Sophmore guard from Bologna shines for Texas Tech

'No. 3 Texas Tech Upsets No. 1 Gonzaga for First Trip to Final Four'

Texas Tech 75, Gonzaga 69

By Billy Witz - New York Times - March 30, 2019

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Texas Tech men’s basketball team carries around a mantra like a chip on its shoulder: The secret’s in the dirt. It is a particularly appealing message — that success is usually found by getting your hands in the muck — especially to the ears of basketball mutts and vagabonds, and a star whose own father questioned why he would want to stay home in Lubbock.

So when a moment of truth arrived on Saturday, and top-seeded Gonzaga — with its free-flowing offense and shotmakers all over the court — readied for a final charge, the Red Raiders found success by doing what they do best: digging in.

The Red Raiders, leaning on their defense as they have all season, clamped down on Gonzaga and rode a pair of ice-cold 3-pointers from Davide Moretti and some cool free-throw shooting to a 75-69 victory in the West Region final of the N.C.A.A. tournament.

The win sends No. 3 Texas Tech to the Final Four in Minneapolis, the first trip in team history.

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'Davide Moretti led Texas Tech to the Final Four after his family flew in from Italy'

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Oscar-winning film star Ernest Borgnine dies in LA at age 95

Borgnine being honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2011

Oscar-winning film star Ernest Borgnine dies in LA at age 95

Ernest Borgnine, who created a variety of memorable characters in both movies and television and won the best-actor Oscar for his role as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955, died Sunday. He was 95.

Borgnine's longtime spokesman, Harry Flynn, told The Associated Press that Borgnine died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with his family by his side.

A prolific and talented character actor, Borgnine was known for gruff, villainous roles such as the heavy who beats up Frank Sinatra in "From Here to Eternity" and one of the bad guys who harasses Spencer Tracy in "Bad Day at Black Rock."

Borgnine, who earned a salary of $5,000 for playing his Academy-Award winning role Marty, once said "I would have done it for nothing."

Borgnine, who was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on Jan. 24, 1917 in Hamden, Conn., began acting after serving in the Navy during World War II. He made his film debut in 1951's "Whistle at Eaton Falls" before winning an Academy Award four years later. He appeared in other notable films including "Jubal," "Flight of the Phoenix," "The Dirty Dozen,""The Wild Bunch," "The Poseidon Adventure," "Johnny Guitar," and "Escape from New York."

"No Stanislavsky. I don't chart out the life histories of the people I play," Borgnine told The New York Times in 1973 when asked about his acting methods. "If I did, I'd be in trouble. I work with my heart and my head, and naturally emotions follow."

Sometimes he prayed, he said, or just reflected on character-appropriate thoughts. "If none of that works," he added, "I think to myself of the money I'm making."

He was also known as the Navy officer in the television series "McHale's Navy," which aired from 1962-66. Younger audiences would know him as the voice of Mermaid Man in "Spongebob Squarepants."

Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series "ER," and was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2011.

"The Oscar made me a star, and I'm grateful," AP reports that Borgnine told an interviewer in 1966. "But I feel had I not won the Oscar I wouldn't have gotten into the messes I did in my personal life."

The actor was married five times, including to singer Ethel Merman, who became his third wife in 1964. The marriage barely lasted a month.

He is survived by his fifth wife, Tova Traesnaes — whom he married in 1973 —his children Christofer, Nancee and Sharon Borgnine; a stepson, David Johnson; six grandchildren; and his sister, Evelyn Verlardi.

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