Leading off today: Three former Section 5 athletes died early yesterday when their car sheared off a utility pole on a rural Genesee County road. Killed were the driver, Joshua K. Durham, 21, of Basom; Allyson E. Galens, 20, of Stanley; and Matthew R. Ware, 22, of Oakfield.
Alcohol and speed were being investigated as possible factors, the Genesee County Sheriff's Office told The Buffalo News. Durham was driving Galens' car at about 1:30 a.m., when it clipped a road sign and plowed into the utility pole near a curve in the road. The men were pronounced dead at the scene; Galens was transported to Erie County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 4 a.m.
Durham and Ware attended Oakfield-Alabama together. Durham played baseball and was a cross country runner. Ware was a star running back on the football team, earning second-team all-state honors in 2004 and '05.
"Matt was a phenomenal football player, one of the best athletes to ever come out of our school," O-A baseball coach Dan Gilbert told the Democrat and Chronicle. "Josh was a great baseball player. It's a tragedy. We're going to hurt for a long time. Unfortunately, they died way too soon."
Galens was a graduate of Marcus Whitman, where she was on the swimming and track and field teams; she was attending Genesee Community College, where she was a cheerleader.
Fulton teen in a battle: Tim Conners, son of Fulton's well-known football and wrestling coach, is battling leukemia, The Post-Standard reported this morning.
Conners, a member of the football, wrestling and track programs at the school, began undergoing tests in the spring at Upstate Medical Center. His condition was diagnosed April 3, resulting in three months of radiation and chemotherapy treatments; his condition worsened last month, and the 6-foot-2 15-year-old has lost much of his vision, the newspaper reported.
Mike and Betsy Conners are now looking into a bone marrow transplant as the best hope for their son's future. They traveled to Boston last week to consult with specialists about the process, which could take as long as three to six months if successful.
"The cold hard truth is, if the cancer comes back after the transplant, there will be nothing more that the doctors can do," Betsy Conners wrote in an online journal she has been updating to keep friends informed. "The transplant has to work."
A benefit for Tim Conners will be held Aug. 21 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Lakeview Lanes Bowling Center in Fulton.
Mike Conners is taking a leave of absence from coaching this fall and plans to stay in Boston with Tim if the bone marrow transplant is successful. He may be able to resume coaching in time for wrestling season.
Football update I: I have been making progress the last few days in updating much of the reference material on RoadToSyracuse.com, the New York State Sportswriters Association's football site.
One of the final pieces of the puzzle will be updating game, season and career leaders in numerous statistical categories. Paul Hutzler furnished fresh data to me over the weekend, and I'll have the online versions finished in the next few days.
