Times reporter Bud Withers named to USBWA Hall of Fame

Seattle Times college basketball reporter Bud Withers will be inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame on April 5 at the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Withers has been a sports reporter at The Times since 1999. He has covered college basketball in Oregon and Washington for 39 years, including 20 NCAA Final Fours, and has covered three Olympic Games. He worked at the Eugene Register-Guard from 1970-87 and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1987-99 before coming to The Times.

Withers, who was USBWA president in 1992-93, co-authored a biography of Ralph Miller ("Spanning the Game") in 1991. He also authored "Bravehearts ... The Against-All-Odds Rise of Gonzaga Basketball" in 2002.

Notes

• A $30 million renovation of Cheney Stadium, home of the Tacoma Rainiers, is expected to be completed before the 2011 Pacific Coast League baseball season.

As part of the project, the Rainiers have entered into a 30-year lease with the City of Tacoma.

Work is scheduled to begin after this season. Plans include a covered concourse, a right-field grass berm and children's play area, new bleachers beyond the left-field wall, 300 club seats behind home plate, 16 luxury suites and a restaurant.

• The March 25 home opener for Sounders FC against the expansion Philadelphia Union is sold out. Fewer than 1,000 tickets remain for all home MLS matches.

• Scott MacDonald had a goal and two assists as the visiting Everett Silvertips earned a 5-2 victory over Kamloops in a Western Hockey League game.

• Eastern Washington opens its football season Sept. 2 at Nevada, and is still negotiating to play the Sept. 11 game against Central Washington at Qwest Field in Seattle.

If the CWU game is in Seattle, Eastern's home opener will be Sept. 18 against Montana, when it will unveil its new red artificial turf.

• Oregon scored four runs in the first inning in a 6-2 win over the Washington baseball team in a nonconference game.

• For the fourth time in five seasons, the Puget Sound women's basketball team is heading to the NCAA Division III Tournament and will play University of Redlands in a first-round game at 5 p.m. Friday in Newberg, Ore.

Compiled from sports-information departments and other sources.