Carleton College alum and four-year basketball player Bobby Schmitz ’09 is among the survivors of the powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami waves that washed ashore on Somoa and American Somoa. The tsunami flattened villages and swept cars and people out to sea, killing at least 99 on and leaving dozens missing on the small Pacific Ocean islands. The toll is expected to rise.

While the Carleton College head men’s basketball program has had extremely stable leadership for a quarter-century, this year the Knights welcome some additional fresh faces to the sidelines as Ben Davis and Matt Christensen have joined the coaching staff.

Carleton athletic department officials were notified late Friday evening of the passing of Jinny (White) Thurnblad '48, the wife of long-time Carleton men's basketball coach Jack Thurnblad '49. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1, at the Church of St. Dominic in Northfield. Visitation will be on Tuesday, June 30, from 4-8 p.m. at the Benson and Langehough Funeral Home. Visitation will continue Wednesday at the church one hour prior to the funeral. Memorials are preferred to the Jinny Thurnblad Memorial Fund which will be used for the dance program at Carleton College.

Zach Johnson continues to collect honors and awards following his stellar senior season on the hardwood. He was most recently named to the D3hoops.com Division III All-America Second Team. This week he was also voted by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) to the Division III All-West District Second Team. Johnson becomes the fifth All-American in 100-year history of Carleton men’s basketball history and first since Gerrick Monroe was a NABC All-America first-team pick following the 1992-93 campaign.