Manning Doesn’t Take Money, Run to NFL From Tennessee

Peyton Manning said they showed him the money, but he couldn’t ignore his heart.

The Tennessee quarterback announced Wednesday he will postpone the riches of the NFL for one last season of college football.

“It was what I wanted to do for a long time,” Manning said in Knoxville, Tenn. “I wanted to be 100% sure, and yesterday morning I woke up 100% sure.”

Manning, a likely top pick in the April 19 draft, now becomes the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy next season. Of course, he was also the front-runner last season.

“Twenty-five, $30 million. I’m human. Believe me, I looked at the money,” Manning said.

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Georgia’s football team will spend the next two years on probation but escaped major sanctions and remained eligible for bowl games and television appearances when the NCAA accepted the school’s self-imposed penalties over 10 recruiting allegations.

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Grambling State coaches denied violating NCAA rules, preventing the university’s efforts for a quick settlement. . . . Former Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz signed with CBS as an analyst for its pregame show, “College Football Today.”

Pro Football

Saying it was “definitely a business decision,” return specialist Desmond Howard, 26, officially joined the Oakland Raiders with a four-year, $6-million contract, which includes a $2-million signing bonus. The Raiders also plan to use Howard more at receiver.

The San Diego Chargers offered free-agent quarterback Warren Moon a contract to serve as backup to Stan Humphries. . . . The Detroit Lions reportedly have signed quarterback Frank Reich, 35, who was waived this week by the New York Jets. . . . The Pittsburgh Steelers lost cornerback, Deon Figures, 27, when he signed a three-year deal that could be worth $6 million with the Jacksonville Jaguars. . . . The Philadelphia Eagles agreed to a five-year contract with unrestricted free-agent center Steve Everitt, 26, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens. . . . Linebacker Sam Mills, the Carolina Panthers’ leading tackler in each of their first two seasons, signed a new contract with the team.

Jurisprudence

Deion Sanders’ on-again, off-again divorce is back in Texas district court after the Dallas Cowboy wide receiver-cornerback’s wife, Carolyn, accused him of adultery, cruel treatment and personality conflicts. A March 17 hearing was set. . . . Chicago White Sox slugger Albert Belle will not face a civil trial until Nov. 10 for allegedly injuring a teen-age boy in response to a Halloween prank in 1995. The lawsuit seeks $850,000 in damages. . . . NBA referee Henry Armstrong pleaded innocent in Norfolk, Va., to tax evasion charges.

Miscellany

An agreement between DirecTV and Fox Sports West 2 will be announced today. DirecTV, a direct broadcast satellite service, will begin carrying the new regional sports network on March 28, when the featured event will be the Mighty Ducks at Chicago.

On April 1, Fox Sports West 2 will televise the Dodgers’ season and home opener with the Philadelphia Phillies. It is the first of 40 Dodger games--35 at home, five on the road--that Fox Sports West 2 will televise this season.

NBC completed its $2.3-billion deal with the Olympics, giving the network exclusive U.S. television rights to the Summer Games of 2004 and 2008 and the Winter Games of 2006.

The San Diego City Council gave preliminary approval to Qualcomm Inc.’s proposal to change the name of Jack Murphy Stadium to Qualcomm Stadium at Jack Murphy Field in exchange for $18 million toward renovations.

Mitch Seavey was the first musher in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to reach Ophir, Alaska, with the top teams resting 38 miles behind him.

The United States defeated Australia, 3-0, in Canberra to complete a sweep of the three-match women’s soccer series.

Stanford is favored to extend its 15-year hold on the Pacific 10 title when the men’s swimming championships, hosted by USC, open today at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach. Prelims will be held at 11 a.m. through Saturday with finals at 6 p.m.

Westmont College will add a women’s basketball program beginning in the fall of 1998, the school announced.

Names in the News

Olympic high jump and hurdles champions have been added to the undercard of the Donovan Bailey-Michael Johnson 150-meter match race June 1 in Toronto. Cuban world high jump record-holder Javier Sotomayor, the 1992 Olympic champion, and American Charles Austin, gold medalist at the ’96 Games, will meet in a two-man competition. Sweden’s Olympic champion Ludmila Enquist will face American Gail Devers, the two-time 100-meter gold medalist, in a 100-meter hurdles match race.

Juan Antonio Samaranch announced that he will seek another term as IOC president until 2001. He is virtually guaranteed to retain the post he has held since 1980. . . . Byron Black of Zimbabwe outlasted unseeded Australian Sandon Stolle, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, to reach the quarterfinals of the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic in Scottsdale, Ariz. . . . Nikki McCray, who averaged 19.9 points for the Columbus Quest, was voted the American Basketball League’s first most valuable player. . . . Utah’s Christl Hager became the first skier in NCAA history to win three giant slalom titles at the NCAA ski championships in Stowe, Vt.