Pro FootballMark Rypien agreed to a one-year...

Pro Football

Mark Rypien agreed to a one-year deal to return to the St. Louis Rams after leaving the team last year in a bitter contract dispute. Terms were not disclosed. The Rams also signed kicker Jeff Wilkins to a four-year, $2.1-million contract. Wilkins, who kicked for San Francisco last season, ranked fourth in scoring and fourth in accuracy. . . . Pepper Johnson, a linebacker on Bill Parcells’ two Super Bowl teams with the New York Giants, was reunited with his former coach, signing a two-year contract with the New York Jets. To make room, the Jets cut Frank Reich, their backup quarterback last season. . . . The Atlanta Falcons signed cornerback Ray Buchanan to a four-year, $13-million contract.

Tennis

Steffi Graf’s knee injury will sideline her until at least late April, meaning she could lose her No. 1 tennis ranking to 16-year-old Martina Hingis.

Hingis has won four tournaments in a row, including the Australian Open, and could assume the No. 1 spot at the end of March.

Bicycle Racing

The Redlands Bicycle Classic, the longest stage race in the United States, gets underway today with the Bud Light Street Sprint Prologue, with women’s racing beginning at 6 p.m. and men’s at 7 p.m.

The first of five stages, however, won’t begin until Wednesday morning, with the running of the the Sun Highland Circuit Race--an 18-lap, 51-mile course for men, 14 laps and 40 miles for women--beginning at the intersection of Church Street and Baseline Road in Highland.

Stages Thursday through Sunday will feature time trials, road races and criteriums.

Miscellany

A sled dog died during the first day of competition in Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The dog’s musher, Bill Bass of Anchorage, was cleared of blame. The dog collapsed after leaving Skwentna, 149 miles into the 1,161-mile race.

UCLA’s baseball team has been ranked No. 1 by Baseball America for the first time in the 17-year history of the poll. The Bruins (20-2) replaced Florida State at the top spot after recent victories over Washington, Nebraska and Minnesota. USC (17-6) fell from No. 3 to No. 7 after losing to No. 6 Stanford.

Thursday’s Southern Section Division III-A championship basketball game between North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake (31-1), the state’s top-ranked team, and Inglewood Morningside (21-5) at the Bren Events Center in Irvine will be televised by Fox Sports West 2 on Friday at 8 p.m. It is a rematch of last year’s final, won by Harvard-Westlake, 75-53.

Names in the News

Mike Wilson, a 10-year San Francisco 49er wide receiver, will soon be named USC’s receivers coach. Wilson, 38, replaces Mike Sanford, who left recently to join Notre Dame’s staff. Wilson has coached at Stanford and with the Oakland Raiders.

Rusty Wallace became the official winner of the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Daytona Beach, Fla., when NASCAR officials said that tests on the driver’s engine showed it met specifications, after all. After finishing first in Sunday’s race at Richmond International Raceway, Wallace’s victory was put on hold as officials said Wallace’s Ford Thunderbird engine had failed tests measuring compression ratio.

Former Brooklyn Dodger and St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Les Munns of Wahoo, Neb., died last week at the West Ridge Care Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was 88. Munns pitched for the Dodgers in 1934-35 and for the Cardinals in 1936. He had a record of 4-13 with a 4.76 earned-run average.

A woman who swore out a warrant charging College of Charleston basketball player Sedric Webber with assault and battery has dropped the charge, a college official said.