Women’s Groups Urge CBS to Fire Wright

The National Organization for Women and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation on Thursday called for golf commentator Ben Wright to be fired from CBS.

Wright was quoted in May as having said, among other things, that lesbians in women’s golf hurt the sport. CBS backed Wright after an investigation, and Wright was given a four-year contract extension last month.

“We demand that action be taken,” Chiqui Cartagena of GLAAD said at a news conference. “Mr. Wright has a problem with women. At the very least we think that he should have sensitivity training, and we would be happy to provide that.”

CBS had no comment.

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Denny McGonagle, a professional golfer who once served as a caddie for President Warren Harding is dead at 89. McGonagle, a PGA golf pro for 62 years who also was a caddie for golf champion Bobby Jones, died Tuesday in Mercy Hospital in Hamilton, Ohio.

Wayne Riley, negotiating strong winds and slow greens, shot a five-under-par 66 to take a three-stroke lead after the opening round of the Johnnie Walker World Championship of Golf in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

College Basketball

Texas A&M; basketball Coach Tony Barone and two former players have agreed to pay $5,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from their brawl with Texas Tech fans, an attorney said.

Floyd Holder, who represents Red Raider fans Charles Ewing Jr. and Christopher Ewing, said that the lawsuit will be dismissed. Holder said he received a $5,000 check last week from the Lubbock law firm representing the Aggies.

Barone, Tony Barone Jr. and John Jungers were named as the people responsible for what the lawsuit described as humiliating and painful attacks. The Ewings were seeking punitive damages of $1.375 million and actual damages between $500 and $100,000.

Leland Osborne, a Nevada high school star who withdrew from two community colleges after a brother was wounded in two separate shootings, has been awarded four full years of eligibility by the NCAA. The decision means Osborne, a 6-foot-4 guard from Las Vegas, can play in the University of South Alabama’s Sun Belt Conference opener Saturday at Jacksonville.

Auto Racing

The fledgling Indy Racing League took another step away from the established Indy-car circuit by announcing a new engine configuration for 1997. Although the IRL has yet to run a race, it said it will make a 4-liter, V-8 engine the standard power plant for its second season. The new engine will have less horsepower and mean a difference of about 8 mph on a lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Jeff Gordon, the Winston Cup champion whose earnings of $4,347,343 were the most ever for single season in auto racing, has been selected driver of the year.

Pro Basketball

Manute Bol, the 7-foot-7 former NBA player, will play for Portland’s new United States Basketball League team next summer, according to the club.

The Mountain Cats also said they had reached agreement with Kevin Mackey, who will serve as the club’s first coach and director of player personnel. The season begins in May.

Skiing

Heini Baumgartner of Switzerland and Yelena Batalova of Russia scored their second consecutive victories of the Freestyle Skiing World Cup in La Plagne, France, in the acroski event. Baumgartner won the men’s event with 25.85 points. It was his sixth World Cup victory in the discipline formerly known as ballet. Batalova also got the sixth victory of her career.

Sven Fischer of Germany won the men’s 20-kilometer event in a World Cup biathlon meet in Oslo to widen his overall lead to 24 points.

Skating

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the dance portion of the Challenge of Champions in one of their rare appearances in Britain. American Paul Wylie was a surprise winner in men’s singles and Japan’s Yuka Sato won the women’s singles as expected.

Miscellany

Argentine President Carlos Menem submitted Buenos Aires’ bid to host the 2004 Summer Olympics. . . .The Illinois Racing Board revoked the license of one of Chicago’s best harness drivers amid allegations of race-fixing at Maywood Park. Ron Marsh, 42, was barred from racing for “failing to give his best effort and for furthering an unlawful betting scheme.”

Four skinheads were sentenced to jail terms of 75 days to 18 months in Finland for assault, racist attacks and threatening behavior that forced a black American basketball player to leave the country. The attacks against Darryl Parker and three Somalis were “serious and motivated by skin color,” said the court in Joensuu, about 270 miles northeast of Helsinki.