Recag/C4_7 · Datasets at Hugging Face

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A suspected Taliban bomber has killed the deputy intelligence director of troubled southeastern Khost province, officials said.
"The deputy intelligence director of Khost province, Muhammad Isa, was killed in a suicide attack by Taliban and al-Qaida today in the morning," Khost military division commander Khial Baz Khan said.
"The body of the bomber is still lying on the explosion site and we are investigating the case," Khan said, speaking via satellite phone from the scene.
Meanwhile, Pakistan based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), private news service said a lone assailant shot and killed the intelligence official in his car and tried to flee.
"The man was chased by guards and after some distance he blew himself up with a bomb strapped to his body," the AIP quoted a witness as saying.
Isa received five bullets and died on the spot, it said, quoting witnesses.
"We claim responsibility for the suicide attack involving the deputy intelligence director of Khost, Muhammad Isa. We targeted him because he was in close contact with Americans, providing them with intelligence information"
A spokesman for the ousted Taliban regime claimed responsibility for the attack minutes after it had occurred.
"We claim responsibility for the suicide attack involving the deputy intelligence director of Khost province, Muhammad Isa," the spokesman, who calls himself Muhammad Saif al-Adl said.
"We targeted him because he was in close contact with Americans, providing them with intelligence information.
"And he was an ex-communist who was the director of the intelligence department under the communist regime in Afghanistan and now he started working for (President Hamid) Karzai's administration," Saif al-Adl added.
This was the third such attack in the past month in Afghanistan.
On 27 and 28 January, two bombers targeted International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Kabul, killing a British and a Canadian soldier and wounding more than a dozen others.
Taliban sources has claimed responsibility for both attacks and warned more are to come.
Spokesmen for the former regime warned that dozens of bombers, rarely seen in Afghanistan in the past, had infiltrated the city intending to attack foreign targets.
KING Hussein of Jordan, in disparaging Reagan administration efforts to negotiate a West Bank settlement along a Jordanian-moderate Palestinian front, was only echoing the dour expectations that can be heard elsewhere in the Arab world, in Israel, as well as within the United States.
A common Arab League view of the Reagan effort is that Washington partly sought some Middle East card on the rebound from its reverses in Lebanon. Many Israelis have felt for some time that Hussein does not really want to consummate an agreement with Israel, that he fears the internal pressures that might develop from an expanded trans-Jordan River population. Hussein is partly covering his flank with the Arab world, especially Syria, by renouncing the now abrogated Lebanon-Israel pact, an agreement he had earlier initialed.
Hussein's unusually pointed remarks in a New York Times interview, however, may have given the administration a useful excuse to back away from any new initiatives in the region as the US election campaign heats up. ''Israel is on our land,'' he said. ''It is there by virtue of American military assistance and economic aid that translates into aid for Israeli settlements.'' President Reagan's remarks the day before, to a pro-Israeli audience, criticizing Israeli settlements on the West Bank and rejecting a shift of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, had evidently not been enough for Hussein, who wants Washington to compel Israel to freeze West Bank settlements.
What the West Bank issue lacks now is some stirring, short of war, to pursue a settlement.
The Arab world is somewhat encouraged that efforts to mediate in the Iran-Iraq war, to move ahead on a Lebanon settlement, are under way. But Yasser Arafat's goal of reestablishing himself as leader of a moderate Palestinian force for negotiating is a long way off.
Israel at the moment shows its own troubled ambivalence toward its West Bank policies. What it sees as the military imperatives of controlling West Bank territory runs against a repugnance many Israelis feel toward managing an apartheid social and political structure there. The Israelis appear to long for a period of consolidation of the territory they now hold. The Camp David agreement with Egypt has not produced the psychological dividends that were hoped for it. Mentally, Israelis have begun to adjust to the shape of an Israel that runs from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. The Peace Now movement, which opposes this viewpoint, seems to be a mixture of internal political tensions, free speech affirmations, and discontent over the economic costs of the Lebanon occupation, as well as an endorsement of a ''peace for land'' pact on the West Bank.
In short, Israel itself does not appear ready, out of internal forces, to act on the West Bank.
Washington, we repeat, may have found in Hussein's discouraging remarks just the excuse it needs to let things slide further in the region. Frankly, we see little sign that Washington is ready to break out of its own ambivalence, quite apart from the current US election.
Hussein claims that if there is a US-Israeli front in negotiations, that the US can hardly object to a Soviet role. This, more than alleging the US is ''succumbing to Israeli dictates,'' could conceivably stir this White House.
King Hussein and others may disagree over the characterization of Arab nationalism, but not about the level of commitment needed now for Middle East peace.
St Enda's skipper James McAuley believes that a fusion of the team's "unique bond" and the managerial skills of Frank Fitzsimons can help the club to make a bold bid for All-Ireland success.
The Glengormley outfit currently find themselves in unimagined territory having been crowned Antrim and Ulster intermediate club champions after decades spent striving for even a broad hint of recognition.
While the celebrations continue in full swing following the provincial final victory over Mullahoran, McAuley is anxious to ensure that the players remain focused for their All-Ireland club semi-final against Galway and Connacht champions Spiddal.
"The run we have been on recently has just been unbelievable," states Fitzsimons.
"We are fortunate in that we have a very tight group of players. Most of us went to school together, we have played together from Under-8 level, we were in and out of each other's houses so the bond has always been there.
"There is no greater success than in winning trophies with players you have been with all your life."
While the team has sprinted into the national spotlight and is already being mentioned as candidates for further glory, McAuley is quick to direct credit to manager Fitzsimons for what has been achieved to date.
"Frank is just unbelievable, that's the only word I can use to describe him," says McAuley, who is studying for a Masters degree in Queen's University.
"He has come in this year and worked wonders for us. He has taken us to where we are now but you can be sure he won't be satisfied with this. He will want us to drive on."
Earlier this year, Moy were crowned All-Ireland intermediate champions, and now St Enda's are aiming to emulate the Tyrone side's success.
"Before we went into the Antrim championship we took stock of what Moy did this time last year and then their All-Ireland performances at the start of this year, and we feel now that there is no reason why we can't take a leaf from their book," insists 22-year-old McAuley.
"Moy did Tyrone and Ulster proud in winning the All-Ireland intermediate club title and we have set our hearts on following in their footsteps."
McAuley is one of several players who could now come under the microscope of Antrim manager Lenny Harbinson.
Peter Healy is already an established player with the Saffrons, as well as being a shining light in the UCD side, while Eoin Nagle, Odhran Eastwood, Ruairi Scott, Kristian Healy and Conan Lyttle look to have the credentials to thrive in the inter-county sphere.
"Obviously I have been following St Enda's progress closely and certain players have come under our radar. But obviously they will be needed by the club for the All-Ireland series early in the New Year," says Harbinson.
Banks Menard still remembers the first time he ever heard about Kevin Faulk.
He was on the staff of new Carencro High head coach Mac Barousse at the time when the town's middle school coach showed up at practice one day with a proclamation.
Carencro Middle coach Billy McCauley told he and Barousse that this seventh-grader he had would be the best thing to ever hit the field at Carencro High.
At the time, an All-State caliber quarterback named Greg Laxey had just left the program to begin a college career with the hometown Ragin' Cajuns.
"We were like, 'Yeah right,' but I decided that I had to go see this kid," Menard said. "I watched this kid beat Anderson Middle, which I'm not sure had ever lost a game before, by himself. He was incredible."
As quickly as he could, Menard reported back to Barousse.
"Coach, you've got a stud coming up," he exclaimed. "Kevin Faulk is the real deal."
For the next two decades, that seventh grader proceeded to make McCauley a prophet.
As a freshman at Carencro High, he intercepted nine passes starting at safety. As a sophomore, he led the Golden Bears to the first football state championship in the history of Lafayette Parish.
"Even as a freshman, his work ethic was relentless," former Carencro High assistant coach Tony Courville said. "Sure he had a lot of God-given talent, but his mental strengths was as big or bigger than his physical strengths.
"I will never forget this 15-year-old kid during a big moment in the state championship game just tap Mac (Barousse) on the shoulder and say, 'I got it coach.' You don't see that very often."
The two-time State Offensive MVP and USA Today and Parade All-American then took his game to LSU where he restored a winning attitude to the Tigers with three straight winning seasons after the program had endured six consecutive losing seasons prior to his arrival.
Faulk was drafted by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft.
During his 13 years with the Patriots, he played in five Super Bowls — winning three — was honored on the Patriots 50-year anniversary team and finished as the franchise's all-time leader in all-purpose yards.
All of those statistics, though, only begin to provide the reasons why "Kevin Faulk is the real deal."
Faulk's impact on football in Louisiana will be cemented forever with his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday in Natchitoches.
"This honor is a big one," Faulk said. "This is home. This is recognition from your peers back home."
Home has always meant a big deal to Faulk.
These days, he's back at Carencro High coaching, hoping to provide the kind of leadership today's youth need.
"This is where I come from," Faulk said. "I take it very seriously. I've been there. I know the things that these kids learn in high school are lessons they can take with them moving forward."
The players Faulk are currently coaching weren't even alive when Faulk's legend really began back in the fall of 1992 as a sophomore quarterback.
"When you're a sophomore, you're not even thinking about pressure," Faulk said. "Truthfully, I didn't feel any pressure. What pressure? All I had to do was hand the ball off to Ernest Lazard or Derrick Beavers. That wasn't pressure."
And yet, cool beyond his years, it was Faulk being named as the MVP in the 28-27 overtime win over Neville in the state championship game.
Before his high school career was over, Faulk would amass 4,877 rushing yards at a clip of 8.1 a carry and 7,612 all-purpose yards with 89 touchdowns.
"He was always thinking that there was something he could do better," Menard said. "He worked at it. He went that extra mile. He had speed, vision and such a great knowledge of the game. He had passion for the game.
"When you have it, you have it. He's one of those kind of athletes that you only get every 10 or 20 years."
Faulk's former LSU running backs coach Michael Haywood said it didn't take him long to realize what kind of superstar athlete Faulk was.
"The first day I showed up on campus was the day Kevin Faulk came to visit LSU," Haywood said. "I was stunned. All of those recruits were treating him like a rock star, asking him for his autographs."
Patrick Pass was one of those prospects who was a big fan of Faulk and he wasn't even being recruited by LSU. He was from Tucker, Ga.
A USA Today All-American the year after Faulk left Carencro, Pass said he would regularly wake up each Saturday morning to watch the 'Countdown to Signing Day' TV program just so he could watch Faulk's highlights.
"I was a big fan of Kevin's," said Pass, who played at Georgia and then was a teammate of Faulk with the Patriots from 2000-06, 2009. "He was unbelievable. He had some incredible highlight-film runs.
"When we (Georgia) played LSU in 1998, I was happy just to be on the same field with Kevin Faulk."
If Haywood didn't quite get it initially, it didn't take him much time on the practice field for Haywood to learn what all the fuss was about.
"Kevin Faulk was the smartest football player I ever coached and the most competitive athlete I ever coached," Haywood said.
"He saw things before it happened. "He understood the technique and the fundamentals so well."
Faulk possessed the kind of attributes that can make it easy to coach, sort of like being the quarterback coach for Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.
"Booger McFarland would joke with me during practice, 'Coach Haywood, you can have the day off again today."
The only thing Faulk didn't feature was a tall frame. During his days with the Patriots, he was listed at 5-foot-8.
"But he always played with a 6-2 heart," Menard said.
By the time Faulk left LSU, his 4,557 yards rushing was second in SEC history only behind Georgia's Herschel Walker and his 6,833 all-purpose yards and was fifth in NCAA history and tops in the SEC, before being eclipsed by Tim Tebow in 2009.
Once in the NFL, Faulk's big impact wasn't as easily noticeable … to some at least. The Patriots' coaches, players, media and sure noticed him.
He finished as the franchise's all-time leader in all-purpose yards. He finished with 3,607 yards and 16 touchdowns rushing, as well as 3,701 yards and 15 touchdowns receiving.
But when he was elected to the franchise's 50th Anniversary team, and as the story goes, he accepted that news with little fanfare as always.
Owner Robert Kraft called him into office to inform Faulk of the honor.
"I thanked him and told him that I didn't believe it," he said. "Then I told him I had to go to practice."
In short, that was Faulk.
"He was always humble and hard-working," Menard said. "He still is."
It was that approach that allowed Faulk to play 13 years in the NFL. Instead of seeking fame when other teams came calling to make him a featured back after his first contract ended in New England, Faulk stayed and just continued to play a huge role in helping the Patriots win.
Faulk gave credit to former agent and friend Raymond Brothers, Jr. for encouraging him to stay in New England instead of taking more short-term money elsewhere.
"I agreed with him at the time. What's wrong with being a third-down back? Look how it worked out for him."
This is one of a Louisiana Sports Writers Association series of stories featuring the 11 members of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame's 2015 Induction Class. They will be enshrined Saturday in Natchitoches.
IT was the bloodiest battle of the First World War and even in the history of the British army - the Battle of the Somme.
As this week marks 100 years since the start of the vicious fighting, we take a look back at the marked effect and casualty figures that epitomise this pointless war.
Did the blind mystic who predicted 9/11 also foresee Brexit… and suggest a WAR in Europe would follow?
But New York decided to hire San Francisco’s old (white, male) president, instead.
When the New York Fed reached across the continent to grab San Francisco Fed President John Williams as its new leader, there was a fair amount of carping. In part, this was because some people think—in spite of outward appearances to the contrary—that he wasn’t very good at his job and thus didn’t deserve a promotion. But mostly, it had to do with appearance, full stop.
"The New York Fed has never had a woman or a person of color at its helm, and the Federal Reserve Bank only just last year added its first black regional bank president," Booker wrote in a Bloomberg View column. "If we're serious about creating an inclusive and sustainable economy, no one should be left on the sidelines…."
Williams was inserted into the search process late in the game and over and above qualified women who had already been in the running….
Now, in point of the above, the San Francisco Fed doesn’t really have much to prove: After all, before Williams, it had been led by a woman; perhaps you remember her? And Mary Daly certainly fits the bill for the job before considering matters identity: A researcher who’s been with the S.F. Fed for more than two decades and who was mentored by Janet Yellen herself, there’s no quibbling with the usual qualifications. Still, we can’t help but think the S.F. Fed search committee rather enjoys sticking it to the people who just stole their leader a little bit.
As a Missouri native and high-school dropout who was living on her own at age 16, she will add a distinctive perspective to a group dominated by men whose two-day meetings eight times a year set interest rates for the world’s largest economy.

A suspected Taliban bomber has killed the deputy intelligence director of troubled southeastern Khost province, officials said.

"The deputy intelligence director of Khost province, Muhammad Isa, was killed in a suicide attack by Taliban and al-Qaida today in the morning," Khost military division commander Khial Baz Khan said.

"The body of the bomber is still lying on the explosion site and we are investigating the case," Khan said, speaking via satellite phone from the scene.

Meanwhile, Pakistan based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), private news service said a lone assailant shot and killed the intelligence official in his car and tried to flee.

"The man was chased by guards and after some distance he blew himself up with a bomb strapped to his body," the AIP quoted a witness as saying.

Isa received five bullets and died on the spot, it said, quoting witnesses.

"We claim responsibility for the suicide attack involving the deputy intelligence director of Khost, Muhammad Isa. We targeted him because he was in close contact with Americans, providing them with intelligence information"

A spokesman for the ousted Taliban regime claimed responsibility for the attack minutes after it had occurred.

"We claim responsibility for the suicide attack involving the deputy intelligence director of Khost province, Muhammad Isa," the spokesman, who calls himself Muhammad Saif al-Adl said.

"We targeted him because he was in close contact with Americans, providing them with intelligence information.

"And he was an ex-communist who was the director of the intelligence department under the communist regime in Afghanistan and now he started working for (President Hamid) Karzai's administration," Saif al-Adl added.

This was the third such attack in the past month in Afghanistan.

On 27 and 28 January, two bombers targeted International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Kabul, killing a British and a Canadian soldier and wounding more than a dozen others.

Taliban sources has claimed responsibility for both attacks and warned more are to come.

Spokesmen for the former regime warned that dozens of bombers, rarely seen in Afghanistan in the past, had infiltrated the city intending to attack foreign targets.

KING Hussein of Jordan, in disparaging Reagan administration efforts to negotiate a West Bank settlement along a Jordanian-moderate Palestinian front, was only echoing the dour expectations that can be heard elsewhere in the Arab world, in Israel, as well as within the United States.

A common Arab League view of the Reagan effort is that Washington partly sought some Middle East card on the rebound from its reverses in Lebanon. Many Israelis have felt for some time that Hussein does not really want to consummate an agreement with Israel, that he fears the internal pressures that might develop from an expanded trans-Jordan River population. Hussein is partly covering his flank with the Arab world, especially Syria, by renouncing the now abrogated Lebanon-Israel pact, an agreement he had earlier initialed.

Hussein's unusually pointed remarks in a New York Times interview, however, may have given the administration a useful excuse to back away from any new initiatives in the region as the US election campaign heats up. ''Israel is on our land,'' he said. ''It is there by virtue of American military assistance and economic aid that translates into aid for Israeli settlements.'' President Reagan's remarks the day before, to a pro-Israeli audience, criticizing Israeli settlements on the West Bank and rejecting a shift of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, had evidently not been enough for Hussein, who wants Washington to compel Israel to freeze West Bank settlements.

What the West Bank issue lacks now is some stirring, short of war, to pursue a settlement.

The Arab world is somewhat encouraged that efforts to mediate in the Iran-Iraq war, to move ahead on a Lebanon settlement, are under way. But Yasser Arafat's goal of reestablishing himself as leader of a moderate Palestinian force for negotiating is a long way off.

Israel at the moment shows its own troubled ambivalence toward its West Bank policies. What it sees as the military imperatives of controlling West Bank territory runs against a repugnance many Israelis feel toward managing an apartheid social and political structure there. The Israelis appear to long for a period of consolidation of the territory they now hold. The Camp David agreement with Egypt has not produced the psychological dividends that were hoped for it. Mentally, Israelis have begun to adjust to the shape of an Israel that runs from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. The Peace Now movement, which opposes this viewpoint, seems to be a mixture of internal political tensions, free speech affirmations, and discontent over the economic costs of the Lebanon occupation, as well as an endorsement of a ''peace for land'' pact on the West Bank.

In short, Israel itself does not appear ready, out of internal forces, to act on the West Bank.

Washington, we repeat, may have found in Hussein's discouraging remarks just the excuse it needs to let things slide further in the region. Frankly, we see little sign that Washington is ready to break out of its own ambivalence, quite apart from the current US election.

Hussein claims that if there is a US-Israeli front in negotiations, that the US can hardly object to a Soviet role. This, more than alleging the US is ''succumbing to Israeli dictates,'' could conceivably stir this White House.

King Hussein and others may disagree over the characterization of Arab nationalism, but not about the level of commitment needed now for Middle East peace.

St Enda's skipper James McAuley believes that a fusion of the team's "unique bond" and the managerial skills of Frank Fitzsimons can help the club to make a bold bid for All-Ireland success.

The Glengormley outfit currently find themselves in unimagined territory having been crowned Antrim and Ulster intermediate club champions after decades spent striving for even a broad hint of recognition.

While the celebrations continue in full swing following the provincial final victory over Mullahoran, McAuley is anxious to ensure that the players remain focused for their All-Ireland club semi-final against Galway and Connacht champions Spiddal.

"The run we have been on recently has just been unbelievable," states Fitzsimons.

"We are fortunate in that we have a very tight group of players. Most of us went to school together, we have played together from Under-8 level, we were in and out of each other's houses so the bond has always been there.

"There is no greater success than in winning trophies with players you have been with all your life."

While the team has sprinted into the national spotlight and is already being mentioned as candidates for further glory, McAuley is quick to direct credit to manager Fitzsimons for what has been achieved to date.

"Frank is just unbelievable, that's the only word I can use to describe him," says McAuley, who is studying for a Masters degree in Queen's University.

"He has come in this year and worked wonders for us. He has taken us to where we are now but you can be sure he won't be satisfied with this. He will want us to drive on."

Earlier this year, Moy were crowned All-Ireland intermediate champions, and now St Enda's are aiming to emulate the Tyrone side's success.

"Before we went into the Antrim championship we took stock of what Moy did this time last year and then their All-Ireland performances at the start of this year, and we feel now that there is no reason why we can't take a leaf from their book," insists 22-year-old McAuley.

"Moy did Tyrone and Ulster proud in winning the All-Ireland intermediate club title and we have set our hearts on following in their footsteps."

McAuley is one of several players who could now come under the microscope of Antrim manager Lenny Harbinson.

Peter Healy is already an established player with the Saffrons, as well as being a shining light in the UCD side, while Eoin Nagle, Odhran Eastwood, Ruairi Scott, Kristian Healy and Conan Lyttle look to have the credentials to thrive in the inter-county sphere.

"Obviously I have been following St Enda's progress closely and certain players have come under our radar. But obviously they will be needed by the club for the All-Ireland series early in the New Year," says Harbinson.

Banks Menard still remembers the first time he ever heard about Kevin Faulk.

He was on the staff of new Carencro High head coach Mac Barousse at the time when the town's middle school coach showed up at practice one day with a proclamation.

Carencro Middle coach Billy McCauley told he and Barousse that this seventh-grader he had would be the best thing to ever hit the field at Carencro High.

At the time, an All-State caliber quarterback named Greg Laxey had just left the program to begin a college career with the hometown Ragin' Cajuns.

"We were like, 'Yeah right,' but I decided that I had to go see this kid," Menard said. "I watched this kid beat Anderson Middle, which I'm not sure had ever lost a game before, by himself. He was incredible."

As quickly as he could, Menard reported back to Barousse.

"Coach, you've got a stud coming up," he exclaimed. "Kevin Faulk is the real deal."

For the next two decades, that seventh grader proceeded to make McCauley a prophet.

As a freshman at Carencro High, he intercepted nine passes starting at safety. As a sophomore, he led the Golden Bears to the first football state championship in the history of Lafayette Parish.

"Even as a freshman, his work ethic was relentless," former Carencro High assistant coach Tony Courville said. "Sure he had a lot of God-given talent, but his mental strengths was as big or bigger than his physical strengths.

"I will never forget this 15-year-old kid during a big moment in the state championship game just tap Mac (Barousse) on the shoulder and say, 'I got it coach.' You don't see that very often."

The two-time State Offensive MVP and USA Today and Parade All-American then took his game to LSU where he restored a winning attitude to the Tigers with three straight winning seasons after the program had endured six consecutive losing seasons prior to his arrival.

Faulk was drafted by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft.

During his 13 years with the Patriots, he played in five Super Bowls — winning three — was honored on the Patriots 50-year anniversary team and finished as the franchise's all-time leader in all-purpose yards.

All of those statistics, though, only begin to provide the reasons why "Kevin Faulk is the real deal."

Faulk's impact on football in Louisiana will be cemented forever with his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday in Natchitoches.

"This honor is a big one," Faulk said. "This is home. This is recognition from your peers back home."

Home has always meant a big deal to Faulk.

These days, he's back at Carencro High coaching, hoping to provide the kind of leadership today's youth need.

"This is where I come from," Faulk said. "I take it very seriously. I've been there. I know the things that these kids learn in high school are lessons they can take with them moving forward."

The players Faulk are currently coaching weren't even alive when Faulk's legend really began back in the fall of 1992 as a sophomore quarterback.

"When you're a sophomore, you're not even thinking about pressure," Faulk said. "Truthfully, I didn't feel any pressure. What pressure? All I had to do was hand the ball off to Ernest Lazard or Derrick Beavers. That wasn't pressure."

And yet, cool beyond his years, it was Faulk being named as the MVP in the 28-27 overtime win over Neville in the state championship game.

Before his high school career was over, Faulk would amass 4,877 rushing yards at a clip of 8.1 a carry and 7,612 all-purpose yards with 89 touchdowns.

"He was always thinking that there was something he could do better," Menard said. "He worked at it. He went that extra mile. He had speed, vision and such a great knowledge of the game. He had passion for the game.

"When you have it, you have it. He's one of those kind of athletes that you only get every 10 or 20 years."

Faulk's former LSU running backs coach Michael Haywood said it didn't take him long to realize what kind of superstar athlete Faulk was.

"The first day I showed up on campus was the day Kevin Faulk came to visit LSU," Haywood said. "I was stunned. All of those recruits were treating him like a rock star, asking him for his autographs."

Patrick Pass was one of those prospects who was a big fan of Faulk and he wasn't even being recruited by LSU. He was from Tucker, Ga.

A USA Today All-American the year after Faulk left Carencro, Pass said he would regularly wake up each Saturday morning to watch the 'Countdown to Signing Day' TV program just so he could watch Faulk's highlights.

"I was a big fan of Kevin's," said Pass, who played at Georgia and then was a teammate of Faulk with the Patriots from 2000-06, 2009. "He was unbelievable. He had some incredible highlight-film runs.

"When we (Georgia) played LSU in 1998, I was happy just to be on the same field with Kevin Faulk."

If Haywood didn't quite get it initially, it didn't take him much time on the practice field for Haywood to learn what all the fuss was about.

"Kevin Faulk was the smartest football player I ever coached and the most competitive athlete I ever coached," Haywood said.

"He saw things before it happened. "He understood the technique and the fundamentals so well."

Faulk possessed the kind of attributes that can make it easy to coach, sort of like being the quarterback coach for Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.

"Booger McFarland would joke with me during practice, 'Coach Haywood, you can have the day off again today."

The only thing Faulk didn't feature was a tall frame. During his days with the Patriots, he was listed at 5-foot-8.

"But he always played with a 6-2 heart," Menard said.

By the time Faulk left LSU, his 4,557 yards rushing was second in SEC history only behind Georgia's Herschel Walker and his 6,833 all-purpose yards and was fifth in NCAA history and tops in the SEC, before being eclipsed by Tim Tebow in 2009.

Once in the NFL, Faulk's big impact wasn't as easily noticeable … to some at least. The Patriots' coaches, players, media and sure noticed him.

He finished as the franchise's all-time leader in all-purpose yards. He finished with 3,607 yards and 16 touchdowns rushing, as well as 3,701 yards and 15 touchdowns receiving.

But when he was elected to the franchise's 50th Anniversary team, and as the story goes, he accepted that news with little fanfare as always.

Owner Robert Kraft called him into office to inform Faulk of the honor.

"I thanked him and told him that I didn't believe it," he said. "Then I told him I had to go to practice."

In short, that was Faulk.

"He was always humble and hard-working," Menard said. "He still is."

It was that approach that allowed Faulk to play 13 years in the NFL. Instead of seeking fame when other teams came calling to make him a featured back after his first contract ended in New England, Faulk stayed and just continued to play a huge role in helping the Patriots win.

Faulk gave credit to former agent and friend Raymond Brothers, Jr. for encouraging him to stay in New England instead of taking more short-term money elsewhere.

"I agreed with him at the time. What's wrong with being a third-down back? Look how it worked out for him."

This is one of a Louisiana Sports Writers Association series of stories featuring the 11 members of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame's 2015 Induction Class. They will be enshrined Saturday in Natchitoches.

IT was the bloodiest battle of the First World War and even in the history of the British army - the Battle of the Somme.

As this week marks 100 years since the start of the vicious fighting, we take a look back at the marked effect and casualty figures that epitomise this pointless war.

Did the blind mystic who predicted 9/11 also foresee Brexit… and suggest a WAR in Europe would follow?

But New York decided to hire San Francisco’s old (white, male) president, instead.

When the New York Fed reached across the continent to grab San Francisco Fed President John Williams as its new leader, there was a fair amount of carping. In part, this was because some people think—in spite of outward appearances to the contrary—that he wasn’t very good at his job and thus didn’t deserve a promotion. But mostly, it had to do with appearance, full stop.

"The New York Fed has never had a woman or a person of color at its helm, and the Federal Reserve Bank only just last year added its first black regional bank president," Booker wrote in a Bloomberg View column. "If we're serious about creating an inclusive and sustainable economy, no one should be left on the sidelines…."

Williams was inserted into the search process late in the game and over and above qualified women who had already been in the running….

Now, in point of the above, the San Francisco Fed doesn’t really have much to prove: After all, before Williams, it had been led by a woman; perhaps you remember her? And Mary Daly certainly fits the bill for the job before considering matters identity: A researcher who’s been with the S.F. Fed for more than two decades and who was mentored by Janet Yellen herself, there’s no quibbling with the usual qualifications. Still, we can’t help but think the S.F. Fed search committee rather enjoys sticking it to the people who just stole their leader a little bit.

As a Missouri native and high-school dropout who was living on her own at age 16, she will add a distinctive perspective to a group dominated by men whose two-day meetings eight times a year set interest rates for the world’s largest economy.