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Sports Briefs: Sportswear company sues Nike, Hall of Fame over Jordan line of clothing
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Published: June 25, 2009
BOSTON -- SportsFuzion Inc., of Westwood, Mass., has sued Nike and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, saying that it has been cut out of the sportswear business related to Michael Jordan's September induction into the Hall of Fame.
SportsFuzion says that plans by Nike and the Hall of Fame for a line of Jordan sportswear violate a contract that SportsFuzion says gave it exclusive licensing rights to the Hall of Fame's logos, trademarks, designs and photos for use in sportswear. Nike is expected to release its Air Jordan Hall of Fame collection this summer.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, seeks damages in excess of $10 million.
Representatives for Nike, based in Beaverton, Oregon, and the Hall of Fame, based in Springfield, did not return calls seeking comment.
SportsFuzion's attorney, Michael Bunis, said that when SportsFuzion was negotiating its contract with the Hall of Fame, the company's co-founder and president, Andrew Mirken, knew that Jordan's induction into the Hall of Fame "would be the single biggest event the Hall had ever experienced."
SportsFuzion alleges that Nike and the Hall of Fame colluded to cut SportsFuzion out of the deal.
More basketball
■ Coach Mike Krzyzewski remains Duke's highest-paid employee, according to the school's most recent IRS documents obtained yesterday by The Associated Press. They show that Duke paid him more than $3.6 million during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008.
Krzyzewski's salary is about 3½ times that of Duke's next highest-paid employee. Chancellor emeritus Dr. Ralph Snyderman made about $983,000.
■ Michael Jordan's son, Jeff, will not be playing basketball at Illinois next year. The younger Jordan, who walked on with the Illini, said yesterday that he plans to focus on his studies and that he's ready for "life after basketball."
Jordan, who was awarded a scholarship before the 2009 spring semester, played in 59 career games, totaling 58 points, 42 assists and 24 rebounds.
■ Darcie Vincent, the women's basketball coach at Appalachian State, has added Heather Kearney, Andrea Gross and Kiesha Mack to her staff as assistant coaches.
Kearney spent last season as the head coach at California (Pa.) and led her team to the final eight of the NCAA Division II tournament. She spent eight seasons before that as an assistant to Vincent, also at California. Gross was an assistant at Colgate for two seasons, and Mack an assistant at East Stroudsburg State for one.
■ The Western Athletic Conference is moving its season-ending men's and women's basketball tournaments to Las Vegas in 2011.
The two-year deal puts the tournaments at the Orleans Arena in 2011 and 2012. The arena is attached to The Orleans Hotel and Casino, just west of the Las Vegas Strip.
Golf
■ Cheyenne Woods, a sophomore on the Wake Forest women's golf team, will play in her first LPGA Tournament starting today in the Locust Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y.
Woods, a niece of Tiger Woods, was given a sponsor's exemption into the tournament.
Football
■ Wide receiver Greg Jennings of the Packers has a three-year, $27 million contract extension and he didn't have to boycott the offseason program or training camp to get it.
"We didn't feel like there was any need for me to sit out and choose not to participate. That was not the route I wanted to go," Jennings said after the team announced the deal.
Jennings will receive $16 million in guaranteed money on the deal, which adds three years to his contract.
High schools
■ Bishop McGuinness added points in outdoor track and field, girls soccer and boys golf this spring and won the NCHSAA 1-A Wachovia Cup for the 2008-09 school year.
The Wachovia Cup recognizes schools with the best overall athletic programs in each classification, based on performances in state playoffs. Teams receive 50 points for a state title, 45 for a runner-up finish etc.
McGuinness finished with 562½ points, well ahead of second-place Hampstead Topsail (482½). Also among the final 15 in Class 1-A were: Mount Airy (7th), East Surry (8th), Winston-Salem Prep (9th), Elkin (12th) and West Wilkes (tie for 15th).
The other winners were Charlotte Myers Park (Class 4-A), Charlotte Catholic (3-A) and Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons (2-A). Mount Tabor finished fourth in Class 4-A. Parkland was seventh, and Reagan tied for 14th in Class 3-A.
■ Jacob Cadle, a pitcher and first baseman from High Point Westchester, has committed to attend Division III Greensboro and play baseball for the Pride, Coach Ken Carlyle of the college announced yesterday. Cadle hit .496 as a senior and had a 5-3 pitching record and 1.70 ERA.
Miscellaneous
■ Megan Smith, a Walkertown native and 1995 Carver High graduate, was named the head softball coach at Kansas yesterday. She replaces Tracy Bunge, who retired after 14 seasons.
Smith spent the past three seasons as an assistant at LSU and helped lead the Tigers to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. She also has been the head coach at Western Carolina and an assistant at North Carolina, her alma mater, and UNC Charlotte.
Smith was the head coach at Western Carolina during its first season (2006) and led the Catamounts to a 41-20 record and the regular-season title in the Southern Conference. She received a bachelor's degree from UNC in 1999 and a master's from Tennessee in 2000. She also played softball for the Tar Heels and was a team captain her senior season.
■ The Carolina Dynamo will play its next home game at 5:30 Saturday, taking on the Virginia Legacy at BB&T Soccer Park in Davie County. All tickets will be $5. The Dynamo plays in the USL's Premier Development League and has a roster made up mostly of college players, including Corben Bone, Cody Arnoux, Nick Courtney, Danny Wenzel and Chris Estridge from Wake Forest.
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