Ex-Clemson Coach Howard Dies at Age 86

Frank Howard, the coach who turned a small agricultural college, Clemson, into a football power, died Friday at 86.

Famed for his country wit and fractured English, Howard retired in 1969. In recent years, he was a regular at Tiger sporting events. His courtside spot at Littlejohn Coliseum will be roped off for Clemson’s basketball game today against North Carolina State.

Howard’s Clemson career started when he signed a one-year contract in 1940. But he lost the document and never signed another. In 30 seasons, he compiled a 165-118-12 record.

In 1989, he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Howard went to Clemson to serve as an assistant football coach under Jess Neely in 1931.

“I also coached track, was ticket manager, recruited players and had charge of football equipment,” Howard once said. “In my spare time, I cut grass, lined tennis courts and operated the canteen while the regular man was out to lunch.”

Golf

Justin Leonard pulled away from a logjam atop the leaderboard with two birdies on the last four holes and took a two-shot lead after three rounds of the Phoenix Open.

Leonard, a non-winner his two previous years on the PGA Tour, had an eagle during his five-under-par round of 66 to finish 54 holes at 13-under 200.

Don Pooley, Tom Scherrer and Phil Mickelson were tied for second at 202, with second-round leader Woody Austin, Jesper Parnevik and Kenny Perry at 204.

Leonard made a big push on No. 15, a 501-yard par-five with an island green. He cleared the water with a 4-iron second shot that stopped 20 feet from the pin, then made the eagle putt.

Baseball

The Angels claimed left-hander Joe Rosselli off waivers from the San Francisco Giants and put him on their 40-man roster. Rosselli, 23, was on the Giants’ opening-day roster in 1995, recording a 2-1 record and an 8.70 earned-run average in nine games (five starts). He also was 4-3 with a 4.99 ERA in 13 games for triple-A Phoenix last season.

Geronimo Pena, oft-injured second baseman of the St. Louis Cardinals, will get another chance to win a job with the team. The Cardinals said they signed Pena to a minor league contract. . . . Former St. Louis third baseman Scott Cooper signed a one-year contract with the Seibu Lions, the Japanese Pacific League team announced. The Kyodo news service said Cooper will receive about $2.17 million.

Boxing

Mark Breland, the 1984 Olympic welterweight gold medalist, will make a comeback against Ricardo Smith in a 10-round junior-middleweight bout at Long Island University today. Breland retired in 1992, after having lost his piece of the welterweight title twice. He was 110-1 as an amateur, 30-3-1 as a pro.

A second urinalysis steroid test of International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Francois Botha has come back positive, the IBF said. A hearing will be held within two weeks by the IBF championships committee to decide if the South African will be stripped of the title he won by decision over German Axel Schulz Dec. 9 in Stuttgart. Results from an initial test taken following the fight and done in Cologne, Germany, had come back positive for steroids. The second test was performed Thursday at the UCLA Olympic laboratory.

Winter Sports

World and Olympic champions Oksana Gritschuk and Yevgeny Platov of Russia won their first European ice dance title at Sofia, Bulgaria. Surya Bonaly led the women’s event.

Sonia Nef of Switzerland got her first World Cup victory in a rare night slalom at Sestriere, Italy, and teammate Marlies Oester finished second in what also was her best showing in a gate race. Nef rallied from fourth place in the first run to win with an aggregate time of 1:47.15. Oester was 0.14 seconds behind.

Jurisprudence

Anthony Thomas, Alabama Birmingham’s No. 2 scorer, left the basketball team after being charged with beating his girlfriend, a former women’s player at the school. Thomas was charged after what the school termed a “domestic altercation” involving Ayanna Moore.

“I spoke with Anthony this morning, and he told me he does not want to play anymore,” coach Gene Bartow said. “I agree with his decision.”

Beach Volleyball

Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno became the first U.S. women’s beach volleyball team to qualify for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Three women’s teams and three men’s teams will represent the United States in Atlanta, when beach volleyball makes its debut as a medal sport. Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel earned the automatic bid for the United States in the men’s division, based on their FIVB (the sport’s governing body) standings.

McPeak and Reno earned the automatic bid by accumulating more points than any other U.S. women’s team in the 1995-96 FIVB season.

Names in the News

Allen R. Bohl was appointed Fresno State athletic director. He had been athletic director at Toledo and he succeeds Gary Cunningham, who resigned last fall to become athletic director at UC Santa Barbara. . . . Olympic track and field 100-meter champion Linford Christie, training in Australia to get away from winter weather in Britain, was timed in 10.00 seconds in winning at the Adelaide Grand Prix Friday. Christie has yet to say if he will run at the Atlanta Olympics. . . . Connecticut basketball center Travis Knight underwent surgery Friday to repair a fracture in his left thumb and his status for Sunday’s game against Virginia was uncertain.