Hip Injury Forces Neely to Retire After 13 Seasons

After 13 injury-plagued hockey seasons, Boston Bruin right winger Cam Neely announced his retirement Thursday because of a degenerative hip condition.

Neely, 31, who will need an artificial hip after sitting out the final 25 games of last season, finishes with 395 goals and 299 assists.

A first-round draft pick by the Vancouver Canucks in 1983, Neely was traded to Boston in 1987.

McNeely scored more than 35 goals in each of his first five years with the Bruins, breaking 50 in 1989-90 and ‘90-91 before injuries began to take their toll. The next season, he played in only nine games, sitting out the first 38 because of a thigh injury and the last four months because of problems in his knee.

Rehabilitation also took up the first 60 games of 1992-93. The next year, while resting his knee as necessary, he scored 50 goals in 49 games; only Wayne Gretzky has scored 50 goals in fewer games.

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Gretzky’s goal at Montreal started Canada on the way to a 4-1 victory over Germany to reach the semifinals of the World Cup of Hockey. Canada will face Sweden tonight in Philadelphia.

College Basketball

Champions of 30 athletic conferences will automatically qualify for next year’s NCAA tournament. The conferences are the Pacific 10, Big West, West Coast, Western Athletic, America East (formerly the North Atlantic), Atlantic Coast, Atlantic 10, Big East, Big 12, Big Sky, Big South, Big Ten, Colonial Athletic Assn., Conference USA, Ivy Group, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Mid-America Athletic, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Mid-Continent, Midwestern Collegiate, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot League, Southeastern, Southern, Southland, Southwestern Athletic, Sun Belt and Trans America Athletic.

Villanova Coach Steve Lappas, who led the Wildcats to a school-record 26 victories last season, had his contract extended through 2001. . . . Virginia Tech Coach Bill Foster will retire at the end of the 1996-97 season with his top assistant, Bobby Hussey, taking over.

Jurisprudence

Former California basketball Coach Todd Bozeman claims he was vindicated by a court-approved settlement with a woman who accused him of harassment, but he still could face legal action in the case.

Bozeman and former Cal student Suzanne Wilson, who had accused the coach of threatening her and making repeated phone calls to her with “highly sexual connotations,” approved the handwritten agreement after hours of discussion.

Peter Graf, accused of evading taxes on $28 million of daughter Steffi Graf’s income, testified at Mannheim, Germany, that his family was promised tax breaks to stop the tennis star from moving to a tax haven abroad.

Steffi Graf, 27, the top-ranked woman player in the world, is pursuing another title at the U.S. Open and did not attend the session. Under German law, she can refuse to testify against a parent, and judge Joachim Plass said she would not appear in court.

“I declare that my daughter had nothing to do with the situation,” Peter Graf told the court on the first day of the trial.

Rasheed Wallace of the Portland Trail Blazers was found not guilty of using a car to block the mother of his child as she tried to leave a parking lot at Durham, N.C. . . . Undefeated heavyweight boxer Jo-el Scott pleaded guilty to charges of attempted rape and leaving the scene of an accident at Albany, N.Y. Scott, 25, faces three to six years in prison when he is sentenced on the charges Oct. 17.

Miscellany

Germany’s foreign minister apologized to Poland for the behavior of German hooligans, who gave the Hitler salute, displayed anti-Semitic banners and shouted anti-Polish slogans during a soccer match in Poland. Three policemen were slightly injured and five German fans were arrested after the Wednesday night soccer match in Zabrze.

Bobby Stewart, Mike Tyson’s former trainer, has received an apology and a cash settlement from HBO for references to steroids made in the cable network’s docudrama about the heavyweight. Neither Stewart nor his attorney would disclose the amount. . . . Stan Albeck, a head coach with four NBA teams, joined the Atlanta Hawks as an assistant coach and scout. . . Olympic gold medalist Kent Steffes, 28, was named the 1996 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals most valuable player.