Rams Trade Drew Hill to Oilers

Wide receiver Drew Hill was traded by the Rams to the Houston Oilers Wednesday.

Hill, 28, was a 12th-round draft choice for the Rams in 1979 and has caught 60 passes in five seasons. Hill returned 26 kickoffs last season for a 20.9-yard average.

Terms of the trade were not announced, but the conditional deal was believed to involve middle-round draft choices in 1986 and 1987.

A Chicago group that wants to return the America’s Cup sailing title to the United States launched its campaign with a $1-million sponsorship pledge from MCI Telecommunications Corp. The Heart of America Challenge is trying to raise $7 million to build a yacht that would challenge the Australians for the coveted sailing trophy.

If the Chicago group wins the Cup in 1987, the next series of races would be held on Lake Michigan in 1991.

Officials of Schaumburg, Ill., met with representatives of the Chicago Tribune Co., owners of the Cubs, to discuss a possible stadium in the Chicago suburb.

Company and village officials said Schaumburg is willing to annex a 101-acre site for construction of a new home for the Cubs. The Tribune Co. owns the site.

In a related move, Lawrence Gunnels, a Tribune Co. vice president, said he received preliminary material Monday regarding the concept of using the AT&T; Hawthorne Works factory site for separate stadiums for baseball, football and basketball. The area straddles the Chicago-Cicero border.

Former Ohio State University football Coach Woody Hayes, hospitalized May 24 after suffering a stroke, says he is recovering so well that he believes he will be dismissed from University Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend.

Hayes, 72, suffered his stroke while flying to Vancouver, Canada, for a speech.

Hayes’ physician, Dr. Robert Murphy, said the former Buckeye coach still has weakness on his right side and walks with a cane.

The Fair Grounds in New Orleans, third oldest thoroughbred track in the nation, will close next year because the state legislature failed to come up with financial aid.

The Fair Grounds bill, calling for deferral of about $40 million in fees during the next six years, was withdrawn by its sponsor, state Sen. Dennis Bagneris, who said it had no chance of passing.

The chairmen of England’s 92 professional soccer clubs officially rejected a call by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to introduce a national membership-card scheme intended to combat crowd violence.

Thatcher’s plan was for clubs to issue their fans identification cards, without which they would not be admitted to home matches.

Contractual obligations will force the University of Florida to remain in the Southeastern Conference through the 1985-86 season, Marshall Criser, the school’s president, said.

On June 3, Criser had announced that the university was studying whether it would remain in the conference. His action came after presidents of SEC-affiliated universities voted to strip the Florida Gators of the 1984 football title despite their executive committee’s earlier vote to allow the Gators to keep it.

Pitcher Mike Norris will remain on the major league joint drug program rehabilitation list the rest of the 1985 season, the Oakland A’s announced.

The A’s said that Norris had agreed to the move. Norris will not return to the A’s or take part in any baseball activity with the A’s organization at any level in 1985 but will earn a salary at the major league minimum rate for the balance of the season, the club said.

“The A’s do not preclude Norris’ return to the organization in 1986, if his ongoing recovery from substance dependency is successful,” the team said.

The Coburg Giants of Australia defeated the touring Pac-10 all-star basketball team from the United States, 96-94, Tuesday night. The loss was the fourth straight of the tour for the American collegians, who were swept, 3-0, by the Australian national team.

Names in the News

New York Mets center fielder Mookie Wilson underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage tears in his right shoulder that have bothered him since the start of the 1984 season.

Veteran major league infielder Tim Foli signed a contract with the Class A Miami Marlins of the Florida State League. Foli, 35, was cut June 25 by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pepperdine guard Dwayne Polee was named to the United States basketball team that will compete in the World University Games later this month at Kobe, Japan.