The actor was honored Friday night as guest performer in a daytime drama series for his part as amnesiac Timothy Robicheaux on Peacock’s “Days of Our Lives,” making him the oldest Daytime Emmy winner.

“I don’t believe this. I feel like a spy from nighttime television,” he said. “I’m 98 years old. Can you believe it? This really tops off a lifetime of 80 years in the business. If I had known I would have lived this long I would’ve taken better care of myself.”

“General Hospital” won four trophies, including its fourth consecutive honor as best daytime drama. It’s the second time in the ABC show’s 61-year history that it won four daytime drama trophies in a row.

Robert Gossett of “General Hospital” won supporting actor honors. The first cousin to the late Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. was honored for the second straight year for his role as Marshall Ashford.

“General Hospital” also won the directing and writing categories.

Thorsten Kaye of “The Bold and the Beautiful” earned his second straight lead actor win for playing Ridge Forrester.

“I got to be very honest. I don’t like award shows. I didn’t like award shows until tonight,” he said. “The other thing that doesn’t make sense is that anyone can do this alone. You need a great boss who sees you and hears you. You need a cast that tolerates you. You need a whole village of people that have agreed that they’re not going to let you drown. I’ve have all of that.”

A clearly stunned Michelle Stafford of “The Young and the Restless” won best actress as Phyllis Summers, a trophy she first earned in 2004.

“I am honored to be an actor. It is the greatest gig. It is a privilege,” she said. “I’m honored to entertain people.”

Van Dyke received a standing ovation as he used a cane to make his way to the stage, accompanied by his wife, Arlene, who held the trophy.

“I brought this lady up because she was also on the show,” he said. “She played the cop who arrested me.”

Producer Norman Lear was 100 when he received his final Primetime Emmy nomination in 2022 and died the next year.

Van Dyke has won four Primetime Emmys, including three in the 1960s for his classic comedy series “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Van Dyke beat out last year’s winner Alley Mills of “General Hospital,” Australian actor Guy Pearce of Amazon Freevee’s “Neighbours,” Linden Ashby of “The Young and the Restless,” and Ashley Jones of “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

“The Kelly Clarkson Show” continued its domination of the daytime show category with a fourth consecutive victory. The singer, who moved her show from Los Angeles to New York last year, was on hand to collect the trophy.

“The move has been so great, not just for me and my family but for our whole show,” she said, singling out NBC. “Thank you for thinking of mental health and not just a product.”

Courtney Hope, who plays Sally Spectra on “The Young and the Restless,” earned supporting actress honors. She originated the role on “The Bold and the Beautiful” in 2017 before moving to “Y&R” in 2020.

Melody Thomas Scott, who has played Nikki Newman on “The Young and the Restless” for 45 years, and her producer-husband, Edward Scott, were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards. Scott worked on “Y&R” for years before moving to his current job on “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

“I can’t tell you how encouraging a thing like this is,” joked Thomas Scott, who made her acting debut at age 8 in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Marnie.”

Her husband told the crowd, “I promise to do my very best to try to continue to amaze you.”

The wife-and-husband team of Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos won daytime talk series host for their “Live with Kelly and Mark.” Ina Garten won best culinary series for “Be My Guest” on Food Network.

The ceremony honoring soap operas, talk and game shows aired live on CBS from The Westin Bonaventure hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

The 51st annual Daytime Emmys returned to their usual place on the calendar, just six months after the show’s 50th edition aired in December after being pushed back because of last year’s Hollywood writers and actors strikes.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s online records said Burroughs died Thursday, with the cause of death deferred.

USA Today, citing unnamed sources, reported Burroughs died at Stearns Champions Park in Long Beach, California, where he grew up.

The Long Beach Fire Department responded to the park shortly after 5 p.m. on a report of a person in full cardiac arrest in the parking lot. “We did all of our lifesaving measures, but we weren’t successful,” public information officer Brian Fisk said Friday, adding that the person was declared dead at the scene.

“It is with heavy heart that I am writing this message to inform you that yesterday afternoon one of our Coaches, Sean Burroughs, tragically passed away,” Doug Wittman, president of Long Beach Little League, wrote in a statement posted on social media Friday.

Wittman coached with Burroughs for the last two years.

“He always came with a fun & friendly attitude the kids were drawn to, a wealth of baseball knowledge that could get any kid out of a batting rut and humility worth emulating,” the statement said. “To say this is a huge loss is an understatement.”

Burroughs was a standout as a pitcher in the Little League World Series for the Long Beach team, which became the first U.S. squad to win consecutive titles. They won the 1992 championship after the Philippines, their opponent in the title round, had to forfeit for using overaged players.

He pitched consecutive no-hitters in the 1993 LLWS — with a then-record 16 strikeouts — and his team won the title over Panama, 3-2.

“Sean was a legend in LBLL and the baseball community,” Wittman wrote.

Burroughs won a gold medal with the U.S. baseball team coached by Tommy Lasorda at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“We at USA Baseball are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of Sean,” USA Baseball executive director and CEO Paul Seiler said in a statement. “Sean was a part of one of our most beloved teams, and he represented our country on and off the field in a first-class manner.”

Burroughs’ father, Jeff, was a three-time All-Star and the 1974 American League MVP with the Texas Rangers. He coached his son in those Little League World Series appearances. Sean was born in Atlanta when his father played for the Braves.

Sean Burroughs committed to play baseball at the University of Southern California, but the San Diego Padres selected him with the ninth pick in the first round of the 1998 MLB draft and he signed with them instead.

He was a career .278 hitter, with 12 home runs and 143 RBIs with the Padres, Tampa Bay, Arizona and Minnesota.

He was named most valuable player of the 2002 All-Star Futures Game.

Burroughs broke into the majors as a third baseman in April 2002 with the Padres. He hit a game-winning single in the first game played at San Diego’s Petco Park that year.

After the 2005 season, the Padres traded Burroughs to Tampa Bay, but he saw limited playing time before being optioned to the minors and designated for assignment.

In December 2006, Burroughs signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners, but was released less than halfway through the season.

Burroughs was out of baseball for four years while struggling with substance abuse issues that “took away from my aspirations and my dreams,” he told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 2012.

In November 2010, Burroughs signed a minor league contract with Arizona. The following spring he joined the Diamondbacks and hit .261, but was outrighted to the minors. After third baseman Melvin Mora was released, Burroughs was promoted back to Arizona in July and returned to the starting lineup.

Burroughs became a free agent that fall and signed a minor league deal with Minnesota in December. He made the major league club in spring training, but was let go in May.

From 2013-2017, he played for multiple independent minor league teams.

He appeared as an extra in TV shows “Knots Landing” and “Saved by the Bell,” as well as the film “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

“There’s nothing like winning the Kentucky Derby,” recalled Espinoza, a three-time winner. “To me it’s the most important thing in horse racing.”

America’s longest continuously held sporting event turns 150 years old this Saturday. By age, it’s got the Westminster dog show beat by two years. The Derby has survived two world wars, the Depression and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000.

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The first Saturday in May is Derby Day with all its accompanying pageantry, including fancy hats, fans dressed in their Sunday best, mint juleps served in souvenir glasses, the crowd singing “My Old Kentucky Home” and the hand-sewn garland of red roses for the winner. The Derby was the second-most watched sporting event of 2023 behind the Super Bowl.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s on their bucket list to attend and the one horse race that they watch every year,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, a two-time Derby winner who has this year’s early favorite in Fierceness.

One chance only

Part of what makes the Derby unique is horses have just one chance to run in it since only 3-year-olds are eligible. It’s also the only race in America with a 20-horse field. Since 2013, horses have to accumulate points in qualifying races to earn their way in. Previously, money won in graded stakes races decided the field.

“It’s very tough to keep them on the path to get to the Derby, get into the Derby and then, hopefully, it all goes well, and you get a good, clean trip,” said trainer Brad Cox, a Louisville native who will saddle Catching Freedom, Encino and Just a Touch on Saturday.

Louisvillians take pride in their city’s tradition that dates to 1875, whipping up at-home versions of such high-calorie delicacies as Benedictine dip (grated cucumber, cream cheese, sour cream and mayo), Derby pie (chocolate chips and nuts) and cocktails if they’re not going to the track.

Diversity struggles

Thirteen of the 15 jockeys in the first Derby were Black, including Oliver Lewis, who rode Aristides to victory in front of 10,000 cheering fans in 1875.

Black riders won 15 of the first 28 Derbies, and then there were none from 1920-2000. As Jim Crow laws were introduced, segregation spread throughout the nation, including horse racing where it was nearly impossible for Black riders to get licensed.

The last Black jockey in the race was Kendrick Carmouche in 2021.

Black trainers also dominated the Derby’s early years, winning seven of the first 17 from 1875-1891. On Saturday, Larry Demeritte will be just the second since 1951 and 17th overall when he saddles long shot West Saratoga.

Protestors demanding racial justice and an end to police brutality demonstrated outside Churchill Downs in 2020 and 2021 after Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black EMT, was killed by police in a botched drug raid at her Louisville home.

Larry Demeritte is just the second Black trainer since 1951 to saddle a horse for the Kentucky Derby

Women have been a sporadic presence in the Derby, too. Only six have ridden in the race, the last being Rosie Napravnik in 2014. Seven women have trained Derby runners, with Vicki Oliver last doing so in 2021.

“It’s an incredibly hard race just to get into, let alone win,” Cox said.

Horse safety

Cox was declared the 2021 winner, nine months after the race when Medina Spirit was disqualified for a failed drug test — only the second such DQ in race history — and Mandaloun was elevated to first.

“We’re all trying to win this race to experience the thrill of victory,” Cox said, “and we’ve yet to do that.”

The Derby’s image took a major hit last year when 12 horses died at Churchill Downs in the weeks surrounding the race. An independent investigation cleared the track of any fault, and no singular cause was found. The track continued training, but moved the remainder of its spring racing meet to western Kentucky.

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The trainer who owns a record-tying six victories isn’t in Louisville for the third straight year. Bob Baffert has been banned by Churchill Downs Inc. ever since Medina Spirit’s failed drug test upended the 2021 results.

Baffert fought his original two-year suspension in court, but lost a year ago. Last summer, the track said it was extending the suspension through 2024. It cited “continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses.”

Sparkling showcase

Churchill Downs Inc., the track’s publicly traded parent company with shareholders to satisfy, has spent $500 million renovating and modernizing over the last decade. Its newest showpiece is the $200 million paddock, where fans who don’t mind dropping up to $12,000 can dine and watch the horses being saddled before the races.

In its 150th year, the Derby’s purse has been boosted to a record $5 million, with $3.1 million going to the winning owner.

Despite all the changes with the race, the track and the intrusion of current events over the years, the first Saturday in May endures.

“The one thing that continues is you got 20 of the best 3-year-olds from around the world,” said trainer Doug O’Neill, a two-time Derby winner.

“It seems like the one mainstay that we can really rely on,” Pletcher said.

As the Kentucky Derby turns 150, Black heritage in racing is in the Louisville spotlight

Mystik Dan desperately fought to hang on with two challengers coming to him in the closing strides. He did, too, after a delay of several minutes while the closest three-horse photo finish since 1947 was sorted out.

That year, Jet Pilot won by a head over Phalanx and a length ahead of Faultless.

This one was much tighter.

Mystik Dan, an 18-1 shot, edged Sierra Leone by a nose, with Forever Young another nose back in third on Saturday. Sierra Leone was the most expensive horse in the race at $2.3 million.

Long shots Track Phantom and Just Steel led the field through the early going, with 3-1 favorite Fierceness racing three-wide just off the leaders.

At the top of the stretch, everything changed.

Track Phantom drifted off the rail, opening a hole that Hernandez squeezed Mystik Dan through, and the bay colt suddenly found another gear. He quickly opened up a daylight advantage on the field.

“When he shot through that spot, he was able to cut the corner and I asked him to go for it,” Hernandez said. “He shot off and I’m like, ‘Oh man, I’ve got a big chance to win the Kentucky Derby.’”

To Mystik Dan’s outside, Sierra Leone and Forever Young took up the chase in the middle of the track.

As Mystik Dan sped along the rail, Sierra Leone lugged in and bumped Forever Young three times in the stretch, but jockey Ryusei Sakai didn’t claim foul.

Mystik Dan got so close to the rail that Hernandez’s boot struck it.

“But I think we can buy another pair of boots,” he said.

The winner’s share of the record $5 million purse was $3.1 million, with the jockey and trainer typically earning 10% each.

“Just a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant jockey and ride,” McPeek said. “Brian is one of the most underrated jockeys, but not anymore, right?”

Sierra Leone, the second choice at 9-2 odds, and Forever Young from Japan came up just short at the wire in front of 156,710 at Churchill Downs, the largest crowd since 2018.

“You get beat a nose in the Kentucky Derby, it’s a tough one,” said Chad Brown, trainer of Sierra Leone. “But I’m so proud of the horse.”

It was just the 10th Kentucky Derby decided by a nose — the closest margin in horse racing — and the first since Grindstone edged Cavonnier to wear the garland of red roses in 1996.

The crowd waited several minutes in the heat and humidity as the result was reviewed by the stewards and declared official.

“The longest few minutes of my life,” Hernandez said, after he and Mystik Dan walked in circles while the stunning result was settled. “To see your number flash up to win the Derby, I don’t think it will sink in for a while.”

Fierceness finished 15th in the field of 20 3-year-olds. Owner Mike Repole is 0 for 8 in the derby. He had the favorite in 2011 with Uncle Mo, who was scratched the day before the race with an illness. Last year, Forte was scratched the morning of the race as the favorite with a bruised foot.

Mystik Dan ran 1 1/4 miles over a fast track in 2:03.34 and paid $39.22, $16.32 and $10.

Hernandez and trainer Kenny McPeek had teamed for a wire-to-wire win in the Kentucky Oaks for fillies on Friday with Thorpedo Anna. McPeek is the first trainer to sweep both races since Ben Jones in 1952.

McPeek’s only other victory in a Triple Crown race was also a shocker: 70-1 Sarava won the 2002 Belmont Stakes — the biggest upset in that race’s history. The colt spoiled the Triple Crown bid of War Emblem.

The winning owners are cousins Lance and Brent Gasaway and Daniel Hamby III, all from Arkansas. They bred Mystik Dan.

“We’ve done it with what I call working-class horse,” McPeek said. ”His mother is a filly who raced hard, but wasn’t well known. His father wasn’t a big name, either.”

Sharilyn Gasaway, Brent’s wife, said, “It is surreal for sure. We feel like we’re just ordinary people and we’ve got an amazing horse.”

Sierra Leone returned $6.54 and $4.64. Forever Young was another nose back in third and paid $5.58 to show.

Catching Freedom was fourth, followed by T O Password of Japan, Resilience, Stronghold, Honor Marie and Endlessly. Dornoch was 10th and then came Track Phantom, West Saratoga, Domestic Product, Epic Ride, Fierceness, Society Man, Just Steel, Grand Mo the First, Catalytic and Just a Touch.

Long-shot West Saratoga is staying in Barn 42 at Churchill Downs, the same location where Seattle Slew was before he won the 1977 Derby and went on to sweep the Triple Crown. It was the first Derby that Demeritte attended.

Now, he is the second Black trainer since 1951 to be saddling a horse in the big race, which has its 150th running on Saturday. The other, Hank Allen, finished sixth with Northern Wolf in 1989.

Black trainers dominated the Derby’s early years, winning seven of the first 17 from 1875-1891.

“We’re so grateful to be here and enjoying every single minute,” Demeritte said.

Everything is meaningful to the 74-year-old from the Bahamas since he was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and underwent chemotherapy. His father was a trainer in the islands and Dermeritte still carries the accent of his home country, where he was leading trainer for two years.

“My motto is, `I don’t buy cheap horses. I buy good horses cheap,’” he said, smiling.

The costliest horse in the 20-horse Derby field is morning-line second choice Sierra Leone, purchased for $2.3 million. Purchased for just $11,000, West Saratoga is the pride of Demeritte’s 11-horse stable at The Thoroughbred Center in nearby Lexington. The colt has earned $460,140.

“He’s getting better with every start,” he said. “I’ve been around a lot of good horses and this horse really matches up to a lot of them.”

It’s the first Derby for West Saratoga owner Harry Veruchi.

“I bought my first horse in 1982, and two weeks later he won at Centennial Race Track in Littleton, Colorado,” Veruchi said. “I thought, this is easy. And now, to be here, who would have thought it? I don’t know anybody who has been in the Kentucky Derby or even anybody who has won a graded stake.”

West Saratoga is named for the street in Littleton where Veruchi grew up. It’s located six blocks from the Centennial track, which closed in 1983.

The only one with any Derby experience in their group is jockey Jesus Castanon. He finished fourth aboard Shackleford in 2011. They set the pace and led at the eighth pole only to be overtaken by eventual winner Animal Kingdom.

“I thought I was going to win it,” Castanon said. “In my mind, I was going crazy.”

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Demeritte has run horses on the Derby undercard in past years.

“I’ve been practicing,” he said with a smile. “I used to pray to get to the Derby. I feel like I am blessed with this horse.”

Demeritte has his eyes on the sky for Saturday, when the forecast calls for a 43% chance of rain. The gray colt has never run on a wet track, but his sire did. Exaggerator was runner-up in the 2016 Derby and went on to win the Preakness and the Haskell. Both of those races were run on sloppy tracks.

“This is truly amazing how we got to this position with this horse,” Demeritte said. “I’m hopeful people will see our story and become interested in this sport because this horse is proving anyone with a dream can make it to the Derby stage.”

Gossett’s nephew told The Associated Press that the actor died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California. No cause of death was revealed.

Gossett always thought of his early career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him from an early age and propelling him forward, toward his Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

He earned his first acting credit in his Brooklyn high school’s production of “You Can’t Take It with You” while he was sidelined from the basketball team with an injury.

“I was hooked — and so was my audience,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir “An Actor and a Gentleman.”

His English teacher urged him to go into Manhattan to try out for “Take a Giant Step.” He got the part and made his Broadway debut in 1953 at age 16.

“I knew too little to be nervous,” Gossett wrote. “In retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but I wasn’t.”

Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and drama scholarship. He was soon acting and singing on TV shows hosted by David Susskind, Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar and Steve Allen.

Gossett became friendly with James Dean and studied acting with Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau and Steve McQueen at an offshoot of the Actors Studio taught by Frank Silvera.

In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun” along with Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.

He went on to become a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.

Gossett went to Hollywood for the first time in 1961 to make the film version of “A Raisin in the Sun.” He had bitter memories of that trip, staying in a cockroach-infested motel that was one of the few places to allow Black people.

In 1968, he returned to Hollywood for a major role in “Companions in Nightmare,” NBC’s first made-for-TV movie that starred Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O’Neal.

This time, Gossett was booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel and Universal Studios had rented him a convertible. Driving back to the hotel after picking up the car, he was stopped by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s officer who ordered him to turn down the radio and put up the car’s roof before letting him go.

Within minutes, he was stopped by eight sheriff’s officers, who had him lean against the car and made him open the trunk while they called the car rental agency before letting him go.

“Though I understood that I had no choice but to put up with this abuse, it was a terrible way to be treated, a humiliating way to feel,” Gossett wrote in his memoir. “I realized this was happening because I was Black and had been showing off with a fancy car — which, in their view, I had no right to be driving.”

After dinner at the hotel, he went for a walk and was stopped a block away by a police officer, who told him he broke a law prohibiting walking around residential Beverly Hills after 9 p.m. Two other officers arrived and Gossett said he was chained to a tree and handcuffed for three hours. He was eventually freed when the original police car returned.

“Now I had come face-to-face with racism, and it was an ugly sight,” he wrote. “But it was not going to destroy me.”

In the late 1990s, Gossett said he was pulled over by police on Pacific Coast Highway while driving his restored 1986 Rolls Royce Corniche II. The officer told him he looked like someone they were searching for, but the officer recognized Gossett and left.

He founded the Eracism Foundation to help create a world where racism doesn’t exist.

Gossett made a series of guest appearances on such shows as “Bonanza,” “The Rockford Files,” “The Mod Squad,” “McCloud” and a memorable turn with Richard Pryor on “The Partridge Family.”

In August 1969, Gossett had been partying with members of the Mamas and the Papas when they were invited to actor Sharon Tate’s house. He headed home first to shower and change clothes. As he was getting ready to leave, he caught a news flash on TV about Tate’s murder. She and others were killed by Charles Manson’s associates that night.

“There had to be a reason for my escaping this bullet,” he wrote.

Louis Cameron Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, to Louis Sr., a porter, and Hellen, a nurse. He later added Jr. to his name to honor his father.

Gossett broke through on the small screen as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which depicted the atrocities of slavery on TV. The sprawling cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John Amos.

Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his performance as the intimidating Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.

“More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor,” he wrote in his memoir.

“The Oscar gave me the ability of being able to choose good parts in movies like ‘Enemy Mine,’ ‘Sadat’ and ‘Iron Eagle,’” Gossett said in Dave Karger’s 2024 book “50 Oscar Nights.”

He said his statue was in storage.

“I’m going to donate it to a library so I don’t have to keep an eye on it,” he said in the book. “I need to be free of it.”

Gossett appeared in such TV movies as “The Story of Satchel Paige,” “Backstairs at the White House, “The Josephine Baker Story,” for which he won another Golden Globe, and “Roots Revisited.”

But he said winning an Oscar didn’t change the fact that all his roles were supporting ones.

He played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of “The Color Purple.”

Gossett struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for years after his Oscar win. He went to rehab, where he was diagnosed with toxic mold syndrome, which he attributed to his house in Malibu.

In 2010, Gossett announced he had prostate cancer, which he said was caught in the early stages. In 2020, he was hospitalized with COVID-19.

He is survived by sons Satie, a producer-director from his second marriage, and Sharron, a chef whom he adopted after seeing the 7-year-old in a TV segment on children in desperate situations. His first cousin is actor Robert Gossett.

Gossett’s first marriage to Hattie Glascoe was annulled. His second, to Christina Mangosing, ended in divorce in 1975 as did his third to actor Cyndi James-Reese in 1992.

Nelson finished with a season-high 24 points, 19 in the second half, and he blocked RJ Davis’ attempt at a tying layup after giving Alabama the lead. Rylan Griffen added 19 points, tying his career high with five 3-pointers, and Aaron Estrada also scored 19 for the fourth-seeded Crimson Tide (24-11).

The Tide face sixth-seeded Clemson on Saturday for a berth in the Final Four. The Tigers defeated second-seeded Arizona 77-72 in the first semifinal at Crypto.com Arena.

After Nelson blocked Davis’ shot with 25 seconds left, Davis furiously dribbled around before missing a layup and the Tar Heels got called for a shot-clock violation with 8 seconds left. They were forced to foul, sending Nelson to the line. He calmly made both for an 89-85 lead.

Armando Bacot scored inside with 1 second left, leaving North Carolina trailing 89-87. The Tar Heels fouled Nelson again with 0.9 seconds left. He missed both attempts, and time expired on the blue blood Tar Heels, who own six national championships.

Bacot finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds in his final game for UNC (29-8). Cormac Ryan had 17 points and made five 3-pointers and Davis had 16 points.

At times, UNC coach Hubert Davis looked like he was still playing for his alma mater, for whom he starred from 1988-92 under Hall of Famer Dean Smith. Davis dashed up and down the sideline in his white sneakers, gesturing and yelling and taking his glasses on and off as he lived each play through his team.

Alabama trailed 54-46 at halftime. Nelson and Sam Walters combined to score nine of Alabama’s first 13 points to take a 59-57 lead. The Tar Heels struggled early when big man Bacot picked up his third foul five minutes in, but they tied it at 59-all on a basket by Harrison Ingram.

Nelson, Estrada and Griffen teamed to score 21 of Alabama’s next 23 points that produced an 82-77 lead. Nelson ran off seven in a row, capped by a 3-pointer.

Carolina scored eight in a row, including six straight by Davis, to take its last lead, 85-82.

The Tar Heels opened the game on a 19-9 run for their largest lead of a half in which there were eight ties and seven lead changes.

Mark Sears went on a tear, scoring nine points — hitting a 3-pointer and turning to blow a kiss to the crowd — to help the Tide lead 39-34. Sears finished with 18 points.

North Carolina regained control with a 20-7 spurt to end the half ahead 54-46. Ryan and Ingram had two 3-pointers each and Bacot dunked, slithered around Mohamed Wague for a layup and scored off his own steal.

The interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired by the Dodgers last week when the team opened the season with two games against the San Diego Padres in Seoul.

Manager Dave Roberts endorsed Ohtani addressing the matter publicly. He said it was the two-way superstar’s decision to do so.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Roberts said. “I’m happy he’s going to speak and speak to what he knows and give his thoughts on the whole situation. I think it will give us all a little bit more clarity.”

Mizuhara was let go from the team following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and claims from Ohtani’s attorneys that the Japanese star had been the victim of a “massive theft.”

Major League Baseball has opened an investigation of the matter. The Internal Revenue Service has confirmed that Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker in Orange County, California, are under criminal investigation.

Ohtani made only a brief appearance in the Dodgers clubhouse before Sunday’s Freeway Series opener against his former team, the Los Angeles Angels. The teams are playing three exhibition games before the Dodgers host St. Louis in their home opener on Thursday.

Ohtani received a huge cheer as he walked to the plate for the first time at Dodger Stadium. He flied out to left field as the designated hitter. In his second appearance, he drew a walk by Angels pitcher Hayden Seig to load the bases with two outs. In the fourth inning, Ohtani struck out swinging against Griffin Canning.

He’s also expected to play Monday and Tuesday in Anaheim, where he was a two-time AL MVP before leaving the Angels as a free agent to sign a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December.

Roberts said Ohtani has not addressed his teammates as a group.

“I think that he’s had one-off conversations with players,” Roberts said.

The manager said he checked in with Ohtani to see how he’s doing.

“He’s kind of business as usual,” Roberts said.

Ohtani has a double locker in the Dodgers clubhouse located between the shower room and fellow Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is slated to make his second start of the season on Saturday against St. Louis.

Extra security was posted in the jammed clubhouse on Sunday. Besides the players and a horde of media, eight temporary lockers were set up at one end for minor leaguers brought over from Arizona for the Freeway Series.

Overhead televisions were tuned to men’s NCAA Tournament games, baseball and horse racing, with former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Paul Lo Duca offering TV handicapping tips on the day’s races.

The MLB gambling policy is posted in every clubhouse. Betting on baseball — legally or not — is punishable with a one-year ban from the sport. The penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner’s discretion. Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.

“The mood in the room is get ready for baseball because I don’t hear a lot of conversations and speculation,” Roberts said. “That’s why I think tomorrow is going to be good for everyone.”

Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, 39, was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker. The team is in Seoul, South Korea this week as Ohtani makes his Dodgers debut, and Mizuhara was in Los Angeles’ dugout during their season-opening win.

“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement Wednesday.

Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.

Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani’s constant companion, interpreting for him with the media and at other appearances since Ohtani came to the U.S. in 2017. He even served as Ohtani’s catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game. When Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December, the club also hired Mizuhara.

The Dodgers said in a statement they were “aware of media reports and are gathering information.

“The team can confirm that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been terminated,” the statement said. “The team has no further comment at this time.”

On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that his bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.

“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”

The Associated Press could not immediately reach Mizuhara for comment Wednesday.

Mizuhara was born in Japan and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1991 so his father could work as a chef. He attended Diamond Bar High School in eastern Los Angeles County and graduated from the University of California, Riverside, in 2007.
After college, Mizuhara was hired by the Boston Red Sox as an interpreter for Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. In 2013, he returned to Japan to translate for English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. That’s where he first met Ohtani, who joined the team that same year.

After Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, the team hired Mizuhara to work as his personal interpreter. ESPN said Mizuhara told the outlet this week he has been paid between $300,000 and $500,000 annually.

ESPN said it spoke to Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which point the interpreter said Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at Mizuhara’s request. After the statement from Ohtani’s attorneys saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN says Mizuhara changed his story Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambing debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.

Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022 and his losses increased from there.

“I’m terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money,” Mizuhara said. “I mean, I dug myself a hole and it kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It’s like a snowball effect.”
It would be the biggest gambling scandal for baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.

The MLB gambling policy, posted in every locker room, prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers. Betting on baseball is punishable with a one-year ban from the sport. The penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner’s discretion.

Ohtani’s stardom has spread worldwide, even as the two-way player has remained largely media-shy. The news of his recent marriage to Mamiko Tanaka shocked fans from Japan to the U.S. While he underwent surgery on his right elbow last September and will not pitch this season, he will be used as a designated hitter and there is a possibility he could play in the field. He went 2 for 5 with an RBI in his first game, the season opener against the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea.

Blum reported from New York.

She triumphed over Lily Gladstone of “Killers of the Flower Moon” on Sunday night in a race most pundits said was too close to call. Gladstone would have been the first Native American to win a competitive Oscar.

Stone was honored for her tour-de-force performance as Bella Baxter, a childlike woman in Victorian London who comes to life through a brain transplant and begins a journey of self-discovery. The film is chock full of black humor set against steampunk visual design.

Stone is the 13th woman to win two best actress trophies. Her first came in 2017 for the romantic musical “La La Land.” She was nominated for supporting actress in 2015 and 2019.

She also was nominated this year in the best picture category for producing “Poor Things.” She was the second woman to be nominated for acting and best picture for the same film after Frances McDormand, who earned both trophies for “Nomadland” in 2021.

Stone and Gladstone traded wins on the way to an Oscar showdown. Stone won at the BAFTA Film Awards and the Golden Globes, while Gladstone scored at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and in a different category at the Globes.

Stone broke through in 2016 with a starring role in the teen comedy “Easy A.” The 35-year-old actor from Scottsdale, Arizona, went on to major roles in “The Help,” multiple “Spider-Man” movies, “Birdland,” “The Battle of the Sexes” and “The Favourite.”

The other leading actress nominees were Annette Bening for “Nyad,” Sandra Hüller for “Anatomy of a Fall” and Carey Mulligan for “Maestro.”