing her senior season with the Lady Tigers in order to focus on her studies. Antony, from Anacoco, LA, had transferred from Vanderbilt to LSU prior to the 2005-2006 season to be able to play closer to home, but has decided to end her playing career in order to pursue a career in medicine.
In other LSU news, highly regarded assistant coach Bob Starkey will be sporting a new look this season: he’s gone bald. No, Starkey didn’t suddenly become follically-challenged: he shaved his head in support of his wife, Sherie, who is undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments in her battle against breast cancer. Sherie Starkey was diagnosed in May with Stage I breast cancer, which is usually the earliest and most treatable stage, but when doctors performed her lumpectomy, they found that she had HER2, a very aggressive form of breast cancer. Starkey had told his wife that he would shave his head to show his solidarity with her when she began to lose her hair, and he was true to his word. Sherie Starkey states: “It's never been an individual thing. It's always been us together." Coach Van Chancellor said, "It's an unbelievable amount of support that a man like Bob has for his wife." In addition, Coach Chancellor and coach Starkey have been highly involved with both the team and the community to raise breast cancer awareness. We applaud their efforts and wish Sherie Starkey all the best in her fight against this disease.
The Tennessee Lady Vol family was struck a double blow when the mother of rising sophomore guard Cait McMahan lost her battle with cancer on May 29, 2007. Teresa McMahan had valiantly fought cancer 3 separate times, but had been in hospice care since December 2006. She was 53 years old. Then a mere 8 days later, McMahan underwent knee surgery to repair an earlier injury and will be red-shirted for the 2007-2008 season. McMahan had torn her ACL while still at Maryville’s Heritage High, and had undergone reconstructive surgery in 2005. As a freshman, McMahan had injured the same knee, bruising the bone in a pick-up game on Sept. 19, 2006. She had arthroscopy surgery on Oct. 20, 2006 and the medical training staff anticipated further surgery at that time, but McMahan chose to play her freshman season in pain so that her critically ill mother could see her daughter fulfill her life-long dream of playing for the Lady Vols. Teresa McMahan was able to attend several games at Thompson-Boling Arena before her hospitalization, and was then able to see her daughter’s televised games as the Lady Vols made their run to the National Championship. Cait had given her mother a piece of the net from the championship game in Cleveland, and she was wearing it on her wrist as a bracelet when she died. We send our condolences to Cait and wish her all the best in her rehab.
In other UT news, anyone who knows anything at all about Coach Pat Summitt knows she is a woman who lives by a very structured schedule. But Summitt made an unscheduled visit to the emergency room after passing out at her home on June 21, 2007, and she required an overnight stay at St. Mary’s Medical Center, where she was treated for dehydration. The dehydration was more than likely caused by her summer working conditions. Thompson-Boling Arena had been undergoing renovations and Coach Summitt’s basketball camps had to be moved to auxiliary gyms which did not have air conditioning. Coupled with the fact that she often forgets to eat when in the middle of intense preparation, and the fact that she had not been getting enough rest, all of this factored against her and led to the fainting spell. Summitt was released from the hospital the following afternoon and proclaimed, “I feel like a new woman.”
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