U.S. Soccer, Star Women Players, Agree to Agree
The U.S. Soccer Federation has resolved its dispute with nine of the country’s leading female players and will invite them to the Olympic training camp that opens in Florida later this month.
No details of the agreement were revealed, but both Hank Steinbrecher, general secretary of U.S. Soccer, and Carla Overbeck, captain of the women’s national team, endorsed the resolution.
The nine players had rejected contracts from the federation, primarily because of U.S Soccer’s stance that it would pay the players a $250,000 bonus only if they won the gold medal in the Atlanta Games. The players argued that a silver or bronze medal also ought to be worth a bonus.
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The New England Revolution named former Ireland national team player Frank Stapleton as coach. . . . Major League Soccer announced the signing of 15 additional players, including Colombian national team midfielder Leonel Alvarez, who played in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups; U.S. national team players John Kerr Jr. and Mark Chung, and Costa Rican national team goalkeeper Erick Lonnis.
Football
An impostor on the Texas football team may have placed bets on sports events for a small number of players on the team, Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds said. The announcement was the latest development in the story of 30-year-old Ron Weaver, who enrolled at Texas last year as 23-year-old Ron McKelvey and extended his football playing days after exhausting his college eligibility in California several years earlier.
USC will play Penn State in the Kickoff Classic Aug. 25 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Each team will receive a minimum guarantee of$675,000. . . . Kentucky tailback Moe Williams will make himself available for the NFL draft instead of spending his senior season with the Wildcats.
Names in the News
Bill Burke, president of the Los Angeles Marathon, was assaulted and became a victim of the so-called “Rolex Bandit” when he drove into the underground parking facility at marathon headquarters in Westwood Tuesday morning. A masked man produced a gun and demanded his wristwatch, according to an L.A. Marathon employee.
Betsy Rawls, whose four U.S. Women’s Open titles highlighted her 55 tournament victories, was named winner of the Bob Jones Award by the U.S. Golf Assn. in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.
James E. (Ted) Bassett, chairman of the Keeneland Assn. and president of Breeders’ Cup Limited, is the recipient of the 1995 Eclipse Award of Merit.
Miscellany
Germany upset the Netherlands, 3-0, and Russia edged Croatia, 3-2, in the opening round of the women’s European Olympic volleyball qualifying tournament in Bremen, Germany. . . . Two-time Olympic luge gold-medal winner Georg Hackl of Germany won the Invitational Race of Champions in Winterberg, Germany.
