CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina football player Tylee Craft died Saturday morning from a rare form of lung cancer, coach Mack Brown said.
Brown made the announcement in his postgame news conference following the Tar Heels’ loss to Georgia Tech. Craft was 23.
“This young man fought so hard for his two and a half years,” Brown said. “The doctors told us he outlived what he should’ve. And he did it with the spirit, he did it with a smile on his face, he didn’t miss a meeting, he didn’t miss practice, he coached these other incredible young people.”
UNC had honored Craft — who was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer in March 2022 — during Saturday’s football game, which also happened to be the team’s annual Cancer Awareness Game. Friends and family members wearing shirts bearing Craft’s name and number were recognized during an on-field ceremony.
Wide receiver J.J. Jones wore Craft’s jersey with his No. 13 and last name against the Yellow Jackets.
Brown told reporters he didn’t learn of Craft’s death until after the game but sensed something had happened after sharing an emotional hug with Craft’s mother at the end of the first quarter.
“I think the family feels the love and they’ll continue to feel the love,” Brown said. “What we’ve got to do is be strong, and pray for strength for us as leaders, to help these guys on the field and off the field. … So more than ever before I have got to step up and be stronger for them and make sure that I can help them manage the stuff and move forward in their lives.”
UNC football also announced Craft’s death in a statement posted on social media, followed later by a tribute video to Craft’s memory. Additionally, the UNC men’s basketball team wore shirts bearing Craft’s name and number for its intrasquad scrimmage at the Smith Center following the football game, and had a pre-scrimmage moment of silence in Craft’s honor.
Craft, from Sumter, South Carolina, played in seven games at receiver and on special teams as a true freshman in 2020, and four games in 2021 before his diagnosis. Still, he had remained present and close to the program.
“Tylee meant so much to so many and affected us in ways we’ll always be thankful for," the football program's statement said. “He was 1-of-1 and, while he won’t be with us in body, he’ll be watching over us with his endearing smile and endless positivity.”
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.coHaynem/cfbtop25
FILE - North Carolina wide receiver Tylee Craft (13) walks the bench during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Minnesota, Sept. 16, 2023, in Chapel Hill, N.C. (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay, File)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The European Court of Human Rights in a landmark ruling Tuesday found that Greece illegally deported a woman back to neighboring Turkey, and described the use of summary expulsions, or “pushbacks,” as systematic.
The decision could impact how Europe handles migrants at its borders, at a time when Greece and several European Union member states are seeking tougher immigration controls. Frontline EU member states receive financial support from Brussels to handle illegal migration.
A Turkish woman — identified by her initials A.R.E. — was awarded damages of 20,000 euros ($21,000) after the court ruled that she had been improperly expelled in 2019 after crossing into Greece, with no opportunity to make an asylum claim.
“The court considered that there were strong indications to suggest that there had existed, at the time of the events alleged, a systematic practice of ‘pushbacks’ of third-country nationals by the Greek authorities, from the Evros region (on the Greek border) to Turkey,” the decision said.
Citing a lack of evidence, the court rejected a second claim made by an Afghan man who said he had been illegally returned to Turkey from the Greek island of Samos in 2020 when he was 15.
Greek government representatives at the hearings denied the allegations, challenging the authenticity of the evidence presented and arguing that Greece's border policies comply with international law.
Niamh Keady-Tabbal, a member of the legal team for the Afghan migrant, described the court's decision as broadly significant but also “profoundly unjust” regarding the man's case. “It is quite unjust that such a cynical position of blanket denial can serve in practice to shield the Greek government from accountability,” she told The Associated Press. The U.N. refugee agency has urged Greece to more thoroughly investigate multiple allegations of pushbacks, while several major human rights groups have described the alleged irregular deportations as systematic.
Greece’s National Transparency Authority, a publicly funded corruption watchdog, said it found no evidence to support the pushback allegations following a four-month investigation in 2022.
The European Court of Human Rights is an international court based in Strasbourg, France, that adjudicates human rights violations by 46 member states of the Council of Europe, a body older than the European Union and its predecessor, the European Economic Community.
Greece registered more than 60,000 illegal arrivals of migrants last year, an increase of nearly 50% from 2023. It seeks direct funding from the EU to pay for the planned expansion of a border wall along the land frontier with Turkey.
Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
FILE - Migrants walk to enter Greece from Turkey by crossing the Maritsa river (Evros river in Greek) near the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Turkey, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
