NIT Receives Approval to Conduct a Preseason Event, Too

The National Invitation Tournament, whose existence has been threatened by the expanded NCAA basketball playoffs, has been given permission by the NCAA to organize a 16-team preseason tournament starting in November.

The new tournament will be in addition to the postseason NIT at the close of the season.

Opening games of the single-elimination, preseason tournament will be played on campus sites, with the semifinals and finals at Madison Square Garden if it is available. It will not count against the NCAA’s 28-game limit on basketball games.

The NIT, which is 47 years old, has 32 teams. When it started, the NCAA playoff field was 24, but it is 64, leaving few quality teams for the NIT.

Princess Rooney, after winning the Eclipse Award that eluded her the last two years, is retiring and will be bred in Kentucky this spring. Owner Paula Tucker said she is considering Alydar, Slew o’ Gold, several sons of Northern Dancer and other stallions as prospective mates for Princess Rooney.

The 5-year-old gray mare, who earned $1.3 million in her career, is stabled at Santa Anita under the care of trainer Neil Drysdale, but will return to her birthplace to prepare for the breeding season.

“In a business like this, you just cross your fingers and hope her career as a mama is half as good as her career at the track,” said Tom Roach, manager of the Parrish Hill Farm. “They’re winding her down and letting her relax at the track for a few weeks before she comes home.”

Running back Sammy Winder, the only member of the Denver Broncos to be named to the Pro Bowl, earned less money than two rookie running back teammates last year, according to salary figures released by the NFL players union.

Winder earned $55,000, less than little-used Chris Brewer ($65,000) and Gene Lang ($60,000). The Broncos’ highest-paid player is quarterback John Elway, making $700,000 a year.

Former Clemson strength coach Sam L. Colson will plead guilty if indicted for dispensing prescription drugs to student-athletes, according to his lawyer.

John T. Gentry said “there’s no question” Colson would enter a guilty plea because, “I don’t have any valid defense.” Gentry said his client had cooperated with authorities “from the time they found young Augustinius Jaspers in his room dead and the autopsy report indicated he had traces of phenylbutazone in his system.”

The death of Jaspers, an All-American cross-country runner from The Netherlands, prompted an investigation into the source of the phenylbutazone.

George Goodale, a California Angels publicist since 1961 and an associate of owner Gene Autry since 1935, was reported in fair condition at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange following a stroke Monday.

Goodale, 77, was the Angels’ chief statistician. He originally met Autry in 1929 when he was a sportswriter in Tulsa, Okla., and interviewed Autry for a story in the Tulsa World when Autry was a singing telegraph operator and semipro baseball player.

Goodale first worked for Autry to promote his singing tours. Following World War II, in which he served in the Air Force, Goodale became publicity director for the Pacific Coast League’s Los Angeles Angels. He was hired by Autry again in 1961, shortly after the cowboy singer was awarded an American League expansion franchise.

St. Louis intends to challenge any attempts to woo its franchise in the National Football League to another town, a civic leader said Wednesday.

“I feel every effort must be made to keep the team here,” said James M. O’Flynn, president of the Regional Commerce & Growth Assn, which represents nearly 3,500 metropolitan area business, labor and professional organizations.

In a letter to NFL headquarters Tuesday, Cardinals owner William V. Bidwill said he was reserving the right to relocate the team.

The size of Busch Stadium is a prime concern of Bidwill’s. Cardinal attendance this season averaged 46,513, nearly 13,300 below the league average. Further, under terms of a 30-year lease, the NFL team draws no concessions or parking revenues from the 51,391-seat facility, second-smallest in the NFL. A woman who says she was married to former boxing champion Muhammad Ali plans to sue him for child support for her 10-year-old daughter, the woman’s lawyer told United Press International.

Judith Foreman said her client, Aaisha Ali, 28, is seeking “several thousand dollars” a month in payments for her daughter, Khaliah, who she says was fathered by Ali.

Howard Bingham, a spokesman for Ali, said Ali had no comment, but has never denied being father of the 10-year-old.

Foreman said Ali married Aaisha in May 1975 in a religious ceremony in Florida. She said the couple lived together until 1980.

“He had been paying for her support until last May,” Foreman said. “He visits her frequently.”

Foreman said the woman has “absolutely no money” and has been cleaning homes and babysitting to support her daughter.

Names in the News

Mark Roth has been named the Professional Bowlers Assn. player of the year for the fourth time.

Chicago Bulls forward David Greenwood left the team to receive treatment for his Achilles tendinitis from Dr. Tony Daly, who has treated Lakers Bob McAdoo and Kurt Rambis for similar problems.

Former outfielder Vada Pinson was named batting instructor for the Detroit Tigers.