(File Photo of the Pittsburgh Penguins logo with the 2016 background color)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins traded goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to the San Jose Sharks for a 2028 third-round NHL draft pick. The only goaltender currently on the NHL roster for the Penguins is Tristan Jarry. The Penguins also have goaltenders who both played for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, Joel Blomqvist and prospect Sergei Murashov. Blomqvist played fifteen games last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Murashov also played for the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Swimmers including Penn’s Lia Thomas, lane 4, dive into the water at the start of a qualifying heat of the 200 yard freestyle at the Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Harvard University, Feb. 18, 2022, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by her participation on the women’s swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case.

The U.S. Education Department and Penn announced the voluntary agreement of the high-profile case that focused on Thomas, who last competed for the Ivy League school in 2022, when she became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title.

The department investigated Penn as part of the Trump administration’s broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, concluding the university in Philadelphia had violated the rights of female athletes.

Under the agreement, Penn agreed to restore all individual Division I records and titles to female athletes who lost to Thomas and send a personalized apology letter to each of those swimmers, the Education Department said.

By Tuesday afternoon, the Penn website showed other athletes holding the school’s top times in Thomas’ events. The site was annotated with a note that read, “Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.”

“While Penn’s policies during the 2021-2022 swim season were in accordance with NCAA eligibility rules at the time, we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules,” Penn President J. Larry Jameson said. “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”

As part of the settlement, the university must also announce that it “will not allow males to compete in female athletic programs” and it must adopt “biology-based” definitions of male and female, the department said.

In his statement, Jameson said Penn has always been in compliance with NCAA and Title IX rules as they were interpreted at the time, and that the university has never had its own policies around transgender athlete participation. The school has followed changes to eligibility guidelines as they were issued earlier this year, he said. The NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes in February, limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth.

“Our commitment to ensuring a respectful and welcoming environment for all of our students is unwavering,” Jameson said. “At the same time, we must comply with federal requirements, including executive orders, and NCAA eligibility rules, so our teams and student-athletes may engage in competitive intercollegiate sports.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon called it a victory for women and girls.

“The Department commends UPenn for rectifying its past harms against women and girls, and we will continue to fight relentlessly to restore Title IX’s proper application and enforce it to the fullest extent of the law,” McMahon said in a statement.

Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines thanked President Donald Trump on social media and wrote of the settlement, “ Are pigs flying?” Gaines has said she started her activism against transgender athletes competing in women’s sports after sharing a locker room with Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championships.

The Education Department opened its investigation in February and concluded in April that Penn had violated Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding sex discrimination in education. Such findings have almost always been resolved through voluntary agreements. If Penn had fought the finding, the department could have moved to refer the case to the Justice Department or pursued a separate process to cut the school’s federal funding.

In February, the Education Department asked the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations, or NFSHSA, to restore titles, awards and records it says have been “misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”

The most obvious target at the college level was in women’s swimming, where Thomas won the national title in the 500-yard freestyle in 2022.

The NCAA has updated its record books when recruiting and other violations have stripped titles from certain schools, but the organization, like the NFSHSA, has not responded to the federal government’s request and did not respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday. It was not clear how either would determine which events had a transgender athlete participating years later.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Josh Harris, left, managing partner of the Philadelphia 76ers, Arn Tellem, Detroit Pistons vice chairman, Nic Barlage, representing the Cleveland Cavaliers, listen as WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during a news conference, Monday, June 30, 2025, in New York, announcing WNBA basketball expansion teams in Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland. (AP Photo/Doug Feinberg)

NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA is expanding to 18 teams over the next five years, with Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia all set to join the league by 2030.

Cleveland will begin play in 2028, Detroit in 2029 and Philadelphia the season after, assuming they get approval from the NBA and WNBA Board of Governors. Toronto and Portland will enter the league next year.

“The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball.”

All three new teams announced Monday have NBA ownership groups. Each paid a $250 million expansion fee, which is about five times as much as Golden State dished out for a team a few years ago. All three teams will also be investing more money through building practice facilities and other such amenities.

“It’s such a natural fit that when you already have this basketball-related infrastructure, these strategies, cultures that you find to be successful, combinations of personnel that you find to be successful,” said Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group and the Cavaliers. “Extending that into the WNBA, is just a natural next progression, especially if you have a desire to grow like we do.”

Both Cleveland and Detroit had WNBA teams in the past and Philadelphia was the home for an ABL team.

“This is a huge win for Detroit and the WNBA,” Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores said. “Today marks the long-hoped-for return of the WNBA to a city with deep basketball roots and a championship tradition. Detroit played a key role in the league’s early growth, and we’re proud to reignite that legacy as the WNBA ascends to new heights. Our plans will bring new energy, investment and infrastructure to our city and the WNBA, and additional resources to our community.”

Detroit sports stars Grant Hill, Chris Webber and Jared Goff will have minority ownership stakes in the team.

The Cleveland and Detroit ownership groups said the Rockers and Shock — the names of the previous teams — would be considered but they’d do their due diligence before deciding on what the franchises will be called.

“Rockers will be a part of the mix for sure, but we are at this point, we’re not going to commit to a brand identity because we want to really get into it with our fans, do some research, be very thorough and thoughtful in that process,” Barlage said.

The Detroit and Cleveland teams will play at the NBA arenas that currently exist, while Philadelphia is planning on a new building that will be completed hopefully by 2030.

“We tell the city it’s going to open in 2031. We’re hoping for 2030,” said Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment Managing Partner and co-founder Josh Harris, who owns the 76ers. “So we’re trying to underpromise and overdeliver. But, right now it’s 2031, so that we have a year gap, you know. We’ve got the Xfinity center, the Wells Fargo, they’ll play there.”

Adding these three teams will give the league more natural rivalries with another team on the East Coast and Detroit and Cleveland near each other.

“I think there’s some great historical rivalries in the NBA among these cities and, I think that will carry over to the WNBA,” Detroit Pistons vice president Arn Tellem said. “I would love nothing more to have a rivalry like we do in the NBA with Cleveland and Indiana, Philadelphia and New York and all these great cities and, and I think we will.”

Engelbert said she was impressed with the number of cities that bid for expansion teams, a list that included St. Louis; Kansas City, Mo.; Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Miami; Denver; Charlotte, N.C.; and Houston.

“There are a variety of cities that obviously bid, and one of those I wanted to shout out — because they have such a strong history in this league and their great ownership group — is Houston,” Engelbert said. “The Houston Comets were just an amazing one, the first four inaugural championships in the WNBA. So I would say that’s the one, obviously, we have our eye on. (Owner) Tilman (Feritta) has been a great supporter of the WNBA, and we’ll stay tuned on that.”

Engelbert went on to say that she wanted to spread out the expansion over a few years to not dilute the talent pool.

“We didn’t know the demand would be where the demand ended up when we ran the process last fall into the winter,” Engelbert said. “Given the very high demand and supply, we wanted to evaluate, too, because we’re very careful about, you know, making sure we’re balancing the number of roster spots, the number of teams.

“But one thing I’m very struck by as we get into a new media deal, as the media market evolves, you know, being in these three big basketball cities is going to help from a media perspective, a corporate partners perspective.”

All the metrics, such as attendance, television ratings and sponsorships, have been on the rise the last few seasons.

“You’re seeing the key performance indicators around the business, but then also just the communal impact of having a women’s professional sports team,” Barlage said. “The largest growing segment of our Cavs youth academy, which serves 60,000 kids across the state of Ohio and upstate New York, the fastest growing segment is girls. You know, it’s growing at a 30% clip year over year in participation rates. And so for us to be able to create role models, to be able to create symbols of progress, to create having ambassadors within the community representing all of these things.”

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey (5) stands on the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, file)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins are sending All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey, Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith and a 2027 seventh-round draft pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and a 2027 fifth-round pick.

Ramsey announced the trade Monday in a post on his X account. Both his representation and the Dolphins, where he spent the past two seasons, had mutually agreed earlier this year to part ways.

Neither Ramsey nor the Dolphins gave any insight into what went wrong. Dolphins general manager Chris Grier said in April that Ramsey did not ask for a trade or more money, but after weeks of conversations with Ramsey’s representation, both sides agreed that it would be best to move on.

Fitzpatrick returns to the team that drafted him 11th overall in 2018. He had been displeased with his role in Miami and requested a trade before being sent to the Steelers in 2019.

The terms have been agreed upon and are pending physicals.

The swap of Ramsey and Fitzpatrick, both three-time All-Pros, marks the third time since at least 2002 that players who had previously been All-Pros were traded for each other, according to Sportradar. The others were star receiver DeAndre Hopkins (three All-Pros) for running back David Johnson (1) in 2020, and tight end Jimmy Graham (1) for center Max Unger (1) in 2015.

Smith had one of the best years of his career in his lone season in Miami after signing a two-year deal as a free agent ahead of the 2024 season. The veteran tight end hoped that his career year might lead to a new contract with the Dolphins, with whom he preferred to stay. He had been away from the team during its offseason program as he sought a new contract.

Instead, he’s re-joining Arthur Smith, currently the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, whom he was with in Tennessee and Atlanta.

Smith will get a one-year contract extension worth as much as $12 million for 2026, agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed.

In the aftermath of the trade, former Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert responded to the news with apparent criticism of his former team. Mostert was cut in February by Miami after his least productive season with the team in 2024, one year after making the Pro Bowl with the Dolphins.

“Hot take: Be a Pro-bowler on the Dolphins, get treated like (expletive),” Mostert wrote on X in response to the trades. “Happy for my guys though! GO BALL OUT!!”

It’s the latest in a series of retooling moves the Steelers have made this offseason in hopes that 2025 won’t end similarly as their past few seasons. Pittsburgh has reached the playoffs four times in the last five seasons, only to be quickly eliminated in lopsided fashion each time.

Since March, the Steelers have acquired two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver DK Metcalf from Seattle, signed four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and now they’ve added two more experienced veterans in Ramsey and Smith.

Trading Fitzpatrick, who emerged as one of the NFL’s premier safeties in his six seasons in Pittsburgh, likely could free up money for the Steelers to re-sign star linebacker TJ Watt, who is in the last year of his deal and skipped the offseason program as he seeks a new contract.

For the Dolphins, losing Smith is a huge blow to their offense, which heavily relied on the tight end in the passing game as teams limited big plays from receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Smith’s 88 receptions and 884 receiving yards last season were the most by a tight end in franchise history.

The Dolphins did address a need at safety after starter Jevon Holland signed with the New York Giants in March, but they still will likely be on the hunt for a replacement for Ramsey to add a veteran to their mostly young cornerback group.

(File Photo of Reeves Field, Geneva College’s Football Stadium in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) According to a post from the genevacollegeathletics Instragram page on Monday, after the 2025 college football season, Geneva College head football coach Geno DeMarco will step down. No NCAA Division III coach has had a longer tenure than DeMarco. DeMarco is also tied for coaches that are the longest tenured out from any NCAA level. DeMarco is getting ready for his 33rd season at Geneva College and has 167 wins as a coach, the most in Geneva football history. DeMarco started in 1993 and is in the sports hall of fames for both Beaver County and New Brighton. He is also in the hall of fame for the National Christian College Athletic Association and has gotten honors for Coach of the Year for both the NCCAA and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. DeMarco will go to a role of an assistant next season at Geneva College, but will still help out the football program there.

(FIle Photo: Source for Photo: In this April 4, 2020, photo, a youth baseball field sits empty at Monroeville Park in Monroeville, Pa. The Monroeville Baseball Association is among thousands of youth baseball leagues across the country that are in danger of having their seasons cancelled as part of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Will Graves)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Baltimore, MD) A Hopewell High School graduate made his Major League Baseball debut with the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. Left-handed pitcher Joe Rock contributed to the 11-3 win for the Rays that day against the Baltimore Orioles. Rock was called up previously in the day ahead of the afternoon matinee for the Rays against the Orioles. He got a ranking of the number 21 prospect in the system for the Rays. Rock appeared in the bottom of the eighth inning and lasted two innings. Rock had four strikeouts and allowed four hits. A two-run home run for the Orioles in the bottom of the ninth inning was the reason for the only two runs that Rock gave up. Rock got a 3-5 record this season at Triple-A Durham, getting 14 starts and getting 63 strikeouts through throwing 73 innings with a 4.81 ERA. Rock was a junior at Hopewell when he earned all-section honors there as a junior with an 8-3 record and a 1.30 ERA with 108 strikeouts. The left-handed pitcher was ranked the No. 9 pitcher in the state ahead of his high-school graduation. He then pitched for Ohio University concluding his collegiate career with the Bobcats with a 3.47 ERA, 158 strikeouts and held opponents with a batting average of just .239. He has pitched in the system for the Rays for the past two years after being with the Colorado Rockies for the first years of his professional career. The Rockies picked Rock in the 2021 MLB Draft as the 68th overall pick.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Dave Parker, a member of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates World Championship team, tips his cap during a pre-game ceremony honoring the team before a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies in Pittsburgh, Saturday, July 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Dave Parker, a hard-hitting outfielder who was set to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame next month, has died, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced Saturday. He was 74.

No further details about Parker’s death were immediately available. The Pirates informed the crowd of his death just before the start of their game against the New York Mets and held a moment of silence.

Nicknamed “the Cobra,” the 6-foot-5 Parker made his major league debut in 1973 and played 19 seasons, 11 for the Pirates. He was the NL MVP in 1978, won a World Series with Pittsburgh a year later and then won another championship in 1989 with the Oakland Athletics.

“All of us who grew up in the ’70s remember how special Dave was,” Pirates owner Bob Nutting said in a statement. “He had a big personality and his passing has left a bigger void for all who knew him. Our hearts go out to his wife, Kellye, and his family.”

Parker won NL batting titles in 1977 and ’78. He finished his career as a .290 hitter with 339 homers and 1,493 RBIs. He also played for Cincinnati, Milwaukee, the California Angels and Toronto.

Parker was elected to the Hall of Fame by a special committee in December. The induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, is set for July 27.

“We join the baseball family in remembering Dave Parker. His legacy will be one of courage and leadership, matched only by his outstanding accomplishments on the field,” Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark said. “His election to the Hall of Fame in December brought great joy to him, his family and all the fans who marveled at his remarkable abilities.”

Born on June 9, 1951 in Grenada, Mississippi, Parker grew up in Cincinnati and was a three-sport star at Courter Tech High School.

After playing for Pittsburgh from 1973-83, he signed with his hometown Reds and spent four seasons with the club. In 1985 he led the NL with 125 RBIs and was second in the MVP voting.

“He was such a big dude at a time when there weren’t that many ‘6-foot-5, 230-pound, dynamic defender, batting champion with power’ guys,” Hall of Famer and Reds teammate Barry Larkin said. “Everything about him was impressive.”

In a statement, the Reds said: “Dave was a towering figure on the field, in the clubhouse and in the Cincinnati community, where his baseball journey began, playing on the fields near his home and going to games at Crosley Field. Dave’s impact on the game and this franchise will never be forgotten.”

Parker was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012.

He told reporters that he burst into tears upon learning of his selection to the Hall of Fame.

“Yeah, I cried,” Parker said after receiving the news. “It only took a few minutes, because I don’t cry.”

Parker homered for the A’s in the 1989 World Series opener and took credit for helping the Bash Brothers of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire take the title with a four-game sweep of San Francisco.

“All of us throughout the game are deeply saddened by this loss,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “We will remember the Cobra forever, especially as his name soon officially joins the legends of our national pastime.”

Pirates veteran and 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutchen paid tribute to Parker after Pittsburgh beat the New York Mets 9-2.

“He had to be like Superman to people when he was playing,” McCutchen said. “He was larger than life on the field and had a larger-than-life personality, too.”

Parker was a seven-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove right fielder, and when he retired after the 1991 season, he was one of only five players with at least 500 doubles, 300 homers, 150 stolen bases and 2,700 hits.

“I was a five-tool player. I could do them all,” Parker said after his Hall selection. “I never trotted to first base. I don’t know if people noticed that, but I ran hard on every play.”

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Arkansas forward Adou Thiero, right, controls the ball in front of Texas A&M guard Hayden Hefner on Feb. 15. The Lakers acquired Thiero, the 36th pick of the NBA draft, in a trade with Minnesota on Thursday. (Sam Craft / Associated Press)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Brooklyn, NY) A former Quaker Valley High School basketball player was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night as the 36th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Adou Thiero is a junior in college who started playing college basketball at the University of Kentucky and then transferred to the University of Arkansas. Thiero followed the move there with Moon Township native and head coach John Calipari. The Lakers made trades to get the rights to draft Thiero on to their team in the second round of the 2025 NBA draft.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro talks to the media prior to a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Pocono Raceway, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Long Pond, Pa. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declined to get into specifics on the potential for the state to provide funding for any new sports arenas — a possibility that looms with the Eagles’ lease set to expire in 2032 — and said there were conversations about bringing NASCAR to Philadelphia as he championed the state’s full sports slate next year during an appearance Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Shapiro said he would continue talking with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and the Rooney family in Pittsburgh about what — if anything — the NFL teams need when it comes to the state of their stadiums.

Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium, the home of the Steelers, opened in 2001 while Lincoln Financial Field opened in 2003 in Philadelphia’s shared sports complex. The Eagles do not own the Linc. The team will need to renew its lease or build a new stadium, and Lurie said during the lead-up to the Super Bowl that he was “torn” over the idea of replacing the stadium or staying put in the home where they raised their only two Super Bowl championship banners.

If a new stadium is proposed, it won’t necessarily come with state money — Shapiro said the state would not provide any when the 76ers considered building a new arena (ownership did not ask for the funds) last year.

(The 76ers decided to partner with Comcast Spectacor, their current landlord, to build a new arena in South Philadelphia.)

“I’m very worried about the overall budget,” Shapiro said Sunday at Pocono. “I’m very worried about the overall economic situation given the federal cuts. You want to balance investing in tourism, investing in sports, investing in great arenas and facilities, with making sure that you’re also investing those dollars in things that Pennsylvanians need most.”

Shapiro, who spoke ahead of the scheduled NASCAR Cup Series race at the track, declined to get into definitive discussions about any stadium conversations with the state’s NFL owners.

“I will tell you that we want to make sure the Steelers, we want to make sure the Eagles, and all of our pro teams have outstanding places to play,” he said. “That are welcoming for fans. That generate revenue.

“We’re going to continue to dialog with them about what they need and what’s possible.”

Shapiro promoted the financial impact generated for the state each year because of the NASCAR weekend at Pocono. He praised Pocono Raceway officials for its third straight sellout crowd set for Sunday. The track sold out all frontstretch seating, premium seating, suites, infield camping and the grandstand camping area. It also is the fifth consecutive year that the entire infield camping inventory has been sold out.

Pocono President Ben May said the track sold around 50,000 grandstand tickets, around 2,000 suite seats and 3,300 camping spots.

NASCAR expressed at least a cursory interest in adding to its recent string of offbeat race locations — everywhere from Mexico City to a temporary track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — and floated the idea of holding a race inside a Philadelphia stadium, Franklin Field. The site is traditionally home to the Penn Relays and college football.

“There’s some conversations,” Shapiro said. “First and foremost, we don’t want to do anything that undermines Pocono. But as Ben (says), the more NASCAR the better. The more racing, the better. The more we can turn people on in communities that haven’t been to Pocono yet, to get excited about racing, and then make that trip to Pocono next year, the better. I want to see more NASCAR, more racing. I also just want to see more sports in general.”

He’ll get his wish next year.

Shapiro laughed when he said he calls into sports talk radio stations as “Josh from Juniata” and was all-in on the heavy inventory of major sports events headed to the state.

Among the events in 2026, Pennsylvania will host the baseball All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, the World Cup at the Linc and the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. The big year kicks off with the NFL draft in Pittsburgh next April.

“I worked my ass off to bring that to Pittsburgh, together with the Steelers,” Shapiro said. “I’m excited for them.”

(File Photo: Source for Photo: J.J. Spaun celebrates with the trophy after winning the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — J.J. Spaun endured the toughest test in golf on the toughest course in America in the worst kind of conditions. And then he turned this miserable, wet Sunday at Oakmont into a finish as memorable as any in the U.S. Open.

The champion not many expected delivered two shots no one will forget.

First came his driver on the 314-yard 17th hole onto the green for a two-putt birdie that gave him the lead. Then, needing two putts from 65 feet on the 18th to win, he finished his storybook Open by holing the longest putt all week at Oakmont for birdie and a 2-over 72.

For all the mess Oakmont became in a series of downpours, for all the bad breaks and bad lies and bad shots that cost so many contenders, Spaun overcame a start that would have ended hopes of more seasoned players and weathered the pressure to claim his greatest prize.

“I never thought I would be here holding this trophy,” said Spaun, who finished last year at No. 119 in the world and moved up to No. 8 with his U.S. Open victory. “I always had aspirations and dreams. I never knew what my ceiling was. I’m just trying to be the best golfer I can be.

“I’m happy to display that here at Oakmont.”

He finished at 1-under 279, the sole survivor to par, and won by two shots over Robert MacIntyre of Scotland, who watched the finish from a scoring room and could only applaud the stunning conclusion.

Five players shared the lead with an hour to go. Four players were still tied as the U.S. Open made its way to the final four holes that frustrated Sam Burns and Tyrrell Hatton, and crushed the hopes of Adam Scott and Carlos Ortiz.

The last man standing was Spaun, the 34-year-old Californian with an eerie resemblance to the late Pittsburgh Steelers great Franco Harris.

Never mind that Spaun lacked the pedigree of so many players groomed in elite competition, that he had only one PGA Tour title until Sunday, was playing in only his second U.S. Open and had never cracked the top 20 in his previous eight majors.

The ending was magical. The road leading to his U.S. Open title was hard work and resiliency, especially Sunday. One shot behind to start the final round, he had five bogeys in six holes, including a shot that hit the pin on No. 2 and caromed 35 yards back into the fairway, turning birdie into a bogey.

“It felt like as bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life,” Spaun said. “I think that’s been the biggest difference this year has been being able to do that. Fortunately, I dug very deep on the back nine, and things went my way, and here we are with the trophy.”

It was calamity for so many others.

Burns had a two-shot lead going to the 11th tee, made a double bogey from a divot in the first cut on No. 11 and from a lie in the fairway on No. 15 so wet he thought he deserved relief. He shot 78.

“It’s a tough golf course, and I didn’t have my best stuff, and clearly it showed,” he said.

Scott, trying to become the first player to go more than 11 years between major titles, was tied for the lead with five holes to play. One of the best drivers could no longer find the fairway. He played them in 5 over and shot 79.

“I missed the fairway. I hadn’t done that all week really. Then I did, and I paid the price and lost a lot of shots out there,” Scott said.

Ortiz and Hatton also slashed away in slushy lies, all making mistakes that cost them a chance to survive this beast of day.

The rain that put Oakmont on the edge of being unplayable might have saved Spaun.

He was four shots behind and facing the tough ninth hole. And then came a rain delay of 1 hour, 37 minutes.

“The weather delay changed the whole vibe of the day,” Spaun said.

Remarkably, he made only one bogey the rest of the way.

But oh, that finish.

MacIntyre, the 28-year-old from Oban toughened by the Scottish game of Shinty, became the new target. He also struggled at the start and fell nine shots behind at one point. But he birdied the 17th and split the fairway on the 18th for a key par, a 68 and the clubhouse lead.

Three groups later, Spaun delivered what looked like the winner on the 17th, a powerful fade that rolled onto the green like a putt and settled 18 feet behind the cup.

On the final putt, he was helped by Viktor Hovland being on the same line and going first. Spaun rapped it through the soaked turf, walked to the left to watch it break right toward the hole and watched it dropped as thousands of rain-soaked spectators erupted.

He raised both arms and tossed his putter, jumping into the arms of caddie Mark Carens.

The celebration carried into those who lost the battle.

Hatton was talking with reporters, bemoaning a bad break on the 17th ended his chances of winning. He watched the Spaun’s putt and it brightened his mood.

“Unbelievable. What a putt to win. That’s incredible,” he said. “I’m sad about how I finished, but I’m very happy for J.J. To win a major in that fashion is amazing.”

Hovland, who shot 73 to finish third, saw it all — the putt at the end, the bogeys at the start.

“After his start, it just looked like he was out of it immediately,” Hovland said. “Everyone came back to the pack. I wasn’t expecting that really. I thought I had to shoot maybe 3-under par today to have a good chance, but obviously the conditions got really, really tough, and this golf course is just a beast.”

Hatton (72) and Ortiz (73), both part of LIV Golf and in serious contention at a major for the first time, tied for fourth along with Cameron Young (70). The consolation for Ortiz was getting into the Masters next year.

Scottie Scheffler, 10 shots behind early in the final round, was somehow still part of the conversation on the back nine. But he missed far too many birdie chances even three-putting from 12 feet no the 11th hole. The world’s No. 1 player finished with a 70 to tie for seventh with Jon Rahm (67) and Burns, his best friend who will feel the sting.

He had a double bogey by missing the green into a bad lie on the slope of a bunker. He missed a pair of 6-foot birdie putts to seize control. And when he made a mess of the 15th for another double bogey.

Through it all, Spaun emerged as a U.S. Open champion hardly anyone saw coming — not at the start of the year, not at the start of the round.