NCAA Says Autry Can Be in the Movies

The NCAA has decided that Northwestern running back Darnell Autry can enhance his drama studies by appearing in a movie.

The administrative review panel granted Autry, a 19-year-old sophomore who led the Wildcats to the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth, a waiver of an NCAA rule prohibiting student athletes from appearing in commercial films.

Autry could have been suspended or stripped of his remaining two years of eligibility if he had appeared in the movie, “The 18th Angel,” described as a supernatural thriller. It is being filmed in Rome, and he was to have two scenes, with lines, but without pay.

On Wednesday, a circuit judge in Chicago granted him a temporary restraining order so he could accept the unpaid movie part this summer in Rome.

NCAA spokeswoman Kathryn Reith said the appeal panel decided to waive the no-movie rule in Autry’s case because he is a theater major and the role is not connected to his athletic ability. She also noted conflicting interpretations of NCAA rules, saying one interpretation lets student athletes appear in television productions but not in films.

Football

The Orange Bowl, originally scheduled for Dec. 30 this year, will be played a day later so it will not compete with the Holiday Bowl.

The Orange Bowl, which will be played in Miami’s Joe Robbie Stadium for the first time, would not be opposed by another bowl game in prime time on New Year’s Eve.

Officials of the Orange Bowl said the game will start shortly after 7 p.m. EST on a Tuesday night, more than an hour earlier than past Orange Bowls.

Olympics

The last scoring blow of the fight made Augustine Sanchez, 18, the U.S. Olympic trials’ 125-pound boxing champion.

That right-hand punch gave Sanchez, the 1996 U.S. champion, a 12-11 victory over Floyd Mayweather, a 1995 U.S. champion.

The victory at Oakland puts Sanchez into the box-offs April 18-20 at Augusta, Ga., which will determine the 12-boxer U.S. Olympic team.

Athens, upset about losing the Centennial Olympics to Atlanta, was given reason to hope about the 2004 games from International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

“I think that what happens in the past is in the past,” Samaranch said at a meeting in Greece near the ruins of the ancient sanctuary where the first recorded Olympics were held every four years from 776 B.C. until they were abolished in 394 by the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius. “The wounds do not exist today and we hope Athens will present a very strong bid for 2004.”

Elizabeth Bourland won her second spot on the U.S. Olympic shooting team by finishing second in the women’s air rifle competition in Atlanta. She had won a spot in 3x20 rifle April 1.

Nancy Napolski took the top spot in women’s air rifle.

In the opening day of men’s 3x40 field competition, 1992 Olympian Bob Foth took the lead with a score of 1,260 out of 1,309. Foth won a silver medal in the event at the 1992 Games.

Miscellany

Two-time defending champion Conchita Martinez defeated Petra Begerow, 6-2, 6-0, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario eliminated Sabine Hack, 6-2, 6-2, in quarterfinal matches in the Family Circle Cup tournament at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Britain’s Damon Hill, seeking his third consecutive Formula One victory this season, edged Michael Schumacher and turned in the fastest time in practice sessions for the Argentine Grand Prix. Hill was timed in 1:29.694 in his Williams-Renault over the 2.66-mile track near Buenos Aires.

The UCLA men’s volleyball team defeated Cal State Northridge, 15-12, 15-13, 15-6, and USC defeated Loyola Marymount, 15-8, 15-12, 15-11, to reach tonight’s final of the UCLA/Big Dog Classic at Pauley Pavilion.

Hawaii became the first NCAA men’s volleyball team to play before 100,000 home fans in a season when the top-ranked Rainbows blasted fourth-ranked Stanford, 15-2, 15-5, 15-5, Thursday night before 9,274. Hawaii has played before 106,669 this season.

The Ivy League will audit its member schools to find out whether any are violating its policy against giving athletic scholarships.

Basketball

Oklahoma Coach Kelvin Sampson said he will stay with the Sooners, ending speculation that he would take a job coaching at North Carolina State.

Louisville center Samaki Walker, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, says he will make himself eligible for the NBA draft. . . . The Daily Press of Newport News, Va., reported that Georgetown sophomore guard Allen Iverson will make himself eligible for the NBA draft. The school had no comment.

There is no evidence that the late Boston Celtic captain Reggie Lewis used illegal drugs while he played on the 1986-1987 Northeastern University basketball team, an investigating commission reported.

Lewis died July 27, 1993, after he collapsed while shooting baskets.

Former NBA player Dallas Comegys is recovering steadily after surgery for a gunshot wound and should be able to play basketball again, his doctor said in Turkey.

Comegys and former Laker Larry Spriggs were wounded and a Turkish businessman was killed in a shooting outside a nightclub early Thursday.

Names in the News

Sports attorney Leigh Steinberg has been selected “Man of the Year” by the Jewish Community Center of Orange County.