The 52: Doug Williams Paves The Way

The John Weber Era in Fort Collins became official Thursday. CSU Rams president Amy Parsons announced that Weber will continue as athletic director on a permanent basis, removing the interim tag that had been place since the latter stepped into the role this past February. Weber was announced as CSU interim AD on Feb.

A banner year for the Orange Crush continues. Randy Gradishar is Pro Football Hall of Fame-bound, and now the Broncos have elected former safety Steve Foley and tight end Riley Odoms to the team’s Ring of Fame. “Steve Foley and Riley Odoms represent the best of the Broncos, and we’re thrilled they will now take their long-awaited places in the Ring of Fame,” Broncos owners Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner said in a team statement.

Prairie View baseball’s put itself on the map. The Thunderhawks are in the Class 5A Final Four this weekend amid their first appearance at the state tournament, one that’s been years in the making considering the majority of Prairie View’s lineup started since their freshman years. “We had a true commitment and dedication to each other over the past two, three years,” ninth-year Prairie View head coach Mark Gonzales said.

On a night when a backup keeper ties a franchise record for saves in a single game, there’s not much else you can do than to tip your cap. Either way, the Colorado Rapids are winless in their last three games, giving up 11 goals in that span. Three of them came against Houston Wednesday night, the Dynamo securing a 3-1 win at home against a Rapids team which has been up and down the past month. Via a career performance by Dynamo backup keeper Andrew Tarbell, who amassed 10 saves on the night, Houston won its second game in its last eight tries. Defensively, the Rapids will be left scratching their heads at the amount of goals allowed in the past few weeks, with a bottom five goals against figure of 29 in just 16 games so far this season. The icing on the cake was an 80th minute strike from outside the box by Sebastian Kowalczyk, spurred by a counterattack and assisted by Ibrahim Aliyu.

The Rockies’ May resurgence rests on their starting pitching, and Ty Blach has been central to the revival. The Denver native began the season at Triple-A Albuquerque, got called up as a reliever, and was inserted into the starting rotation out of necessity. Now he’s pitching like he should have been in there all along. Wednesday night, the veteran left-hander pitched seven solid innings, setting the table for Colorado’s 7-4 win over Cleveland at Coors Field in front of an announced crowd of 21,374. “You can’t control so many things in this game,” Blach said when asked about his trip from the minors to the majors this season.

Sports found Vic Lombardi. And he has spent his adult life finding ways to make it more fun and interesting for the rest of us. The son of Italian immigrants Ezio and Bambina, Lombardi did not speak English until around the age of 7. He remembers watching neighborhood kids play football, not knowing the rules, but joining the game anyway. “It was my way to assimilate into the culture.