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Baylor Basketball Player Missing, Feared Dead

Discussion in 'Other Sports' started by BobFinn*, Jun 29, 2003.

  1. BobFinn*

    BobFinn* Contributing Member

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    Santa Clara athlete missing, feared dead
    Texas authorities suspect involvement by Baylor teammates

    Henry K. Lee, Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writers Sunday, June 29, 2003

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Police in Texas suspect a former Bay Area high school basketball standout who vanished more than two weeks ago may have been killed by his teammates at Baylor University.

    Patrick James Dennehy, 21, who played high school basketball in Santa Clara and Mountain View, was last seen June 11. His body has not been found, but auhorities discovered his dark blue 1996 Chevrolet Tahoe, without its license plates, abandoned in a shopping mall parking lot in Virginia Beach, Va.

    "From that lead and others, potential suspects in the disappearance of Dennehy potentially include fellow Baylor basketball players," Waco police spokesman Steven Anderson said in a statement.

    Authorities believe Dennehy, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound center and junior speech communications major, may have been killed in the Waco area but have declined to elaborate. A Waco police spokeswoman did not return a call for comment Saturday.

    The Waco Tribune-Herald, quoting an anonymous source, reported Saturday that police were investigating reports that Dennehy had recently argued with at least one and possibly two teammates. The paper also reported that one of the players threatened Dennehy, whose apartment was searched by police late last week.

    Head men's basketball coach Dave Bliss issued a statement Saturday that said the team was "in disbelief" about the latest news reports and called Dennehy's disappearance "terribly unsettling."

    "As we all understand, the unknown or the lack of answers can produce a lot of anxiety, and our players certainly feel that. We hope for a miracle," Bliss said. "They do happen."

    Born in Oakland, Dennehy played on the varsity team his freshman and sophomore years at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara before transferring to St.

    Francis High School in Mountain View.

    Steve Filios, Dennehy's coach at St. Francis, was stunned Saturday to hear that his former star player had vanished but tried to remain optimistic.

    "I have a wonderful hope that everything will turn out OK, but realistically, am I worried? Yeah, I'm really worried," he said. "It's not like Patrick to disappear for this long without talking to anyone."

    The transfer to St. Francis required Dennehy to sit out his junior year, and a knee injury sidelined him for all but the last five weeks of the season during his senior year. Still, he helped propel the team to the Northern California Section championships, where they lost the title game to Newark Memorial High School.

    Nelson Washington coached Dennehy for four years when Dennehy played with the Bay Area Ballers, an Amateur Athletic Union team. He said Dennehy would usually call him for guidance whenever he experienced a rough time in his life,

    but hadn't heard from the young man since December, when they met in New Mexico.


    'TAKING IT PRETTY HARD'
    "He usually called me if there was something wrong; if he's having problems with a class or a girl or if the coach and him had a disagreement," Washington said. "But I didn't hear about anything going wrong at Baylor. I'm taking it pretty hard. It's not something you want to have to deal with."

    Washington said Dennehy was a talented ballplayer but never obsessed with making the game his life. He also tended to keep to himself, withdrawing from others on occasion to spend time alone.

    "You either got along with him or you didn't," said Washington. "He had a strong opinion at times and he was his own guy. He really liked basketball but he could wake up one day and decide to be something else and he'd be cool with it."

    Dennehy's interests were broad and somewhat unconventional for an athlete, Washington said. He enjoyed marine biology, writing poetry, playing golf and listening to rock music -- when most of his teammates preferred rap, Washington said.

    Chase Lyman, Dennehy's best friend and teammate at St. Francis and with the Bay Area Ballers, said Dennehy was reserved but brought a quiet intensity to the game. He also encouraged his teammates.

    "He wasn't extremely vocal, but you always knew he would do his part -- you knew he would have your back," Lyman said.

    Before attending Baylor, Dennehy played at the University of New Mexico, where he received an All-Mountain West Conference honorable mention citation during his sophomore year.

    INCIDENT IN 2002

    But in February 2002, Dennehy shoved a teammate during a game, kicked over a chair and stalked off to the locker room. New Mexico coach Fran Fraschilla did not discipline Dennehy, who a team doctor said was being treated for "a confidential medical condition."

    When Ritchie McKay took over as coach at UNM, he ousted Dennehy after a workout because Dennehy had walked off the floor during practice.

    Filios said Dennehy was eager for a new start at Baylor, where he was expected to compete for playing time this fall.

    "He was welcoming a fresh start," Filios said, "and was very confident that the way he came on his sophomore year, he could use that as a springboard."

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/06/29/BA279960.DTL
     
  2. LAfadeaway33

    LAfadeaway33 Member

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    I'm pretty sure this has allready been posted. Hopefully they'll find out he was on vacation the whole time and it's all a mistake or somthing like that.
     
  3. AroundTheWorld

    Supporting Member

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    It would be unbelievable if his own teammates had killed him. Terrible story.
     
  4. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    I can't believe this isn't a bigger news story, what a damn joke? The guy has been missing for two weeks and people believe his teamates are involved and this is happening a college where you can't drink on campus. And it only gets snippets in the evening news.
     
  5. MadMax

    MadMax Contributing Member

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    it was the second story on sportscenter the other night...there are no new developments to report at this time...
     
  6. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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    The media is much too busy covering the Laci Peterson story. :rolleyes:

    Maybe there would be more coverage if Dennehy came from a rich white California family...or there was an affair involved.
     
  7. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    If you think that's what I was implying you're an idiot. If not I apologize.
     
    #7 pgabriel, Jun 30, 2003
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2003
  8. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    You are probably right . . [or the cosmetics Heir guy rapiong folx]

    HOWEVER

    THIS IS JUST TOO . . . . BISON DELE to me


    Rocket River
     
  9. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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    Apology accepted. I wasn't being sarcastic. I'm just tired of hearing about the Laci Peterson case when people are murdered every day in this country.

    But that's a different forum. :)
     
  10. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    It is so arbitrary how the media picks stories that it runs with. I think sometimes its race, sometimes its wealth, its always fame, but this case is just so weird it seems like people would have been on it a lot sooner. But I guess its picking up steam.
     
  11. Buck Turgidson

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    Strange story. T-minus 156 days until the ABC Movie of the Week airs...Brian Dennehy will be playing the role of Dave Bliss.
     
  12. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Contributing Member

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    This is just an awful, awful story. Would this not be the worst thing to EVER happen in college athletics if it were in fact his teammates who were responsible? Not to jump to any conclusions, though, because 1) people aren't certain he's dead and 2) his teammates were only questioned, which is natural since I'm sure they knew him well and could provide insight into who might have a motive.

    As somebody who grew up in Waco attending Baylor basketball games at the old Heart of Texas Coliseum (with NO a/c), I hate to see this happen.
     
  13. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    I was saying things along those lines the other day bigtexxx. I have this weird feeling that the fallout of this, if what we're hearing comes to fruition, will be very huge.

    Honestly, my gut is telling me that Dave Bliss will surely resign and a part of me thinks that Baylor basketball will be no more. I have no real way to back up my feelings though.

    It'll be sad for me too. I went to Baylor basketball camp something like eight times. My sister dated Micheal Williams. I turned out the lights at HOT Colesium and have played one of the first basketball games on the Ferrell Center floor.
     
  14. Buck Turgidson

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    I went there 3 times, would've been '87-89 I think.
     
  15. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    Yeah, we were there at the same time. I loved it...my sisters were at Baylor at the time and were close to the team. Two of the counselors (Dale and Todd, if you remember) there got me drunk for the first time and showed me my first p*rn. Good times.
     
  16. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Contributing Member

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    Sounds like a good baptist atmosphere that only Baylor can provide...:D. They didn't allow dancing on campus at that time, but they got you drunk and showed you p*rn at a basketball camp for kids? Sic 'em.
     
  17. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    No, no, not at that time. I went from my 3rd grade year to my 10th grade year.

    I believe it was the summer before my 8th grade year and I was staying with my sister while my parents were in Hawaii, but my sister had to work one night, so I stayed with them.
     
  18. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    Another gold star for Wacko.
     
  19. The Sensei

    The Sensei Contributing Member

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  20. mleahy999

    mleahy999 Member

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    As if Waco didn't suck enough! Maybe he went into a dump like Papa Rollo's and told them their pizza stinks and then never being seen again. That's the type of place I'd imagine going into and getting hacked to pieces.
     

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