Tagliabue Says Marshall Is an Oiler

Three months in football limbo ended for Wilber Marshall on Friday when NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue ruled that the All-Pro linebacker has a valid contract with the Houston Oilers.

Tagliabue also reduced the compensation due the Washington Redskins for Marshall, ruling that his old team improperly interfered in the negotiations.

Marshall had been designated a franchise player by Washington under terms of the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement. When the Redskins could not sign him, they released Marshall from the franchise status, permitting him to talk with other teams. If he signed, a trade was to have been arranged.

On the verge of a contract worth a reported $2.9 million for Marshall, Oiler owner Bud Adams changed his mind, but Tagliabue ruled that the Redskins then interfered with the process by offering Marshall a reported $150,000 to accept the Oilers’ offer.

He said that Marshall and the Oilers had reached a binding agreement on June 2, but reduced the trade terms due Washington to a third-round draft choice in 1994 and fifth-round selection in 1995.

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Green Bay Packer linebacker Johnny Holland has been cleared for full contact by the neurosurgeon who performed cervical fusion surgery on him six months ago.

Holland, 28, was injured last Dec. 13 in a victory over Houston when his helmet was hit by a teammate as he was making a tackle. He sat out only one play, returning to make 13 more tackles, and said he felt a tingling sensation in his neck.

He did not play in the Packers’ final two games, against the Rams and Minnesota Vikings.

Holland has not been signed by the Packers, who were waiting for his medical clearance before committing to a contract.

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Defensive end Charles Haley of the Dallas Cowboys suffered a herniated disk while lifting weights on June 22. William Hazel, an orthopedic surgeon in Herndon, Va., said surgery would not be needed for Haley, who is expected to be ready for the start of training camp July 15.

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Seven Texas A&M; football players declared ineligible because they accepted improper payments from a booster might have to pay their own way.

Coach R.C. Slocum said their scholarships were not renewed Thursday, the NCAA deadline.

However, that could change by fall.

Slocum told the Bryan-College Station Eagle that he will consider renewing the scholarships as soon as the school finishes investigating the matter.

All of the players have acknowledged that Dallas booster Warren A. Gilbert Jr. paid them for work they didn’t do.

Basketball

Craig Ehlo, an unrestricted free agent, signed a three-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks.

Ehlo, who spent the last seven seasons with Cleveland, will rejoin Lenny Wilkens, his former coach with the Cavaliers.

Ehlo just completed his 10th NBA season, averaging 11.6 points in 82 games.

Soccer

Police arrested Olympique Marseille’s general manager as he left a hospital and interrogated him about a bribery scandal that has tainted the team’s recent European club soccer championship.

Jean-Pierre Bernes is accused of arranging bribes for three Valenciennes players to throw a French first-division match so Marseille could conserve its energy for the Champions Cup final against AC Milan.

Paulinho scored in overtime to give the Salsa a 3-2 victory over the Ft. Lauderdale Strikes in an American Professional Soccer League match at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Miscellany

Unseeded Jojo De Olivenca of Brazil won his second consecutive heat and advanced to the semifinals of the Op Pro surfing championships at the Huntington Beach Pier.

De Olivenca finished with a four-wave score of 26.94 and advanced with second-place finisher Shane Beschen of San Clemente, who had 26.27. Marty Thomas of Sunset Beach, Hawaii, was third at 22.09 and former world champion Martin Potter of England was fourth at 20.

De Olivenca and Beschen will match up with Cardiff’s Rob Machado and Australia’s Matt Hoy in one semifinal, which will start at 9 a.m. today. The other semifinal consists of Hawaii’s Sunny Garcia and Shane Dorian, Santa Barbara’s Chris Brown and two-time Op champion Barton Lynch of Australia.

Pennsylvania’s athletic commission is investigating why there was not an ambulance or paramedics on hand when Maryland welterweight Glenn Randolph of Baltimore was injured in a bout against Ralph (Tiger) Jones of Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Randolph remained in serious condition with head injuries, but his brother, Kevin Randolph, said the fighter would probably leave a Pittsburgh hospital in a few days.

Track and Field

Great Britain beat the U.S. men’s team for the first time since 1961, 199-190, with the help of a 100-meter victory by Olympic champion Linford Christie, who ran 10.06 seconds in Edinburgh, Scotland. The U.S. women won their half of the meet, 181-43.

Canada’s Mark McKoy, an Olympic gold medalist in the hurdles, won the 110-meter hurdles in 13.08 and was fourth in the 100 in 10.08 at the Grand Prix meet in Villeneuve D’Ascq, France.