Cassell Contract Extension Is Denied

Ollan Cassell, who has ruled U.S. track and field for 31 years, was denied a contract extension Tuesday night in San Francisco in a vote supporters hope will spur the redevelopment of the sport in this country.

The board of directors of USA Track and Field voted, 52-34, against an extension of Cassell’s contract as executive director, which expires in March 1998.

Cassell, 59, survived a similar no-confidence vote in 1994 and pleaded for a chance to keep his job. He has been criticized for being dictatorial and not developing track and field in the United States--where it has become a minor sport.

“It’s time to have a healer and not a divisive element at the top,” said Julia Emmons, director of the Atlanta Track Club.

Cassell is the only executive director USATF has had.

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Butch Reynolds, the world-record holder at 400 meters, has been hired as an assistant track coach at Ohio State.

Baseball

Baseball players probably will vote today on the new labor agreement.

“I’ll be very surprised if it’s not ratified,” union head Donald Fehr said after the players’ executive board met at Dorado, Puerto Rico.

Management negotiator Randy Levine intended to travel to the union meeting today to work out details. Owners ratified the contract last week.

A jury was seated in Detroit to hear the federal theft trial of former Tiger pitcher Denny McLain, accused of funneling $3 million from his defunct meat packing company’s pension fund for personal use.

The New York Yankees signed catcher Joe Girardi to a two-year contract with a club option for 1999. . . . The Florida Marlins signed free-agent outfielder Jim Eisenreich to a multiyear contract. . . . The San Diego Padres agreed to a $2.5-million, two-year contract with catcher John Flaherty. . . . Shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. has met with Baltimore Oriole management to discuss plans to move him to third base. . . . The average salary in the major leagues increased by 0.8% this year and remained 4.1% below its level before the 1994-95 strike. The average rose from $1,110,766 to $1,119,981, according to the players’ association.

Olympics

CBS and TNT announced an agreement to work together on a third consecutive Winter Olympics, the 1998 Nagano Games from Japan. TNT will televise more than 50 hours of events, and CBS plans to show 120 hours.

Although financial terms of the CBS-TNT deal were not announced, Turner reportedly paid CBS $25 million for cable rights to each of the last two Winter Games--1992 in Albertville, France, and 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway.

Tennis

Playing the man who beat him in the Wimbledon final, MaliVai Washington routed Richard Krajicek, 6-1, 6-2, on the opening day of the Grand Slam Cup at Munich.

The 46-minute match was the shortest in the seven-year history of the $6-million event.

The first two matches of the day also were quick affairs, Tim Henman defeating Michael Stich, 6-3, 6-4; and Boris Becker defeating Jason Stoltenberg, 6-3, 6-2. Jim Courier beat Marc Rosset, 7-5, 6-2.

Soccer

Kuwait, intent on not playing Iraq, is pulling out of the Asia Cup, the continent’s showcase soccer tournament with begins today in the United Arab Emirates.

Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Albania’s soccer federation was reinstated by FIFA, clearing the way for the Albanians to play their World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland this month.

Miscellany

Former swimmer Dawn Fraser, 59, who won gold medals at three consecutive Olympic Games, was reported as stable and satisfactory in a Sydney, Australia, hospital after a suspected heart attack.

A claim by former University of Washington football players that the Pacific 10 violated antitrust laws when it banned the Huskies from bowl games for two years was rejected by a federal appeals court.

Names in the News

Pernell Whitaker will defend his World Boxing Council welterweight title against unbeaten Diobelis Hurtado on Jan. 24 at Atlantic City, N.J. . . . Alan Eagleson, who formed the NHL Players’ Assn. and organized several international hockey tournaments including the Canada Cup, faces eight fraud and theft charges in Canada, police announced in Toronto after a three-year investigation. . . . Washington State Coach Kevin Eastman has indefinitely suspended forward Tavares Mack because he has apparently lost interest in basketball.