Football

First Seahawks coach Patera dies — Jack Patera, the first head coach in the history of the Seattle Seahawks, died Wednesday at age 85. The cause of death was not clear. Patera had been previously diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was Seattle’s head coach for parts of seven seasons, beginning with the team’s inaugural season in 1976. Patera’s best seasons came in 1978-79 when the Seahawks went 9-7 in consecutive years, but failed to make the playoffs. Patera was named the NFL coach of the year in 1978 when the Seahawks missed the playoffs by one game. Before joining the Seahawks, Patera was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings. Patera had a seven-year playing career with the Baltimore Colts, Chicago Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys between 1955-61.

Curling

Spokane named host of championship — Spokane, Washington was named Wednesday as the host city of USA Curling’s 2020 men’s and women’s national championships. The event will take place Feb. 8-15 at Eastern Washington University’s recreation center in Cheney. The weeklong national event will feature the top men’s and women’s teams in the country and helps determine Team USA for the subsequent world championships, according to a press release said. Spokane will also host the USA Track and Field National Club Cross Country Championships in December.

baseball

Kershaw, Dodgers extend deadline — Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers want more time to consider their future together. They agreed to extend the deadline on his opt-out decision by 40 hours until 1 p.m. PDT Friday. The team made the announcement a couple hours before the initial 9 p.m. PDT deadline Thursday. Kershaw can opt out of the last two years and $65 million of his contract to become a free agent for the first time in an 11-year big league career spent entirely with the Dodgers. They drafted him in 2006. If he opts out, he could negotiate with any team, including the Dodgers. He signed a $215 million, seven-year contract in January 2014 that calls for salaries of $32 million next year and $33 million in 2020.

Prep Soccer

Hazing brings misdemeanor charges — Three McMinnville High School students face misdemeanor harassment charges for two alleged hazing episodes involving fellow players on the boys’ soccer team, authorities said Wednesday.  A police investigation began after school district staff notified a school resource officer of an incident on a bus ride back from a match in late August, according to the city’s police department. The other hazing episode occurred in October 2017, said Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry. The episodes involved offensive physical touching of more than one student, Berry said. He declined to elaborate or name the students, one of whom is now 18 and will be tried as an adult. The school district has released few details, after announcing in September three boys had been  kicked off the team  for the season and five others had been suspended for three weeks for the August bus incident. The district found three students violated the school’s athletic code of conduct and removed them from the team. The code of conduct includes policies that say no student should participate in hazing.

— From wire reports