Einar Gustafson, whose battle with cancer when...

Einar Gustafson, whose battle with cancer when he was a young baseball fan a half-century ago helped build the cancer-fighting Jimmy Fund into a multimillion-dollar charity, has died. He was 65.

Gustafson, one of many young cancer patients referred to by the nickname Jimmy, died Sunday at a hospital in Caribou, Maine, after a stroke that was unrelated to his childhood fight with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

The Jimmy Fund became the official charity of the Boston Red Sox in 1953 and has raised more than $160 million.

Miscellany

The star-crossed Russian team of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze overcame a spectacular fall to win the short program in the European figure skating championships at Bratislava, Slovakia.

The performance put them in position to reclaim the title stripped from them last year after Berezhnaya tested positive for a banned substance before the World Championships, preventing them from defending their world title.

Skiing’s ruling body refused to reschedule a women’s slalom, hurting the chances of Croatian star Janica Kostelic winning the World Cup overall title.

The governing organization said from its headquarters in Oberhofen, Switzerland, that it also would not reschedule a men’s slalom and downhill.

Kostelic has won all six slaloms this season and was the favorite in the Jan. 7 race at Maribor, Slovenia. The race was called off because of rain.

Austria’s Renate Goetschl, a downhill expert, leads Kostelic by nine points in the overall standings, with three slalom races and two downhills remaining.

In an effort to promote American distance running, the New York City Marathon also will serve as the U.S. men’s and women’s national marathon championships this year.

The marathon, to be held Nov. 4, will offer big prize money to the Americans, in addition to the cash benefits normally associated with the event. The five fastest U.S. men and women each receive bonuses starting at $15,000 and going down to $4,000.

Ohio State football Coach Jim Tressel hired four assistants--all former Youngstown State assistants and two who had previously coached the Buckeyes.

The new coaches: Jim Bollman, offensive coordinator and offensive line coach; Mark Dantonio, defensive coordinator who will also handle the secondary; Ken Conatser, who will coach special teams, and Bob Tucker, a former Ohio State defensive coordinator who will become the director of football operations.

Tressel, Youngstown State’s coach of 15 years, was hired last week as Ohio State’s coach.