Howe Is Seeking Deal With Twins

Former Dodger relief pitcher Steve Howe wants to make a deal with the Minnesota Twins but is concerned that he’ll lose $10,000 a day if the Major League Players Assn. follows through with a threatened strike, his agent said Friday.

“We’re talking about a situation regarding a player who has been released and his right to continue collecting a salary,” the agent, Jim Hawkins, told the Minneapolis Star and Tribune.

“Because he has no obligation to play, we argue that he can’t be on strike and should be paid if there is one,” Hawkins said. “And if he plays for another team, is that going to imperil his ability to collect on his (Dodger) contract?”

The Dodgers are liable for his 1985 wages if the season continues as scheduled.

The Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League were sold to a five-man group headed by New York real estate developer Steve Ross, just beating a deadline that would have turned quarterback Jim Kelly and his teammates into free agents. No details of the sale were available.

The league provided $1.5 million to keep the team afloat in 1985. But when players did not receive their last paychecks, an arbitrator ruled they would be considred waived by Friday evening if they were not paid.

Miami Dolphins Coach Don Shula said that star quarterback Dan Marino, who walked out of camp Thursday in a contract dispute, is being fined $500 a day. Marino walked out a day after telling reporters he had never considered holding out and was not upset about the progress of talks.

The team now is operating without any of its top three quarterbacks; Don Strock and Jim Jensen are among the Dolphins’ seven unsigned veterans.

The Dolphins have only free agents Bryan Clark and Lou Pagley at quarterback. Neither has thrown a regular-season pass in the NFL.

The World Games, the biggest sports festival to be held in Great Britain since the 1948 Summer Olympics, officially opened in London with a 40-minute, low-key ceremony that deliberately avoided any displays of politics or nationalism.

There was no nation-by-nation parade, and the 1,400 athletes from 48 countries sat in the stands as the president of the games, Dr. Un Yong Kim of South Korea, opened the proceedings with a brief speech.

John McEnroe said he isn’t planning to give up his honorary membership at the London-based Queen’s Club, despite the club’s demand that he do so.

The Queen’s Club holds a tennis tournament each June that many players use as a tune-up for Wimbledon, and McEnroe reportedly used abusive language to the wife of a club official while practicing there.

Ronald Turkel, a business student, turned himself in and was booked on one count of sports bribery, becoming the ninth person charged in the Tulane point-shaving scandal, authorities said in New Orleans. Turkel was later released on his own recognizance.

Names in the News

Sandy Lyle, British Open golf champion, turned down an invitation to play in the PGA championship at Denver. He will compete instead in the Glasgow Open Aug. 8-11, the same dates as the PGA tournament.

Tessa Franken, a 5-7 guard from Dusseldorf, West Germany, signed a letter of intent with the UCLA women’s basketball team.