San Diego

Former professional football star John Brockington was given a suspended two-year sentence Thursday and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for evading federal income taxes in a year when he worked for the fraud-ridden J. David & Co. investment firm.

Brockington, 39, pleaded guilty in January to a charge that he evaded $7,922 in taxes on $32,863 in income he earned in 1983, while working as a salesman for J. David.

He could have been sentenced to as much as five years in prison and fined up to $10,000, but U.S. District Judge Earl Gilliam agreed to the suspended sentence after Assistant U.S. Atty. Gay Hugo recommended that Brockington serve no time.

Hugo, who is heading the prosecution of other J. David employees and officials, declined to say whether Brockington was cooperating with the investigation.

Gilliam also ordered Brockington to serve three years probation and to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service on repayment of $7,992 in taxes.

“I’m very sorry for what happened,” Brockington said in court. “It was wrong. I let down a lot of people.”

A running back for the Green Bay Packers from 1971 through 1977, Brockington rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons, earning him a place in the Packer Hall of Fame.

He bought a home in La Jolla in the mid-1970s and went to work for J. David as a salesman after his football career ended.