Trail Blazers’ Wallace Agrees to Rich Deal

Forward Rasheed Wallace agreed to a six-year contract with the Portland Trail Blazers that reportedly is worth between $75 million and $80 million, by far the biggest deal ever made by the team.

“Rasheed Wallace is one of the rising young stars in the NBA, and we’re delighted that he’ll be a Portland Trail Blazer for a long time to come,” team President Bob Whitsitt said.

Spokesmen for the Blazers would not confirm the amount of the contract reported by The Columbian of Vancouver, Wash., and KFXX-AM of Portland.

The contract extension beats a Wednesday deadline that could have allowed the 6-foot-10 Wallace to become a free agent next summer.

Wallace, who averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds last season, is entering the final year of the three-year deal he signed after Washington made him the fourth selection in the 1995 NBA draft. He will make $2.33 million this season.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers signed guard Bob Sura to a reported six-year, $32 million contract extension with incentives that could boost its value to $40 million, ESPN television reported. Sura made $864,000 last season.

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The Denver Nuggets acquired center Priest Lauderdale from the Atlanta Hawks for the rights to forward Efthimios Rentzias and the team’s second-round draft pick in 2000. . . . The New York Knicks, concerned about off-season injuries to backcourt players Allan Houston and Charlie Ward, re-signed guard Scott Brooks. . . . Texas-El Paso Coach Don Haskins and former Princeton coach Pete Carril were among seven inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. The others were Denver Nugget star Alex English, 12-year NBA player Bailey Howell, women’s stars Denise Curry and Joan Crawford and Spanish coaching legend Antonio Diaz-Miguel.

Auto Racing

Jeff Burton, driving a Ford, took the lead in the Hanes 500 after Rusty Wallace, in another Ford, was penalized with a stop-and-go pit stop by NASCAR officials for going too fast on a restart with 23 laps remaining in Martinsville, Va. Chevy driver Dale Earnhardt finished second, .778 of a second behind Burton.

Bobby Hamilton was third in a Pontiac, followed by points leader Jeff Gordon in a Chevy. Ward Burton, the winner’s brother, was seventh in a Pontiac, and Wallace wound up 15th.

Boxing

Johnny Montantes, a 28-year-old journeyman fighter knocked out in the sixth round of a junior-welterweight fight by James Crayton last Friday, died of brain injuries Sunday in Las Vegas.

Montantes hit his head hard on the ring floor after Crayton had landed a solid right-hand blow and lost consciousness. Doctors tried to relieve pressure in the brain but Montantes never came out of his coma.

Julio Cesar Chavez’s super-lightweight World Boxing Council championship fight against Migel Angel Gonzalez Oct. 25 in Mexico City was postponed indefinitely when Chavez re-injured his left elbow.

Jurisprudence

Mitch “Blood” Green’s $25 million civil assault lawsuit against former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson opened in Manhattan’s State Supreme Court.

Green, who lost a 10-round fight to Tyson in 1986, alleges that Tyson beat him in a street fight in Harlem in August 1988 after Green demanded a rematch.

Tyson broke his own hand when he fractured Green’s nose and knocked him cold, Green’s lawyer, Alan Rich, said in opening statements.

Tyson’s lawyer, Robert Hirth, said Green instigated the fight by ripping Tyson’s shirt.

A judge in Cambridge, Mass., refused to dismiss spousal abuse charges against former Boston Red Sox outfielder Wilfredo Cordero.

Cordero, released by the Red Sox Sunday, was arrested last June for allegedly beating his wife, Ana, and was charged with assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, making a threat and violating a restraining order. The charges carry a maximum prison term of eight years.

Women’s Basketball

Cass Bauer and Andrea Nagy survived the American Basketball League’s cutdown day, making the Long Beach StingRays’ final roster of 11 players.

Bauer is a 6-foot-4 center from Montana State and was a rookie backup last season with the ABL champion Columbus Quest. Nagy, a 5-7 point guard, is from Hungary, Florida International University and played last season with Seattle of the ABL.

Cut were point guard Dena Evans of Virginia and forward Ingrid Dixson of Cal. The StingRays, the ABL’s only expansion team, launch their 44-game season Oct. 17 against the San Jose Lasers at Long Beach State’s Pyramid Oct. 17.

Miscellany

The referee who had a massive heart attack during last Saturday’s Virginia-North Carolina football game at North Carolina was listed in serious condition at a Chapel Hill (N.C.) hospital.

James Knight, 51, of Charlotte, had four heart stoppages, including three on the field, doctors said.

John E. Fowler, a Mormon church official, has been appointed Utah’s Olympic coordinator for the 2002 Winter Games, replacing Bountiful City Manager Tom Hardy, who decided not to take the job 10 days ago.

Fowler, a certified public accountant, will coordinate contracts between the state and Olympic organizers.