Joe Smith Cleared in Assault Case Involving Dancer

A judge in Chesapeake, Va., on Monday dismissed a malicious wounding charge against Golden State Warrior forward Joe Smith, who had been accused of striking a male dancer with a beer bottle in a bar.

At the conclusion of an eight-hour preliminary hearing, General District Judge S. Bernard Goodwyn said although six defense witnesses gave varying accounts of what happened in the bar on July 26, they were consistent in saying that Smith was not involved in what happened to dancer Carlton Coney.

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A German appeals court will decide next week whether to free Peter Graf, Steffi Graf’s father, on bail after more than 13 months in prison on tax evasion charges. . . . Alvin Robertson, 34, remained jailed after a judge rejected a plea bargain that would have given the former NBA guard a 10-year probated sentence for burglary of his former girlfriend’s apartment in San Antonio. . . . Former high school basketball standout Ronnie Fields and two other men pleaded guilty to charges that they sexually abused a 20-year-old woman in July in Wheaton, Ill. . . . Ski champion Alberto Tomba has agreed to pay a $1,000 fine, sparing him a 20-day jail term for a fight with a photographer two years ago.

Miscellany

Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who won Olympic gold medals in track and field in 1988 and 1992, will play in the American Basketball League, the new women’s league said.

Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson filed a formal protest against a new NCAA academic requirement that is keeping some standout high school athletes from gaining college athletic eligibility and scholarships.

Carlson requested an emergency session of the NCAA Council to consider a formal appeal and reinstatement of scholarships for several Minnesota students because they did not know that some high school English courses they took weren’t tough enough by NCAA standards.

Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks and Dennis Mitchell finished, first and second, ahead of Canada’s Donovan Bailey in the 100 meters at the Toto Super International track meet in Tokyo.

British Olympic officials have dropped plans to appeal on behalf of swimmer Nick Gillingham, who lost out on a bronze medal at Atlanta when Russian Andrei Korneyev’s disqualification in the 200-meter breaststroke was overturned. Korneyev failed a postrace drug test but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled there was insufficient scientific evidence that the drug, bromantan, enhanced performance.

Names in the News

Kevin Daley, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, transferred to UCLA from Nevada. Daley, a former Artesia High standout, must sit out this season. . . . Orlando Magic center Jon Koncak, who had surgery Sept. 10 to remove torn cartilage and bone spurs from his left knee, will sit out the NBA season. . . . Carlos Queiroz will resign as New York/New Jersey MetroStar coach after the Major League Soccer season to take a job in Japan that will pay him $2 million annually. . . . Drivers Brad Murphy, Tony Stewart and Mark Dismore are being treated in at a Las Vegas hospital after suffering injuries in separate crashes in Sunday’s Las Vegas 500K Indy car race. Murphy broke a hip, Stewart a shoulder blade and Dismore his pelvis.