Salt Lake City Games Head Welch Resigns

Tom Welch, organizer of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, resigned Tuesday, saying he wanted to protect his family and the Games from the “feeding frenzy” over charges he assaulted his wife.

“I have concluded that the costs and stresses imposed upon the Organizing Committee, my children and me by the unfounded charges and allegations which have been widely reported in the media are simply too high,” said Welch, president and chief executive of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

Welch, a 52-year-old former corporate lawyer, was charged July 21 with domestic battery after a July 9 argument with his wife, Alma, over another woman.

Alma Welch, 47, did not seek the charges but said she stood by everything she told police when they were summoned to the Welch home by one of the couple’s six children. She told police she had been abused for years and that her son “saved her life” by calling officers after the couple grappled when she tried to get at gifts and letters from the other woman.

Police reports noted bruises on Mrs. Welch. Welch told police he did not assault his wife and that she tended to exaggerate.

Tennis

Two days after winning the Infiniti Open at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, Jim Courier was upset by Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, in a first-round match at the du Maurier Canadian Open at Montreal.

Fourth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov survived sloppy play before ousting American Vince Spadea, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).

Spadea surprised his Russian foe in the first set, then raced out to a 3-1 lead in the second. But Kafelnikov won nine games in a row to go up, 4-0, in the third.

The top three seeded players--Michael Chang, Goran Ivanisevic and Thomas Muster--are scheduled to play their second-round matches today after receiving first-round byes.

Top-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain won his opening-round match at the Grolsch Open in Amsterdam, ousting Gregory Carraz of France 6-4, 6-4, but third-seeded Alberto Berasategui of Spain was upset by Moroccan Karim Alami, 6-4, 6-4.

Hockey

An arbitrator ruled the New Jersey Devils did not act in bad faith by inserting goaltender Mike Dunham into games for brief stints to prevent him from becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Dunham, 25, had filed a grievance through the NHL Players Assn. claiming the Devils violated the good-faith clause in the collective bargaining agreement by playing him for as little as 2.6 seconds just so he would appear in 25 games.

The Chicago Blackhawks signed right wing Tony Amonte, the team leader in seven offensive categories last season, to a five-year contract. Terms were not disclosed, but the Chicago Tribune reported it was worth between $14.5 million and $16.5 million, including bonuses, and that he will earn $2.8 million a season the first four years and $3.2 million the fifth year.

Jurisprudence

Charles Barkley threw the first punch in a nightclub fight, said Jed Tyler, 24, who is suing Barkley for more than $500,000 in a trial in Cleveland.

Tyler, a business equipment salesman, is suing the Houston Rocket forward over a fight at The Basement. He contends he was punched while acting as a peacemaker between a friend, David DiGiacco, 27, of Rochester, N.Y., and Barkley.

Golf

Ernie Els beat Steve Elkington, 2-up, at Kohler, Wis., to win the international leg of the Andersen Consulting World Championship and earn the right to face Colin Montgomerie, who won the European championship, in the four-man world finals at Scottsdale, Ariz., on Jan. 3-4, 1998.

Japanese champion Hajime Meshiai will face Davis Love III, who won the U.S. regional, in the other world semifinal.

Miscellany

Unlimited hydroplane driver Dave Villwock has been moved out of the intensive care ward of a Seattle hospital after a weekend accident in which he broke his arm and nearly tore off his right hand.

The Miss Budweiser team announced that Mark Weber will replace Villwock at the Bud’s helm this weekend at a regatta in Kelowna, Canada.

The CART Indy-car series will hold a race Oct. 4, 1998, over a new 1.68-mile, 10-turn temporary street course in Houston.

The Big Ten conference awarded ESPN and ABC Sports exclusive cable and broadcast rights to football and basketball coverage until 2007.

Pepperdine infielder David Matranga, USC catcher Eric Munson and UCLA outfielder David Valent were among 22 players named to the USA Baseball national team that will compete in the International Baseball Assn. Intercontinental Cup in Barcelona from Friday through Aug. 10.

Also on the team is Fresno State pitcher Jeff Weaver of Simi Valley, and USC Coach Mike Gillespie is an assistant to Coach Bob Milano.

Names in the News

Guard Beau Archibald--shaken by the death of his father, former Utah coach Lynn Archibald--is leaving Washington State before his sophomore year to return to Utah Valley State College.