By AP
Nashville, TN – The mother of Murray State basketball player Picasso Simmons has died in a car crash in Nashville. Freeda Simmons died around 7:30 Monday morning. WSMV-TV reports Simmons, who was a nurse at Vanderbilt University, was injured a couple of hours earlier when an Allied Waste Services truck lost its trailer, setting off a chain-reaction crash.
Murray State spokesman Dave Winder says that Picasso Simmons is planning to go to the Racers' game Thursday against Vanderbilt. The Racers are leaving today for San Jose, California, where the NCAA West Regional game will be held.
Winder says Simmons' mother, who ran track and field at Murray in the early 1980s, had been happy her son was going to the tournament and that he wanted to honor her by going with the team.