Philip Hersh

Photographs of aircraft crash victims from The Skating Club of Boston are displayed rinkside on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Norwood, Mass. From left are skater Jinna Han, skater Spencer Lane and coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Column: For the figure skating community, plane crash has an unimaginable link to past tragedy

January 30, 2025 at 6:28 p.m.

The figure skaters who died in Wednesday's plane crash are mourned not just because they were young and talented but because, to anyone associated with the sport, they are part...

A ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics torch relay is held at Heiwadai Athletic Stadium in Fukuoka in southwestern Japan on May 11, 2021. The torch relay was taken off public roads due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Op-ed: Holding the Tokyo Summer Olympics during COVID will showcase the IOC’s arrogance

May 12, 2021 at 7:52 p.m.

As of Wednesday, there were 3.3 million deaths worldwide attributed to COVID-19. Yet Japanese organizers and the International Olympic Committee continue to set tables for a July global party that...

Succulent crayfish and green-lipped mussels from a roadside stand near Kaikoura, New Zealand.

Kiwis come to the rescue after accident derails New Zealand dream trip

August 23, 2019 at 7:59 p.m.

Our first view of Lake Tekapo was striking: a slate sky with a bright white streak at the horizon, adding glimmer to the water that gives the town its name....

Muhammad Ali watches as the flame climbs up to the Olympic torch while taking part in the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

As Olympic champion and cauldron lighter, Ali was the greatest

August 21, 2019 at 11:37 p.m.

It was and may always be the most indelible moment in U.S. Summer Olympic history, and it had nothing to do with competition. It was so much bigger than that,...

Virginia McCaskey looks up at Bears Chairman George McCaskey before Brian Urlacher was awarded with a ring of excellence during halftime between the Bears and the Seattle Seahawks at Soldier Field on Sept. 17, 2018.

What drives Chicago Bears owner Virginia McCaskey, the NFL’s first lady?

December 14, 2021 at 4:02 p.m.

The expression is barely profane by contemporary standards of etiquette, just a way of phrasing discontent that likely wouldn't raise an eyebrow at a kindergarten recess, let alone a football...

Five continents, 15 Olympics, 31 years and 6,200 stories later, it’s time to say goodbye

May 24, 2019 at 12:06 a.m.

For nearly half my life, which began in 1946, the Olympics were mainly a foreign concept to most people in the United States. The Games, winter and summer, popped up...

U.S. skater Max Aaron, left, and Jason Brown hold up their gold and bronze medals, respectively, from the Skate America Grand Prix event last month in Milwaukee.

Injured back sidelines skater Jason Brown

May 22, 2019 at 12:24 p.m.

Figure skater Jason Brown has withdrawn from next week's NHK Trophy in Japan with a back strain, knocking him out of contention for the Grand Prix Final. Brown, the reigning...

A sign outside the Bordeaux rink announcing the cancellation of the Grand Prix figure skating event.

French cancel figure skating event after Paris terror attacks

May 22, 2019 at 12:24 p.m.

French government officials have cancelled the Bompard Trophy Grand Prix figure skating event in Bordeaux, France in the aftermath of Friday's horrific terrorist attacks in Paris. The International Skating Union...

Russian gold medalist Mariya Savinova (L) celebrating with Russian bronze medalist Ekaterina Poistogova at the end of the women's 800-meter final at the 2012 Olympic Games. Both seem likely to lose those medals in the aftermath of the Russian doping scandal.

Russian track athletes get provisional ban from Olympics

May 22, 2019 at 12:23 p.m.

The international track federation's governing council Friday issued a provisional suspension against the Russian Track Federation, a unprecedented sanction that bans its athletes from international competition, including the Olympics, and...

Chicago State head coach Tracy Dildy yells out a play in the second half against DePaul at Jones Convocation Center on Dec. 4, 2014.

After years of irrelevance, can college basketball in Chicago be revived?

June 16, 2018 at 4:47 p.m.

One day last month, Chicago State basketball coach Tracy Dildy was sitting in his basement office, reminiscing about the sweet long ago of Chicago college basketball with two of the...

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