Hearns Begins Comeback With Another Title

Thomas Hearns, 36, launched his comeback Friday night in Detroit by winning his seventh career title with a first-round technical knockout of Lenny Lapaglia for the cruiserweight championship of the new and little-recognized World Boxing Union.

Hearns (54-4-1) had held welterweight, junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight titles before knocking Lapaglia down for the third time with a combination at the 2:55 mark.

Until the bout with Lapaglia (37-9), Hearns had fought only three times since losing the World Boxing Assn. light heavyweight title to Iran Barkley in 1992.

Tennis

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the world’s No. 1 player, made a painful exit from the Family Circle Cup at Hilton Head Island, S.C., and defending champion Conchita Martinez entered the semifinals.

Sanchez Vicario withdrew from a tournament for the first time in 10 years as a pro because of a right ankle sprain suffered a day earlier.

The second-seeded Martinez overcame a woeful display of tennis to reel off 12 consecutive games and reach the semifinals with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Iva Majoli.

Martinez will face fourth-seeded Natasha Zvereva, who beat former doubles partner Larisa Neiland, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in today’s semifinals. No. 5 Magdalena Maleeva, Sanchez Vicario’s opponent, will face unseeded Italian Silvia Farina, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over qualifier Lea Ghirardi of France.

Football

Miami Dolphin running back Bernie Parmalee, a former UPS driver who became an NFL star last season, signed a two-year contract with the team Friday.

Parmalee is expected to compete for a starting job with Terry Kirby, returning from reconstructive knee surgery.

Parmalee went undrafted after playing at Ball State and had just 10 carries in his first two NFL seasons. But in 1994, when Parmalee made $167,000, he rushed for 868 yards and started 10 games.

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The Phoenix Cardinals signed Pro Bowl lineman Duval Love, trying to strengthen a line that drew part of the blame for the team’s lack of offense.

Love, an 11-year veteran, played with the Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers.

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A rap star who reportedly made incentive payments of up to $500 to University of Miami football players threatened to tell all he knows unless the Hurricanes start Ryan Collins at quarterback.

Rapper Luther Campbell and Collins, both black, have suggested race is an issue in Miami’s quarterback competition. Campbell warned that he’d expose a play-for-pay scheme at Miami if Collins doesn’t start under Butch Davis, the Hurricanes’ new coach.

Collins dueled for a starting job the past two seasons with Frank Costa, who is white.

Jurisprudence

New York Yankee General Manager Gene Michael and Detroit Lion safety Bennie Blades were arrested separately by the same deputy on charges of driving while intoxicated in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Blades was arrested Thursday night and Michael on Wednesday night by Broward County sheriff’s Deputy Robert Lahiff. Both were released on bond.

King County agreed to pay $2.74 million to the Seattle Seahawks to settle the team’s claim for lost revenues during last year’s closure of the Kingdome.

An Iowa County jury found former Hawkeye star Chris Street 100% responsible in the traffic crash that killed him on Jan. 19, 1993, denying his parents millions in damages in the wrongful death lawsuit.

An appeals court overturned Eric Cantona’s two-week jail sentence for assaulting a fan on Jan. 25, and the French soccer star was ordered to do 120 hours of community service instead.

Basketball

Attorneys for Marianne Stanley have filed an appeal with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the basketball coach’s $8-million sexual-bias case against USC. The case was dismissed three weeks ago when a federal judge granted USC a summary judgment.

Stanley has contacted Long Beach State about its vacant coaching position, a Long Beach administration source said Friday.

Miscellany

Dave Barr shot a rain-hampered 68 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Freeport McMoRan Golf Classic in New Orleans. . . . The hunt for Diego Maradona, facing a lawsuit from his therapist and awaiting sentencing for wounding two reporters last year, resumed again as the renegade Argentine soccer star fled in a pickup truck before dawn from a Buenos Aires hotel where he had been besieged by reporters amid rumors of new drug problems. . . . Mark Martin recorded a fast lap of 124.605 m.p.h. to edge Jeff Gordon by .02 seconds to win the pole for the Food City 500 at Bristol International Raceway in Bristol, Tenn. . . . Bowling Green senior center Brian Holzinger, second in the nation with 35 goals and third with 69 points, was named the winner of the Hobey Baker Award as collegiate hockey’s best player. . . . The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals won’t stage a women’s tour this year to give members an opportunity to compete in the 1996 Olympic Games. . . . Don Andersen resigned as executive director of the Orange County Sports Assn.