Rozier Signs Contract With Jacksonville Bulls

The Jacksonville Bulls of the United States Football League signed running back Mike Rozier to a multiyear contract Friday.

Rozier, 23, a Heisman Trophy winner at Nebraska who signed with the now-defunct Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL, will join two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin, formerly of Ohio State and the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League, in the Jacksonville backfield.

Neither Rozier nor the Bulls would reveal the terms of the contract, but earlier he had rejected a one-year deal for $250,000.

Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards announced that an agreement has been worked out to sell the New Orleans Saints to the A.N. Pritzker family and keep the team in the Superdome for 30 years, but he said the sale is contingent on state aid.

Edwards warned that “all bets are off” if he can’t persuade the state legislature to support the agreement.

Team owner John Mecom Jr. of Houston and the wealthy A. N. Pritzker family of Chicago have been trying to make a multimillion deal for weeks.

Two hundred sixty-nine National Football League players, headed by Dallas’ Randy White, have become free agents. But a combination of the NFL’s restrictive free-agent rules and the United States Football League’s financial problems left most with little choice but to re-sign with their old teams.

White, the Cowboys’ defensive tackle, was one of four first-team All-Pros on the list, although he signed a new contract reported to be for five years before the 1984 season began.

The other All-Pros were linebacker E.J. Junior of the St. Louis Cardinals and defensive backs Mark Haynes of the New York Giants and Deron Cherry of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Other free agents included running back John Riggins of Washington, quarterbacks Steve Bartkowski of Atlanta and Phil Simms of the New York Giants and wide receiver John Jefferson of Green Bay.

A van carrying eight basketball players from Eastern Nazarene College at Quincy, Mass., overturned on a state highway near Utica, N.Y., leaving one person with a break in his spine.

Six of the players were taken to a nearby hospital, including Michael Petrocelli, 18, of Linwood, Mass., the son of former Boston Red Sox infielder Rico Petrocelli. Five players, including Petrocelli, were treated and released. Daniel McManus, 23, of Spencerport, N.Y., was admitted with the spine injury and was in fair condition.

The FBI is investigating reports of possible fixing of horse races at tracks in several states, including Ohio and Kentucky, and possibly in Canada, racing officials at Columbus, Ohio, said. Names of the tracks were not revealed.

Finland’s Ari Vatanen, along with Britain’s Terry Harryman in a Peugeot 205, won the 53rd Monte Carlo Rally. Vatanen drove brilliantly to overcome a major penalty in defeating four-time Monte Carlo winner Walter Rohrl of Germany in an Audi Quattro.

Clifford Meely, 37, a former University of Colorado basketball star who played in the NBA for the Houston Rockets and part of one season with the Lakers, has been arrested at Boulder, Colo., on charges of selling cocaine to an undercover officer.

The Cleveland Browns have signed running back Kevin Mack, who was waived Thursday by the Los Angeles Express, to a series of one-year contracts.

John Paul Jr., who will be starting from the pole position in today’s Daytona SunBank 24-hour endurance sports car race, pleaded innocent to a four-count federal indictment alleging conspiracy and racketeering in a marijuana smuggling ring.