Much Richer Fuller Chooses Eagles

William Fuller, whose first pro football was played for the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL, signed a three-year, $8.4-million free agent contract Thursday with the Eagles, who hope he can fill the defensive end hole created last month when Clyde Simmons signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

An eight-year veteran who was with the Rams before he was traded in 1986 to the Houston Oilers for the rights to quarterback Jim Everett, Fuller, 32, led the AFC with 15 sacks in 1991 and had 10 last season for the Oilers.

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Miami Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle that doctors said were slowing his rehabilitation from a torn Achilles’ tendon, suffered last season. He is expected to be ready for training camp.

Tennis

Top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario beat Amanda Coetzer, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, to move into the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Sanchez Vicario led, 5-3, before struggling in an opening set that lasted 83 minutes.

Top-ranked Pete Sampras struggled in beating fellow American Jeff Tarango, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4), in the Salem Open at Osaka, Japan. Fourth-seeded Ivan Lendl was not as fortunate, losing to unseeded Lionel Roux, 6-3, 6-3.

Hockey

J.P. McKersie made 31 saves, leading Boston University to a 4-1 victory over Minnesota at St. Paul, Minn, and helping the Terriers reach the NCAA title game for the seventh time. Boston (32-7-1), seeking its fourth championship but first since 1978, will meet Lake Superior State (30-10-4) Saturday night.

Lake Superior, in its third NCAA championship game in a row, advanced with a 3-2 overtime victory over Harvard. Clayton Beddoes scored the winning goal 4:16 into overtime.

Miscellany

Mary Ellen Lemieux, daughter of Charlie Campbell, who was the pilot of a plane that crashed near Bristol, Tenn., killing NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki, Campbell and two others last year, said she rejects a National Transportation Safety Board assessment that pilot error caused the crash. Lemieux vowed to clear her father’s name.

Double Olympic medalist Chae Ji-Hoon of South Korea won the men’s 1,500-meter final in 2 minutes 26.45 seconds to take the lead after the first event of the World Short Track Speedskating Championships at Guildford, England. South Korean Kim So-Hee won in the women’s 1,500 in 2:43.03.

The U.S. men’s water polo team lost to Italy, 14-6, in the second round of the French International tournament in Dunkirk.

The Condors, sponsored by the Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation in Pomona, have advanced to the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament’s final four, to be held in San Jose on April 8-10. The Condors will play a team from Nashville, Tenn., in the semifinals.

Names in the News

Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona, 33, said he’s again thinking of retiring before this year’s World Cup because he is “fed up” with media scrutiny of his life. . . . Danny Manning will miss the Atlanta Hawks’ three-game West Coast trip because of a staph infection in his right elbow. . . . Champion sprinter Katrina Krabbe of Germany, barred from competition for using an anabolic stimulant, has suffered a miscarriage. . . . Nicole Haislett, who won three gold medals at the Barcelona Olympics, won the the 100-meter freestyle in 56.25 seconds at the U.S. Swimming Championships at Federal Way, Washington. It was Haislett’s 10th national title. . . . Former University of Washington wide receiver Jason Shelly, one of three players kicked off the team for good because of a sexual abuse incident in an Oregon dorm room last Oct. 31, was convicted of second-degree assault in Seattle for breaking an opponent’s jaw during a pickup basketball game.