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For more than 50 years, Barney Hall was the man who helped fans enjoy stock car racing – and make sense of the chaos that can break out when cars hurtle around a track. An integral part of the Daytona 500 and other iconic races, Hall died Tuesday from complications following a medical procedure.

From the first running of the Daytona 500 in 1959, Hall missed calling the race only four times. He set the tone for covering NASCAR on the Motor Racing Network from the very start, joining MRN in the year of its founding in 1970.

From MRN President David Hyatt:

“In a world that can have its share of egos, Barney’s humor and humility kept everyone around him firmly grounded. His smooth and easygoing delivery was the mark by which others were measured. His co-anchor, Joe Moore, once commented that ‘Barney was the calming force in the midst of a raging storm and simply by listening to him, you knew there was safe passage through it.'”

Calling Hall “the voice of NASCAR,” NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley says, “He was not just a trusted voice to listeners and race fans, he became what many believe is the most trusted journalist in NASCAR by the sport’s competitors for decades.”

Winston Kelley added, “Whether you met him or not, you felt like you knew him. His easy, conversational delivery made you feel like you were listening to one of your closest friends or relatives tell you a story.”

In one of the fastest-moving sports in the world, Hall was revered for navigating any situation — high-speed crashes; confusion in the pits; lead changes; the scramble for the checkered flag – with steady intelligence.

In contrast to the excited style of many TV sports announcers, Hall urged his colleagues to concentrate on being precise and informative. His career was an example of that, and he was credited with guiding younger broadcasters along the same path.

“Just because the cars are going 200 miles per hour, doesn’t mean you have to,” is the advice Hall gave to many journalists, according to an interview with MRN reporter Alex Hayden in Motor Racing Digest.

As ESPN’s NASCAR commentator Alan Bestwick once recalled, “He and I were sitting down one night, and he said, ‘Alan, there’s nothing wrong with doing things with a little class and a little dignity.’ “

Hall called his last full race at Daytona in 2014 – seven years after he had been inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association’s Hall of Fame.

In 2012, not only did NASCAR and the NASCAR Hall of Fame announce that they would give a new award for media excellence to Hall (along with another longtime broadcaster, Ken Squier) — they also named the award after the pair.

Hall was a native of Elkin, N.C., a town he called home throughout his life. He first worked in radio after enlisting in the Navy, where he worked with Armed Forces Radio. He then landed a job as a disc jockey for local station WIFM.

“Dumb luck,” was how Hall once explained that turn of events:

“I was in a bowling alley… and the manager of the local radio station was on the team I was on. He was just sitting there on the bench, and he said, ‘You don’t know where a man could get a good radio announcer, do you?’

“And I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Where?’ I said, ‘You’re looking at him: me!’

“He said, ‘Do you have experience in radio?’ and I said, ‘Yes sir — which was kind of a fib.’ “

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Florida State University has settled with Erica Kinsman for $950,000, after she accused former FSU quarterback Jameis Winston of raping her in late 2012 when they were both students. He now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The settlement, which also commits the university to five years of sexual assault awareness programs and greater transparency, means that Kinsman will drop her Title IX lawsuit against the school. The statement from Kinsman’s lawyers reads, in part:

“In her Title IX lawsuit Ms. Kinsman asserted that FSU violated federal law by refusing to investigate and by covering up her allegations of a sexual assault on December 7, 2012, as well as a second woman’s report of sexual misconduct, by fellow student Jameis Winston. Winston, who had not yet played football for FSU at the time of the assault, went on to lead FSU as quarterback to two undefeated regular seasons and a national championship in 2014. He went on to become FSU’s third Heisman Trophy winner in December 2013. The Title IX lawsuit alleged that university officials concealed and obstructed the sexual assault investigation so that Mr. Winston could play football for more than two years afterwards.”

In a statement, the university characterized the settlement as a way to “move forward,” not an admission of any wrongdoing. Winston has maintained he and Kinsman had consensual sex.

“‘Although we regret we will never be able to tell our full story in court, it is apparent that a trial many months from now would have left FSU fighting over the past rather than looking toward its very bright future. We have decided to instead move forward even though we have full faith that the ultimate outcome of a trial would have been consistent with the previous law enforcement investigations and retired Supreme Court Justice Major Harding’s findings in the student conduct hearing,’ [Florida State University President John] Thrasher said.”

In December 2015, Winston was cleared of wrongdoing in a student conduct hearing, as NPR’s Tom Goldman reported. But major questions remained regarding the Tallahassee Police Department’s efforts to investigate the accusations. Kinsman went to the hospital and called the police the night of the encounter, but the investigation stalled for months before Florida state attorney Willie Meggs declined to file criminal charges in December 2013.

A documentary called The Hunting Ground, which aired on CNN in November, despite threats by Winston’s lawyer to sue the network, alleges the police knowingly did not investigate the accusations fully in order to protect the FSU football program. In the documentary, which was criticized by Harvard Law School faculty as not accurately depicting cases of sexual assault, Kinsman describes the alleged assault and the aftermath.

The statement from Kinsman’s lawyers says they filed a separate sexual battery lawsuit against Winston individually, which will proceed. Kinsman who left FSU in the wake of the encounter, will graduate in the spring from another university.

“I’ll always be disappointed that I had to leave the school I dreamed of attending since I was little,” she said in the statement. “I am happy that FSU has committed to continue making changes in order to ensure a safer environment for all students. My hope is that the federal investigation of my complaint by the Office of Civil Rights will produce even more positive change, not just at FSU, but across the country.”

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It was a tale of two defenses — and two very divergent outcomes — in the NFL’s conference championship games Sunday.

In the NFC, the Carolina Panthers stormed their way to a commanding victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Earlier in the day, in the AFC, the Denver Broncos narrowly survived a late-game push from the New England Patriots to emerge with a win.

The victories mean conference titles for the Panthers and the Broncos — and, more importantly, a trip to the Super Bowl for both teams.

For the Panthers, who were playing at home in Charlotte, that win was never in doubt. By the end of the first quarter, Carolina had piled on a 17-point lead, and the team’s turnover-happy defense kept feeding quarterback Cam Newton the ball. Newton, for his part, converted those opportunities into four touchdowns — two through the air and two rushing scores.

Along the way, Newton set a Panthers postseason record for passing yards. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that ESPN’s David Newton reported chants of “MVP” from the Panthers’ hometown crowd.

The Panthers claimed a 49-15 victory at game’s end, but the win was all but assured well before that.

In Denver, where the Broncos eked out a 20-18 win over the defending champion Patriots, the course of the game was a far different story.

The AFC championship game had been billed as a clash of the titans, the renewal of a rivalry between the Broncos’ Peyton Manning and the Patriots’ Tom Brady. It was the fourth time the quarterbacks faced off in a conference championship game — more than any other quarterback match-up in NFL history, according to ESPN.

But in the end, the game was less about the future Hall of Famers under center, and more about one dominating defense. Before the fireworks even got started, the Broncos were ready with the cold water. The squad harried Brady early and often, sacking him twice and intercepting him twice in the first half alone.

Then, as time wound down, the team survived a last gasp from the Patriots. Brady led a final drive, completing a touchdown pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski with just 12 seconds left to play — but the Patriots didn’t manage the two-point conversion necessary to tie it and put the game into overtime.

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady speak after the AFC Championship game in Denver on Sunday. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The Broncos’ defensive performance — coupled with a big play or two from running back C.J. Anderson — meant Manning didn’t have to do too much more than steer the ship. And he did so ably, avoiding turnovers and tossing two touchdown passes. The rest of Denver’s points came from the leg of kicker Brandon McManus, who kicked two field goals.

The Denver Broncos will play the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 7.

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Bill Johnson, the skier who was the first American to win Olympic gold in a downhill event, has died, the U.S. ski team says. He was 55.

“His passing closed the final chapter in a tumultuous lifetime that saw him rise to the highest level in his sport,” the team said in a statement.

Johnson died in an assisted living facility in Oregon, after several years of deteriorating health following a stroke.

The Associated Press explains that the skier rose to fame with a series of victories that were unprecedented for an American male skier — and cemented his iconic status with a brash prediction. As the news service tells it:

“Johnson, who was born in Los Angeles, grew up racing at Bogus Basin, Idaho, and Mt. Hood, Oregon.

“Caught stealing cars as a teenager, the judge gave him a choice: Attend ski school or head to jail. So he went to Mission Ridge Ski Academy in Washington, where he developed his talent.

“Johnson established himself on the global scene when he won the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen, Switzerland, in 1984 in his second year on the World Cup circuit.

“A month later, Johnson went to Sarajevo and cockily predicted that he would win, annoying his European rivals. He came through, beating silver medalist Peter Mueller of Switzerland by 0.27 seconds.

” ‘What he did that day was amazing at the time,’ said Bill Marolt, former president and CEO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. ‘In retrospect, it’s still amazing.’ “

Johnson’s victory at Lauberhorn was the first American men’s downhill World Cup win of the modern era, the U.S ski team says. His gold at Sarajevo was the first time an American man had won gold in Alpine skiing.

Later, Johnson struggled with knee and back injuries, the AP says. He attempted a comeback in 2001, at age 40, but crashed while training and was critically injured.

“He sustained a traumatic brain injury that erased nearly a decade of memories,” the AP writes. “He had to learn how to walk, talk and eat again.”

Then, in 2010, Johnson suffered a stroke. The years that followed were difficult, as the AP’s Pat Graham reported in 2015:

“Most days are a struggle for American downhill great Bill Johnson as he rests in bed at an assisted living facility in Gresham, Ore., watching his favorite television shows.

“He can’t move his arms or legs anymore. He can’t really speak, either, in between bouts of coughing and choking fits. And lately, Johnson’s left leg has been going into painful spasms with no warning.

” ‘He’s deteriorating,’ D.B. Johnson said of her son’s health, which has been on the decline since a stroke nearly five years ago. ‘He’s frozen in himself.’ “

The American ski community, aware of Johnson’s ill health, celebrated his 55th birthday last year by sending him videos, notes and messages. On Friday, they marked Johnson’s death with an outpouring of remembrances, calling the champion a trailblazer, a pioneer and an inspiration and legend.

As it did on his birthday, the U.S. ski team shared a video of Johnson’s history-making Olympic run in 1984.

You can watch a legend born in real time.

“The youngster’s been cocky, he’s been calm, he’s been cool — and he has backed it all up right here,” announcer Frank Gifford says in awe.

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No. 5 seed Rafael Nadal lost in the first round of the Australian Open to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in a five-set thriller on Tuesday. It’s only the second first-round loss in a major tournament for the former world No. 1, and the upset was the headline of the tournament so far — or, at least, it would have been.

On Sunday, the BBC and BuzzFeed published an investigative report alleging widespread match-fixing and corruption in tennis that is reverberating around the world.

The report — based on information from a “cache of leaked documents” from a 2008 probe commissioned by tennis authorities, the statistical analysis of 26,000 tennis matches and betting information from 2009 through 2015 — alleges that some players were paid to throw matches and that tennis officials did not act on the findings. The report says there is evidence that “winners of singles and doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments are among [a] core group of 16 players who have repeatedly been reported for losing games when highly suspicious bets have been placed against them.”

The report also accuses the Tennis Integrity Unit, which was created following the 2008 probe, of not sufficiently pursuing and prosecuting allegations of match-fixing. Top tennis officials have categorically denied this.

“The Tennis Integrity Unit and tennis authorities absolutely reject any suggestion that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed for any reason or isn’t being thoroughly investigated,” ATP Chairman Chris Kermode said at a news conference Monday, according to The Associated Press.

The report, which also alleges that one top-50 player competing in the Australian Open is suspected of “repeatedly fixing his first set,” did not name the implicated players, saying it couldn’t definitively prove they were involved in illegal activities. John Templon, the BuzzFeed reporter who collaborated on the report, told NPR’s All Things Considered that the exposé was meant to serve as a call to action for tennis authorities to crack down on match-fixing and betting in the sport.

World. No. 3 Roger Federer, however, said the names needed to be released in order for the sport to move forward.

“I mean, it’s, like, who, what? It’s, like, thrown around. It’s so easy to do that,” Federer said according to The Guardian. “I would love to hear names. Then at least it’s concrete stuff and you can actually debate about it. Was it the player? Was it the support team? Who was it? Was it before? Was it a doubles player, a singles player? Which slam? It’s so all over the place. It’s nonsense to answer something that is pure speculation.”

Roger Federer called for the release of players’ names who were implicated in match-fixing. Rick Rycroft/AP hide caption

toggle caption Rick Rycroft/AP

The No. 2 player in the world, Andy Murray, said he would not be surprised if match-fixing was happening, even at the sport’s elite levels. He said: “I’ve been aware of it since I was quite young and I think when people come with big sums of money when you’re at that age, some people can make mistakes.”

At a press conference, the current top player in the world, Novak Djokovic, said he was approached to throw a match in 2007. He said someone propositioned a member of his team, offering $200,000 if Djokovic lost a match at the St. Petersburg Open in Russia. Djokovic said the offer was rejected and that he didn’t even play in the tournament. He went on to say that the sport has come a long way since 2007 and that he doesn’t think that match-fixing is a problem at the top levels of tennis.

Serena Williams, too, dismissed the allegations. “I play very hard and every player that I play plays very hard,” she said at a press conference. “If that’s going on, I don’t know about it.”

Paul Scotney, the director of Sports Integrity Services, was one of the lead investigators during the probe into tennis match-fixing back in 2008. He told NPR’s Morning Edition that the investigation uncovered a number of suspicious bets. He also said that tennis is “one of the three top sports for betting,” along with horse racing and soccer, and that that’s not going to change.

“So the facts are, it’s a bet-on sport and will continue to be a bet-on sport, and authorities need to understand that and work closely with the betting operators because of that,” Scotney said.

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