Williams May Be Risky Pick, NBA Warns

The National Basketball Assn. reportedly has distributed a memo indicating that John Williams of Tulane University could be a risky pick in next Tuesday’s draft of college players.

Williams was a projected first-round choice before a recent point-shaving scandal. He and several others are scheduled to stand trial this summer on violations of Louisiana’s sports bribery code.

The New York Times reported that the memo noted that Williams was eligible to be drafted, calling it “an open issue,” but also noted that if Williams were selected, NBA Commissioner David Stern would determine “if he is of good moral character and capable of playing in the NBA.”

Guillermo Vilas announced his retirement from pro tennis, only minutes after he had been defeated in a minor Grand Prix tournament at Bologna, Italy.

Vilas, 32, was ranked among the top six players in the world for nine years, until 1982, when his game hit a slump. He said Tuesday that his 6-3, 6-4 second-round loss to Yugoslavia’s Goran Prpic was the final straw.

“This is the saddest day of my life,” the former Davis Cup star said. “I don’t know who to blame if not myself. I apologize to the organizers and to the public. I just don’t have the courage to go onto the court. I believe I just played the final match of my life.”

Vilas won his first tournament in his hometown of Buenos Aires in 1973, and in 1975 was ranked No. 2 in the world. In 1977, he numbered the French Open and the U.S. Open among 15 tournament victories and went 50 matches without defeat. Since 1982, however, he has won only three tournaments.

Poor ticket sales have prompted the cancellation of a U.S. Olympic gymnastics exhibition that was scheduled Friday at Dallas, one of the tour promoters said.

James Hartung, a promotional associate of JT Productions, Inc., and one of the 11 Olympic gymnasts making up the exhibition team, said it is unlikely that the tour will continue.

Police in Seoul, South Korea, said they had arrested Park Chong Pal, the International Boxing Federation super-middleweight champion, on charges of assaulting another boxer after a quarrel in a gymnasium. The victim needed six weeks of medical treatment for his injuries.

The Philadelphia 76ers have reportedly made an offer to assistant coach Matt Guokas, asking him to become the new head coach of the National Basketball Assn. club. The 76ers would neither confirm nor deny that Guokas had been offered the job to replace Billy Cunningham, who resigned recently.

Rich Hollins, 22, a former standout wide receiver for West Virginia University, was in serious condition with a gunshot wound in the head. Gwathney Smith, 34, an off-duty West Virginia University campus policeman, has been charged in the shooting, which reportedly occurred when Hollins entered the back door of Smith’s house just outside the Morgantown, W. Va., city limits late Monday night.

James A. Ruth of Seattle, who has won three national drag racing championships, and Michael G. Palmer of Puyallup, Wash., were sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Redden at Portland after having been convicted in a cocaine trafficking case that Redden called the largest in the region’s history. Ruth was sentenced to eight years and fined $5,000. Palmer was sentenced to eight years and fined $1,000.

Mary Decker Slaney was quoted as saying she has made up with South African-born rival Zola Budd over their famous collision in the 3,000-meter Olympic final last summer.

She told Woman’s Own magazine in England, “We’ve made up now, and I don’t want Zola, or any other kid, to go through the pain and traumas I had when I was young.” The two runners reportedly will compete in the same race at a meet in Crystal Palace, London, next month.

Names in the News

Brian Quinn, a high school administrator, coach and teacher for the past 16 years, has been named athletic director at Loyola Marymount. Quinn, 43, succeeds Robert Arias, who has been reassigned to the position of director of athletic development at Loyola.