Navy Gives McCallum a Year of Eligibility

Navy running back Napoleon McCallum, a Heisman Trophy candidate when he broke an ankle last season, will be allowed to play another year of football by the Academy. This is the first time it has allowed an athlete to redshirt.

McCallum was scheduled to graduate in May, but had asked to stay for the fall semester to play one more year. Academy Superintendent Rear Adm. Charles R. Larson said he granted the request because “we had an obligation to support him after all the support he has provided for the Naval Academy and the Navy itself in recent years.”

Vanderbilt football Coach George MacIntyre said he doubts a pharmacist’s allegations that 40 or 50 of his players were using steroids.

The Nashville Tennessean reported that druggist M. Woody Wilson said 40 or 50 players used the prescription drug he provided. Wilson said he delivered an average of 10 bottles of pills and liquid doses of steroids two or three times a week to Vanderbilt’s McGugin Center.

Authorities launched a probe that led to Vanderbilt after traces of an anti-inflammatory drug were found in the bloodstream of Clemson track star Augustinius Jaspers, who died Oct. 19 of congenital heart disease. Both Wilson and Vanderbilt weight coach E.J. Kreis have given extensive statements to law officers.

Former tennis pro Arthur Ashe was one of 52 persons--many of them Maryland public school teachers--arrested during anti-apartheid demonstrations in front of the South African Embassy in Washington, police said.

Police arrested at least 43 members of the Maryland State Teachers Assn. and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said David Scott of the black lobby group TransAfrica, organizers of the protest.

The number of arrests made during the daily demonstrations, which began Thanksgiving Eve, stands at 201.

Don Fehr, the head of the baseball players’ union, said contract talks with the owners had broken off and would be resumed only after owners explain remarks by Houston Astros owner John McMullen. McMullen, one of four owners on the negotiations committee, said that union leaders have too much influence over the players and that the players do not understand baseball’s precarious financial state. Carl Lewis, in New York to participate in the Millrose Games, said he has received numerous endorsement opportunities and isn’t jealous of those who have left the Olympics in a more favorable light.

“By the start of the Olympics, I was old hat,” Lewis said. “They were talking about me in ‘81, ’82 and ’83. The press was looking for somebody new. I love Mary Lou (Retton), I think she’s wonderful. She’s great for the sport.

“It just seemed when Mary Lou won and celebrated or when (wrestler) Jeff Blatnick cried, that was spontaneous. When I grabbed a flag from the stands and ran around the track, that was called calculated showboating.” Infielder John Castino of the Minnesota Twins will miss the 1985 season because of a second spinal fusion operation, and he says it’s doubtful he’ll ever play baseball again.

Castino, 30, will undergo surgery Feb. 5 at Fairview Hospital in Minneapolis to further correct the back problems that have plagued his career since 1981.

“From everything I hear from various doctors, the chances are about one in three that I’ll be able to play again,” Castino said.

A lifetime .276 hitter known for his defense, Castino signed a four-year contract for $2.75 million before the 1984 season. That was the richest contract ever signed by a Twin. Castino will be paid in full the next three seasons.

Former Arizona Wrangler and UCLA tight end Tim Wrightman has won an arbitration judgment for part of his 1984 salary, according to his attorney, Richard Segal.

The award includes $115,000 plus interest on the unpaid portion of his salary and deferred money that is due over the next three years. Wrightman, who became a free agent last summer, took the Wranglers to arbitration after the team stopped paying him.

The Milwaukee Brewers signed reliever Rollie Fingers to a two-year contract and placed veteran left-hander Mike Caldwell on waivers to make room for him.

San Francisco 49er reserve running back Carl Monroe, who twice has been convicted of drunken driving, will enter an alcohol rehabilitation program. The Memphis Showboats of the USFL signed former Arizona Wrangler and Ohio State running back Tim Spencer, the league’s third-leading rusher last season.