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Frank Nofer, 71, of Spring Mill, a celebrated graphic artist and watercolorist who designed a Philadelphia logo for the American Bicentennial, died Thursday at Keystone House in Wyndmoor. His representational watercolors are included in prominent private and corporate collections. In 1995, the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College honored him with a one-man retrospective exhibition. For 25 years, Mr. Nofer operated a graphic-design studio in the Old City section of Philadelphia, where he did advertising for pharmaceutical companies and amassed many awards.

George Mattson, 88, a former Olympic oarsman and longtime schoolboy crew coach and mentor, died of prostate cancer Saturday at his Upper Darby home. Mr. Mattson began his rowing career at West Catholic High School, where he also was awarded varsity letters for football and track. In 1927, Mr. Mattson was the first captain of the West Catholic Crew, which won the prestigious Stotesbury Cup on the Schuylkill. Later that year, he was a member of the crew that won the National School Boy Regatta in Wyandotte, Mich.

Anyone who watched roller derby at the old Arena or saw their wild games on Channel 48 will recall that the Philadelphia Warriors had a thirst for mayhem. "I had three bodyguards whenever I came to Philadelphia," said Gootch Gautieri, a former player and official with the New York Bombers. "One time, I was in a grudge-match race against Ruberta Mitchell, and an idiot fan jumped on the track and attacked me. I kicked him in the face with my skates and put him in the hospital. He had no business assaulting me. " The Warriors arrived here in 1967, nearly two decades after the sport had debuted in the city in 1948.

Twenty-two American paintings from the collection of the late Violette de Mazia, who taught art appreciation at the Barnes Foundation in Merion for 60 years, sold for $2.38 million yesterday at Christie's auction house in New York. That amount, added to the $5 million paid earlier this month for eight impressionist and modern works and $644,000 paid in April for de Mazia's furniture and furnishings, brought the proceeds from de Mazia's estate to more than $8 million. Still to be sold are a half-dozen paintings and de Mazia's house in Lower Merion.

The leader of the Junior Black Mafia was sentenced yesterday to life in prison on charges of conspiring to distribute $100 million of cocaine in Philadelphia between 1986 and last year. The JBM leader, Aaron Jones, 30, showed little visible reaction as the sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz. The life sentence was mandated under the federal drug-kingpin statute under which Jones was convicted. Prosecutor Joel M. Friedman, who heads the organized crime unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office, made a brief but ardent statement at the sentencing hearing.

At least eight men founded the Junior Black Mafia in 1985, according to federal, state and local law enforcement sources, and street sources. They have been identified as: James Cole, 35, and his brother, Hayward Cole, 36, convicted drug traffickers who were enforcers in the 1970s for the old Black Mafia, police sources say. Some investigators believe the Coles, whom drug informants refer to as "The Big Bosses," continue to lead the...

Jimmy Lynch, 63, formerly of Chadds Ford, "an appealing vagabond," artist and artist's model who was the subject of several important paintings by Andrew Wyeth and his son, Jamie, died of hypertension and heart arrhythmia June 4 at his home in Lewisburg, W.Va. Mr. Lynch grew up in Chadds Ford, two doors down from the Wyeths. Jamie Wyeth, just two years older, became a buddy. "I taught him to drive and he showed me what New York was," Mr. Lynch told a reporter in 1988. When galleries assigned a limousine to Jamie Wyeth for exhibit openings, "I'd sit in the back, play the guitar, and we'd think we were the Beatles or something.

Twelve years and one day after her husband's battered corpse was found in a Pottstown alley, Patricia Ann Swinehart went on trial for her life yesterday, accused of being a self-made widow. Swinehart, 51, is charged with arranging the 1982 murder of her estranged husband, David Swinehart, a prominent developer. Prosecutors say she had him killed to collect a half-million dollars in life insurance and to continue an affair she was having with one of David Swinehart's nephews.

Kevin Holloman, weak from AIDS and fighting drug addiction, nervously eyed the metal door of the Good Shepherd shelter for homeless, medically fragile men in Philadelphia. His once-handsome face was drawn, his cheeks hollowed, his complexion pale. Kevin, 32, slowly picked up his suitcase, a crate full of books, and three trash bags of clothes and carried them to the shelter door. His stomach churned that morning last December. How will they treat me? Am I going to like the people?

Clint Eastwood flinched first and settled a lawsuit yesterday with ex-live-in Sondra Locke minutes before a jury was to render a verdict in her favor. Neither side was talking how much, but her lawyer said it was a straight cash deal with no future considerations. Locke had sought $2.5 mil for Eastwood's alleged sabotaging of her directing career. A juror said damages were discussed from $15,000 to $10 mil. The lawsuit was over a movie deal he supposedly brokered for her at Warner Bros.

Hundreds of pieces of 18th-century glass have been attributed to Henry William Stiegel, the most romantic figure in the history of early American glass. Stiegel's story is the classic rags to riches tale, which he carried a step beyond a happy ending by going back to rags. Stiegel, a German immigrant, came to America in 1750, married the daughter of a Lancaster County ironmaster, took over the iron business and diversified into glass production. Called "The Baron" by his neighbors, he became wealthy and spent lavishly before he over-expanded, went bankrupt and ended his days in poverty in 1780.

Perhaps you're one of the 5,000 people who volunteered to clean up Germantown Avenue on Sunday as part of the Presidents' Summit for America's Future - and you're wondering what else you might be able to squeeze in between collecting trash, scrubbing graffiti and sweeping dirt. (Then again, maybe you're not a volunteer and your intention is to stay as far away from Germantown Avenue as possible until the dust settles and everybody goes back home.) You should know, if you don't already, that the Avenue is lined with scores of stores, shops and eateries that are as varied as the neighborhoods it runs through.

Legendary radio broadcaster Georgie Woods, "the Guy With the Goods" who was a Philadelphia leader in both entertainment and civil rights, died early yesterday morning. Mr. Woods, 78, who moved to Florida in 1996, is believed to have suffered a heart attack at his Boynton Beach home, said his longtime companion, Doris Harris. He died shortly thereafter at Bethesda Memorial Hospital, according to staff at the Boynton Beach medical facility. After he came to Philadelphia from New York in 1953, Mr. Woods used the airwaves of WDAS-AM (1480)

In 1861, the residents of Humphreysville changed the name of their town to Bryn Mawr, which is Welsh for "high hill. " Not to be outdone, the residents of Athensville changed its name to Ardmore, which is Irish for "high hill. " Darrah Street is named for a Quaker woman who eavesdropped on British army officers and tipped off George Washington about their plans. There was never a bank on Bank Street. All of this and much, much more can be found in Robert I. Alotta's extraordinary book Mermaids, Monasteries, Cherokees and Custer: The Stories Behind Philadelphia Street Names.