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Allen is top voice of sports at Ch. 10

By Times Staff and Wire Reports
Published July 6, 2006

Justin Allen has joined WTSP-TV Ch. 10 as lead sports anchor after a stint as an anchor/reporter at another Gannett-owned station in Sacramento, Calif., and similar jobs in San Francisco and Indianapolis.

Allen, 35, has already filed several live reports and will begin anchor duties Sunday. The station also announced that reporter Angela Jacobs, who has been filling in as lead anchor for more than two months, has been promoted to weekend anchor.

Allen replaces John Nugent, whose contract ended in April. Jacobs gets the job vacated by Jeff Hullinger, whose contract ends this month.

"(Allen's) a warm and personable guy in person and he's able to translate that on TV," news director Darren Richards said. "We thought he'd be a good fit for us."

Allen came somewhat late to the TV business. A native of the "other" bay area, he spent five years in sales at Xerox before entering San Francisco State's school of broadcasting. His first job was in Bakersfield, Calif., in 2000.

- SHARON GINN,

Times correspondent

COLLEGES

"Diploma mill" probe

The NCAA has added 16 nontraditional high schools, seven of them in Santa Ana, Calif., to a list of those whose transcripts will no longer be accepted because of questionable academic credentials.

Five schools were removed from an original list of 15 released last month after a review by the NCAA. Other schools are still being investigated and could face similar sanctions in the association's attempt to crack down on so-called "diploma mills" whose graduates seek athletic scholarships to college.

About 100 schools have been reviewed so far, based on irregularities in academic records, their nontraditional course content or their requests for approval from the NCAA clearinghouse. NCAA President Myles Brand said that "several 'storefront' schools have closed their doors."

UF TRANSFER: David Huertas is transferring to Mississippi from national champion Florida, Rebels coach Andy Kennedy said. Huertas, a guard whose only start last season came in the Gators' win over Ole Miss, will sit out in 2006-07 and will have three seasons of eligibility beginning. He averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds as a freshman.

MOTORSPORTS

Elliott to race again

Former NASCAR champion Bill Elliott plans to make his second Nextel Cup start of the year in Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Elliott, 49, will be making the first of five scheduled appearances in Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00 Burger King Dodge.

SUIT TOSSED: Four NASCAR fans injured in the postrace collapse of a pedestrian bridge in 2000 cannot seek damages from Lowe's Motor Speedway because their lawsuits, filed in 2004, came too long after the bridge was constructed in September 1995, the North Carolina state Court of Appeals ruled.

ET CETERA

ARENA FOOTBALL: The Tampa Bay Storm has re-signed lineman A.J. Ricker to a one-year contract, coach Tim Marcum announced. Ricker, 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, had 5.5 tackles and one fumble recovery as a rookie last season and was one of eight Storm players who appeared in all 16 games. . . . Storm season tickets are on sale beginning at $99. For more information, call (813) 301-6600 or visit www.tampabaystorm.com.

RADIO: The American Forces Network will cease radio broadcasts of sporting events in two months because U.S. Defense Department surveys found military members and civilian employees stationed overseas prefer watching sports on television over listening to them. AFN television coverage has expanded significantly in the past 10 years and now has almost 80 events a week

OBITUARY: Dick Dickey, who starred on North Carolina State's Final Four team in 1950 before playing briefly for the Boston Celtics, died Monday (July 3, 2006) in Indianapolis from complications of recent lung surgery.

Compiled from Times staff and wire reports.

[Last modified July 6, 2006, 06:10:49]