Bee’s Sting Is Fatal to Basketball Player

A basketball player at the University of South Carolina Spartanburg died shortly after a bee stung him during a pickup game at the school’s gym Monday.

Charles Maurice D’Antignac Tyus, 20, apparently had a history of allergic reactions to insect stings, Chris Sawyer with the Spartanburg County Coroner’s office said.

Tyus played center and forward last season. He and some teammates were playing in the gym and coaches also were there, although it was not an official practice, Chancellor John Stockwell said.

Teammates told Sawyer they saw a bee sting Tyus and that he knocked it off and ran to the other end of the court.

Tyus then collapsed and went into convulsions, the players added.

A school nurse arrived, gave Tyus drugs to counteract the toxin and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Jurisprudence

Former Houston Rocket Vernon Maxwell was arrested after Houston police allegedly discovered marijuana in his car when he was stopped for a minor traffic violation.

Maxwell, who spent Monday night in jail, declined comment after having been released on a $1,000 bond.

Golf

A plan to make it easier for foreign golfers to play in U.S. tournaments while protecting their home tours from being stripped of top talent was approved Tuesday by the PGA Tour.

The tour’s Tournament Policy Board increased the number of annual exemptions, or wild-card berths, for non-members to seven, two more than previously.

But to get those additional two tournament spots on the lucrative U.S. circuit, overseas players now will be required to play at least 11 tournaments on their home tours.

Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Dave Stockton head the field for a Senior PGA Tour Pro-Am tournament in Oklahoma City to benefit survivors of the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.

Tournament organizers hope to raise as much as $500,000. A total of 112 amateurs paid $1,500 apiece to play with the pros. Live and silent auctions raised at least $200,000.

Basketball

Georgetown guard Allen Iverson scored 21 points as the United States defeated Lithuania, 105-81, to reach the championship round of the World University Games. The Czech Republic, Japan and Canada also reached the final four.

Hockey

The NHL will more strictly enforce rules prohibiting restraining fouls next season in an effort to minimize obstruction--clutching and grabbing.

A 14-member panel made up of league executives, club officials and referees issued a rules and interpretation bulletin that focused on “locking up” of players in the neutral zone and defensive tactics used against forechecking forwards. The bulletin, which was adapted unanimously during a meeting of general managers, will take effect beginning in exhibition games.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman called the bulletin “a fine tuning and not a major overhaul to our game . . . intended to address some concern expressed by players, management, the media and our fans as to what are appropriate defensive tactics.”

Rod Langway, 38, a two-time Norris Trophy winner during his 15-year NHL career with Montreal and Washington, signed a contract with the International Hockey League’s San Francisco Spiders as a player-assistant coach.

The Los Angeles Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League will hold open tryouts Sept. 7 at the Sports Arena. Registration begins at 10 a.m. There is a $75 fee, the proceeds going to charity.

Miscellany

A 32-year-old man, swinging from a soccer crossbar, was crushed to death when the goal structure collapsed on him in Decatur, Tenn. last weekend.

Juan Santa Rosa of Decatur died after a game at a local park. The goal, which weighed several hundred pounds, pulled loose from the ground and tipped over.

The death of a 39-year-old suburban Chicago man in the swimming portion of a triathlon in Chicago has been officially classified as a drowning.

Race officials had blamed a heart attack when John E. Mawdsley of Barrington, Ill., died Sunday in Lake Michigan during Mrs. T’s Chicago Triathlon.

But an autopsy found no heart abnormalities.

The Orange County Chapter of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) Assn. is teaming with the California Angels for a tribute to Gehrig on Sept. 12 at the Angel-White Sox game at Anaheim Stadium. Tickets, priced at $8, with a $4 handling fee for each order, are available by calling (714) 937-7233.

Names in the News

The Chicago Bulls have signed former guard John Paxson as an assistant coach. . . . Laker owner Jerry Buss will be honored at a charity dinner held by the the State of Israel Bonds on Sept. 20 at the Century Plaza.