Parkhill Resigns at Penn State

Bruce Parkhill, who revitalized the Penn State basketball team when it joined the Big Ten Conference, resigned unexpectedly as coach Wednesday, saying he was burned out.

Parkhill, who guided the Nittany Lions to a 21-11 record last season and a third-place finish in the National Invitation Tournament, was replaced by long-time assistant Jerry Dunn. Parkhill will remain at the school as assistant athletic director.

“I just haven’t enjoyed coaching as much as I used to--it’s that simple,” he said. “This is not a sudden decision. I have contemplated getting out of coaching for seven or eight years. And then every summer, I would get rejuvenated.”

Pro Basketball

NBA players return to voting booths around the country today for the second and final session to decide whether they will accept the pending six-year contract from the league or decertify the union and put the start of the season in jeopardy.

Today’s tabulation will be combined with Aug. 30 polling. The result will be announced Tuesday. A majority of those who voted--not of the approximately 420 players eligible--is needed to decide the outcome.

Baseball

Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael D. Eisner hinted that one of Disney’s first acts after taking over the Angels might be scrapping plans for a new baseball-only stadium and instead renovating Anaheim Stadium.

“We’re looking at all sorts of options on how to deal with Anaheim Stadium,” Eisner said at the opening of Disney ICE, a community skating rink in downtown Anaheim. His appearance marked one of his few news conferences since agreeing to buy part of the Angels and expressing interest in acquiring an NFL team.

“Obviously the options are new stadiums, renovated stadiums, depending on what happens with football. . . . We are looking at what would happen if you simply renovated the stadium for baseball.”

Boxing

Former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Oliver McCall denied he failed to take a drug test after losing his title to Great Britain’s Frank Bruno on Saturday and threatened to quit boxing if he is suspended permanently.

McCall was provisionally suspended by the WBC for allegedly refusing to submit to obligatory anti-doping tests after losing the 12-round decision in London.

“I think they got the wrong information,” McCall said.

Golf

European-team veteran Nick Faldo will play in the Ryder Cup in two weeks, Captain Bernard Gallacher said. Faldo, a three-time British Open and two-time Masters champion, pulled out of this week’s Lancome Trophy in Canada because of an injured right wrist.

Jurisprudence

Former Cleveland Brown linebacker Eddie Johnson was sentenced in Cleveland to 12 months probation and 200 hours of community service for harboring his half-brother, Charles Henderson, a fugitive felon.

Johnson, 36, was convicted in June of hiding Henderson, who escaped from a Georgia prison last summer. Henderson, who has a long history of violent crimes, was serving two life sentences.

The Oregon Court of Appeals overturned a damage award of $292,000 to former Oregon basketball coach Don Monson because the state did not break a contract agreement with him.

After Monson’s team went 6-21 in 1991-92, he left the job when former athletic director Bill Byrne told him that he was being reassigned as a golf coach. Monson, 60 at the time, had a contract through 1994.

Hockey

Detroit goalie Mike Vernon will remain an unrestricted free agent after an arbitrator ruled that the Red Wings’ final contract offer was not accepted. Vernon said he agreed to a two-year, $5.45-million contract with the Red Wings on June 30. The Red Wings said they withdrew the offer.

Edmonton defenseman Ryan McGill retired after he was declared legally blind in his left eye five months after he was hit by a puck. McGill, 26, was traded to the Oilers from the Philadelphia Flyers last March.

The Buffalo Sabres were charged with trying to break the union representing ticket takers and sellers at Memorial Auditorium by hiring an outside company to handle those tasks. The union represents about 120 part-time workers.

Names in the News

Geoff Zahn, a former pitcher for the Dodgers and Angels who also played for the Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins during a 12-year career, was named baseball coach at Michigan. Zahn, the National League rookie of the year as a Dodger in 1974, was the pitching coach at Pepperdine last season. . . . Tim Leiweke, who stepped down as president of the Denver Nuggets six months ago, has been selected head of U.S. Skiing. . . . German Alanis, 12, of Watsonville, Calif., who died after heading a soccer ball, suffered from a malformed artery in his brain and would not have lived much longer in any case, according to doctors. . . . David Pichler and Chuck Wade won the silver medal in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform, giving the United States its first medals in the Diving World Cup at Atlanta. China’s Xiao Hailiang and Tan Liang won the gold medal.