NBA Gives Kings OK to Move to Sacramento

The Kansas City Kings’ request to move to Sacramento was approved by a special committee of National Basketball Assn. owners, but the league will reserve the right to relocate the Kings once again if Sacramento does not build a suitable arena by the 1987-88 season.

The decision by the five owners must be ratified by a majority of the full 23-member board of governors, who will meet in New York April 16.

The Kings, currently in last place in the Midwest Division, announced in January their intention to relocate, citing what President and General Manager Joe Axelson called “generally weak support over the years.”

The owners’ committee said that while there is now no suitable arena in Sacramento, a temporary facility seating 10,400 is expected to be ready by September, in time for the 1985-86 season. It would be home to the team pending the completion of a larger arena by 1987.

Monday night’s NCAA championship game between Villanova and Georgetown registered a 23.3 national Nielsen rating, the second-highest ever for a basketball telecast, CBS announced. The 1979 NCAA title game between Michigan State and Indiana State, televised by NBC, got a 24.1.

The estimated audience for Monday night’s game was 35.6 million, making it the most-watched basketball game ever. The estimated audience for the 1979 game was 35.1 million.

Memphis State officials have placed an assistant football coach on six months probation for slapping a coed. Murray Armstrong said he slapped the girl and a freshman football player as “an unthinking reaction.”

The incident began early Sunday morning when a fight broke out at a fraternity house. A freshman football player, Brian Chadwick, was injured in the fight and was taken to the dormitory by Barbara Bishop, a “little sister” of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Miss Bishop said Monday that she helped Chadwick to his dormitory and that as she left his room she was confronted by Armstrong, who slapped her.

The International Tennis Federation will recommend banning players under 14 years old from professional events and limiting the schedules of those under 16, in order to curb the emotional and physical effects of a full schedule on young players.

The Southeastern Conference decided not to strip Florida of its first-ever SEC football title. The league had banned the Gators from going to a postseason bowl because of a string of NCAA rules violations.

Entries for this year’s Indianapolis 500 will fall nearly 40 shy of last year’s record total of 117. The skyrocketing cost of racing and an entry fee that has tripled from $1,000 to $3,000 were cited as reasons.

Hoping to reduce the risk of knee injuries, the United States Football League will require interior offensive linemen and all defensive linemen under 26 to wear knee braces.

A massive heart attack was blamed for the death of a high school shortstop who collapsed during a game Tuesday. Mike Abel, 15, of Brandon, Miss., complained to his coach that he wasn’t feeling well, then collapsed and died in the dugout.

Pepperdine University will begin sponsoring teams in women’s golf and women’s swimming beginning in the 1985-86 school year. Pepperdine now has eight men’s and six women’s sports.

Names in the News

George Gervin of the San Antonio Spurs may miss up to four of the team’s final six games because of a sprained ankle.

Doug Carpenter of the New Jersey Devils was named coach and general manager of Team Canada for the World Hockey Championships later this month at Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Third baseman Ray Knight of the New York Mets underwent surgery for removal of three bone chips in his right elbow. He will be lost for up to six weeks, the club said.

USC pole vaulter Doug Wicks broke an ankle in a meet Saturday at Cromwell Field and may be out for the rest of the season.

Shav Glick, golf writer of The Times, has won a special award from the Southern California Golf Assn. Glick was named for long and meritorious service to amateur golf. The other recipient was John Argue, past president of the association.