Troy Bledsoe, who guided a basketball renaissance at the University of Denver and later was a longtime athletic director at Fort Lewis College in Durango, died last week on New Year’s Eve.
Bledsoe, who was 36 when he became the DU men’s basketball coach in 1962, recruited future NBA players Byron Beck and Harry Hollines to the school before the Pioneers experienced a turnaround. The Pioneers went 5-20 his rookie season on the bench, but by 1966 Bledsoe coached them to their first 14-win season since 1959. Beck later starred with the Nuggets, and Hollines finished as DU’s all-time leading scorer.
Bledsoe became athletic director at Fort Lewis in 1974, a position he held for 18 years. He also coached men’s golf and women’s basketball at the school. He is a member of the Fort Lewis and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference halls of fame.
Bledsoe’s memorial service will be at First Presby-terian Church in Grand Junction on Jan. 16 at 1 p.m.
Rockies alter farm-system staffs.
The Rockies firmed up their minor-league coaching staffs Wednesday. The notable addition is former big-leaguer Joe Eischen, who will serve as the Tri-City Dust Devils’ pitching coach in short-season Single-A ball. Doug Linton takes over as Sky Sox (Triple-A) pitching coach after Chuck Kniffin resigned to take care of his elderly father.
Stu Cole, who managed the Tulsa Drillers (Double-A) at the start of last season before becoming interim manager at Colorado Springs, is now the full-time Sky Sox skipper. Ron Gideon, who replaced Cole in Tulsa, will keep that job this season.
AHA salutes Air Force star.
The Atlantic Hockey Association named Air Force junior center Jacques Lamoureux its player of the month for December after he averaged one goal and two points per game.
Lamoureux was plus-6 in four games and had the winning goal vs. American International on Dec. 4.
Eagles’ Ulanski gets all-star start.
The Colorado Eagles will have three starters in the Central Hockey League’s All-Star Game after forward Kevin Ulanski, who was previously chosen as a reserve, was moved into the starting lineup to replace Rob Hisey of Tulsa, who was called up to the American Hockey League.
Ulanski leads the CHL in scoring with 48 points. Forward Riley Nelson and defenseman Aaron Schneekloth are the Eagles’ other all-star starters.
