Edwards Is Latest to Leave Cowboys

Another day, another Cowboy defection.

Linebacker Dixon Edwards left the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys to join the Minnesota Vikings on Monday.

Minnesota will pay Edwards $10 million over four years, including a $2.5-million signing bonus.

Edwards is the third Dallas defensive starter to leave this off-season, following cornerback Larry Brown and defensive lineman Russell Maryland, both of whom signed with Oakland.

Coach Barry Switzer said he wouldn’t be surprised if linebackers Darrin Smith and Robert Jones also left. The Cowboys have lost 21 starters to free agency in three years.

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The San Francisco 49ers and free-agent offensive lineman Ray Brown agreed to a five-year, $10-million contract. The deal includes a $2.75-million signing bonus. Brown spent the last seven seasons with Washington.

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The Cincinnati Bengals signed free-agent cornerback Ashley Ambrose to a $4.95-million, three-year contract. Ambrose spent the first four years of his career with Indianapolis.

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Herman Edwards, who spent the last seven seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, moved to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to coach the defensive backs.

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William “The Refrigerator” Perry, former Chicago Bear defensive tackle, signed with the London Monarchs of the six-team World League.

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Billy Lothridge, 54, Georgia Tech quarterback and kicker from 1961-63, died of a heart attack.

Jurisprudence

A Canadian university hockey coach was suspended and several of his players face possible criminal charges for assaulting a referee with their sticks and fists after an overtime loss.

The incident occurred after the University of Moncton Blue Eagles had lost their season-ending game Saturday on a controversial overtime goal to the University of Prince Edward Island at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Referee Brian Carragher escaped serious injury when Moncton players backed him into a corner of the rink.

Witnesses said Carragher, an official for 15 years, was speared twice in the groin with a hockey stick and punched in the head and stomach.

The man charged with killing basketball star Michael Jordan’s father could face a conviction of first-degree murder or premeditated first-degree murder, the presiding judge in Lumberton, N.C., ruled.

North Carolina Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks, dealt a blow to the defense by ruling against instructing the jury that only murder in the first degree could be considered.

Figure Skating

Scott Hamilton, Oksana Baiul, Brian Boitano and Viktor Petrenko are among the figure skaters scheduled to appear tonight in Hartford, Conn., in a tribute show for Sergei Grinkov, who died last November of a heart attack at the age of 28.

Katya Gordeeva, Grinkov’s widow, will perform publicly for the first time since she lost the partner with whom she won two Olympic gold medals.

The show at the Hartford Civic Center, called “A Celebration of a Life,” will feature quite probably the greatest collection of figure skating talent ever assembled on the same ice. Every one of the performers has won either an Olympic or world championship medal. All of them were touched in some way by the brilliance of Gordeeva and Grinkov.

Boxing

The International Boxing Federation reversed course to comply with a settlement ordered by a U.S. federal court and said Frans Botha, its heavyweight champion, will fight Michael Moorer.

The settlement stipulated that Moorer would fight the winner of the Dec. 9 bout between Botha and Axel Schulz. Botha won but tested positive for steroids. The IBF decided last Saturday that Botha will keep the title and pay a $50,000 fine, but also ordered a rematch between Botha and Schulz within six months.

Miscellany

Louisiana Tech led a top five that remained unchanged in the Associated Press women’s basketball poll. Georgia remained second and was followed by Connecticut, Stanford and Tennessee. . . . Pacific and Mountain will be the names of the eight-team divisions in the expanded Western Athletic Conference beginning with the 1996-97 season. Pacific Division: Air Force, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, UNLV, San Diego State, San Jose State and Wyoming. Mountain: BYU, New Mexico, Rice, Southern Methodist, TCU, Texas El Paso, Tulsa and Utah. . . . Jeff McInerney, defensive coordinator at Duke last season, has been named USC’s defensive line coach, replacing Rod Marinelli, who joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneer staff.