Reporter
Don Wade has been a Memphis journalist since 1998 and he has won awards for both his sports and news/feature writing. He is originally from Kansas City and is married with three sons.
There are 466 articles by Don Wade :
If you hold a high school football game amid a pandemic, they will come — but only about 400 of them, because that's what social distancing and other protocols will allow.
Doing all they can to avoid the fate of the conferences that have shut down.
The Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878 in Memphis spawned new words, such as "Stranger Fever," and changed people's thoughts and actions. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its "social distancing" and "new normal" is not so different. History has provided an echo.
Some doctors have sounded the alarm about the effects after recovering from COVID-19; it's not too early to consider alternate NCAA basketball tournament formats; and Christian Brothers University has shut down some fall sports until Jan. 1
Sam Allen, now 84, remembers a final summer with Memphis that afforded him the chance to play baseball even as players suffered discrimination.
Health officials offer no guarantees but believe the odds of getting through the school year – albeit with some positive COVID-19 cases or even clusters – is reasonably good, assuming all those involved remain vigilant about social distancing and wearing masks and the overall community's transmission rate continues the recent downward trend.
Laird Veatch warily eyes the status of the football season; Mike Norvell's best player makes his position clear; and an innocently made but still offensive gesture at a baseball game lands a coach in trouble.
Positive COVID-19 tests have postponed seven Cardinals games and left the team, including the first base coach, stranded in a Milwaukee hotel.
The Grizzlies are 0-2 so far in the Orlando bubble, and slow starts to games have hurt them. But the confidence of young stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. is as strong as ever.
COVID-19 claimed Tom Marino's life and maybe his brother Steve's, too. Family and friends don't treat that as summary of Tom's life, but more of a footnote to be heeded.
In this week's Sports Notebook: ESPN takes a deep look at the NBA's relationship with China; college football conferences amending schedules amid the pandemic; St. Louis Cardinals one of six MLB teams shut down, and the season might be at risk.
The Cardinals join five other Major League Baseball teams that are in a holding pattern after players tested positive for the coronavirus.
MLB plans to play on despite the number of positive COVID-19 tests on the Miami Marlins. For St. Louis Cardinals coach Stubby Clapp, that means he can keep working -- hopefully all the way through the World Series. But there's a cost: Clapp and his family probably won't see each other till season's end.
United in the fight against COVID-19, but divided by social and political issues, faith may offer America its best opportunity for community and shared healing.
With one Big Ten football team now self-isolating, the college football doesn't seem any closer; Dr. Anthony Fauci off target on ceremonial first pitch (but so was Michael Jordan); and WGC-FESJI will have "observers," but no fans, and no Tiger.
Ever since Ja Morant started playing basketball, father Tee Morant hasn't been shy about saying what needed to be said for the greater basketball good. It's why Ja, albeit lovingly, calls his dad "my first hater."
There's still a pandemic going on, but it will be nice to have the diversion of a baseball season -- even just a 60-game regular season, says former St. Louis Cardinals closer and current CBHS pitching coach Jason Motte.
The NBA has a tip line that players can use if they see one of their peers breaking the coronavirus safety protocols and Ja Morant wants no part of it; also, SEC footballs coaches mostly decide they'll keep all their money (let others take pay cuts to help their schools); and Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson among WGC-FESJI headliners.
Memphis/Shelby County made progress in the struggle against COVID-19, coming out of a Safer at Home order and advancing into a Phase 2 reopening. But Phase 2 has been modified, cases have spiked again, and there remain major concerns going forward, including whether or not elementary and secondary schools can reopen in the fall.
Volunteers at the World Golf Championship-FedEx St. Jude Invitational are known for their unwavering dedication. But the COVID-19 pandemic means there will be no fans on the course and, this year, just 225 volunteers instead of the usual 1,600-plus. To still be on site now is to be a WGC-FESJI essential worker.
A black baseball player near the end of his career and a white kid not old enough to drive a car. What could they possibly mean to one another? More than they could have imagined.
Memphis Tigers lose Power 5 game off football schedule as coronavirus concerns rise; life in the NBA bubble isn't perfect, but fine by Ja Morant; and a U.S. Senator on the receiving end of a "Woj bomb."
He's not managing this season because COVID-19 wiped out the minor league season, but Memphis Redbirds skipper Ben Johnson has players to call and a "honey do" list that just won't quit.
Despite efforts to get fans to the local professional golf tournament this month, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will prevent spectators at TPC-Southwind.
Lurking in the shadows – or in some cases, right out there in plain sight for anyone willing to look – are myriad unintended health consequences of this pandemic.