Walters Is Free Agent After Charger Move
The Chargers “have terminated club rights” to cornerback Danny Walters, making him a free agent, the team said Wednesdsay.
By terminating the club rights, the Chargers allow Walters to negotiate with other teams. The Chargers also may still negotiate with Walters, but Walters’ agent, Jim Steiner of St. Louis, said he doubted that Walters would return to the Chargers.
“It’s probably best for Danny and best for the club that he moves on,” Steiner said. “The last few years, it has become clear to Danny that the coaches did not believe he could play in San Diego.”
Walters, 27, was a fourth-round draft choice out of Arkansas in 1983 and played five seasons with the Chargers. He played in 12 games and started 5 last season but was replaced in midseason by Elvis Patterson. Walters underwent drug rehabilitation in 1984, and a cocaine possession charge against him was suspended in October when he agreed to undergo counseling in a court-approved program.
Walters could not be reached for comment.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
San Diego State has signed a contract to play Illinois in a home-and-home series starting in 1996, said Athletic Director Fred Miller. The Aztecs will play at Illinois in 1996, and the Illini will play in San Diego in 2000. The schools have never met in football.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Five San Diego State players were named to the All-Western Athletic Conference baseball team. Freshman outfielder Jeff Barry, senior shortstop Steve Montejano and junior pitcher Rob Brown were named to the first team. Sophomore outfielder Bill Miller, a Bonita Vista High School graduate, and junior third baseman Lance Pinnell, who went to Valhalla High and Southwestern College, were on the second team.
Brown (9-3 with a 2.53 earned-run average) was named the conference’s newcomer of the year.
University of San Diego catcher Dave Rolls was named to the NCAA Academic All-American second team. Rolls, a senior, was recognized for having 3.22 grade-point average in business administration and for being named the West Coast Athletic Conference’s player of the year.
Rolls batted .374 and set school season records for home runs (18), RBIs (70) and walks (57) on a team that finished 28-28.
TENNIS
Skip Redondo, men’s coach at San Diego State, has resigned to accept a position as head pro and tennis manager for Le Meridien Hotel in Coronado, Athletic Director Fred Miller said.
The Point Loma Nazarene doubles team of Melinda Ainsley and Traci Reynolds was eliminated in the third round of the NAIA national women’s tennis championships in Overland Park, Kan. Ainsley and Reynolds were defeated by Radikha Krishnan and Xan Halog of the University of Texas-Permian Basin, 6-4, 6-3.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE GOLF
The United States International University golf team was 17th after the first of four rounds of the NCAA women’s championships in Las Cruces, N.M. USIU’s top player was Allison Shapcott, 47th after she shot 77 on the par-74, 6,084-yard New Mexico State golf course. Eva Dahllof shot a 6-under-par 68 to take the lead for Oklahoma State, which led the team competition by 6 strokes at 291. USIU was at 317.