Braves’ Washington Arrested; Drugs Suspected

Outfielder Claudell Washington of the Atlanta Braves was arrested in Walnut Creek, Calif., on suspicion of possessing cocaine. Washington, 30, had undergone treatment for drug dependency after the 1983 season.

Washington was arrested early Monday when his 1985 Jaguar was spotted weaving on a freeway. He was released after posting $3,000 bail. No arraignment date has been set.

“It’s certainly disheartening,” said Braves assistant vice president Paul Snyder, who helps coordinate the club’s drug-abuse program. “It’s a setback for Claudell and the organization. Of course, it’s just suspicion at the moment. We’re waiting to get some answers.”

A joint player-management drug program instituted last June provides: “Any player convicted of or pleading guilty to any crime related to the possession or use of a controlled substance will be suspended without pay for one year.”

Edwin Moses, making his first public statement since being found innocent of a charge of soliciting an undercover Los Angeles policewoman for an act of prostitution, said he was “not bitter about anything” connected with the incident.

“Everyone knows life has a lot of quirks, a lot of tricky turns,” Moses told reporters at a New York press luncheon as his wife, Myrella, sat nearby. “The important thing is to stay on the road. I’m not harboring any bad feelings. As I look back, I feel it’s something that could have happened to anyone in that situation at that point of time.”

Moses will be a television commentator for the USA-Mobil Indoor Track and Field Championships Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

ESPN will rebroadcast about 180 hours of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics this summer after acquiring the cable rights from the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.

The telecasts will include re-edited footage from ABC’s live presentation, as well as footage that has not been seen before on American television. The dates will be announced.

The North American Soccer League, struggling financially with only four clubs, may suspend operations for the 1985 season. A decision will be made before March 1.

“If the league can’t operate in ‘85, I’d rather kill off the league than kill off the game,” NASL President Clive Toye said. The four remaining teams are Toronto, Minnesota, the Cosmos and a newly organized group in Tulsa. Last year, there were nine teams.

Businessman Ralph Scurfield, part owner of the Calgary Flames hockey team, might have avoided the avalanche that killed him if he had waited for a go-ahead signal from a mountain guide or heard warning shouts from other skiers, claimed a helicopter ski operator who witnessed the accident.

Scurfield, 58, and Randy Broyhill, 26, of Arlington, Va., were killed Monday when an avalanche buried them on Mt. Duffy in British Columbia.

“Ralph skied right into the slide,” ski operator Mike Wiegele said. “Everybody was yelling for him to stop. He wasn’t out of control. He must not have heard them or seen it coming.”

An arbitrator ruled in favor of the Chicago Cubs in their case with first baseman Leon Durham. The Cubs had offered Durham $800,000 for the 1985 season; the player was asking for $1.1 million.

All-American receiver Tracy Henderson and teammate Robbie Minor were kicked off the Iowa State football team for what Coach Jim Criner said were disciplinary reasons.

Criner would not elaborate, but Henderson said that Criner felt he had not given 100% to the team, and that he was a negative influence in motivating other team members.

North Carolina State freshman quarterback Percy Moorman, convicted of raping a female student, will undergo an “evaluation of his perceptions and his ability to change” before being sentenced May 28.

One of Moorman’s problems, his attorney said, was that “a great deal of his self-worth was centered around football, and he said the coach treated him like a piece of meat.”

Names in the News

Former world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks will return to the ring tonight after nearly a two-year absence to fight Lupe (Macho) Guerra in Detroit.

Former outfielder Bobby Murcer was named an assistant vice president of the New York Yankees.

Boxing promoter Don King was sued for $10 million for alleged fraud in connection with the promotion of a venture called the World Series of Casino Gambling.

Former Laker forward Clifford Meely has been charged with possession of cocaine and two counts of selling the drug to an undercover officer in Boulder, Colo.

The Toronto Blue Jays signed relief pitcher Bill Caudill to a contract to avoid binding salary arbitration.

Forward Cedric Maxwell was placed on the injured reserve list by the Boston Celtics while awaiting arthroscopic examination to determine the cause of a knee problem.