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Former NBA player Ryan Reid dies at 38
The Florida State men’s basketball community was grappling with another tragic loss Thursday morning as word began to spread about the passing of former power forward Ryan Reid. Reid, a Lauderdale Lakes native who played for Florida State from 2006-10, died Wednesday after a medical emergency, according to a source close to the program and posts on social media from family and friends.
Despite averaging just 6.8 points and 4.0 rebounds as a senior, Reid was selected by the Oklahoma Thunder in the second round of the 2010 NBA Draft. He would go on to play nearly a decade of professional basketball internationally, in countries such as France, Canada, Puerto Rico and Japan.
Marc Stein: One of the game’s great coaches, executives and especially characters. For NBA fans in the 1980s, Frank Layden was everywhere. For NBA writers? As quotable as it gets. Condolences to Scott and the whole Layden family and Jazz fans everywhere. Frank will be sorely missed.
Frank Layden (1932-2025)
Frank Layden, known around Utah for his impact in the basketball community, has died at the age of 93. Layden passed away Wednesday, the Deseret News confirmed. ABC 4’s Wesley Ruff was the first to report the news.
Dana HensingerBenbow: Heartbreaking news for all who knew and loved Matt Dial, a former @Pacers photographer. He wanted to live long enough to see Pacers win first NBA title. He died early today, one day short, one day before Game 7. Dial was 48.
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Jim Paschke: Saddened to learn of Bob Wanek’s passing. The Bucks original Official Scorer and Crew Chief served over 50 years. He was a valued friend and an amazing NBA resource. Bob recorded the first points scored by a Buck (Jon McGlocklin) in 1968 and many points scored by Giannis.
His passing had a direct impact on Miami Heat forward Kevin Love. Wilson and his brothers started the band with their cousin Mike Love, who is an uncle of the 18-year NBA veteran. Kevin Love referred to Wilson, technically a cousin, as his uncle. "The Love family is deeply saddened by the loss of Brian Wilson," Love wrote on an Instagram post. "He was revolutionary in his songwriting and arranging. Growing up around my uncle Mike and The Beach Boys I absorbed much of their influence within Rock & Roll."
Kevin Love's father, Stan Love, a former player for the Washington Bullets, Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, served as Wilson's caretaker and bodyguard in the 1970s and 1980s as Wilson faced personal challenges. "My Dad and Brian had a special relationship," Kevin Love wrote. "Brian often stayed with my parents when they lived in Emerald Bay. For a period of time, my dad was both his caretaker and bodyguard -- particularly during a period when Brian was struggling with mental health and substance abuse."
Greenwood, the determined Compton kid who went from a star high school player at Verbum Dei to one of the top scorers in UCLA history to an NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons, died Sunday night at a Riverside hospital from cancer. He was 68. True to the nature of someone who played through debilitating foot injuries throughout his career, Greenwood did not inform family of his illness until the end of his life. “Everything happened so quickly,” said Bronson Greenwood, David’s nephew. “It was kind of a shock.”
Matt Dial stepped onto the court of Gainbridge Fieldhouse, raised a camera to his face, squinted his left eye and, through the lens, saw the blue and gold glory that used to flash in front of him as he photographed the Indiana Pacers. This night would be, without a medical miracle, the last time Dial walked into the hallowed halls of the arena he has always loved so much. His friends and an army of people came together last week to give Dial a chance to make one last, beautiful Pacers memory with his family at Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
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The man they saw in the photos, taken as the Pacers clinched a spot in the NBA Finals, made them smile. And those photos made them cry, too. Dial is 30 pounds lighter than he was just weeks ago. The nutrition he puts into his body isn't helping. Instead, it's feeding his terminal colon cancer. He has stopped chemotherapy and hospice has come into his home to make him as comfortable as they can. Much of the time, Dial is sleeping. But somehow, some way, Dial felt well enough to make the trip from his Zionsville home to Gainbridge last week for that historic, electric Game 6.
And everyone who knows Dial, a kind, wickedly smart, self-proclaimed technology nerd, lover of the Pacers and even moreso lover of his family and friends, are hoping fiercely that Dial lives long enough to see his beloved Pacers win an NBA title for the first time in history. Even if it is from a hospital bed. Dial, 48, has had time to come to terms with the hand he's been dealt, a diagnosis that came in February 2023 when doctors said his cancer was Stage 4 and gave him two years to live. He's gotten two years and four months to come to terms with it. Dial has planned everything out for his family, down to making sure his youngest son, 15-year-old Aaron, knows how to mow the yard and trim the weeds after he's gone. He recruited his good friend Todd Parrish to give Aaron driving lessons. He bought a guitar so he could learn to play with his oldest son, Noah.
He traded his BMW for a Tesla -- even though he is a BMW fanatic who was president of the local club until he couldn't be anymore -- so that his wife, Shelley, wouldn't have a car payment after he's gone. "He's been spending the last two years setting up their life," said Parrish, "knowing that eventually it's going to get him." And so Dial is realistic, if not the eternal optimist he has always been. His friend Marc Lebryk says Dial would love to live long enough to take Shelley on one last, romantic, fabulous trip to see the Backstreet Boys in Las Vegas at The Sphere in July. He has the tickets, though no one is sure he would be able to make that trip. If not that, Dial wants to live long enough to see the Pacers win a title. "I was going to cry anyway (if they won it), but I would cry even more because, you know, he's been waiting for this. And he might not see another run," said Dial's son, Noah, 25. "When we get through this and we win the championship, it's going be a memory I'll always cherish."
“Sports Science” founder and host John Brenkus died Saturday, his family announced on social media Sunday night. Brenkus, who won six Emmy Awards for his show that appeared on ESPN and Fox Sports Net, had been battling depression for years.
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