NW briefs: Seattle U. loses legend: ex-coach Cazzetta dies

Vince Cazzetta, a successful coach in the era when Seattle University played big-time basketball, has died at age 79 in Hartford, Conn.

Cazzetta coached Seattle U. to a 96-39 record from 1959 to 1963 before resigning in a dispute with athletic director Eddie O'Brien. He has the second-most wins and second-best winning percentage (.711) in school history.

Cazzetta resigned with nine games left in the season after a board of eight faculty members sided with O'Brien in his refusal to give Cazzetta total control of the school's basketball program, including scheduling and budget.

In his resignation, Cazzetta accused O'Brien of "willful interference" in the basketball program.

Cazzetta had been promoted from assistant to head coach after John Castellani resigned when Seattle U. was placed on NCAA probation and banned from postseason tournaments for two years for recruiting violations.

After leaving Seattle U., Cazzetta became an assistant at Rhode Island and later coached the Pittsburgh Pipers of the American Basketball Association to the 1968 league title.

He later was a sales rep for athletic shoe companies, taught sports management at the University of Massachusetts and was a scout for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors of the NBA.

"The Seattle University basketball family has lost a legend," said current coach Joe Callero in a statement.

Funeral services will be Monday at St. Mary's Church in Simsbury, Conn.

Notes

• Senior Kristen Rivera belted her 74th career home run yesterday against host Utah Valley State to set the Washington career record and lead the Huskies to a 6-0 victory.

"Breaking the home-run record is a real honor," Rivera said. "Washington is a great program, and a lot of great hitters have played here."

• Cortney Walton extended her hitting streak to 11 games with a triple in the opener and a home run in the nightcap as Western Washington split a Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball doubleheader yesterday with Western Oregon, losing the first game, 2-1, before winning the second, 4-2.

• The first round of the NCAA East Regional women's golf championship at the University of Florida Golf Course was washed out by rain. The field will play 36 holes today, with the final round scheduled for tomorrow. The eighth-ranked Huskies are the No. 3 seed at the event.

• The Washington State women's golf team is in eighth place, 11 strokes behind first-place Tennessee, after the first round of the NCAA West Regional at New Mexico State.

• Bill Brooks of Seattle is the top seed in the 45- and 50-and-over age divisions for the Washington State Senior Men's Indoor Tennis Championships today through Sunday at the Harbor Square Athletic Club in Edmonds.

The tournament begins today at 2 p.m., with tomorrow and Sunday's matches beginning at 9 a.m. Several of the Northwest's No. 1 ranked players are expected to play: George Kraft of Seattle (60s-and-over), Dennis Nielson of Vancouver, Wash. (70-and-over), and Dick Eitel of Everett (75-and-over).

• Conal Groom, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Rowing Team; Julie Nichols a bronze medalist at last summer's World Rowing Championships; and former Huskies rower Kara Nykreim are among eight Seattle scullers who will take their first steps toward earning spots on the 2005 U.S. National Rowing Team at this weekend's first National Selection Regatta near Princeton, N.J.

Other Seattle scullers competing are Lia Pernell, Ruth Stiver, Anne Browning, Britton Nixon and Lissa Krawczck.

Part of this report was compiled from reports by college sports-information departments and other sources.