USC’s Athletes to Be Drug-Tested

A mandatory drug-testing program for all USC men’s and women’s scholarship athletes will go into effect in the coming school year, Athletic Director Mike McGee announced Friday.

Under the program, which McGee called a “drug education and testing policy,” the sports medicine staff will conduct urine tests for drug use on scholarship athletes at the beginning of the academic year, as part of the annual physical for each sport, and randomly throughout the school year, McGee said in a memo to coaches.

First offenders will be subject to more testing and will be asked to enroll in a drug education and counseling program, according to the memo.

Any USC scholarship athlete testing positive a third time may lose all of his or her financial aid, McGee said.

Details of the policy will be distributed when scholarships are renewed, the memo said.

The Philadelphia 76ers have offered Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly the head coaching job vacated May 28 after the resignation of Billy Cunningham, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“We’ve talked to the 76ers a number of times about compensation but have not reached agreement yet,” Pistons General Manager Jack McCloskey said.

The Pistons originally were believed to be asking for two second-round draft choices to free Daly to sign with Philadelphia. The newspaper said it now appears that Detroit is asking for a first-round draft choice. A decision is expected no later than Monday, McCloskey said.

Intent on avoiding the mob scene that attended the end of last year’s NBA championship series, league officials promised beefed-up security for Sunday’s sixth playoff game between the Lakers and Boston Celtics at Boston Garden.

If a seventh game is needed, the same measures would be in effect Tuesday night, NBA Executive Vice President Russell T. Granik said.

“There are going to be measures put into effect to make sure that nobody gets into the areas where they don’t belong,” Granik said. “We have an obligation to the players and the coaches and the referees that are on the floor.”

Last June, the players and coaches were surrounded by hundreds of spectators who rushed onto the court as the buzzer sounded at the end of Boston’s seventh-game victory.

Garden officials have agreed to certain security measures, including having 80 security guards ring the court in the last two minutes of the game and having 25 others flank the narrow ramp by which the players, coaches and referees leave the court.

Southern Methodist University plans to appeal the findings and recommendations of an NCAA committee’s investigation into the Mustangs’ football program, the university’s president announced in Dallas.

The NCAA has been investigating the recruiting practices of the Mustangs’ football program for 26 months, including allegations of illegal inducements for prospects that included cash, cars and employment for relatives.

University President Donald L. Shields was informed of the committee’s findings and recommendations in a letter last week.

The appeal would be heard and decided when the NCAA Council meets Aug. 14-16, and details of the committee’s findings would not be announced until the decision.

If SMU is placed on probation, it would be the sixth time since 1958.

Six men pleaded innocent in Pittsburgh to charges brought in the federal investigation of alleged cocaine sales to major league baseball players.

The six were accused of 153 counts of various drug violations in indictments May 30. All but Dale Shiffman, 33, of Pittsburgh, are free on bail.

Shiffman, who faces 111 counts, is accused of selling cocaine on each of the 79 days the Pittsburgh Pirates played at home in 1983.

Besides Shiffman, those pleading innocent were Robert McCue, 38; Jeffrey Mosco, 30; Thomas Balzer, 27, and Kevin Connolly, 27, all of Pittsburgh, and Shelby Greer, 29, of Philadelphia.

A seventh defendant, Curtis Strong, 38, of Philadelphia, is charged on 12 counts and will be arraigned later. Strong also will plead innocent, his lawyer said.

National League President Chub Feeney said he plans to instruct umpires to scrutinize the pitching of Houston’s Mike Scott following a recent complaint that he was using sandpapered baseballs.

Jim Frey, manager of the Chicago Cubs, sent a letter to Feeney, enclosing a piece of sandpaper which Feeney said was about the size of a quarter, following the Cubs’ 10-8 victory over the Astros on May 26 in Chicago.

Frey claimed in the letter that the sandpaper was found on the mound, Feeney said. In that game, Scott pitched five innings, allowing three runs and striking out seven batters. He was not involved in the decision.

Names in the News

UCLA track and basketball star Jackie Joyner was named the school’s female All-University Athlete of the Year for the third time. UCLA’s Liz Masakayan received the Broderick Award, which goes to the nation’s top collegiate volleyball player.

Robert H. Helmick, a Des Moines, Iowa, attorney and president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, was named to the International Olympic Committee, succeeding Douglas Roby.