Dallas Finds Way to Sign Johnston

The Dallas Cowboys, in response to public pleas by quarterback Troy Aikman and running back Emmitt Smith, on Wednesday signed fullback Daryl “Moose” Johnston to a five-year, $7.575-million contract.

“I can’t think of anyone in the league I’d want to have blocking for me other than Daryl Johnston,” Smith said.

Johnston becomes the league’s second-highest paid fullback, behind Arizona’s Larry Centers, who last week signed a three-year, $7.5-million deal.

With Johnston, Cowboy owner Jerry Jones and agent Leigh Steinberg came up with a creative way of fitting a high-dollar deal into small salary-cap space.

Johnston took a low first-year salary of $200,000, but augmented it with a $2-million signing bonus. His salaries will then go up to $500,000, $1.25 million, $1.625 million and $2 million.

Johnston could make an additional $300,000 with very reachable incentives in the second, fourth and fifth years.

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John Elway had arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder for the second time in four years, but he is expected to be ready for the Denver Broncos’ training camp when it opens July 18.

In his 14 seasons with the Broncos, Elway has played 205 games and missed only 10 because of injuries, five the result of injuries to his right shoulder.

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Running back Gary Downs, a three-year NFL veteran, was reunited with Atlanta Coach Dan Reeves, signing a one-year contract with the Falcons. Downs, 25, played for the New York Giants last season. Reeves was fired after the season and later hired by the Falcons. . . . The Falcons also re-signed eight-year NFL veteran quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver to a one-year deal and named Pete Mangurian, who had coached with Reeves for nine seasons at Denver and New York, as an assistant coach in charge of offensive control. . . . The Green Bay Packers signed wide receiver/special teams player Don Beebe, who was an unrestricted free agent.

Golf

Only nine weeks after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer, Arnold Palmer makes his return to competitive golf when the $1.5-million Bay Hill Classic begins today at the Palmer-owned Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla.

Palmer on Wednesday announced the formation of the Palmer Cup matches, a Ryder Cup-type competition for college golfers from the U.S. and Great Britain. The first Palmer Cup matches will take place July 10-12 at Bay Hill.

Olympics

Boxing, wrestling and weightlifting face cutbacks for the Sydney Olympics, according the Associated Press. A spokesman for one of the sports called the changes “drastic.”

A memo recently circulated to Olympic officials and obtained by the AP indicated the International Olympic Committee will try to squeeze in more sports and more countries while keeping the total number of athletes from soaring far beyond 10,000.

College Football

Newsday reported that the Bowl Alliance, the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA were close to an agreement that would provide any league member a guaranteed bid to an Alliance bowl if that school finishes the regular season ranked No. 8 or better.

The settlement would have addressed the controversy that erupted last fall when Brigham Young finished the regular season 13-1 and ranked No. 5, but didn’t receive a bid from the Orange or Fiesta bowls.

Miscellany

Cecil Fielder and his wife Stacey have given notice they intend to sue the Brevard County sheriff’s office in Viera, Fla., for $25 million, alleging Stacey was mistreated during a traffic accident.

Sheriff’s deputies detained Stacey Fielder after she came upon an accident involving her nephew, Jesse Semien, and her 10-year-old son and began yelling at deputies when they tried to keep her from checking on her son’s condition.

“Because my family is black and affluent, I feel that the local police department has unduly harassed us, and it’s time to put a stop to it,” Cecil Fielder said in a statement from his lawyer.

Former tennis star Roscoe Tanner probably will be released from jail today in Somerville, N.J., but he will have to take out a third mortgage on his Georgia home and come up with $8,000 in cash for child support if he wants to stay out, a Superior Court judge ordered.

Tanner, of Rising Fawn, Ga., was jailed last week for failing to abide by an agreement he signed two years ago that ordered him to pay Constance Romano $500,000. A blood test taken in 1994 showed there was a 99.46% likelihood Tanner was the father of Romano’s daughter.

Two women have come forward with complaints that Buffalo wide receiver Eric Moulds, the Bills’ No. 1 draft pick last year, had harassed them.

Moulds apparently showed up at one woman’s apartment in Buffalo about 3:15 a.m. Monday and pounded on the door so fiercely that the wooden frame began to give way, detectives said.

Another woman, a student at Buffalo State College, filed a complaint with campus police after hearing a report about the previous woman. She claimed that Moulds grabbed her by the arm in a tavern and said, “I’ll get you.”

Also, Buffalo linebacker Damien Covington was arrested earlier this week after he went into a violent rage following an argument with his girlfriend.

Former Brigham Young football player Derik Stevenson was ordered to complete 240 hours of community service for possessing a dangerous weapon on school property.

Stevenson was charged after he shot a pistol into the air to break up a fight between his friend and a group of men in a parking lot at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. He withdrew from BYU after he was charged and following reports of previous brushes with the law.

Former Olympic gold medal speedskater Cathy Turner accused her husband, Timothy Bostley, of striking her during a dispute, making a cut on her face that required sutures. Bostley was charged with third-degree assault after a fight at their home in Parma, N.Y., west of Rochester.

At least 12 English fans were treated for injuries, some apparently caused by rubber bullets, after the European Champions Cup game between Manchester United of England and FC Porto of Portugal at Oporto, Portugal.

Portuguese police said that English fans discharged the rubber bullets by using flares and that none were fired by police.

Names in the News

Sportscaster and former Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona was named chairwoman of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Organizing Committee, as the United States prepares to play host to its first international women’s soccer championship. . . . Pete Sampras was player of the year for the fourth consecutive year and Steffi Graf took the women’s trophy at the ATP Tour and the Corel WTA Tour awards ceremony.