Spinal Injury Leads Packers to Cut Sharpe

Sterling Sharpe, one of the NFL’s premier receivers, was released by the Green Bay Packers on Tuesday, less than a month after his spinal surgery.

Sharpe, 29, a four-time all-pro, was operated on Feb. 3 for a neck problem that kept him out of Green Bay’s two playoff games and will sideline him for all of 1995.

His physician said there is a 90% chance of Sharpe’s playing in 1996.

Sharpe’s agent, William Black, demanded the Packers raise their $200,000 offer for 1995 or release him. Sharpe’s non-guaranteed contract would have been worth $3.2 million this year, part of a six-year deal he renegotiated after his brief holdout on the eve of the season opener last fall.

The contract included a provision that Sharpe be paid a $1.2-million advance on his 1995 pay by mid-March--a factor that added some urgency to the Packers’ decision.

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Wide receiver Jake Reed re-signed with the Minnesota Vikings. Reed signed a three-year contract believed to be worth about $1.8 million a year. . . . The Carolina Panthers signed their fifth unrestricted free agent, linebacker Lamar Lathon of the Houston Oilers. . . . Dexter Carter and Derek Loville, who backed up Ricky Watters at running back for the NFL champion San Francisco 49ers, signed with the New York Jets and Denver Broncos, respectively.

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The Rams named former running back Johnny Roland an assistant in charge of running backs, former Raider assistant Jack Reilly offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, and former Boston College assistant Don Pollard defensive line coach.

Boxing

Fighter Gerald McClellan’s blood clot was caused by punches that forced the skull and brain to twist in opposite directions, said John Sutcliffe, the London neurosurgeon treating the American.

Sutcliffe removed the blood clot from McClellan’s brain after the fighter collapsed in the ring at the end of his 10th-round loss to Nigel Benn in a World Boxing Council super-middleweight bout Saturday.

McClellan remained heavily sedated Tuesday and Sutcliffe said it was impossible to predict the outcome. Benn said he will not decide whether to retire until he knows that McClellan has recovered.

Hector Camacho wore an Indian headdress into the ring and then was all business, stopping Luis Maysonet in the seventh round of a welterweight bout at Ledyard, Conn.

Miscellany

Belgian authorities deported 400 English fans and detained 350 people at Bruges’ 1-0 victory over Chelsea in a European Cup Winners Cup quarterfinal in Bruge. One English fan was arrested for stabbing a Belgian outside the Olympia Stadium before the game, slightly injuring the Bruges fan.

The costliest penalty in NASCAR history, a $45,000 fine against car owner Junior Johnson for an illegal manifold in Brett Bodine’s Daytona 500 car, was reduced by $10,000 by the National Stock Car Racing Commission, an appeals panel.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said he supports moves to bring Serb-led Yugoslavia back into the sports community.

The Japan LPGA canceled the Suntory Ladies Open, scheduled June 8-11 near Kobe, in consideration of the victims of the city’s earthquake, which killed more than 5,400. Sponsors will donate the $500,000 in prize money to quake relief.

A funeral mass for Betty Calder, who worked at Hollywood Park for 27 years before retiring as press box secretary in October of 1992, will be held today at 10 a.m. at The Visitation Church in Los Angeles. She died Sunday.

Boris Becker withdrew from the $600,000 ABN AMRO tennis tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, because of ailing knees.

Performance-enhancing drugs are a growing problem among Chinese athletes, the country’s top sports officials acknowledged.