Dudley Signs With Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers signed Chris Dudley to a seven-year contract Tuesday but gave the 6-foot-11 center an escape clause that allows him to get out of the deal after next season.

Sources told the Associated Press that Dudley would be paid $800,000 the first year. With annual increases of 30%, as allowed by the league, that would total about $11 million over the life of the contract. The six-year NBA veteran acknowledged that he turned down a much more lucrative offer, reportedly $21 million over seven years, from his former team, New Jersey, to sign with Portland.

If Dudley uses the escape clause, the Trail Blazers could offer him a much bigger contract next year because NBA rules allow a team to exceed the salary cap to retain an unrestricted free agent.

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Boston Celtic forward Alaa Abdelnaby pleaded no contest in Milwaukee to a non-criminal charge of possession of marijuana and paid a $300 fine.

Auto Racing

Tim Steele, an ARCA driver from Michigan, will drive the late Davey Allison’s car on the Busch Grand National circuit this season, veteran NASCAR driver Red Farmer said.

Farmer was Busch crew chief for Allison, who died three weeks ago from head injuries he received when the helicopter he was piloting crashed a day earlier at the Talladega Superspeedway. Farmer was a passenger in the helicopter with Allison, and has since recovered from his injuries.

Jurisprudence

Former Indiana high school football star Ryan Harmon and his parents sued Purdue, claiming that Boilermaker Coach Jim Colletto mentally and physically abused Harmon before the player left the team last fall.

The lawsuit, filed in Morgan (Ind.) Superior Court, claims that Harmon, an offensive lineman, was “physically hit, punched, kicked and shoved with regularity as a method of coaching” by Colletto. The coach also called Harmon a variety of vulgar names, the suit claims.

Swimming

Karoly Guttler of Hungary broke a world record and Franziska van Almsick of Germany won two gold medals in the European swimming championships at Sheffield, England.

Guttler became the first swimmer to break the 61-second barrier in the 100-meter breaststroke when he set a world record of 1:00.95 in a heat before going on to win the gold medal.

Van Almsick, who won two silver and two bronze medals in last year’s Olympics, won the 100-meter freestyle, then went on to another gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay.

More than 200 of the nation’s best junior divers will compete in the Speedo National Junior Diving Championships starting today at 9 a.m. at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center.

Miscellany

Oldsmobile is breaking Kansas state law by leaving dealer tags on 36 cars it lends to the NCAA for staff use, according to the Kansas Department of Revenue. Oldsmobile is a corporate sponsor of the NCAA, which has its headquarters in Overland Park, Kan.

Cristie Kerr, a 15-year-old from Miami, shot a three-under-par 69 to win medalist honors at the USGA Girls’ Junior golf championship at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa. Kerr’s two-day total of 141 was five shots better than that of Kellee Booth of Coto de Caza, who shot a 70.

An unusual shortage of snow during the current winter season has forced cancellation of the Winter Pan American Games, scheduled for Aug. 31-Sept. 11 on the Andean slopes near Santiago, Chile, organizers said.

Names in the News

World Cup veteran Careca, 32, left the Brazilian team, saying he is having personal problems and “lacked the right spirit necessary at this time to represent Brazil in World Cup competition.” . . . Gianluigi Lentini, a forward for AC Milan and the Italian national soccer team, was hospitalized in guarded condition at Turan, Italy, after an automobile accident. . . . . . . Renee Baumgartner, captain of the USC women’s golf team in 1985, has become women’s golf coach at her alma mater. She spent the past six seasons coaching the women’s golf team at Oregon. . . . Dick Ellis was hired as athletic director at Baylor, succeeding Grant Teaff. . . . Clemson wide receiver Dwayne Bryant was suspended for the fall term because of academic reasons, the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail reported. . . . The Washington Capitals signed center Dave Poulin.