Milestones

By Kathleen Adams, Melissa August, Randy Hartwell, Ellin Martens, Sora Song and Joel Stein

HIRED. BOBBY KNIGHT, 60, preternaturally boorish and abusive basketball coach who was dismissed from Indiana University last September, after 29 years of service, for grabbing a student by the arm and violating a zero-tolerance behavior policy; as new head coach at Texas Tech, despite a faculty-written petition objecting to his appointment; in Lubbock, Texas.

HOSPITALIZED. BILL JOHNSON, 40, Olympic downhill-skiing champion in 1984 and the first American man to win a World Cup downhill race; in a coma after crashing face-first on icy slopes at about 45 m.p.h.; in Whitefish, Mont. Johnson was attempting to stage a comeback and remake the Olympic team 17 years after winning gold in Sarajevo.

DIED. JOHN PHILLIPS, 65, founder of the 1960s hippie rock/folk band the Mamas and the Papas, innovator of the California sound and writer of such intricate vocal harmonies as the 1966 chart topper California Dreamin' and Monday, Monday; of heart failure; in Los Angeles. Following a brief reign atop the charts, the group split up in 1968 after Phillips' then wife and bandmate Michelle had an affair with fellow band member Denny Doherty. Phillips, a recovered drug and alcohol user, received a liver transplant in 1992.

DIED. DAVID MCTAGGART, 68, passionate environmental crusader who founded Greenpeace International in 1979; in a head-on car crash; in the Umbrian countryside near Perugia, Italy. McTaggart inspired a worldwide movement in 1972 by defiantly sailing his boat into a French nuclear test site at the Mururoa atoll in the South Pacific.

DIED. WILLIAM HANNA, 90, groundbreaking animator who, with partner Joseph Barbera, fathered such unforgettable characters as Scooby-Doo, Fred Flintstone, Tom and Jerry, and the Jetsons; in Los Angeles. In 1930, after losing a construction engineering job, Hanna started composing music for cartoons; by 1937 he had begun his partnership with Barbera. Hanna-Barbera's cartoon comedy won the team eight Emmys, including one for The Huckleberry Hound Show, the first given to an animated series.

DIED. ROWLAND EVANS, 79, nationally syndicated columnist and television pundit; of cancer; in Washington. Over the years, Evans worked as a reporter for the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1963 he teamed with fellow journalist Robert Novak; the two subsequently penned joint columns, co-wrote several books and for nearly 20 years acted as hosts of a show on CNN.

DIED. CHUNG JU YUNG, 85, industry titan who helped revive South Korea's war-torn economy with his founding of the Hyundai Group; in Seoul. Chung, whose company's cars and electronics embodied his country's "economic miracle," had seen his reputation tarnished in recent years through debt, an inability to streamline the firm in the face of the Asian financial crisis, and allegations of fraud and cronyism. Last year the Hyundai Group was splintered by two of his sons, who served as the company's co-chairmen.