Mike Conley Wins Second NBA Sportsmanship Award

Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley has won his second NBA Sportsmanship Award in the last three years. Conley was presented with the Joe Dumars Trophy prior to the Grizzlies’ playoff game against San Antonio last Sunday.

Conley became just the third NBA player to win the award multiple times since the award’s inception 20 years ago. The other multiple-time winners are Grant Hill and Jason Kidd.

“I was more surprised this time than last time, to be honest,” Conley said. “I didn’t even expect it the way the season has been going with injuries and stuff like that.”

Asked if sportsmanship in the game is waning and what sportsmanship means to him, Conley said: “It has a lot to do with the integrity of the game and the respect you have for your opponent. I’m one of the nicer guys, but I’m one of the more competitive guys you’ll meet.”

Conley added that being known as a sportsman doesn’t necessarily help him get calls from officials.

“I would love to get a tech every now and then,” he joked. “Maybe I would get a couple of more foul calls. They normally don’t reward the person who is shaking their hand and saying the nice things.”

– Don Wade

FedEx Institute Partners With Tech901, Tech Foundation

The FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis announced agreements Monday, April 25, with two new partners – Tech901 and Memphis Technology Foundation.

Tech901 is a nonprofit with a goal of helping create 10,000 technology jobs in a decade in Memphis. That goal was at the 6,000 mark late last year.

The organization works specifically in new job training and code-based training for teachers in grades K-12.

Memphis Technology Foundation is a nonprofit facilitator of various technology or user groups.

Its partnership with the FedEx Institute will involve finding meeting space for user groups and spreading the word to university students about tech jobs and careers.

– Bill Dries

Fair Oaks Superintendent Earns Top State Honor

Nathan Sullivan, superintendent of Fair Oaks Golf Club in Oakland, Tenn., has received the 2015 Public Golf Course of the Year Award from the Tennessee Turfgrass Association (TTA).

Sullivan received the award recently at the 2016 Tennessee Turfgrass Association Conference and Tradeshow in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

“Nathan Sullivan is a consummate professional,” said Jay Willis, superintendent at Glen Eagle Golf Course in Millington who nominated Sullivan. “The course is always is excellent shape given the financial and resources Nathan has to work with. Outstanding conditions year in and year out.”

Sullivan’s award is the highest bestowed annually by TTA for public golf courses statewide.

“Fair Oaks is always in great shape year end and year out. It’s a public facility that gets a lot of play,” Doug Estes, TTA board member, said in a statement. “His Tifeagle greens are some of the largest in our area and continue to be in great shape.”

The Tennessee Turfgrass Association Public Golf Course of the Year Award was created to recognize personal and professional contributions to the turfgrass industry. Each year, the TTA selects from nominees one facility from a host of worthy golf courses, sports fields, and other properties across the state through the TTA Awards Program.

TTA, founded in 1966, serves its members through education, promotion and representation. The association supports ongoing programs in research, education and extension in the areas of turfgrass management.

– Daily News staff

First Tennessee Bank Honors 50-Year Employee

First Tennessee Bank has one employee who’s busted the five-year median tenure for U.S. finance sector workers by several decades.

Betty Bradbury, the longest tenured employee at the Memphis-based bank, joined the company in 1966 as a teller in Chattanooga before moving to Middle Tennessee. She’s celebrating her golden anniversary with the bank this year, in honor of a 50-year career that’s included a succession of promotions including as financial center manager, sales manager and retail banking manger.

Today Bradbury is relationship manager for First Tennessee’s Employees First program in the Middle Tennessee region.

Beyond Bradbury, First Tennessee has almost 300 employees who’ve been with the company for 30 years. The average tenure of the bank’s nearly 4,300 employees is 11.1 years.

– Andy Meek

Financial Federal Adds Commercial Banking Executive

Financial Federal Bank has added Gideon Scoggin as senior vice president in its commercial banking division.

He’ll focus primarily on establishing new commercial lending relationships and expanding business opportunities. Prior to joining Financial Federal, Scoggin was a commercial loan officer at BankTennessee for more than 13 years.

Outside of banking, Scoggin was a founding board member of the Hattiloo Theatre, served on the Memphis University School Alumni board of directors from 2003-2009, and currently serves on the Germantown Athletic Club Commission.

– Andy Meek

$1 Million Building Permit For Shelby Farms Restaurant

Construction is soon to start on The Kitchen restaurant in Shelby Farms.

Montgomery Martin Contractors recently filed a $1 million construction permit for The Kitchen’s build-out as part of “the new core and shell building restaurant & retreat center at Shelby Farms.”

The farm-to-table restaurant will be a 5,000-square-foot space overlooking the expanded Patriot Lake, part of Shelby Farms’ $70 million Heart of the Park expansion.

The Kitchen Next Door’s 4,500-square-foot location at Crosstown Concourse opens in 2017.

– Madeline Faber

Arlington Woman Indicted On Embezzlement Charges

An Arlington woman has been indicted on felony charges of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from the two businesses for whom she worked.

Amy Speight, 44, was indicted on charges of theft of property over $60,000 and forgery over $1,000, according to Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich’s office. Speight is free on $50,000 bond.

Speight worked as bookkeeper, customer service and office manager for two affiliated companies, Buy Memphis Now and Home Buyers Express. She was in charges of receiving and distributing funds for the businesses, according to a release.

Investigators said Speight generated dozens of unauthorized checks between January 2013 and December 2014 that were made payable to her as “bonuses” or “payroll” from the businesses accounts.

She was terminated in January of 2015.

The case is being handled by Byron Winsett, chief prosecutor of the DA’s Public Corruption & Economic Crime (PCEC) Unit, which is responsible for the prosecution of fraud and theft from governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations and businesses, and money laundering cases.

The unit is part of the Memphis and Shelby County White Collar Crime Task Force that includes law enforcement officers from the Memphis Police Department Economic Crime Unit and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

– Terry Hollahan

MLGW Music Event Returns During Memphis in May

After a hiatus in 2015, Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division will once again celebrate Memphis music during Memphis in May celebrations with live music on an MLGW stage on Beale Street near the Elvis statue on the north side of MLGW’s Administration Building.

MLGW’s Plus-1 Jam starting in late April will raise funds for MIFA’s Plus-1 utility assistance program, according to a release.

On Friday nights and Saturdays, April 29-30, May 13-14 and May 27-28, musical acts will volunteer their talents at the MLGW stage. Some acts include talented musicians who are MLGW employees. MLGW has also recruited many local musicians and bands from the Mid-South.

Volunteers will pass around donation buckets for donations to the Plus-1 program, which is administered by MIFA to help those with one-time emergency utility assistance.

–Daily News staff