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First in a series of stories profiling top high school football players by position. Today, Chris Fields III, Carson quarterback.

If you want to motivate quarterback Chris Fields III, doubt his skills. He’ll respond like an underdog boxer delivering a knockout punch. Just when you least expect him to step forward, he’ll find a way to produce.

Last season for Carson High, he was one of the best multidimensional quarterbacks in the Southland, passing for 2,031 yards and 29 touchdowns while rushing for 958 yards and 13 touchdowns in leading the Colts to the City Section Open Division championship.

He’s 6 feet 1, which some consider a roadblock to playing at the highest level, but it’s Fields’ intangibles that separate him.

He has spent most of the summer in the weight room, making himself a 205-pound, Marvel-like character capable of super strength.

“Goals don’t get accomplished skipping days,” he said of his training routine.

Every morning, he engages in deep stretching exercises. At night, there are ice baths. Taking care of his body for a season that could reach 14 games is one of his most important priorities.

He trusts his faith and his mother, who has raised him as a single parent. She’s so heavily involved in his football activities that she watches and breaks down film with him and comes to practices to support him.

“She could put on shoulder pads and a helmet and tear up a defense any day,” Fields said. “I’ve been through everything with mom.”

He remembers the days when the family struggled to pay for food and a place to stay.

“We came from the bottom,” Fields said. “We were heavily impoverished. If my mom has nowhere to sleep and she’s having to work multiple jobs while going to school to provide for me and my sister, I should be able to pay her back by doing well.”

So whatever anyone thinks, Fields’ drive is to make his mom proud, whether it’s in the classroom, on the field or by being respectful to strangers.

“If you’re at our games, you’re going to hear her in the crowd,” Fields said.

One of Fields’ strengths is to improvise. He understands how to make split-second decisions, and many involve whether to stay in the pocket or take off and run with his speed.

“When I determine that I’m going to run, it usually comes from pre-snap read knowing where my guys are,” he said. “If I feel the rush, I try to hang in there, try to extend the play but will do whatever is needed. I feel my legs are just as valuable as my arm.”

And his arm is pretty good — like, throwing a spiral 67 yards good.

He’s tough with the kind of leadership skills that inspire teammates to rally around him.

It’s another season of quality quarterbacks with the class of 2029 particularly strong after terrific freshman seasons by such players as Thaddeus Breaux of L.A. Hamilton, Ford Green of Westlake, Marcus Washington of Cajon, Jonah Tuaniga of Long Beach Millikan and Steven Moore of La Sierra. Add Evan McCalister of Valencia, Ezrah Brown of Orange Lutheran and Jeremy Mellalieu of Chaminade and you have the makings of a stellar sophomore class.

Fields said he understands the college recruiting grind. Everyone has their own idea of what kind of quarterback fits their offense.

“With schools who don’t typically have mobile quarterbacks, I always encounter, ‘I have to see the person,’” he said. “But I’ve never heard, ‘You’re too small.’ It’s all a perception. It comes down to whether they like you or not. I really want to play at the highest level of college football. If God has other plans, I’m willing to be humble and walk that path.”

During the summer, Fields committed to Georgetown, where academics and athletics can lead to a great future.

Wednesday: Gardena Serra running back AJ McBean.

Quarterbacks to watch

Thaddeus Breaux, L.A. Hamilton, 6-5, 225, So.: Has physical skills to be national prospect

Brady Edmunds, Huntington Beach, 6-5, 225, Sr.: Ohio State commit has been three-year starter

Chris Fields III, Carson, 6-1, 200, Sr.: City player of the year committed to Georgetown

Jack Hurst, Laguna Beach, 6-4, 190, Sr.: Passed for nearly 3,000 yards and 45 touchdowns as a junior

Jaden Jefferson, Corona Centennial, 5-10, 170, Sr.: Hawaii commit is dangerous passing or running

Koa Malau’ulu, St. John Bosco, 6-2, 180, Jr.: Will have blockers needed to have MVP season

Ryan Rakowski, Palos Verdes, 6-0, 180, Sr.: Nevada commit is one of the most accurate passers

Russell Sekona, Mater Dei, 6-3, 230, Jr.: Big adjustment moving to Trinity League

Taylor Lee, Oxnard Pacifica, 6-2, 185, Sr.: Record-setting junior season for Portland State commit

Dane Weber, Chaparral, 6-1, 210, Sr.: California commit passed for 3,645 yards and 41 touchdowns and ran for 14 touchdowns

Rodrick Pleasant grew up with built-in role models.

His two older brothers were both Division I athletes with Dominic Davis playing football and running track at USC and Diab Davis running track at California.

For a dual-sport athlete with big dreams like Pleasant, having mentors in his two brothers to lean on and gain advice from was everything he ever needed.

But once the four-star Gardena Serra product made it to Oregon for his first year of college football, he struggled to adapt and get situated in Eugene, Ore., — he needed another older brother.

Defensive back Rodrick Pleasant signals downfield during a UCLA football preseason practice.

(Isabella Serafini/UCLA Athletics)

And it was former Oregon and Chargers cornerback Nikko Reed who stepped up to the plate and guided Pleasant through his first two years of Power Four football.

Reed’s impact on Pleasant was so profound that the UCLA cornerback promised himself that he would be the Reed to other younger players.

And now it is the senior’s time to pay it forward.

“That’s what I’ve taken pride in in the spring, being a leader, being a guy that can talk too, being the guy that I needed when I was a young kid,” Pleasant said on the second day of UCLA preseason camp. “I’ve had great leaders for me when I was at another place, and that’s what I’ve been trying to work on and be there for the guys because I know I’ve dealt with stuff that they’re going through, so that’s what’s been the biggest thing for me.”

Pleasant got his first taste of leadership throughout spring practices. He was recovering from a shoulder injury suffered at the tail end of the 2025 season and had to sit out of team and contact drills.

On the sideline, Pleasant had to learn to impact the game and the players around him without stepping onto the field.

The 2025 All-Big Ten honorable mention honoree quickly found out that by coaching others, he could also help himself.

“Being out there and being able to coach the guys and help the guys. If you can coach it, you can play it,” Pleasant said. “It wasn’t a frustration. I believe in the staff. I believe in what we’re doing here and they had me limited … for a certain reason. I trust the process.”

Pleasant’s belief in the process stemmed from his confidence in the culture head coach Bob Chesney is creating.

The Gardena native could have entered the transfer portal after head coach DeShaun Foster was fired three games into the 2025 season. And he had another chance after the season ended with his position coach Demetrice Martin left for Arizona State.

But the Bruins new coaching staff left a lasting impression on Pleasant.

“It’s a family-oriented place. You see, their families running around here, their kids. They’re people at the end of the day, and being around them is special,” Pleasant said. “So knowing that they treat their families like that, and have their families around us, I appreciate it.”

And no one left a stronger imprint then Chesney, who Pleasant said has been the same guy ever since their meeting.

Despite five new cornerbacks joining the team through the transfer portal and 2026 recruiting class, the comfort induced by the family-oriented coaching staff has allowed Pleasant’s leadership to flourish, supporting one of the deepest position groups on the team.

“We’ve been jelling. . We’ve been practicing for a very long time together and the chemistry is there,” Pleasant said. “It’s exciting. A lot of dudes are on the same page together, so that’s what I’m really excited about.”

Pleasant is determined to be a leader among the defensive back group and in the locker room, being the person Reed was to him.

And one of the first players he took under his wing was sophomore cornerback Osiris Gilbert, a UConn transfer.

“That’s my guy. He’s a young guy. He’s going to be special,” Pleasant said of Gilbert. “He has talent. He’s a competitor, and I’m excited about this season for him. He has a lot to give out to us, and he’s going to bring a lot out of us.”

Rodrick Pleasant, center, of Gardena Serra wins the 100 meters state championship in 10.20 seconds in 2023. Jaelon Barbarin, left, of Simi Valley finished sixth and Anthony Flowers of South Torrance was fourth.

(Nick Koza)

While Pleasant’s leadership is centered around UCLA football, it does not end there.

The defensive back and former 100-meter sprinter who broke the California state record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.14 at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet in 2023 is also supporting the Los Angeles Jets Track Club.

“I went to the [USA Track and Field] Junior Olympics this past weekend and it’s just great seeing the young kids,” Pleasant said. “I’m a Jet at heart, and being out there and watching them run, it brings back memories. I’ve done it and the youth is a special place. Being somebody that they can see has done it before is like no other. So that’s why I wanted to get back. I like to be there because I know I needed somebody.”

The Rams knew the resume. Saw the highlights. Gathered all the intel required.

But they were not aware of Myles Garrett’s aura.

How could they?

It’s not tangible, nor easily defined.

It’s just there.

“You just feel him,” coach Sean McVay said Friday.

McVay felt and said that before. About Aaron Donald. About Jalen Ramsey.

But listening to Rams players talk about Garrett, this feels different.

Mystical.

“You can just feel his aura,” cornerback Trent McDuffie said.

Safety Quentin Lake explained it the same way.

“Just his presence,” Lake said, “his aura.”

Rams defensive end Myles Garrett smiles during training camp at Loyola Marymount on July 26.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Myles Garrett effect is not confined to the defense.

“Everybody on the field can kind of feel this aura sitting on whatever side of the field he’s on,” offensive guard Kevin Dotson said. “You just feel this monster energy.”

Garrett, a 10th year pro and two-time NFL defensive player of the year, laughed when asked if he was conscious of his aura.

“I guess,” he said. “It’s great to hear that they have respect for me.”

Garrett, 30, is one of the biggest stars on a star-studded Rams team that is favored to win the Super Bowl, regardless of whether Donald comes out of retirement.

Garrett, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft out of Texas A&M, amassed 125½ sacks in nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns. He was defensive player of the year in 2023 and also last season, when he recorded a league-record 23 sacks.

In June, the Rams sent edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick and future second- and third-round picks to the Browns for Garrett. He was regarded as the final piece for a franchise intent on winning a second Super Bowl title under McVay.

Garrett is acclimating to Southern California and a team that advanced to the NFC championship game last season before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

“It’s starting to feel like home rather quickly,” he said.

It did not take long for Garrett to ingratiate himself. His skill, work ethic and knowledge are imparted in the meeting room and on the field, edge rusher Byron Young said.

“It’s amazing,” Young said. “It’s art.”

Last season, Young recorded a career-best 12 sacks and was voted to the Pro Bowl.

With Garrett now lining up alongside him, the fourth-year pro is soaking in knowledge and learning from his example. Though Garrett, at 6 feet, 4 inches and 272 pounds, makes plays that can’t be replicated by others.

Myles Garrett (95) takes part in training camp along with wide receivers Puka Nacua (12) and Davante Adams (17) on July 26.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Garrett’s quickness off the ball is “insane,” Young said, noting that Garrett eats up “three or four yards,” with his first step.

“That right there alone is amazing,” Young said.

Garrett’s influence could be magnified if Donald, a three-time defensive player of the year, ends a two-year retirement to pursue another Super Bowl ring.

Garrett said he would not try to sway Donald’s decision. But he acknowledged that it would be exciting to be a “partner in crime” with the eight-time All-Pro.

“There’s a lot we can learn from each other,” Garrett said, “and I’d love to pick his brain on the things he does to attack his matchups and I think the same could be said vice versa.”

During training camp, Garrett and teammates are focused on blending their talents at all three levels of the defense.

Garrett is a “freak athlete for sure,” lineman Kobie Turner said.

Myles Garrett takes part in drills at Rams training camp on July 27.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“We definitely understand the opportunities that should get opened up,” said Turner, who had seven sacks last season, “and if those opportunities don’t open up and they leave him soloed up, he’s going to take advantage.”

There is “no question” Garrett will dominate, Lake said.

“So now,” he said, “it’s just making sure, ‘Hey, can we do our job so this guy can go cut it loose over there too?’”

Garrett has embraced the Rams’ culture, built during McVay’s nine seasons during which the Rams made seven playoff appearances and played in two Super Bowls, winning one.

He is eager to share his knowledge and experience but also learn from younger teammates. The Rams’ defensive front features Young, Turner, and linemen Braden Fiske and Poona Ford, among others.

“This group was doing great without me,” Garrett said. “I want to just try to help elevate other guys and the playmakers that we have here.”

There is still “a lot of rust to knock off,” during camp and the lead-up to the season, he said.

The Rams’ opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, will be their first opportunity to measure the benefit of Garrett’s presence. It’s the start of a season the Rams aim to end with a Super Bowl victory at SoFi Stadium.

“Maybe,” Garrett said, “the aura will increase over time.”

CHICAGO — The boo birds were active at Wrigley Field this week, as the Dodgers were swept by the Cubs in a three-game series.

The vitriol for the World Series favorites, days after they traded for the best player available at the deadline (two-time CY Young winner Tarik Skubal) touched almost every player in the Dodgers lineup. But Cubs fans’ boos were by far the most enthusiastic for the right fielder who’d departed their team in free agency this past winter.

Kyle Tucker, for his part, dodged the first question that mentioned the hostile reception he received in his first series back at Wrigley Field since signing a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers over the offseason.

“I liked playing here last year,” Tucker said after the game Monday. “There were some really great guys over there, and they have a good team. So it’s nice being back and playing here. I liked it.”

When pressed on whether he understood the boos, Tucker said: “I don’t know. I tried my hardest last year. I tried playing through a hand fracture and calf thing, just trying to get back to the playoffs for them and trying to do what I could to help out the team last year with them. Hit really well in the first half, and second half didn’t go as great, and kind of didn’t end up great at the end of the year. But I had a good run.”

Let’s unpack that.

This year, Dodgers fans have mostly seen a version of Tucker who’s on pace for one of the worst offensive seasons in the four-time All-Star’s career. But when the Cubs landed Tucker in a blockbuster trade with the Astros before the 2025 season, hoping he’d elevate their offense, he did just that for the first three months of the season.

His best month was June (.982), when, unbeknownst to the public, he was playing through a small fracture in his right hand.

Not being able to grip the bat properly eventually took a toll on his swing mechanics, sending him into an extended slump. When he finally seemed to be coming out of it in late August, a left calf injury sidelined him in early September.

When the injury lingered far longer than initially expected, hoping to return in time to contribute in the postseason, Tucker made the unorthodox decision to travel to Tampa to work with the physical therapy group that helped him recover from a fractured shin the year before.

Unable to completely eradicate the symptoms of his strained calf, Tucker returned to the Cubs lineup as the designated hitter the last weekend of the regular season and through the playoffs, where he went 7-for-27 with a home run in Game 4 of the NLDS.

Through the ups and downs of the season, Tucker still came out of it with a 2025 Silver Slugger award. He had the second-highest OPS on the team (.841) among players with at least 100 plate appearances, behind former Dodger Michael Busch (.866).

In response to Tucker’s comments Monday, Cubs fans on social media said they were upset with Tucker for playing through his hand injury, and for leaving the team to address his calf injury — which seemed to set up a no-win situation for his relationship with the fan base.

Tucker’s union with the Cubs was always expected to be short term. That was always the case from the moment they acquired him one season away from what was projected to be a lucrative free agency. Nothing had changed by the last out of the team’s 2025 season, as they fell one win shy of meeting the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

With the Dodgers, Tucker has yet to put together a real hot streak at the plate. He’s hit far better in away games (.828 OPS) than at home (.601) this year.

On the road again, Tucker went 5-for-11 in three games against the Cubs this week — perhaps a sign of good things to come, in a season full of false starts.

“Just working every single day, just trying to be consistent with my work and what I do in the cage and everything and trying to translate it out onto the field,” he said Monday. “Felt pretty good today. Had good at-bats the past couple days and stuff. So just trying to continue that moving forward into tomorrow’s game and so forth.”

His biggest moment of the series came Tuesday. In his first at-bat of the game, he lifted a solo home run into the left-field bleachers and trotted around the bases to a chorus of boos.

It was the Dodgers’ only run of the game.

Nylah Moore has been a standout flag football and girls’ basketball player at Eagle Rock High. Now comes the arrival of her freshman sister, Cinzia, which means fans in the bleachers might want to start designing and creating signs to wave each time one or the other scores a touchdown or makes a basket. It will be great exercise for the arms considering how many times the two figure to come through this season.

Nylah, who is 5-foot-11, is Eagle Rock’s versatile quarterback and scoring guard. She helped Eagle Rock to a 20-2 record last season, passing for 51 touchdowns as a junior. The basketball team went 10-0 in the Northern League. She averaged 15 points.

With the Moore sisters, Eagle Rock deserves the favorite’s role to win the City Section Open Division flag football title and compete with Birmingham and Westchester for an Open Division girls’ basketball title. Cinzia, who is 5-9, also excels in both sports.

Their mother, Christine Moore, was principal of the year at Luther Burbank Middle School in 2023 for Region 16. Coaches remember her bringing a young Nylah to sporting events years ago. Her biggest challenge will be finding time to watch her two daughters perform in two sports in her new job serving as region director for the Eagle Rock/Highland Park Network.

Eagle Rock’s rise in flag football is no surprise. The school has been able to attract multisport athletes with speed and versatility. Basketball is where this season a surprise could happen. Coach Julie Wilkins has her biggest team ever after the arrival of 5-10 Marlborough transfer Amelie Cash. She also has a 6-1 player. Since Wilkins coaches both flag football and girls’ basketball, she’s always looking for “volunteers” to play both sports (wink, wink).

That’s how the successful teams in flag football have emerged — getting players from softball, soccer, track and field, and volleyball to join the sport. And it’s working.

Monroe had 20 players come out last season. This year, at least 36 have been practicing. Coach Jose Ruiz always asks Leo Hernandez, the track and field and cross country coach, for recommendations on his athletes as potential flag football players. Now that middle schools feeding Monroe have flag football programs, the numbers are expected to continue to rise.

Tuli Tuipulotu wants to get paid.

Although Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh expected everyone to be full-go for training camp, the fourth-year edge rusher is holding in amid contract negotiations.

Tuipulotu, who was a full participant in minicamp, did individual work off to the side during Wednesday’s practice and was in general workout attire rather than in a helmet, jersey and football pants like his teammates. On Thursday, Tuipulotu suited up normally and participated in drills alongside fellow defensive linemen but didn’t participate in team sessions.

A hold in is one way players can exercise leverage during contract negotiations. Hold-in players fulfill basic requirements outlined in the collective bargaining agreement — such as attending meetings and doing individual work — to avoid mandatory fines from teams for not reporting to training camp.

“We keep it rolling in practice,” Chargers defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary said. “You know, you get into a game, and you spend a little bit more time game planning and figuring out how to fill that void. … So we haven’t felt it as much. Obviously, we miss [Tuipulotu] out there. We miss how vocal he is and plays that he makes. But for us, we’re just keeping it rolling with the guys we got out there.”

The No. 54 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft, Tuipulotu has steadily climbed into a key role in the Chargers’ defense and is coming off a career year.

He collected 13 sacks in 2025 as a pivotal part of former defensive coordinator Jesse Minter’s system, which helped the Chargers finish the season fifth in yards allowed per game (285.2) and ninth in points per game (20.0).

“I just let my agent — let the guys — handle that,” Tuipulotu said during minicamp in June. “I’m just trying to be here with the team, you know what I’m saying? Be close with the guys.”

Tuipulotu, a Hawthorne native, has earned 26 sacks and 144 tackles over 36 starts with the Chargers. He made 16 starts last season.

“It’s just the process of it, man,” said Chargers safety Derwin James, who has earned a pair of hefty paydays after a training camp hold in of his own four years ago. “We love Tuli. Like, I knew the team loved me too when I had [a] similar situation.

“Sometimes, that stuff takes longer to iron out. But man, everyone knows we love Tuli here. … And he loves the team. So it’ll get worked out. … I can’t wait to have him out there. It’s just part of the business, man.”

James, a five-time Pro Bowl selection set to earn more than $24 million this season, is someone Tuipulotu can lean on during his hold in. Another is fellow edge rusher and future Hall of Famer Khalil Mack, who has mentored Tuipulotu.

The two said they discussed Tuipulotu’s situation privately. Like James, Mack is seasoned in contract negotiations, having famously signed a record six-year, $141-million extension with the Bears in 2018 after a holdout with the Raiders had him shipped to Chicago.

“I would be doing [Tuipulotu] an injustice not to talk to him about business or just life in general, of how to handle your business off the field and on the field,” Mack said, referencing Raiders teammates such as Charles Woodson and Justin Tuck who helped him navigate his early NFL years. “He kind of bounces questions off of me, and I say what I did or what I saw other people do — just give the best example or the best advice I can. But every situation is different.”

“I just hope you know everything works out in his favor,” Mack added. “And whatever works in his favor works in the organization’s favor as well.”

Tuipulotu said he didn’t have a timeline for his contract negotiations, but reiterated he’d show up.

But as a key cog in the Chargers’ defense who loves practice and training camp, the Chargers won’t feel quite complete on the field until Tuipulotu is practicing with his teammates again.

“There’s always something to get better at,” Tuipulotu said. “There’s always something you miss. Man, I love practice, you know what I’m saying? I bring the juice during practice.”

When you take a guided tour of the nearly completed Harvard-Westlake River Park Sports Complex in Studio City, you lose count how many times you’re saying, “Wow.”

From the underground parking lot to the 8,200-square-foot weight room, from the two gymnasiums to the 52-meter pool, from the eight tennis courts to the two all-weather turf playing fields, from the yoga room with a million-dollar view to the 11 locker rooms with projector screens, the $200-million project is certainly living up to expectations.

There’s also a cafeteria, a smoothie machine, 117 toilets, wrestling room, fencing room, training room, community rooms, more than 150 security cameras, an underground water basin and facial recognition technology from the parking lot to enter the coaches’ area. In the main gym foyer, there’s an area for people to watch live streams of games while purchasing food.

With two gyms and two sports fields, the school would be capable of holding basketball or soccer tournaments. The P.A. system in the main gym is state of the art.

Not only will students who attend the upper school on Coldwater Canyon enjoy the facility but so should fans and visiting teams with all the amenities such as large visiting locker rooms. The only question is when an official opening will take place.

Construction is nearing completion, but it’s unclear when teams will start practicing and playing there because the facility still needs to go through inspections and receive a Certificate of Occupancy from the city. The school is targeting early 2027 for activity to begin at the site.

The basketball teams are unlikely to use the main gym this coming season unless they are allowed to practice there.

Construction began in April of 2024. The project replaces the beloved Weddington Golf & Tennis Center and took several years of obtaining permits, having community meetings and receiving city approval to overcome a vocal group within the community objecting to losing the Weddington center.

There are still 14-foot-high covered fences hiding the progress off Whitsett Avenue, but those will be coming down soon to give community members a peak what’s been going on.

Head of athletics Terry Barnum and communications director Ari Engelberg have been providing updates to school administrators. The school added two new sports this year, flag football and girls lacrosse, in anticipation of the new field space.

The first year it opens is expected to be trial and error on how to best use the facilities, figuring out traffic patterns and welcoming the public to grounds that can be used during the school day, from the tennis courts to a privately run cafe to a walking path next to the L.A. River.

NEW YORK — Miguel Rojas’ off day in Washington started early. Before visiting the White House, he and fellow World Series hero Will Klein and manager Dave Roberts met with members of Congress on Thursday morning.

“Other than going to the White House, there were a lot of people from California, senators from California that are not just people who work for the government, but they’re Dodgers fans as well,” Rojas said Friday before the Dodgers’ series opener against the Mets. “So it’s pretty cool to give people that watch games and support us throughout the year [an opportunity] to get to see us.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) posted on X, “Think we can do this every year, @Dodgers?” with three photos — one of himself with their back-to-back World Series trophies, another posing with a World Series ring on his finger, and a group shot that included Rojas, Roberts, Klein and Dodgers president Stan Kasten.

Rep. Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), whose district includes several San Fernando Valley neighborhoods, posted on social media that she thanked Rojas for hitting his tying home run in Game 7of the World Series.

“Thank you to Miguel and the team for stopping by Capitol Hill,” she posted on X. “We can’t wait to welcome them back again next year (with a THIRD trophy, perhaps?…).”

The Dodgers’ visit to the White House on Thursday frustrated the portion of their fan base that wanted their team to stand up against the president’s anti-immigration policies.

Only two players on the active roster who were part of the 2025 World Series team did not attend: shortstop Mookie Betts, who told reporters he’d rather spend time with his family, and reliever Edgardo Henriquez, who declined to comment via Dodgers PR.

“This is something that I don’t really think about [being] political,” Rojas said of visiting Capitol Hill and the White House. “…I’m representing the Dodgers, and I’m going to these events just because I’m part of the Dodgers, and the Dodgers are deciding to go there. And I feel, as a professional, your job doesn’t just stop when the game is over. You have to do some things outside the field that sometimes are tied to success and to the things that you do on the field. So, for me, it’s a privilege to get the opportunity to go to a place where you will never be if you don’t have success in sports.”

Roberts, who has also talked about separating the visit from politics, kept his review brief.

“It was good,” he said. “It was an honor to be there.”

Ohtani update

Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Saturday, his second since receiving an injection in his left knee at the beginning of the All-Star break.

“That’s the beauty of where we’re at right now,” Roberts said. “We’re not going to push him. There’s constant conversation going on each day. But the main thing is with Shohei and this pitching thing is to remain nimble.”

Even if Ohtani’s bullpen goes well, Roberts said he probably won’t be ready to return to the rotation next week.

“That’s too early,” Roberts said. “I feel good that it won’t be next week.”

Entering a season in which they are favored to win the Super Bowl, the Rams have added uniforms that pay homage to past glory.

On Thursday night, during a fan event at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, the Rams unveiled two alternate ensembles that commemorate their 1951 NFL championship team and their storied defensive front of the 1960s and ‘70s.

The “Classic Sol” uniform features a yellow jersey that honors the 75th anniversary of the Rams’ title. The “Fearsome White” uniform harks to the storied Fearsome Foursome defensive line that featured Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundy and Rosey Grier.

Rams defensive players (from left) Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske and Myles Garrett show off the Rams’ new “Fearsome White” uniforms.

(Los Angeles Rams)

Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick, the Rams’ chief marketing officer, said the uniforms have been in the works for two years and were “heavily requested” by fans.

SoFi Stadium will be the site of Super Bowl LXI, and the Rams made several blockbuster offseason moves to increase their chances of playing in it.

“Being able to not only inspire fans who’ve been asking for this, but also to educate modern L.A. Rams fans about era after era of championship DNA and success can only inspire us as we come back and host the Super Bowl,” Frederick said this week.

Rams defensive end Kobie Turner wears the Rams new “Classic Sol” uniform.

(Los Angeles Rams)

The Rams’ so-called closet now includes five uniforms, including two recently updated uniform combinations — one that was introduced in 2020, the other in 2021 — a black “Midnite Mode” rivalries uniform that debuted last season and the two new alternate uniforms.

The Rams will wear the “Classic Sol” uniform for the home opener against the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football” on Sept. 21, and for their Dec. 3 game against the Kansas City Chiefs on “Thursday Night Football.”

The Fearsome White uniform will be worn for the Nov. 25 “Thanksgiving Eve” game against the Green Bay Packers.

“The entire game experience is all going to be predicated around what we’re wearing on the field,” said Cory Befort, the Rams’ executive creative director, adding that the environment will be “an immersive world for fans to experience for each one of these uniform designations on the field.”

Along with the yellow jersey, the “Classic Sol” jersey includes era-specific number design and three blue shoulder stripes.

The “Fearsome White” uniform features a helmet that includes white horns and a white face mask.

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua shows off the team’s new “Classic Sol” uniform.

(Los Angeles Rams)

“To see the Los Angeles Rams uniforms that we wore 60 years ago on the playing field now, reminds me of the importance of being a team player,” Grier said in a statement released by the Rams. “We selflessly prioritized the team’s collective success over individual stats or personal glory.

“As strong teammates, we supported each other through the inevitable ups and downs of the NFL season. Whether we had those uniforms on or off, we were accountable teammates, trusting each other to do our job flawlessly.”

Rams offensive lineman Steve Avila wears the Rams’ new “Fearsome White” uniform.

(Los Angeles Rams)

The L.A. billboard magnate whose name hung over the entrance to USC’s practice football field for a quarter century is suing the school for building a new, $200 million facility over top of it.

Brian Kennedy, a former whose company Regency Outdoor Advertising owns billboards all over Los Angeles, claims in the lawsuit that USC breached its contract by demolishing the practice field to build the Bloom Football Performance Center, which is set to open early next month. The arrival of the state-of-the-art facility and erasure of a field that featured the name of Kennedy and one other donor, according to a complaint obtained by The Times, has caused him “reputational harm,” “embarrassment” and “humiliation.”

“For more than two decades,” the complaint states, “the Field stood as a visible acknowledgment of [Kennedy’s] extraordinary contributions to [USC] and the lasting relationship between [Kennedy] and the University.”

Kennedy was one of USC’s most visible and vocal boosters during its glory years under football coach Pete Carroll. In recent years, Kennedy had also used his billboards to demand the return of former USC running back Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy.

But his relationship as a big-time donor to Trojan athletics really began in 1998, when USC was desperate to build a new practice field for new football coach Paul Hackett.

Kennedy told The Times in 2023 that the school came to him after it had trouble finding another wealthy booster to foot the bill. To that point, he’d only made smaller contributions, primarily to the club hockey and golf teams. But eventually, the school convinced Kennedy to fork over $400,000 for the field, under the condition, he said, that he control all aspects of the construction. He also later paid to add turf and an electronic scoreboard to the field.

He also later paid to add turf and an electronic scoreboard to the field.

Kennedy and USC officially entered into an agreement to construct the field in April 1998. According to the complaint, the original agreement to name the field “and any expansion of it” after Kennedy was intended to remain in effect “for the life of the field.”

The original agreement, according to Kennedy, was for the terms of the agreement to remain “for a period of 50 years.” But that language, the complaint notes, was struck from the agreement before the final agreement was drafted a week later.

How the “life” of Howard Jones and Brian Kennedy Field is defined will be especially important to the case. USC has made changes to the practice field and reconfigured it since its original construction. A person familiar with the school’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that the school plans to argue the field had outlived its usefulness.

USC defensive coordinator Gary Patterson directs players during a practice at Howard Jones and Brian Kennedy Field on March 10.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Kennedy did meet with USC officials at one point to try to find a “a mutually acceptable means of preserving and honoring the recognition previously afforded and promised to [him].” But he ultimately felt that USC wasn’t offering “comparable recognition” to his original investment in building a field he saw as part of his legacy.

Now, he’s suing USC for promissory estoppel, fraud, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and negligent misrepresentation. Kennedy says in the filing that righting the wrong would mean “enforcement of USC’s promises” as well as “appropriate relief for the plaintiff.”

Even with the new facility opening, the plan at USC, according to a person familiar with the situation, had been to keep the west entrance to the practice field which bears Kennedy’s name, known as Goux’s Gate, untouched. The school also plans to add a plaque to the facility that denotes that it stands on the ground where Brian Kennedy Field once stood.

That wasn’t enough for Kennedy, who says the school has acted “willful, malicious, oppressive, fraudulent” and “despicable” as it planned its facility improvements.

During interviews with The Times in 2023 and 2024, Kennedy expressed a deep love and affection for his alma mater. But for more than a decade, his relationship with USC has been complicated, to say the least.

It first soured over a decade ago, during the tenure of athletic director Pat Haden. Where Kennedy was close to his predecessor, Mike Garrett, he did not get along with Haden. Kennedy was a major proponent of former Trojan assistant Ed Orgeron, who led USC on a magical, late-season run as interim coach in 2013 — and who was infamously passed over for the job in favor of Steve Sarkisian.

Kennedy told The Times he also clashed with Haden’s successor, Lynn Swann, over pledged funding for the Galen Center.

His complaint states that Kennedy, in total, has contributed over $4 million to USC.

Former USC athletic director Mike Bohn made inroads with Kennedy, meeting with him for lunch multiple times. But Kennedy told The Times he felt the same effort hadn’t been made by Bohn’s successor, Jennifer Cohen.

The practice field naming rights proved to be the last straw in what was already a fraught relationship with USC.

The Lakers have signed forward Matisse Thybulle to a one-year, $3.3-million contract, people familiar with the deal but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times Monday.

Thybulle, who spent last season playing for the Portland Trail Blazers, made the NBA’s all-defensive team twice over his seven-year career. He is a defensive wing player that the Lakers sought to surround Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.

Thybulle averaged 5.8 points per game last season and shot 43.3% from the field, 39.8% from three-point range, in 30 games.

The Lakers now have a 16-man roster. They’ll have to either trade or waive a player to be at the league maximum number of 15.

LAS VEGAS — The door opened for Arthur Kaluma to show his worth for the Lakers in the NBA Summer League on Saturday night.

He did so in a big way.

Kaluma had 34 points and five rebounds during the Lakers’ 91-70 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center.

He was 11 for 16 from the field and six for 10 from three-point range.

With Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr unable to play because of a right thumb contusion, Kaluma took over the scoring role. Carr, the 24th pick in the NBA draft, is averaging 17 points per game.

“Cam doesn’t play tonight, so he gets a little bit more minutes, gets a couple more touches,” said Lakers Summer League coach Ty Abbott about Kaluma. “But he’s done a really good job of making the most of it when he doesn’t have actions run for him. So the way that he’s been able to stay ready, find windows for himself has kept him in a rhythm. So, on a night like tonight, when we can run some actions for him, he knocks them down and just plays out of his mind. It was great.”

Kaluma said he was “a little nervous” but his three-point shooting said otherwise.

“When [teammate] Jon Elmore came down and he pitched it back to me for a three … I just knew when it came off my hand it was cash,” Kaluma said. “So I said, ‘Yeah, I’m hot.’ It went on from there.”

Late in the fourth quarter, Kaluma lined up a three-pointer, setting his feet and scoring from 29 feet out. He flashed three fingers and smiled. His teammates on the bench stood and cheered, as did the fans.

“We have such a great group of guys this year at Summer League and going through this it’s hard to get that camaraderie with a group,” Kaluma said. “But I feel like everybody wants to see everybody succeed and I felt that tonight. I’m not going to lie to you. They tell me to shoot the ball. I passed up a couple of shots and they were mad at me the other day.”

Kaluma played for the South Bay Lakers in the G League last season. He averaged 14.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and shot 55% from the field, 37% from three-point range.

“The G can get grimey, you know what I’m saying? It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G,” Kaluma said. “And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”

Kaluma wasn’t alone in helping the Lakers improve to 2-0 in Summer League play.

Adou Thiero ran the court, took a lob pass from Chris Mañon and threw down a two-handed dunk. He had another solid outing with 15 points and four rebounds. He shot just four for 12 from the field, but was a plus-15.

But the night belonged to Kaluma.

“I pride myself on the defensive end,” he said. “I know I got hot offensively, but the shot was just falling today, you know what I’m saying? My game is three-and-D. I lock-up on defense and I know I can hit open shots. I just got hot today and I’m not going to try to let it get to my head.”

McCulloch said: “If I were the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, I’d be looking closely at where’s my next source of energy security, and you’re standing on it.

“The wells are drilled, they’re hooked up. We’re just readying the systems. It will be ready for the 1st of October.

“Jackdaw will play a vital part of this winter’s gas supply,” he added, providing energy security, employment and taxation to the UK.

Environmentalists say Jackdaw will only produce 2% of the country’s annual gas demand during the lifetime of the field.

“It would be a huge betrayal of the British public for the UK government to approve new oil and gas fields at a time when ordinary people are suffering so much as a result of these record-breaking heatwaves,” said Tessa Khan, executive director of the campaign group, Uplift.

In response McCulloch said: “So we all watch the same news, and we see that.

“But what we’re saying is that Jackdaw should not take that on its shoulders, or it should take a very small portion of that.

“It’s a very, very small proportion of the total global emissions.”

Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing spun to face home plate umpire Dan Iassogna, holding up his mitt with the ball inside.

When that didn’t change the safe call, Dalton immediately pointed to the Dodgers dugout, mask in hand urging manager Dave Roberts to challenge.

Robert’s hands flew up to his ears, asking for a replay review.

The tension in Dodger Stadium broke with the announcement: “The catcher touched the runner’s hand before he reached the plate…”

The crowd’s applause drowned out the rest.

The go-ahead run had been on the line with that challenge in the Dodgers’ eventual 8-7 win over the Rockies in 11 innings. And it started a wild sequence to the Dodgers’ first extra-innings game of the season that ended with Rushing hitting a walk-off single to center field to score Teoscar Hernández.

That brawl with the Rockies — figuratively and almost literally — finished with the Dodgers becoming the first team to win 60 games this season.

“That’s a lot of wins,” Roberts said.

It looked as if the Dodgers would coast to the mark. Dodgers closer Tanner Scott took the mound in the ninth with a three-run lead. But after giving up an RBI double to Kyle Karros and a two-run double to Cole Carrigg the score was tied. Only a strong relay throw home by second baseman Miguel Rojas and a successful challenge prevented Hunter Goodman from scoring a go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers got runners on first and second with two outs. That brought up Andy Pages with two outs, but a successful Rockies ABS challenge confirmed a strikeout, sending the game into the 10th.

That ended the Dodgers’ streak of 91 games without extra innings, the second-longest a team has gone without playing an extra-inning game in the modern era, behind only the 2005 Red Sox (99).

The drama wasn’t over. Two batters into the 10th, the benches cleared.

With one out and Carrigg on third, Jake McCarthy hit a sharp ground ball to Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who stepped on the bag and fired home.

Rushing flung his body into the tag, but Carrigg was called safe.

Carrigg said something as began to walk away, and Rushing spun around.

As the two exchanged words, Dodgers reliever Edgardo Henriquez pulled his catcher away. But players from both dugouts and bullpens already began to spill onto the field.

Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy holds back Dalton Rushing after the Dodgers catcher got into a confrontation with Colorado’s Cole Carrigg in the 10th inning Monday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

“I think that what happened is Carrigg said something aloud, not directed at Dalton,” Roberts said. “Dalton thought something was directed at him. We cleared the air. Basically a big misunderstanding.”

Said Rushing: “I didn’t mean any harm by the tag or the way I reacted to the ball. Made sure he knew that. Told him I was just reacting to the baseball. I don’t expect it to go any further.”

After a brief stoppage, Henriquez escaped without further damage. And the Dodgers got another shot, with Pages on second to start the inning.

Freeman’s groundout moved him to third. Then Mookie Betts drove him in with a comebacker over the mound and past flailing second baseman Edouard Julien.

Tucker then looped a single into no-man’s land. But the rally ended when Hernández’s liner up the middle landed in the glove of Rockies right-hander Jimmy Herget, who just entered the game, catching Kyle Tucker off first base for a double play.

In the 11th, Henriquez got out of the inning unscathed. He got Julien to pop out on a sacrifice bunt attempt and then started a double play himself. He punched the air as he walked off the mound.

“He’s calm in big spots, you’re starting to see it,” Roberts said. “He’s throwing strikes, throwing the breaking ball when he needs to and he’s now unfazed by certain moments and higher leverage. He’s a guy, certainly, we trust.”

In the end, Rushing — who already hit a pair of doubles and scored on Shohei Ohtani’s third-inning home run and fourth-inning two-run single — was the hero.

After Hernández made it to third on a sacrifice bunt by Tommy Edman, Dalton got the end of his bat on a changeup and sent it up the middle, just out of reach of a diving Julien.

“Infield’s in, they’re kind of doing you a favor,” Rushing said. “So move the ball forward, good things happen. And it wasn’t pretty, but it worked.”

Rushing’s helmet twirled in the dirt behind him as he jogged from first toward the center of the field, ready for the celebration that would meet him there.

“He plays with a lot of moxie,” said Dodgers starting pitcher Eric Lauer, who held the Rockies to three runs in six innings. “And he definitely doesn’t back down to anybody, and we love him for that. He’s a great guy that you want on your team.”

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Rockies on Monday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Roster moves

Dodgers right-hander Evan Phillips is in line to make his first major-league appearance since May 2025. Phillips only made seven appearances last season, starting on the injured list with a strained rotator cuff before undergoing Tommy John surgery in June.

“It’s going to be a lot different tonight getting back out there in a competitive game, the full atmosphere,” Phillips said. “Really excited about that. I feel like probably the past two weeks or so I really took a good turn in my rehab, started bouncing back even better, pitching more like myself, feeling more like myself. So really just happy to carry that over to these games and see how the second half treats us.”

In a pair of corresponding moves, the Dodgers optioned right-handed reliever Paul Gervase to triple-A Oklahoma City and released left-hander Jake Eder.

The Dodgers also designated catcher Chuckie Robinson for assignment and added right-hander Carlos Duran to the 40-man roster. Both players are set to stay in Oklahoma City, with Robinson accepting his outright assignment.

The Lakers are trading center Deandre Ayton to the Washington Wizards for guard Jaden Hardy and two second-round draft picks, in 2031 and 2032, people not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to The Times on Friday.

Ayton had returned to the Lakers after an up-and-down first season with the team, picking up his player option for $8.1 million last Sunday. But he became expendable once the Lakers agreed to acquire 24-year-old center Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz and sign him to a four-year, $130-million contract.

The Ayton trade leaves the Lakers in the market for a backup center. Several veterans including Jonas Valanciunas and Kevon Looney still are available.

The Lakers acquired Ayton before last season after the Portland Trail Blazers bought out his contract, signing him to a two-year, $16-million deal. He averaged career lows of 12.5 points and 8.0 rebounds last season, but shot 67.1% from the field while starting 72 games, both career highs.

The Wizards believe the 7-foot Ayton will be a good fit alongside centers Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr.

The 6-3 Hardy, who spent three-plus seasons with the Dallas Mavericks before being traded to Washington in February, averaged 9.2 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting 42.4% from the field and 39.7% from three-point range last season.

SANTA CLARA — The U.S. cannot appeal Folarin Balogun’s red card and ensuing suspension for the Americans’ round of 16 match against Belgium, U.S. soccer officials confirmed.

FIFA rules governing the 2026 World Cup, first cited by the Athletic, state that “a sending-off automatically incurs suspension from the subsequent match. The FIFA judicial bodies may impose additional match suspensions and other disciplinary measures.”

The only instance in which the U.S. could appeal is if FIFA’s disciplinary committee decides to suspend Balogun for more than one game after reviewing the incident.

Broadcast commentators and fans immediately questioned the decision after Balogun was shown a red card during the U.S.‘s win over Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday at Levi’s Stadium.

Balogun crashed into Bosnia’s Tarik Muharemović, landing his foot on top of Muharemović’s during the physical match. Muharemović hit the pitch, howling in pain, and was treated on the field. The referee used the video assistant referee to review the play and determined it merited a red card.

U.S. fans accustomed to appeals in the NBA and NFL suggested that an appeal include video of Lionel Messi receiving no discipline for stepping on an opponent’s calf earlier in the tournament.

The red card on the field, however, remains the final word barring any extra games added to Balogun’s suspension.

Through the first two games of this summer’s World Cup, the U.S. was about as perfect as a team could be. It won both games, never trailed, gave up just a goal and won its group handily, playing with a verve and confidence that erased all the doubts that had shadowed it coming in.

Then came Thursday.

With Mauricio Pochettino making a record nine changes to a lineup that had given the U.S. its most successful start to a World Cup in 96 years, the B team that closed the group stage at SoFi Stadium with a 3-2 loss to Turkey served to remind everyone how flawed this group can be.

The backline was porous, goalie Matt Turner gave up goals on the first two shots he faced and with the exception of midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, who had a goal and an assist, none of the starters really distinguished themselves. Whether any of that matters won’t be known until the U.S. next takes the field in the knockout rounds, facing Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif.

For Pochettino, whose contempt for convention has been a hallmark of his team’s World Cup run, clearing his bench and getting a U.S.-record 23 players on the field in the group stage was more more important than the result.

“The objective was to finish first and we are first,” he said. “Now it is the next stage and it is going to be a final. And we are ready. We are much better than before that game because we had players now with 90 minutes in their legs and performing and ready to help if we need from the beginning or from the bench. It’s all positive.”

Maybe. Sure, Christian Pulisic, who hadn’t played since the first half of the first game, got back on the field and looked good in a 32-minute cameo. But other than that the game was meaningless since the Americans had already won the group and qualified for the next round while Turkey was going home no matter the result.

The U.S. came in riding a huge wave of momentum, though, and that’s gone now, erased on Kaan Ayhan’s goal on the last touch of the game.

Does that matter?

“No,” captain Tim Ream said with conviction. “You just turn the page.”

The experience the role players got, he said, is more important than the final score.

“When we say it didn’t mean anything, it’s still a meaningful game, right? It’s a World Cup game,” he said. “So it gives everybody a taste of what life will be like if they are called upon and have to contribute.”

Midfielder Tyler Adams wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t know what it’s going to do,” he said. “I can’t predict the future. I don’t have an eight ball in front of me. We’ll see what happens.”

What Adams can say with certainty, however, is that in the future the U.S. will have no room for error. The games are all elimination matches now and 13 players on the U.S. roster, including Adams, have experienced that first hand, having lost in the round of 16 four years ago in Qatar.

Turner said it’s up to those veterans to impart that wisdom on the 13 who are playing in their first World Cup.

“You need to really take care of the boxes when it comes to knockout round. That’s the biggest lesson that we learned,” said Turner, who started all four games in the last World Cup. “It’s not necessarily how beautiful a style you play. The chances you create is important, [but] the way you defend your box is more important.

“Those games are going to be decided by one goal, they’re going to be narrow, and we’re going to have to be compact and be together, defensively, offensively, and take the chances when they come.”

The U.S. did little of that Thursday.

After a Berhalter corner set up Trusty for the first goal in the third minute, Turkey’s Arda Guler, a Real Madrid midfielder, tied the score seven minutes later, splitting a pair of U.S. defenders and running onto a pass from Kenan Yildiz in the center of the box, then lifting a shot over Turner.

Orkun Kokcu handed the U.S. its first deficit of the tournament when he found another big hole in the U.S. defense, redirecting a cross from Eren Elmali in from the center of the box to give Turkey a 2-1 lead.

Berhalter tied the score again four minutes into the second half, latching onto a loose ball at the top of the penalty area and one-hopping a right-footed shot just inside the near post. The game stayed that way until Ayhan, who came on with two minutes left in regulation, slid between two U.S. defenders to knock in the game-winner eight minutes into stoppage time.

For Berhalter, one of a record 21 Americans to get a start in this World Cup, Pochettino’s decision to clear his bench was not only a reward, it was preparation for what’s to come.

“It’s every little kid’s dream, across the United States of America, to play in a home World Cup. Just in a World Cup in general,” he said. “People made their debuts today, so congratulations everyone. This is what everybody looks forward to.”

More important, he added, “we know everyone’s ready to step up at any moment.”

Which is good because history suggests the road ahead is about the get a lot more challenging. The loss to Turkey was the Americans’ 10^th straight to a UEFA team, running their winless streak against European opponents to 13 in a row.

Guess which continent Bosnia and Herzegovina, who the U.S. faces next, is from?

Sports editor Iliana Limón Romero contributed to this story.

Three-time U.S. Olympian Jenny Simpson collapsed during a community running event Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C., and still is receiving medical treatment a day later.

There are few available details about what happened to the 39-year-old retired athlete who won a bronze medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2016 Rio Olympics, or what her condition is. The incident occurred during a weekly gathering for local running enthusiasts at which Simpson served as the pace runner for a mile group.

At some point during the event, Simpson suffered what organizer Sir Walter Running described as a “medical incident.” She had no pulse for a brief period, according to media outlets, but it was restored with CPR and an automated external defibrillator at the track. Simpson was then taken to a local hospital.

“We are incredibly grateful to the individuals who responded immediately, as well as EMS and the medical professionals who handled the situation with such care, urgency, and professionalism,” Sir Walter Running said in a statement. “Jenny is receiving excellent medical care, and our thoughts are with her and her family.”

No further details have been released.

“We ask that you continue to continue to keep Jenny and her family in your prayers as we all hope for the very best,” the running group said.

An eight-time state champion (five in track and field, three in cross-country) at Oviedo High School in Florida, Simpson went on to star at Colorado as a two-time national steeplechase champion, a two-time national runner-up in cross-country and a three-time outdoor track and field All-American.

In addition to representing the U.S. at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, Simpson was the 2011 world champion in the 1,500 and finished second in 2013 and 2017. She also was the 2014 Diamond League champion in the same event.

Upon her retirement in 2024, Simpson and her husband, Jason, spent a year traveling in their 23-foot Winnebago Ekko motorhome and running with community members at events across the country. This year, Simpson was named Fleet Feet’s chief running officer and joined FloTrack’s broadcast team for Diamond League recaps.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The city witnessed Carl Lewis win four Olympic gold medals, cheered Valerie Brisco-Hooks’ historic golden double and watched Edwin Moses extend his 400-meter hurdles unbeaten streak. L.A. has history with track and field.

Now when Ato Boldon, a UCLA Hall of Famer and four-time Olympic medalist for Trinidad and Tobago, looks to this weekend’s L.A. Grand Prix and the city’s future with the sport, he wonders what it holds.

“I’ve always felt like L.A. needs a signature event,” Boldon said, “and with the Olympics coming up in two years, you look at the quality of this event this weekend, and you’re like, yeah, this is the kind of meet they should have all the time.”

At the halfway mark of the Olympic quadrennium, the USA Track & Field event serves as an important checkpoint for the sport’s hope to break out of the four-year popularity cycle.

The two-day event, which begins Saturday with the women’s hammer throw at the South Bay Athletic Club, features 18 Olympic or world champions competing primarily at USC’s Allyson Felix Field. Sunday’s marquee competition beginning at 1 p.m. will be televised on NBC.

With USA Track & Field building toward a home Olympics, L.A. has been a critical but stubborn market to conquer. Last year’s L.A. Grand Prix, which would have been the third edition of the meet, was canceled in April. The decision, USA Track & Field Chief Executive Max Siegel said, came down to another meet scheduled in the same venue within the same month.

But that competing event, part of Michael Johnson’s upstart Grand Slam Track league, was canceled only weeks before it was set to take place at UCLA’s Drake Stadium, leaving L.A. without a major track competition last summer.

“We knew last year when we canceled the meet that we had every intention leading up to the Olympics to be present in the L.A. market,” Siegel said.

The city knows great track. UCLA boasts legends such as Rafer Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griffith-Joyner. USC, which boasts more Olympians than any other U.S. university, had athletes win nine Olympic medals in track and field at the 2024 Games in Paris, including double gold medals for Rai Benjamin in the 400-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay and a 4×100-meter relay championship for TeeTee Terry.

After Terry ran the second leg of the relay, Sha’Carri Richardson’s stare down at the end of her anchor leg became one of the iconic shots of the Paris Games, where 70,000 people packed Stade de France and millions more tuned in for one of the most-watched Olympics.

But the sport is back in the shadows like it always seems to be outside of Olympic years, said Boldon, now NBC Sports’ track and field analyst. There have been several attempts to penetrate the U.S. sports consciousness since the successful Paris Games. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian launched Athlos, a women’s track and field meet that began in New York City in 2024 and added a stop in London to its 2026 schedule. Grand Slam Track, founded by the Olympic legend Johnson and touting major names including Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, filed for bankruptcy last year, after completing only three of four planned events in its first season, and is only now emerging from it.

This year’s inaugural USATF Tour aims to organize the fragmented sport by streamlining the calendar and working with existing event coordinators to provide resources, including prize money and travel for top athletes, marketing and drug testing. The tour, which was in College Station, Texas, last week for the Lone Star Grand Prix, has 17 events in 10 states.

American Tara Davis-Woodhall after winning the women’s long jump at the 2025 world championships in Tokyo.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

“I feel like LA28 gives the country something to organize around,” said Siegel, who hopes track and field can rise to be among the five most popular sports in the United States. “People are paying more attention to athlete stories in anticipation of what’s going to happen on U.S. soil.”

There is no shortage of stories at the L.A. Grand Prix. Almost everyone who matters in American track and field will be there, Boldon said. Kenny Bednarek, the silver medalist in the 200 meters in Paris, will line up in the 100 meters against Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who took gold in the 200 in 2024.

Tara Davis-Woodhall, the reigning Olympic long jump champion, will compete in her signature event and race in the 100-meter hurdles for just the second time in the last five years. Her husband, Hunter Woodhall, will race in the 400 meters on Saturday, when Para athletes will be among those competing in the L.A. Distance Classic at Allyson Felix Field.

Richardson will run her first 100-meter race of the season. The 2024 Olympic silver medalist could be in line to end a three-decade gold medal drought in 2028. No U.S. woman has stood atop an Olympic podium for the 100 since 1996, when Gail Devers won in Atlanta.

Such a stacked field outside of an Olympic year on U.S. soil could be a sign of a changing tide for track and field, Boldon said. The L.A. Grand Prix is a gold-level event on the World Athletics Continental Tour, the second-highest tier of single-day international competition. As athletes vie for world ranking points, the event could be a true Olympic preview two years before the Games begin at the Coliseum.

“This,” Boldon said, “is not a normal week in our sport.”

Serena Williams is back.

And so is her blistering serve.

After almost four years away from the sport, the 44-year-old tennis legend made a triumphant return Tuesday at Queen’s Club in London. She teamed with Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko for a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand in an opening doubles match at the grass-court HSBC Championships.

Williams recorded service winners of up to 120 mph during her first professional match since the 2022 U.S. Open.

“It was so fun,” Williams said afterward in an on-court interview. “I had so much fun playing with Victoria. She really was able to hold up the team and really play big on the big points. I could really rely on her. We’ve never played together, but it just felt so natural playing with her.”

Williams has won 14 Grand Slam titles and three Olympic gold medals in doubles, all with sister Venus Williams as her playing partner.

Serena Williams and Victoria Mboko of Canada wave to the crowd after defeating Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe on Tuesday at the Queen’s Club in London.

(Alberto Pezzali / Associated Press)

“I feel very honored to play with Serena,” Mboko said. “I had a lot of fun, if anything. We really did that out there. I’m so happy to be playing beside you. And we’re going for more.”

In September 2022, Williams had registered as retired with the International Tennis Integrity Agency.

Last December, however, Williams reentered the agency’s drug-testing pool, a move that led to speculation about a possible return for the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion. She announced her professional tennis return last week as a wild-card doubles entry at the Queen’s Club tournament.

Days later, Williams was added to the 16-team doubles field at Germany’s WTA 500 event.

“I had nothing better to do,” Williams said Tuesday. “I got tired of sitting at home. My kids are out of school for the summer, so why not?”

Let’s go Dodgers. High fives all around.

Because this time, with the newest historical exhibit at Dodger Stadium, the team got it right.

Amid all the historical installations and tributes in the open-air museum that is the Centerfield Plaza, and just a few feet from a Fernando Valenzuela mural, a new display honors Glenn Burke and Billy Bean, two former Dodgers outfielders who were the first and second professional baseball players to come out as gay.

It’s not a fleeting mention on Pride night, it’s a permanent record. A static reminder of progress made — and still to be made. And a much-deserved thank-you.

A wall inside Dodger Stadium honors former Dodgers and LGBTQ+ pioneers Billy Bean and Glenn Burke.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

“It’ll be here tomorrow, it’ll be here on the weekend and if you come next month, it’ll be here,” said the Dodgers’ team historian Mark Langill, who pointed to a spot just down the hall where in 1976 he was an 11-year-old getting Burke’s autograph.

Baseball is steeped in such history. The personal, the statistical, the societal. And the Dodgers’ is incomplete without their stories — Burke’s and Bean’s.

But the Dodgers have not, of course, always gotten this stuff right.

In 1978, they did Burke wrong, trading him — he believed — after management learned he was gay.

In his three seasons in L.A., Burke had proved himself a capable reserve outfielder who was popular with his teammates.

As far as we know, in 1977, he was the first guy to initiate a high five — spontaneously reaching above his head to slap hands with Dusty Baker after the home run that made Baker the fourth Dodger, along with Ron Cey, Steve Garvey and Reggie Smith, to hit at least 30 home runs that season, a MLB first.

Glenn Burke, left, goes to give a high-five to teammate Dusty Baker after Baker hit a home run in 1977. It is believed to be the first instance a high five was exchanged.

(Los Angeles Times)

There’s a fantastic photo of the historic high five included in the tribute to Burke and Bean, which is situated on a hallway wall beneath the left-field bleachers, beside the “Dodger Dugout” augmented reality photo booth.

Burke was also the first guy in that Dodgers clubhouse to crack a joke when the team needed it, his former teammate Rick Monday said.

“When called upon, he could play really well,” Monday said before the Dodgers took the field against the Angels on Friday, when the Dodgers and many of their rainbow-sporting fans celebrated the team’s 13th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night. “And when we needed a moment of levity, Glenn was not afraid to come forward and put a smile on people’s face.”

But shortly before he died of AIDS in 1995 at 42, Burke published an autobiography, “Out at Home,” in which he described the team’s management being “afraid of my sexual orientation, even though I never flaunted it. To this day, the Dodgers deny trading me because I was gay. But it was painfully obvious.”

“Oh, what he had to deal with and keep it hid,” said Joyce Burke-Henderson, one of Glenn’s sisters at Friday’s pregame unveiling, where family members of both players gasped and cried and cheered the installation’s reveal.

“But as time went on, people did know. And then I think he came to the point where he just didn’t care and he just told it like it was.”

Joyce Henderson, sister of Glenn Burke, speaks about her brother during a ceremony honoring the former Dodger and LGBTQ+ pioneer at Dodger Stadium Friday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Burke came out in 1982, three years after playing his 225th and final big league game, in an Inside Sports article, “The Double Life of a Gay Dodger.”

“We just appreciate that now people are opening their eyes and just trusting in the Lord,” Burke-Henderson said Friday, “that things will go forward and work out and everybody will be loved regardless of their situation.”

The Dodgers first honored Burke in 2022, at their ninth Pride Night.

The next season, they made a mess of the Pride festivities, inviting and uninviting and then reinviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group known for its work in support of AIDS patients and whose members dress in drag, as nuns.

In 2023, the Dodgers also invited Bean — who was MLB’s senior vice president for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. He appeared in a pregame ceremony on the field while protesters gathered outside the stadium.

Bean died the next year, at 60, 11 months after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

Greg Baker, husband of the late Billy Bean, wipes away tears during a tribute honor Bean as a LGBTQ+ pioneer at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Once a Northeast Santa Ana Little Leaguer, Bean became valedictorian at Santa Ana High, played for Loyola Marymount and went on to appear in 272 big-league games — including 51 for the Dodgers in 1989 — before abruptly walking away from baseball in 1995.

It got to be too much, he’d explain later, continuing to hustle to keep his baseball career afloat while keeping his sexuality secret, acutely aware of the blowback he’d get if it got out.

“For nine years,” he told the New York Times, “I felt as though I had one foot in the major leagues and one on a banana peel.”

“When he left baseball suddenly, I knew something was wrong,” Bean’s mother, Linda Kovac, said Friday, pausing to wipe away tears. “He was playing very well, it wasn’t like he was kicked out or anything. And it just didn’t make any sense.”

When Bean finally told his family he was gay, in 1996 — three years before clueing in an unsuspecting public via a Miami Herald article — none of his loved ones blinked. That included his stepfather, Ed Kovac, the homicide cop and former Marine who’d had a partner on the force who was gay.

“He worked with someone that he respected, side by side, on criminal cases,” Linda said. “We’re still friends with that guy.”

Linda and Ed Kovac, parents of Billy Bean, hold hands in front of a tribute dedicated to their son at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Knowing someone — or of someone — who is gay or lesbian has long tended to dispel falsehoods and quell fears that might exist.

“One of the most important things any one of us can do in our community is be out, to be proud,” said Greg Baker, Bean’s husband. “The fact that someone can be out in a world that typically doesn’t have a lot of role models of the same ilk, it’s a brave thing to stick your neck out. It’s also very important.”

And it’s not a surprise, Baker said, that more athletes aren’t out in sports like baseball. Not with Gallup polling released last week telling us that with public acceptance of same-sex marriage and relationships in the U.S. has flattened after two-plus decades of growing support — down from 71% to about 65%.

“I want to thank the Dodgers organization,” Baker said. “It’s brave of them in this day and age to spotlight someone in our community when other organizations are trying to erase us.”

The Dodgers have done the opposite, putting up a permanent marker. A long time coming, a tribute to last.