USFL Union Official Says If There Is No Agreement, There Will Be No Games

Doug Allen, executive director of the USFL Players Assn., said that if a collective bargaining agreement cannot be reached with management, the players will strike before the start of the regular season, newspapers in Denver reported.

However, some Denver Gold players disagreed with Allen, reasoning that a strike would all but cause the league to fold.

“I wouldn’t strike because we’ve got to make this league go and help it establish itself,” Gold offensive guard Walt Downing told the Rocky Mountain News. “It’s just a tool to try to help in bargaining.”

Allen, though, told the Denver Post that the union is committed to a strike beginning Feb. 24 unless a collective bargaining agreement is reached.

Andrea Schoene of East Germany completed a sweep of all four events in the women’s World Speed Skating Championships Sunday by winning the 1,500 and establishing a world record in the 5,000 meters at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

Schoene was clocked in 7:32.82 in the 5,000, bettering her previous world record by 1.70 seconds. Her time in the 1,500 was 2:05.47.

The best American finish in the 1,500 was an 18th place by Bonnie Blair.

Masahiro Akimoto became the first person from Japan to win a ski jump in the World Cup series this season, beating Olympic champion Matti Nykaenen of Finland in the 90-meter jump at Sapporo, Japan.

Nykaenen still retained the overall World Cup lead after 11 meets.

Heisman Trophy winners Paul Hornung of Notre Dame and Mike Garrett of USC were among 11 players named to the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame.

Also selected for induction Dec. 3 in New York were Tennessee lineman Doug Atkins, guard George Brown of Navy and San Diego State, Baylor guard Bill Glass, Oklahoma halfback Tommy McDonald, halfback Skip Minisi of Penn and Navy, Army tackle Robin Olds, guard Steve Reid of Northwestern, Alabama quarterback Riley Smith and Air Force tackle Brock Strom.

Michael Gross of West Germany won the men’s 100-meter butterfly in the Arena Short Course Meet, and American Jenna Johnson won three events in the Arena Short Course Meet at Bonn, West Germany.

Gross, 20, who had earlier set world bests in the 800-meter freestyle and 200-meter butterfly, was pressed by American Chris O’Neil. Gross was clocked in 53.35, 0.45 seconds off his own world mark. O’Neil, from Huntsville, Ala., was timed in 53.50.

Johnson, 17, of Santa Rosa, Calif., won the women’s 50-meter freestyle in 25.54, the 50-meter butterfly in 27.65 and the 100-meter freestyle in 54.97.

Tony McKegney, the Minnesota North Stars’ leading goal scorer and only selection to Tuesday’s NHL All-Star game, will miss the rest of the season because of an injury suffered Saturday, team officials said.

McKegney, who has 23 goals, suffered a shoulder separation in the North Stars’ 4-2 loss to St. Louis.

In the All-Star game, McKegney will be replaced by Steve Payne of the North Stars.

A poll indicated that New Orleans voters don’t want the state of Louisiana to provide $25 million to help the A.N. Pritzker family buy the New Orleans Saints, and a family spokesman said the Pritzkers may abandon the idea.

“It is obvious the governor ran into considerable resistance on the state making any front-end money available,” said Denzil Skinner, a negotiator for the Pritzkers. “So we have to back off and take another run at it from an entirely different angle, without the state putting up any front-end money.”

In a poll by the Times Picayune, only 45% of the New Orleans voters favored the loan.

Leading from the start, veteran Shigeru Soh of Japan won the Tokyo International Marathon, finishing more than one minute ahead of runner-up Kebede Balcha of Ethiopia.

Soh, 32, was timed in 2 hours 10 minutes 32 seconds. Balcha was clocked in 2:12:01.

Third was Japan’s Masanari Shintaku in 2:12:23, followed by Mekenne Abebe, another Ethiopian, in 2:12:39.