N.Y. Giants Give Walker His Walking Papers

Running back Herschel Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner from Georgia and fourth on the NFL’s career list in all-purpose yardage, was released Tuesday by the New York Giants.

Walker, 34, played only one season with the Giants after having divided his previous nine NFL seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles.

He was involved in one of the biggest trades in league history on Oct. 12, 1989, when he was by obtained by Minnesota from Dallas, along with four draft choices, for five players and eighth draft choices.

“The determination to release Herschel was because we were unable to express a definitive role for him this year, and we also have a lot of running backs,” said Giants General Manager George Young.

Greg Jackson, a seven-year NFL veteran who played with the Philadelphia Eagles for the past two seasons, signed a one-year contract with the New Orleans Saints. . . . Rookie defensive tackle Shane Burton and free-agent cornerback Tim Jacobs signed with the Miami Dolphins.

Tennis

Mary Pierce, seeded eighth, won only six points in the first set and lost, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, to Romania’s Irina Spirlea in an error-filled match in the first round of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament, the major tuneup for Wimbledon.

Thomas Muster, still fuming over being seeded seventh at Wimbledon, slipped past Spain’s Tomas Carbonell, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Germany.

Second-seeded Alberto Costa and No. 4 Mark Woodforde were ousted from the Nottingham Open grass-court tournament in England, leaving fifth-seeded Jan Siemerink as the highest-ranked survivor in the event.

Top-seeded Carlos Costa posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory over fellow Spaniard Jordi Arrese in a first-round match at the Carisbo International in Italy. Emilio Sanchez, another Spaniard, was ousted by Norwegian Christian Ruud, 6-4, 7-5.

Croatian Iva Majoli and German Anke Huber, the top two seeds in the Wilkinson Lady grass court championships, both defeated Japanese opponents in first-round matches in the Netherlands. Majoli beat Kyoka Nagatsuka, 6-2, 6-4, and Huber outlasted Naoko Kijimuta, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Miscellany

Jeff Gilchrist of Elk Grove added a two-over-par 73 at Pebble Beach to his first-round 69 at the Links at Spanish Bay to win medalist honors for the California Amateur.

Match play for the 32 qualifiers begins today at Pebble Beach.

The inaugural California League-Carolina League All-Star Game at the Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga ended in a 2-2 tie when both teams ran out of pitchers after 11 innings.

The Splash will be a part of the weekly Continental Indoor Soccer League games on Prime Sports this season. Anaheim’s Aug. 19 match at Detroit will be a part of the 15-game package. The deal includes the all-star game, playoffs and league championship.

Names in the News

NBC Sports announced that it has signed Bob Costas to a six-year contract extension, through the year 2002. . . . Detroit Red Wing defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov underwent surgery Sunday for a torn Achilles’ tendon and won’t be able to play for Russia in this summer’s hockey World Cup. . . . Defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who helped lead the Florida Panthers into the Stanley Cup finals, headed the NHL all-rookie team. Others selected were New Jersey center Petr Sykora, Chicago left wing Eric Daze, Ottawa right wing Daniel Alfredsson, Boston defenseman Kyle McLaren and Vancouver goaltender Corey Hirsch. . . . Jim Saia, the men’s coach at two-year Columbia College, in Sonora, Calif., the last two seasons, has been named UCLA’s restricted earnings coach, replacing Greg White, who left to become the coach at Marshall, his alma mater.