Pitino Contract Extended to 2000 by Kentucky

Kentucky has extended Coach Rick Pitino’s contract through the 1999-2000 season.

The announcement was made Tuesday at a meeting of the Athletics Assn. Board of Directors. Pitino will get a $1-million bonus if he stays for the length of the contract.

Pitino’s base salary of $131,000 will remain the same for the next three years, then jump to $150,000 beginning in 1996.

The university also will pick up Pitino’s life insurance premium. Athletic Director C.M. Newton confirmed that Pitino had recently declined a $2-million contract offer from an NBA team, but did not elaborate.

“I hope it stops all the media hassling about this,” Newton said. “I think this sends a message of his intent to be basketball coach at the University of Kentucky.”

Jurisprudence

Ram defensive tackle Sean Gilbert was formally arraigned in Pittsburgh County Criminal Court on two felony counts--criminal conspiracy and aggravated assault on a police officer--and three lesser charges as a result of an altercation at a Pittsburgh restaurant on March 24. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for June 25.

Each of the felony charges carries a maximum penalty of 10-20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $25,000.

A Cincinnati jury failed to agree on a verdict and was dismissed in the trial of former Bengal running back Larry Kinnebrew, who was charged with raping a Cincinnati woman.

A June 21 hearing was scheduled to determine when Kinnebrew should be retried.

A defunct Oregon car dealership owned by Hall of Fame baseball player Harmon Killebrew has filed for liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix.

Athabasca, Inc., which operated Harmon Killebrew Motors in Ontario, Ore., said in its Chapter 7 filing that it has $78,000 in assets and $956,000 in liabilities.

Among it creditors, according to court documents, are Hall of Famers Warren Spahn, who is owed $10,000, and Reggie Jackson, who is owed an unspecified amount.

Golf

Mike Donald, who lost the 1990 U.S. Open in a playoff, qualified for this year’s tournament with a 67-68 in Purchase, N.Y.

Donald’s 135 total was two better than the scores of Brian Claar and Bill Britton, each with one tour victory, and three better than that of Willie Wood, a three-time tour runner-up, and Grant Waite, who earned his first career victory last month at the Kemper Open.

The Open will be held June 17-20 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J.

Tennis

With Wimbledon set to start in 12 days, Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi are nursing injuries that might keep them from defending their titles.

Graf reportedly is suffering from periostitis, an inflammation of the membrane of the tissue covering a bone in her foot.

Agassi, forced to skip the French Open because of tendinitis in his right wrist, had a cortisone shot on Monday and said he might have to have surgery.

Miscellany

Fabio Baldato edged fellow Italian Maurizio Fondriest by an inch in a 30-man sprint and won the 16th stage of the Tour of Italy bicycle race. Defending champion Miguel Indurain of Spain crossed the finish line in the same time as Baldato and held to his overall lead of 49 seconds with five stages left.

Mike Dixon of Atlanta stopped Alex Garcia of San Fernando at 2:43 of the second round to win the World Boxing Council’s Continental Americas heavyweight championship in Las Vegas.

Paul Major became U.S. Skiing’s new Alpine director. Major also coaches the U.S. Women’s Alpine team and will retain that position through this season.