Tigers’ Lindsay Crowdus Earns Regional Recognition

University of Memphis senior outfielder Lindsay Crowdus has become the fifth player in school history to earn an NFCA All-Region selection.

Crowdus, a second-team pick, is the first Tiger since 2014 to receive the honor and first since 2011 to be named to the second team.

Crowdus broke multiple school records in her senior campaign including batting average (.451), hits (83), stolen bases (34) and triples (9). Multiple times throughout the season, Crowdus led the nation in batting average and triples per game.

After her successful senior season, Crowdus leaves Memphis as the all-time batting average leader, hits leader, triples leader, and stolen bases leader. Crowdus hit over .300 all four seasons of her career and never had a season with less than 45 hits. She started in all 209 games she played in, including all 56 games this year in centerfield.

The previous Second-Team All-Region selections for Memphis were Leila Dolfo in 2006, Vanessa Walle in 2010 and Heather Mott in 2011. Ellen Roberts was a third-team pick in 2014.

The NFCA announced a total of 667 student-athletes from 175 programs to the All-Region teams. The awards honor softball student-athletes from the association’s 10 regions with first-, second- and third-team selections. NFCA member coaches from each respective region voted on the teams, and all the honorees now become eligible for selection to the 2017 NFCA Division I All-American squads.

The 2017 NFCA Division I All-America teams will be announced May 31.

– Don Wade

KISS Costumes Added To Graceland’s ‘Icons’ Exhibit

Elvis Presley’s Memphis has added stage costumes from the rock band KISS to the entertainment complex’s “Icons” exhibit.

The exhibit includes items from 30 musicians and entertainers influenced by Elvis Presley.

The KISS items were added this week to the exhibit in the 220,000-square-foot entertainment area across Elvis Presley Boulevard from the mansion.

“Elvis is King. Period,” said KISS co-founder Gene Simmons in a written statement.

“No one name says more than his,” added co-founder Paul Stanley. “It roars while others whisper.”

Also added to the Icons exhibit recently is an Elvis-style jumpsuit worn by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a 2016 “Rock The Troops” television special.

– Bill Dries

Eden Square Development To Add Rugby Field

The Power Center Academy rugby team recently got new uniforms and Thursday, May 18, the team learned the charter school’s Hickory Hill campus will include a new rugby field.

The field in the Eden Square mixed-use development on Winchester Road east of Mendenhall Road is a collaboration between Republic Services and its National Neighborhood Promise Initiative and Habitat for Humanity.

The academy was founded in 2011 further east on Winchester, but didn’t have room for a football field, the sport most students of the school indicated they wanted to play. The alternative was rugby. By 2014, the academy’s rugby team was competing in the state championship.

Several Power Center Academy rugby players have become national All-Stars and the team recently was featured in “The Rugby Boys of Memphis,” a short film shown at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

The rugby field will also be available for use by others in the Eden Square development, which was built on the site of the old Marina Cove apartment complex.

– Bill Dries

Fred’s Pharmacy Donations To Heart Association Grow

Fred’s Pharmacy awarded another check to the American Heart Association this month, and through its in-store free blood pressure screenings the past four years, has donated a total of $130,703 to AHA, the company announced.

The free blood pressure screenings are an early detection tool for heart disease, which is diagnosed in more than 27 million Americans each year, according to Fred’s.

Fred’s gave $1 for each free blood pressure screening in its pharmacies during American Heart Month, resulting in a $38,244 donation to the AHA. Fred’s offers the free screenings every day.

Memphis-based Fred’s Pharmacy has reached 98,000 people through its Heart Disease Awareness and Colorectal Cancer Awareness campaigns.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. for cancers affecting both men and women, the company said.

For the fifth consecutive year, Fred’s Pharmacy recognized March as Colon Cancer Awareness Month by giving 60,000 customers free at-home EZ Detect screening kits that can detect signs of colon cancer and rectal cancer in the early stages, when they are most treatable.

– Daily News staff

St. Jude’s Downing Wins Sloan Kettering Award

The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has announced that Dr. James Downing has been named the 2017 recipient of The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize.

The award, created in 2016, recognizes an individual who has made “exceptional and significant contributions” to the field of pediatric oncology. Downing will receive the prize at the cancer center’s academic convocation ceremony this month.

Downing, president and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is a world-renowned leader in the field of pediatric cancer research. He’s focused his career and research on understanding the genetic basis of cancer to improve treatment for children with the disease. Among his accomplishments, he’s had a major influence on defining the genetics and genomics of pediatric cancers.

Downing was also instrumental in launching the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, which has sequenced the normal and cancer genomes of more than 800 young cancer patients with some of the least understood and most aggressive tumors.

Additionally, Dr. Charles Mullighan, a member of the St. Jude Department of Pathology, recently was named a recipient of the National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award. The prize provides seven years of funding to give cancer researchers time to break new ground or extend previous discoveries.

Mullighan and his lab have used genomic profiling and experimental modeling to make significant advances in identification and understanding of high-risk and relapsed leukemia.

– Andy Meek