Kansas Is No. 1, UCLA Drops Out of Sight

The Kansas Jayhawks have played a brutal early season schedule and still come out on top in the Associated Press college basketball poll. Ranked second in the preseason poll, they moved to No. 1 Monday after having beaten Utah, Virginia and UCLA while preseason favorite Kentucky was beaten by Massachusetts.

UCLA’s loss to Kansas knocked the Bruins, the defending national champions, from the rankings. Also falling from the top 25 was Arkansas, the team UCLA beat in last season’s title game. The Razorbacks had rejoined the rankings last week at No. 25 but lost to Michigan State in the Great Eight tournament.

Sportswriters and broadcasters gave the Jayhawks (3-0) 55 first-place votes and 1,613 points, well ahead of runner-up Villanova (5-0), which had four No. 1 votes and 1,519 points.

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Former UCLA Coach John Wooden has been named winner of the NCAA’s Theodore Roosevelt Award

The “Teddy” is presented to a distinguished citizen who is a former college varsity athlete and has exemplified a continuing interest and concern for physical fitness and sports.

Baseball

The Dodgers will open negotiations this week with second baseman Delino DeShields. DeShields, who earned $3 million last season, is seeking a three-year deal for about $6 million.

The Dodgers also said they hoped to retain free agent starter Tom Candiotti, but the Angels have expressed strong interest in the knuckleballer.

In other developments, the Dodgers lost starting pitcher Mark Mimbs of triple-A Albuquerque and reliever Joe Jacobsen of Class-A Vero Beach in the Rule 5 draft.

The Dodgers did not select any players in the major league draft, but picked outfielder Scott Richardson from Milwaukee, and right-handed pitcher Damon Newman and catcher Jaime Mackert from Pittsburgh in the minor league draft.

Also, Bill DeLury of the Dodgers was named winner of the Donald Davidson award, exemplifying major league baseball’s best traveling secretary.

Paul Molitor is close to signing a two-year, $4-million contract with the Minnesota Twins, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today.

Molitor, 39, batted .270 with the Toronto Blue Jays last season.

According to the New York Daily News, federal authorities believe a group of former players--most of whom are in the Hall of Fame--collected nearly $250,000 in cash for signing autographs and never reported it to the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the newspaper, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Reggie Jackson, Harmon Killebrew, Eddie Mathews, Tony Perez, Pete Rose, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt and the late Mickey Mantle are among the players who allegedly didn’t include the cash payments when they filed their tax returns. Two others--Willie Mays and Ted Williams--reported payments on their tax forms.

Frank Robinson is leaving the Baltimore Orioles’ front office. Under the new leadership of General Manager Pat Gillick and Manager Davey Johnson, the Orioles chose not to keep Robinson as assistant general manager. His contract expires Dec. 31.

The Detroit Tigers moved another step closer to building a stadium when the City Council voted to spend $40 million to help pay for it.

Mayor Dennis Archer said taxpayers benefit from the plan because the city will get a $235-million stadium with a $40-million investment, and the plan does not rely on a tax increase.

The Florida Marlins traded center fielder Chuck Carr to the Milwaukee Brewers for right-handed pitcher Juan Gonzalez, 20. Carr became expendable after the Marlins signed Devon White.

Names in the News

The son of former Dallas Cowboy defensive back Charlie Waters has died less than two weeks before his 18th birthday. Cody Waters, a senior at Marist High in Eugene, Ore., where he played soccer and football, died in his sleep Sunday night. The cause of death is not yet known. Waters is the defensive coordinator at the University of Oregon. . . . An arrest warrant has been issued in Dayton, Ohio, for former Ohio State track star Chris Nelloms on a charge of passing a bad check. Nelloms has qualified to compete in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials next June. . . . Off-road racing driver Walker Evans of Riverside retired from the sport, saying he will concentrate on truck racing and short course off-road racing. Evans, 56, of Riverside, won the trophy truck main event Saturday at Glen Helen Motorsports Park near San Bernardino. . . . The Edmonton Oilers, in need of a left wing to play with center Jason Arnott, acquired Kent Manderville from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for center Peter White.