Sipe Will Undergo Surgery

Jacksonville Bulls quarterback Brian Sipe, who suffered “a complete shoulder separation” in Sunday’s United States Football League game against Baltimore, is scheduled for surgery this morning.

Earlier reports that the injury could end the career of the 35-year-old Sipe may have been too pessimistic, team spokesman Glenn Greenspan said, and Sipe may be able to return in about eight weeks. Thirteen of the 14 members of the Baylor basketball team, the team manager and its trainer have issued a statement of support for former backup center John Wheeler, who has been linked to a university investigation that led to the resignation of head Coach Jim Haller.

The players also said they have spoken to university officials about improprieties in the Baylor basketball program and said Haller’s resignation was “inevitable, “ even without Wheeler’s participation in the investigation.

A man foiled in his attempts to remove former basketball star Wilt Chamberlain’s jersey from a mannequin in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., pleaded innocent to charges filed in connection with the break-in, police said.

Police speculate that Andrew G. McCrea, 37, intended to sell jerseys and other basketball memorabilia from the museum to collectors.

Former Boston Celtic Bill Russell’s game shirt also was recovered, police said.

Columnist Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News was named by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the recipient of the Red Smith Award for sportswriting excellence.

Sherrod, 65, was announced the winner at a board meeting of the APSE in Tampa Bay, Fla., “for an extended meritorious career in the art of sportswriting.”

Boston sent two second-round draft picks to New York to get the Knicks to waive their rights to free-agent guard Ray Williams, who has been sitting out the season in a contract dispute. Williams, who signed a Celtics’ offer sheet promising to pay him $125,000 for the rest of the season, will join the team today.

Jens-Peter Berndt, University of Alabama and world class swimmer who defected from East Germany last month, has been declared eligible by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.