Jordan: Time for Life to Go On

Michael Jordan made his first public appearance Saturday since the slaying of his father and said he and his family are “moving forward” with their lives.

Speaking with reporters for about 10 minutes before participating in pro-am golf tournament in suburban Washington, D.C., Jordan declined to answer questions about the death of his father and spoke instead of coping with the tragedy and gaining strength from friends involved in the tournament.

“When you have some problems in your life, you need to be around a good support system, and these people have done a good job in supporting me,” he said. “I’m doing fine. I’m doing really good--strong mentally and strong physically.”

The decision to attend the tournament, Jordan said, amounted to a test to see how he could cope with mingling in public.

“I just wanted to come and see how I can react in these circumstances,” he said. “I’ve been here before. I know the people here. They are very good friends, and they give me a great avenue to relax and try to move forward.”

Investigators say James Jordan was shot to death on July 23 after stopping to nap on a roadside near Lumberton, N.C. Two teen-agers are accused of killing him in a random robbery.

Boxing

Julio Cesar Vasquez retained his WBA super-welterweight title with a 12-round decision over Aaron Davis at Monaco.

Vasquez, of Argentina, improved to 44-1 with 33 knockouts in his fourth title defense. Davis, of New York, dropped to 43-2.

Julio Cesar Borboa of Mexico stopped Carlos Mercado of Colombia at 1:58 of the third round at Kalispell, Mont., and retained his International Boxing Federation bantamweight title.

Auto Racing

Indy car driver Paul Tracy, sore from a crash on Friday, won the pole position for today’s Texaco-Havoline 200 at Elkhart Lake, Wis. Tracy’s Penske-Chevrolet posted a fast lap of 134.072 m.p.h. to relegate the Lola-Ford Cosworth of Nigel Mansell, the provisional pole winner and series point leader, to the outside spot on the front row.

Defending champion Joe Nemechek won the pole for the Chevy Dealers of New England 250 with a record-breaking lap around New Hampshire International Speedway at Loudon, N.H.

Three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser outdueled NASCAR star David Pearson to win the Fast Masters auto race at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind. All competitors drove Jaguar XJ220s.

Scott Kalitta, Cruz Pedregon and Scott Geoffrion used track-record qualifying performances to emerge as the leaders for today’s finals of the Champion Auto Stores Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., 13th stop in the 18-race NHRA series.

Kalitta, of Ypsilanti, Mich., qualified first in top fuel for the sixth time this season. Pedregon, of Moorpark, led funny-car qualifying. Geoffrion, of Huntington Beach, topped pro stock.

Miscellany

Jay Gruden threw for three touchdowns as the Tampa Bay Storm won its second Arena Football League title in three years with a 51-31 victory over the Detroit Drive in Detroit.

South Koreans won five of the six gold medals on the final day of the World Taekwondo Championships in New York to finish the four-day event with 11 of the 16 titles.

Spain won two gold medals while France and Taiwan had one each.

The United States finished with four bronze medals.

Names in the News

Raymond Bell, 46, of Hudson, Fla., completed a grueling cross-country journey and won the second annual Trans-America Footrace, the world’s longest ultra-marathon. Bell crossed the finish line in New York’s Central Park, ending a 64-day, 2,912-mile trek that began June 19 in Huntington Beach. His winning time was 486 hours 41 minutes 8 seconds. . . . Gary Neiwand of Australia won his second gold medal of the Cycling World Championships when he beat Marty Nothstein of the United States in the keirin event at Hamar, Norway. . . . Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won the $200,000 Cuervo Gold Crown beach volleyball event at Santa Cruz, Calif., beating Scott Ayakatubby and Adam Johnson in the final, 15-2. The victory gives Kiraly and Steffes the triple crown of beach volleyball. They won the two other Cuervo Gold events--in Clearwater, Fla., and Boulder, Colo.--earlier this year.