No Longer a Raven, Rison Becomes a Jaguar

Wide receiver Andre Rison, released by Baltimore on July 9 because the Ravens couldn’t afford him, signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Wednesday.

Terms were not disclosed.

Rison comes off a troubled season in which he was criticized for being late to team meetings and failed to catch at least 50 passes for the first time in his seven-year career.

Baltimore, which last year signed him to a five-year, $17-million contract, paying him a $5 million bonus, released him to free up room under the salary cap.

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With fallen star Michael Irvin conspicuously absent, the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys reported to training camp.

But leave it to Deion Sanders, attending the first NFL camp of his career, to fill the void.

Sanders showed up with a custom-made Mercedes golf cart that included a stereo system and vanity license plates that read “Full Time.”

Sanders will be spending time at wide receiver as well as defensive back during training camp as Dallas prepares for the possibility Irvin might be suspended by the NFL for at least four games for his no-contest plea on a drug-possession charge.

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Tight end Johnny Mitchell, released by the New York Jets, signed with the Miami Dolphins. Terms were not disclosed. . . . The Washington Redskins re-signed free agent running back Terry Allen to a one-year contract worth $1 million, plus a $1-million signing bonus, and first-round draft pick Andre Johnson, an offensive lineman out of Penn State, to a four-year deal worth nearly $3.6 million. . . . The Pittsburgh Steelers reached a verbal agreement on five-year, $4.6-million contract with their No. 1 draft pick, Jamain Stephens, an offensive tackle from North Carolina A&T.;

Tennis

Michael Chang, making his season debut on a hard court, defeated Geoff Grant, 6-1, 6-3, in the second round of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C.

The second-seeded Chang, playing his first match since losing in the first round of Wimbledon last month, had nine aces and didn’t face a break point on his serve against the 333rd-ranked qualifier.

No. 4 Wayne Ferriera beat Oleg Ogorodov, 6-2, 6-0, and fifth-seeded Alberto Costa defeated Steve Campbell, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Defending champion and top-seeded Thomas Muster struggled through two tiebreakers to defeat little-known Spaniard Marcos Gorriz, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2), at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany. . . . Third-seeded Silvia Farini of Italy defeated Corinne Morariu, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, at the Palermo Grand Prix WTA tournament in Sicily.

Boris Becker of Germany, who has withdrawn from the last two Grand Slam events because of injuries, walked away uninjured from an automobile accident in Stuttgart, Germany.

Becker was a passenger in a Mercedes-Benz race car when it crashed at the company’s test track. He was one of three passengers in the vehicle and was at the Mercedes headquarters to sign a sponsorship deal.

Justin Gimelstob, a former UCLA star, has been awarded singles and doubles wild-card entries into the main draw of the Infiniti Open July 29-Aug. 4 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA. Gimelstob will be paired with former Bruin Srdjan Muskatirovic of Yugoslavia in the doubles.

Boxing

The New York State Athletic Commission rejected a protest by handlers for heavyweight boxer Andrew Golota, seeking to overturn his disqualification in last Thursday’s bout with Riddick Bowe.

Golota appeared to be on his way to a major upset when he was disqualified in the seventh round for hitting Bowe below the belt for the fourth time.

Afterward, members of Bowe’s camp attacked Golota, and a melee ensued in the ring and in the crowd at Madison Square Garden.

Three Brooklyn men filed a $4.5-million lawsuit against the arena, Bowe and manager Rock Newman as a result of the brawl. Louis Calemine, Alex Vodofsky and Mitchell Sterlacci say in court papers that they were trampled, punched and stomped when fighting broke out after Golota was disqualified.

Mike Tyson’s heavyweight title fight with World Boxing Assn. champion Bruce Seldon has been rescheduled for Sept. 7.

The fight for Seldon’s World Boxing Assn. belt, originally scheduled for July 13 in Las Vegas, was postponed July 3 because Tyson was suffering from bronchitis.

College Baseball

Texas baseball Coach Cliff Gustafson, the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history, retired after questions were raised about the finances of the school’s summer baseball camp.

The university said an internal auditor’s report revealed an unauthorized outside bank account, maintained in connection with the university summer baseball camp, into which some camp-related revenues were deposited and used for both camp and non-camp purposes.

Gustafson coached Texas to national championships in 1975 and 1983 while building a record of 1,466-377-2.

Names in the News

The NHL’s Washington Capitals re-signed right wing Keith Jones to a one-year contract. . . . Former Colorado athletic director Bill Marolt was named president and chief executive officer of U.S. Skiing, replacing Tim Leiweke, who left in April to become president of the Kings.

Bud Foster, who coached Wisconsin to its only NCAA basketball championship, died in Wisconsin of natural causes at age 90. . . . Boxer Ferd Hernandez, ranked second to middleweight Nino Benvenuti in the 1960s, died in after a long illness in Omaha. He was 57.