Report: Dwayne Haskins had run out of gas when he was fatally struck by two vehicles

Kalabrya Haskins, the wife of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins, called Florida 911 dispatchers shortly after he was fatally struck by a dump truck earlier this month, saying his car had run out of gas and she was worried because he wasn’t answering the phone, according to recordings released Wednesday. Kalabrya Haskins, who was calling from Pittsburgh and unaware of the accident, told a Florida Highway Patrol dispatcher on April 9 her 24-year-old husband had called from near Fort Lauderdale to say he was walking to get gas and would call her back. When the former Ohio State star didn’t, she told the dispatcher she tried to call him but he wasn’t answering. The highway patrol had already received numerous panicked calls about the accident that happened about dawn on Interstate 595 near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. But the dispatcher did not appear to know yet that paramedics had arrived and found Haskins dead. He had been in South Florida training with Steelers teammates. The accident report released Wednesday says witnesses told investigators Haskins was trying to cross the highway when he went into the path of the dump truck. The truck knocked him into the path of a car, which also struck him.

49ers WR Deebo Samuel demands trade

All-Pro receiver Deebo Samuel told ESPN he has requested a trade from the San Francisco 49ers as the two sides have been unable to negotiate a long-term deal for one of the league’s top playmakers. Samuel is entering the final year of the rookie deal he signed after being drafted in the second round in 2019 and is looking to take advantage of the exploding market of receiver contracts. Samuel is set to be paid nearly $4 million this season after being a first-team All-Pro in 2021. Eight receivers have gotten new contracts this offseason worth at least $18 million a year, including Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams after trades from their old teams. If the Niners give in to Samuel’s demand he would be the latest star receiver to switch teams this offseason. Green Bay got a first and second-round pick from the Raiders for Adams, while Kansas City got a first, a second and three lower-round picks from Miami for Hill . . . The New York Jets re-signed Vinny Curry, the 33-year-old defensive end who was diagnosed last summer with a rare blood disorder that forced him to miss last season. The native of Neptune, N.J., was a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2012 out of Marshall and developed into a pass-rushing specialist during his first six years with the Eagles. He played in Tampa Bay during the 2018 season but returned to Philadelphia the following year. Curry signed a one-year, $1.3 million deal in March 2021 to help boost the Jets’ pass rush.

Tennis

Ex-pro Pam Shriver had affair with coach

Former professional tennis player Pam Shriver, now a television commentator for ESPN and the BBC, says that she “had an inappropriate and damaging relationship with my much older coach” that began when she was 17 and he was 50. In a first-person account published by the British newspaper The Telegraph, Shriver described a “painful and emotional journey” that included what she wrote was a relationship with coach Don Candy that lasted a little more than five years. Candy died in 2020. “I still have conflicted feelings about Don,’’ Shriver wrote. “ Yes, he and I became involved in a long and inappropriate affair. Yes, he was cheating on his wife. But there was a lot about him that was honest and authentic. And I loved him,” she says. “Even so, he was the grown-up here. He should have been the trustworthy adult.” Shriver, who is now 59, turned pro in 1979, a year after she made it to the US Open singles final at age 16. She beat Martina Navratilova in the semifinals before losing the title match to Chris Evert.

Wimbledon to bar Russian, Belasrusian players

Wimbledon officials said they would bar Russian and Belarusian players from entering this year’s tournament because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ support of the war. Wimbledon became the first Grand Slam tennis event to restrict individual Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing. In a statement, Wimbledon officials confirmed that other tennis tournaments to be held this year in the United Kingdom planned to take the same approach. “In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships,” the statement read. The decision would block some highly ranked players. Four Russian men are ranked in the top 30 on the ATP Tour, including No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, who is the reigning US Open men’s singles champion, although he is recovering from a hernia operation. Russia has five women in the top 40 of the WTA Tour rankings, led by No. 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is ranked No. 4 and was a Wimbledon semifinalist last year. Her compatriot Victoria Azarenka, a former No. 1, is ranked No. 18. The ATP Tour expressed strong opposition to Wimbledon’s ban, terming it “unfair” and saying that it “has the potential to set a damaging precedent for the game.” . . . Novak Djokovic rallied from a set down to beat compatriot Laslo Djere 2-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) in the second round of the Serbia Open in a match that lasted almost 3½. The top-ranked Serb struggled to find his rhythm in what was just his fifth match of the year and was coming off rare back-to-back defeats after opening his clay-court season with a surprising loss to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Monte Carlo Masters last week, his first match since being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships in February. Dubai was his first tournament of the year after he was barred from playing at the Australian Open because of his unvaccinated status, which also prevented him from playing tournaments in the United States last month.

Colleges

Duke’s Paolo Banchero to enter NBA draft

Duke’s Paolo Banchero is leaping to the NBA after one season as a candidate to be the No. 1 overall draft pick. The 6-foot-10, 250-pound freshman announced his decision in a social media video, with the school saying he planned to hire an agent. The freshman had been viewed as a likely one-and-done player even before he stepped foot on the Durham, N.C., campus from Seattle. Banchero averaged 17.2 points and 7.8 rebounds and helped Duke reach now-retired Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 13th Final Four appearance. He went on to become an Associated Press third-team All-America pick and ranks No. 2 in ESPN’s latest list of draft prospects. Banchero is the second Duke player to announce an early jump to the NBA, following 7-foot-1 sophomore Mark Williams two days earlier . . . Illinois All-America center Kofi Cockburn, a 7-foot Jamaican who was an AP All-America first-team pick after recording 17 double-doubles and averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds last season, has declared for the NBA draft and hired an agent, marking the end of one of the most productive careers in program history. Cockburn will leave Illinois as the school’s scoring (1,546) and rebounding (861) leader among three-year players and the record holder for career double-doubles (45) . . . UCLA’s Johnny Juzang, one of the stars of the 2021 NCAA Tournament during the Bruins’ run to the Final Four, is entering the NBA draft. The junior guard averaged 15.6 points and 4.7 rebounds last season, when the Bruins lost to North Carolina in the Sweet 16 . . . Syracuse’s Carrier Dome, which opened in 1980, has a new look and now will get a new name. The university announced Carrier Global Corp. has agreed to end its hold on naming rights to the venue, which is home to the school’s basketball, football and lacrosse teams, effective May 1. According to a report last week in Sportico, Syracuse-based JMA Wireless, a local technology company, will assume naming rights. Carrier pulled off a coup in 1979 before naming rights became so lucrative when it inked a $2.75 million deal with the university for naming rights in perpetuity, a financial mistake the school had been trying to rectify.

Boxing

Tyson Fury’s management company closes amid scandal

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury was already in full flow at a prefight promotional event for his WBC title fight with Dillian Whyte Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London when the announcement dropped that MTK Global, his one-time management company, was abruptly shutting down. The news came following a week of cascading pressure since the US ambassador to Ireland, Claire Cronin, announced a reward of $5 million for information that will lead to the “financial destruction” of MTK Global founder Daniel Kinahan, who is being sought as the reputed leader of an Irish drug cartel. Fury met questions about MTK’s closure with silence as he posed for photos with Whyte at the crowded event where the gathered media were never called on to ask questions. As he was leaving the room, Fury was asked if he would cooperate with US authorities and responded with a raised middle finger, an image broadcast by fight organizers. According to Bob Arum, the founder of US-based boxing promoter Top Rank, Kinahan was paid over $4 million in consulting fees for four Fury fights it promoted between 2019 and 2021, showcasing Kinahan’s involvement in the highest levels of boxing. Arum said Top Rank would no longer do business with Kinahan.

Sports Media

98.5 The Sports Hub wins winter ratings

The ratings battle among Boston’s two local sports radio stations remained not much of a contest over the winter, with all of 98.5 The Sports Hub’s daily programs finishing first in their time slots. Overall, the Sports Hub claimed first in the Nielsen Audio ratings in the men 25-54 demographic, earning a 16.3 share in the period from Jan. 6-March 30. Rival WEEI-FM finished seventh (4.4, with no additional share from its online stream). The Sports Hub’s stream is already built into its overall share. In morning drive (6-10 a.m.), the Sports Hub’s “Toucher & Rich” show finished first (15.8). WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” came in seventh (5.0 including 0.2 from streaming). In midday (10 a.m-2 p.m.), the Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand” was tops with a 16.0 share. WEEI’s “Gresh and Keefe” checked in fifth (5.9, including 0.2 for its stream). In afternoon drive (2-6 p.m.), “Felger & Mazz” finished with a 21.6 share, good for first place. WEEI’s “Merloni and Fauria” tied for sixth (4.2, with no share from streaming). The station announced Meghan Ottolini will join Christian Fauria and Lou Merloni as a full-time host beginning in early May. In the 6-11 p.m. window, the Sports Hub, which features “The Adam Jones Show” weeknights as well as Bruins and Celtics broadcasts, finished first (13.9).

CHAD FINN

Miscellany

Skating Club of Boston to host Skate America

Some of the top figure skaters in the world will compete at the Skating Club of Boston’s new facility in Norwood this fall. The Tenley E. Albright Performance Center, which opened in the fall of 2020, will host Skate America, the first event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, Oct. 21-23. Said US Figure Skating executive director Ramsey Baker, “Fans will enjoy the great sight lines and intimate setting while watching some of the world’s top skaters take to the ice.” . . . For the second time in four years, the Washington Mystics will be down a draft pick to start the season. Christyn Williams, a 5-foot-11 guard out of Connecticut whom the Mystics selected in the second round this month, suffered a season-ending knee injury at practice Tuesday. The Mystics did not disclose the precise nature of Williams’s injury, but she will have surgery and there is no timetable for her return . . . US women’s hockey star Amanda Kessel is joining the Pittsburgh Penguins for an executive management program that could put her on track to work full time in an NHL front office. Kessel is the first participant in the new program the team recently unveiled and follows the lead of retired US star and Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato and other women in NHL management roles . . . The US men’s national soccer team will play 24th-ranked Morocco in an exhibition June 1 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, the first of six warmup matches for the Americans ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, where the US will open Group B against Scotland, Wales or Ukraine on Nov. 21. The Americans face No. 5 England four days later and meet 21st-ranked Iran on Nov. 29.