Lakers Return to Glory Days, Sign Rambis

The Lakers signed 35-year-old Kurt Rambis to a contract Friday, four years after he left the team as an unrestricted free agent.

Rambis, who played on Laker teams that won four NBA titles in his seven years, spent last season with the Sacramento Kings. Rambis also played with the Charlotte Hornets and Phoenix Suns after leaving the Lakers after the 1987-88 season.

Signed by the Lakers as a free agent in 1981, Rambis was noted for his shaggy hair, horn-rimmed glasses and aggressive style of play that made him a Forum favorite. His appearance also inspired the creation of the so-called Rambis Youth, young fans who mimicked Rambis by wearing black horn-rims and parting their hair in the middle.

Now that he is a Laker again, Rambis isn’t sure his most devoted fans will look the same as before.

“They’re not youth anymore,” Rambis said. “They’re creaky old men with kids now.”

With the departure of A.C. Green, General Manager Jerry West thought there might be a place for Rambis. In 12 years, Rambis has averaged 5.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.

The Lakers also re-signed unrestricted free agent Sedale Threatt, who led the team in scoring last season.

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The Boston Celtics continued to stock up on guards after the death of Reggie Lewis. The Celtics signed former NBA guards Travis Mays, Rodney Monroe and Lamont Strothers. They already had signed guards Chris Corchiani and Brian Oliver. Their only returning full-time guards are Dee Brown and Sherman Douglas. The club also announced the signing of 7-foot-1 Matt Wenstrom of North Carolina.

Golf

Tom Lehman shot a course-record seven-under-par 65 to take a three-stroke lead after two rounds of the Buick Southern Open at Pine Mountain, Ga. John Daly, who shot a first-round 70, quit midway through his second round. After shooting a 43 on his front nine, Daly walked off the 18th green, went to the parking lot and left the course.

Lee Trevino and Jim Dent matched bogey-free 65s and shared the first-round lead in the $1.5-million Vantage Championship at Clemmons, S.C.

Anne Sander of Santa Barbara won the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur for the fourth time when her final-round 73 gave her a four-stroke victory at Wayne, N.J.

Professional golfer Heather Farr was released from a Tucson hospital, one day after surgery to control excessive bleeding from previous cancer surgery.

Miscellany

The eighth-ranked USC women’s volleyball team will play host to second-ranked UCLA tonight in a Pacific 10 Conference match in the Lyon Center.

The experiment with non-game day suspensions is over in the NHL and punishments will be handed out more quickly than in the past. Commissioner Gary Bettman also said that if there is no new collective bargaining agreement with league officials, games will go on using outside referees and linesmen if there is a strike.

John David Jackson scored a unanimous 12-round decision over Reggie Johnson at Buenos Aires to win the World Boxing Assn. middleweight title.

Canadian synchronized swimmer Sylvie Frechette, denied a 1992 Olympic gold medal because of a judge’s mistake, will have the backing of swimming’s world governing body in getting one now. Canadian Olympic officials said they were informed by FINA that the organization will recommend to the IOC that Frechette get a gold medal for the solo synchronized swimming competition at the 1992 Barcelona Games. American Kristen Babb-Sprague won the gold, with Frechette settling for silver. A Brazilian judge acknowledged after the figures competition she had erred in punching in a score for Frechette in the computerized system.

Aviva Kamin, Western State Conference commissioner, put the Harbor College football program on probation through the 1994 season for its role in a brawl after a 23-0 loss to Pierce last Saturday at Harbor. Pierce received no sanctions.

Motorsports

Ernie Irvan won the pole for Sunday’s Tyson Holly Farms 400 NASCAR race at North Wilkesboro, N.C. Irvan, on the Robert Yates team that was led by the late Davey Allison, took his second consecutive pole. He averaged 116.786 m.p.h.

In Topeka, Kan., Chuck Etchells became the first funny-car driver in NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series history to cover the quarter-mile in less than five seconds, doing it in 4.987 at 296.73 m.p.h.

Soccer

U.S. Soccer signed eight players as full-time members of the national team through the 1994 World Cup--Jeff Agoos, Paul Caligiuri, Mark Chung, Fernando Clavijo, Janusz Michallik, Brian Quinn, Mike Sorber and Peter Vermes. U.S. Soccer exercised its option on three players who will remain national team members through the World Cup: Cobi Jones, Mike Lapper and Joe-Max Moore.