Pepitone Is Named in Indictment

Joe Pepitone, former New York Yankees first baseman, has been indicted on drug- and weapon-possession charges, the Brooklyn district attorney said.

Pepitone, 44, was named in a seven-count indictment along with two other New York men--Thomas Carbone, 51, and Robert Oates, 46--on charges of possession of cocaine, depressant pills and drug paraphernalia. In addition, all three were charged with illegal possession of a weapon.

The three were arrested March 18 after police stopped their car for allegedly going through a red light in Brooklyn. In the car, driven by Carbone, police said they found cocaine, heroin and pills with a street value of $70,000, drug paraphernalia and a loaded .22-caliber derringer.

Pepitone, who was freed on $15,000 bail after pleading innocent to a criminal complaint on April 20, has claimed he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” After his arrest, he proclaimed his innocence, saying he had always tried “to make people smile and do the right thing, and I never want to hurt my family or anybody else by doing the wrong thing.”

Mary Decker Slaney has switched coaches, ending her four-year association with Dick Brown.

Slaney, 26, is now being coached by Louiz de Oliveira, the 35-year-old Brazilian who is best known as the coach of Olympic 800-meter gold medalist Joaquim Cruz.

“We mutually decided that it was in our best interest to discontinue the athlete-coach association,” Brown said.

“It was a mutual decision,” Slaney agreed. “As far as reasons go, it isn’t that anything specific happened; it’s just that we decided a change would be good. It was nothing personal. But at this point, I have to do what I believe will help my running career the most.”

Brown said the two differed philosophically. “My interpretation was that Mary felt she needed to run faster, and I had felt she had run fast enough,” he said. “I believe she could certainly accomplish the goals I felt were the most important by emphasizing consistency instead of emphasizing fast races too soon, which might diminish consistency.”

Czechoslovakia defeated Canada, 5-3, at Prague, Czechoslovakia, to win its first World hockey title since 1977. The Soviet Union, world champion in 1978-1984, beat the United States, 10-3, for the bronze medal.

Jiri Sejba scored three goals to lead Czechoslovakia.

The United States trailed the Soviet Union, 7-0, after two periods. Scoring for the Americans in the third period were Tom Fergus, Gary Suter and Anthony Granato.

Alabama linebacker Emanuel King, the Cincinnati Bengals’ second first-round draft choice, has signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Bandits that is worth $2.2 million over four years, a Cincinnati newspaper reported.

Harold Daniels, King’s agent, confirmed the figure in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer.

In Baton Rouge, La., funeral services were held for William McClendon, a 17-year-old high school football player who died of a head injury sustained in a collision with another player during spring football practice.

Walker High teammates said McClendon said he felt all right after the collision, then collapsed.

“They (coaches) thought he was just knocked out for a little while. But after they found out they couldn’t get him up, they called the ambulance,” said teammate Joe Funk, 16, who shared a locker with McClendon.

Names in the News

Oklahoma’s Wayman Tisdale is expected to announce today whether he will return to the school to play his senior year or make himself available for the National Basketball Assn. draft June 18.

John Kuester, basketball coach at Boston University the past two seasons, was named coach at George Washington University. He replaced Gerry Gimelstob, who resigned following a 14-14 season.