Tuesday, September 30, 2014

A00014 - Caldwell Jones, Philadelphia 76er Star

Caldwell "Pops" Jones (August 4, 1950 – September 21, 2014) was an American professional basketball player.  Jones played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and three in the American Basketball Association (ABA). 
Jones was drafted from Albany State College (Georgia) by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 14th pick in the 1973 NBA Draft. He played 3 seasons in the American Basketball Association before joining the 76ers.  Jones then spent six seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers before being traded to the Houston Rockets for Moses Malone.
Jones led the ABA in blocked shots in the 1973-74 season, and played in the 1975 ABA All-Star Game. He shares (with Julius Keye) the ABA's all-time record for blocked shots in a game with 12.
He spent six seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers before being traded to the Houston Rockets for Moses Malone.

Jones made the 1975 ABA All-Star Game, and he spent six seasons with the Sixers starting in 1976. He was sent to the Houston Rockets in 1982, then played for the Portland Trail Blazers from 1985 to 1989. Jones finished his playing career with the San Antonio Spurs in 1989-1990, where he served as a mentor for David Robinson. His three brothers, Charles Jones, Wil Jones and Major Jones, also played in the NBA. All of the Jones brothers attended Albany State University.
Caldwell Jones, a standout veteran NBA and ABA center, died on Sunday, September 21, 2014 after suffering a heart attack while playing golf. He was 64.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

A00013 - Marvin Barnes, "Bad News" Basketball Player

Marvin Jerome Barnes (July 27, 1952 – September 8, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. As a 6'8" forward, Barnes played at Providence College. In 1973, he became the first player to score 10 times on 10 field goal attempts in the NCAA playoffs, and remains tied for second behind Kenny Walker, who went 11-for-11 in 1986. He led the nation in rebounding in 1973-74. On December 15, 1973, Barnes scored 52 points against Austin Peay, breaking the single-game school record. He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the second overall pick in the first round of the 1974 NBA Draft and by the Spirits of St. Louis in the 1974 ABA Draft. Barnes opted for the ABA and played for the Spirits in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976 before playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1976 to 1980. He had his greatest success in the ABA, where he starred for the Spirits and was named Rookie of the Year for the 1974–75 season. He also shares the ABA record for most two-point field goals in a game, with 27. In 2005, the ABA 2000, the second incarnation of the ABA, named one of their divisions after him.
Barnes' nickname, "Bad News," came from his frequent off-court problems, which began when he was a senior at Central High School.  He was part of a gang that attempted to rob a bus. He was quickly identified as he was wearing his state championship jacket with his name embroidered on it. His case was handled by the juvenile justice system. In 1972, while playing center for Providence College, he attacked a teammate with a tire iron. He later pled guilty to assault, paid the victim $10,000 and was placed on probation. He violated probation in October 1976 when an unloaded gun was found in his bag at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, and served 152 days in Rhode Island state prison. Upon release he returned to the Detroit Pistons.  He was arrested for burglary, drug possession, and trespassing. Because of his drug use, his NBA career was cut short and he wound up homeless in San Diego, California, in the early 1980s. After multiple rehab programs, he started reaching out to youth in South Providence, where he grew up, urging them not to make the same mistakes he had.
In March 2008, Providence College retired his jersey, honoring him along with Ernie DiGregorio and Jimmy Walker. He co-held (with MarShon Brooks) the school single-game scoring record of 52 points. On September 8, 2014, Barnes died at the age of 62.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

A00012 - Ahmed Seif, Egyptian Human Rights Lawyer

Seif, Ahmed
Ahmed Seif , also written as Ahmad Saif (el-Islam Hamad Abd el-Fattah) (January 9, 1951 - August 27, 2014), was an Egyptian journalist and human rights lawyer.

In the 1980s, Seif served a five-year prison sentence for activism. Afterwards, he was still several times imprisoned for political reasons, including during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. In 1999, he was one of the founders of the Hisham Mubarak Center for Law. In 2011, he was also leader of the political movement Kefaya. 

Seif was the father of two prominent activists during the Egyptian Revolution, Mona Seif and Alaa Abd El Fattah.  Seif married to Laila Soueif, a professor of mathematics at the University of Cairo. 

Because of Seif's involvement in the socialist movement, he was arrested in 1983 and tortured by agents of the Egyptian security forces. For five years, he was in prison. After his release, Seif focused on the fight against torture in Egypt.  In 1989, shortly after his release, he took on one of the most important human rights issues in the country itself.  Because of his struggle against torture and injustice he grew over the years into a central figure in several successful Egyptian human rights cases. 

In 1999, he was one of the founders of the Centre Hisham Mubarak for Law in Cairo, a center named for Hisham Mubarak, a lawyer who had focused on human rights and the granting of legal assistance to victims of violations of human rights laws. 

Seif was one of the attorneys in the case against fifteen defendants after the bombing in Taba and other places in the Sinai in October 2004.  Seif argued strongly against the wave of bombings while. on the other hand, arguing that the defendants in no way tortured of engaged in violations of human rights. Nevertheless, all fifteen defendants were convicted on the basis of confessions obtained during their torture.  

Other high-profile cases with other lawyers were the Queen Boat case in 2001, in which 52 men were tried on the basis of their sexual orientation, and the defense of 49 textile workers because they had participated in protests on April 6, 2008 in Mahalla.

In 2006, Seif took on the defense of Karim Amer, the first blogger who was indicted for a crime because of his criticism, on the Internet, of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Islam.  Amer was sentenced to four years imprisonment. 
Seif died on August 27, 2014 at the age of 63 during open-heart surgery.