Thirteen months after he visited Roanoke to speak at the funeral of former Virginia Tech and Baltimore Colts teammate George Preas, Madison "Buzz" Nutter died Saturday in Maryland.

Nutter, originally from Summersville, W.Va., came out of Tech as a 12th-round draft pick by the Washington Redskins in 1953 and was the starting center for the Baltimore Colts when they won NFL championships in 1958 and 1959.

Nutter, who made the Pro Bowl in 1963 as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, had suffered from heart problems in recent years but had attended an autograph session with former teammates in the last three weeks. He was 77.

"It was a shocker to hear that he had passed away," said Roanoke businessman Ki Luczak, who played linebacker for the Hokies when Nutter was Tech's center.

"There was sort of a reunion last year [following the Preas] funeral and I sat at the same table with him."

Nutter, named to the Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, played on college teams that went 0-10, 2-8 and 5-6.

"Unless you've got a helluva ballclub, you're not going to get much attention as an offensive lineman," said Luczak, a 2000 hall of fame honoree. "It didn't surprise any of us that he had the [NFL] career he did."

After four years in Pittsburgh, Nutter was traded back to Baltimore, where he finished his career in 1965 before opening a Waldorf, Md., beer distributorship.

In an obituary in The Baltimore Sun, Nutter was cited as the player who chased down a fan and retrieved the ball after the Colts' 23-17 overtime victory over the New York Giants in the 1958 NFL Championship game, frequently referred to as "the greatest game ever played."

Showing their stuff

Deron Washington from Virginia Tech and VMI's Reggie Williams were named to the 11-member all-tournament team this past weekend at the Portsmouth Invitational, where 60 NBA hopefuls displayed their wares for scouts.

Washington tied for fifth in scoring, averaging 17 points over three games, and Williams was fifth at 16.3. Williams also had the best 3-point percentage, hitting eight of 13 shots from behind the NBA arc.

Gary Forbes, who spent two years at Virginia before transferring to Massachusetts, played on the same Norfolk Navy Shipyard team as Washington and led all players in assists. Ohio State's Jamar Butler was the MVP.

Streaks and such

The 25-match winning streak that Virginia carries into the ACC men's tennis championships this week includes 10 shutouts. ... Senior Somdev Devvarman, last year's NCAA champion, has won 27 consecutive matches since an October loss to Georgia's Travis Helgeson.

North Carolina, which won four NCAA men's lacrosse national championships from 1981-1991, has now lost 17 straight games to ACC opposition.

That includes regular-season games, ACC tournament games and NCAA games in a streak that would have ended 12 days ago if Virginia hadn't rallied from a three-goal deficit in the last four minutes in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Settling down

Two Virginia prep standouts who went to college out of state have accepted in-state coaching positions, Mike Compton at Patrick Henry-Glade Spring and Ferrell Edmunds at Dan River. They are graduates, respectively, of Tazewell and George Washington-Danville.

Edmunds, a tight end at the University of Maryland, was a two-time Pro Bowl selection in seven seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Compton, a center at West Virginia, has two Super Bowl rings from the New England Patriots.

Former Virginia Tech defensive back Loren Johnson is the new head football coach at Highland Spring after a successful stint at Stonewall Jackson in Manassas.

Connections

Virginia's trip to Minnesota next December for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge is certain to spark considerable discussion about the Gophers' Ralph Sampson III, a 6-foot-10 signee from Atlanta. His father, Ralph Jr., was a three-time national player of the year during his UVa career.

Local update

One-time Northside High School standout Corrie Fertitta has had a tryout with the WNBA's Washington Mystics after finishing her Radford University career as the No. 6 scorer and No. 3 rebounder in the program's history. She also set Big South Conference season and career records for blocked shots.

Former Alleghany High School pitcher Robbie Andrews pitched four innings of one-hit relief for Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday night in an 11-5 victory over Richmond.

Andrews is coming off a freshman year in which he was 2-0 and posted a 1.50 ERA in 12 appearances.

Another sophomore, Nathan Furry from Salem, is batting .240 as a backup catcher for the Rams (10-21).