Charleye Wright

Charleye Wright, who delivered morning sports reports on KNX radio for three years, died Tuesday of complications after kidney surgery. He was 61. Wright also worked for KLAC, KABC, KPRO in Riverside and KIIS in Los Angeles, where he was known as "The Coach." Wright died at St. Vincent Medical Center, where he had undergone kidney surgery Oct. 19, KNX news director Bob Sims said.

Charleye Wright, who delivered morning sports reports on KNX radio for three years, died Tuesday of complications after kidney surgery. He was 61. Wright also worked for KLAC, KABC, KPRO in Riverside and KIIS in Los Angeles, where he was known as "The Coach." Wright died at St. Vincent Medical Center, where he had undergone kidney surgery Oct. 19, KNX news director Bob Sims said.

On the day he was notified he had been voted into baseball's Hall of Fame, Jaime Jarrin also received another honor. He was given the 1997 President's Award at the seventh annual Southern California Sports Broadcasters awards luncheon at Lakeside Country Club.

KCBS-TV won the most honors for the third consecutive year at the Radio & TV News Assn. of Southern California's 49th annual Golden Mike Awards ceremony Saturday at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Universal City, but KTTV and San Diego's KNSD-TV captured the most coveted prizes. KCBS took home 15 honors for excellence in television news reporting in 1998 while KTTV's hourlong nightly newscast and KNSD's half-hour show were recognized as the best in those respective categories.

The seventh annual Amy Alcott pro-am tournament, for the benefit of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, will be played Monday at the Riviera Country Club. Celebrity guests include Dinah Shore, Rick Dees of radio station KIIS-fm, Johnny Mathis, Monty Hall and Kay Cockerill of UCLA, the 1986 U.S. Amateur champion. The tournament will have a shotgun start of 1 p.m. A touring LPGA pro will play with each foursome.

After Thursday's earthquake, being deprived of watching legitimate pro football on television this weekend doesn't seem nearly as significant as it did a few days ago. Still, there are reasons to be disturbed--no games last weekend, phony games this weekend. This is no way to treat fans, and it all seems so absurd--spoiled, greedy players striking against self-indulging, greedy owners. There is a way to strike back.

'I'm the only sportscaster in town--maybe in the world--with three kidneys," 47-year-old "Coach" Charleye Wright said from his hospital bed. He is also the only radio personality in town to broadcast each morning direct from St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles, where he is recovering from the most highly publicized kidney transplant surgery since Gary Coleman's.

On the morning of Sept. 27, 1987, ABC boxing commentator Alex Wallau (pronounced Wal- lew) was washing his face when he felt a lump in his neck. A week later, he was told he had throat cancer. Because Wallau felt no discomfort, the cancer grew to Stage 4 before detection. On Oct. 13, Wallau had surgery to determine the cancer's origin. A tumor was found at the base of his tongue. Under normal circumstances, part of the tongue would have been removed.

If watching the America's Cup made you seasick, you may also get punch-drunk from all the boxing on television these days. Why so much? Television executives may not like the sport because of its brutality and shady characters, but it delivers something they like very much--solid ratings. For example, boxing on NBC last year drew an average Nielsen rating of 5.1. Meanwhile, college basketball on NBC this season is averaging a 3.6 rating. On CBS, the average is 4.

Bob Griese appeared to always have it made. He was a star quarterback at Purdue. He was a star with the Miami Dolphins, leading them to a 17-0 season in 1972 and consecutive Super Bowl victories. And now Griese, who will work Saturday's USC-UCLA telecast with Keith Jackson, is ABC's star college football commentator. But, as we all know, nobody's life is perfect. Griese's wife, Judy, died last February. She had breast cancer for 5 years, and then late last year, the cancer spread to her liver.

After living in the San Francisco Bay Area for about 13 years, Al Michaels moved to Brentwood last February, returning to the area where he had spent his teen-age years. If Michaels were a normal sports fan, he might have trouble deciding whom to root for tonight when the Rams play the 49ers at Candlestick Park in a 5 o'clock game being televised by ABC. But since Michaels will be the play-by-play announcer, all he's rooting for is a dramatic game.