Former Cheerleader Tells Jury That Rodman Gave Her Disease

A former cheerleader for the Atlanta Hawks told a federal jury Tuesday that she kept a memento box filled with souvenirs of her time with Dennis Rodman, who romanced her with cards and roses before giving her herpes.

Lisa Beth Judd, 24, who lives in Orange County, is suing the NBA star in Atlanta for unspecified damages. She claims Rodman, with whom she’d had an on-and-off relationship since April, 1991, gave her herpes on Jan. 14, 1993, when he was in Atlanta as a player with the Detroit Pistons.

“He was sweet. He was a gentleman. He was a kind person,” she said of Rodman.

In a videotaped deposition shown to the jury, Rodman said he had tested negative for herpes in 1988, but was found to have the virus in March, 1993.

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Former NBA guard Alvin Robertson, 32, has been charged with burglary, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest after a San Antonio incident involving a former girlfriend.

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Wide receiver Michael Irvin became the third Dallas Cowboy to appear before a Collin County grand jury in Texas, which is considering sexual assault allegations against Dallas offensive tackle Erik Williams involving a 17-year-old girl.

The girl, who has tried to drop the charges, also testified.

Football

Johnny Johnson, the New York Jets’ leading rusher for the last two years and the team’s most valuable player in 1993, was released.

Auto Racing

Al Unser’s car, which was ruled illegal after it had won Sunday’s Indy car race in Portland, Ore., is being shipped to a warehouse near CART headquarters in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., for further investigation. The postrace investigation revealed a violation of the two-inch rule, which states the bottom of the car’s side pods must be at least two inches above the actual bottom of the car.

Roger Penske, who fields cars for Unser and Emerson Fittipaldi, has filed a protest over the decision, which gave the race victory to second-place finisher Jimmy Vasser.

The condition of driver Stan Fox, injured in a first-lap crash in the Indianapolis 500 last month, was upgraded from fair to good at Indianapolis’ Methodist Hospital.

Basketball

Ferran Martinez scored 27 points to lead Spain to a 94-78 upset over Russia in the European Championship in Athens. Both teams had clinched berths in the quarterfinals.

In other games, Yugoslavia, getting 21 points from Predrag Danilovic, beat Israel, 72-59, to clinch first place in Pool A with its fifth consecutive victory; Arvidas Sabonis had 20 points and 12 rebounds in 17 minutes as Lithuania overwhelmed Sweden for second place in Pool A, 96-73; and Croatia and Slovenia won.

The University of Cincinnati’s board of trustees gave conditional approval to a 10-year contract extension for Coach Bob Huggins that would pay him a reported $750,000 a year.

Brigham Young point guard Robbie Reid, son of the Cougars’ coach, Roger Reid, has decided to go on a two-year Mormon mission to Greece and is expected to be succeeded at point guard by his brother, Randy Reid.

Miscellany

The six slowest of 38 boats competing in the 38th biennial Transpacific sailing race to Hawaii will start off the Palos Verdes peninsula today in the beginning of a series of starts staggered over five days.

Names in the News

Paul Roach will retire as Wyoming’s athletic director in October. . . . Sprinter Leroy Burrell said he will not compete for the rest of the summer because of a swollen tendon in his left foot. . . . The Kings have signed Russian defenseman Ruslan Batyrshin to a three-year contract. . . . Former heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Patterson, who says casino gambling can help restore big-time boxing to New York, was unanimously confirmed as athletic commissioner by the state Senate.