NCAA Settles Suit Filed By Tarkanian

Jerry Tarkanian’s long and bitter dispute with the NCAA is over.

A settlement of a 7-year-old lawsuit will reportedly provide Tarkanian with $2.5 million, and sources familiar with the case said he also will receive a conciliatory statement from NCAA.

The settlement was reached one month before the case was to go to trial in Las Vegas.

“They can never, ever make up for all the pain and agony they caused me,” Tarkanian said. “All I can say is that for 25 years they beat the hell out of me.”

The NCAA declined comment, saying Executive Director Cedric Dempsey would talk about it today.

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The case of Makhtar Ndiaye, the North Carolina player who falsely accused Utah’s Britton Johnsen of making a racial slur, will be investigated further, and Athletic Director Dick Baddour said, “As upset as he was after the loss to Utah, he is even more disconsolate about the controversy that has been a result of his postgame comments.”

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Kansas star Paul Pierce has decided to return to school for his senior year rather than jump to the NBA. Pierce will announce his decision today at Inglewood High, his alma mater. . . . Jeff Fogelson, athletic director at Xavier of Ohio, has accepted a similar position at Seton Hall, the Associated Press learned. . . . The AP also has learned that Tim Welsh, who coached Iona to a berth in the NCAA tournament after a 13-year absence, will be hired as coach at Providence. . . . Cal State Fullerton announced that it has renewed the contract of basketball Coach Bob Hawking.

Horse Racing

The California Horse Racing Board has suspended Dario Solares, a harness-horse owner, after the deaths of two pacers at Los Alamitos. Solares has been suspended for the rest of the year, according to a stewards’ ruling that cited him for “gross negligence in the treatment and care” of Shadows Obsession and Broadway Flair, who died Jan. 25.

The racing board also has filed a complaint against Raleigh and Steven Wiseman, the trainer and assistant trainer, respectively, of Broadway Flair. The Wisemans, who are father and son, are scheduled to have a hearing in Sacramento this month.

David Shell, an attorney for the Wisemans, said that Solares treated both horses for stomach trouble the day they died. According to Shell, Broadway Flair died of an overdose of several medications and Shadows Obsession was euthanized after she suffered a bad reaction from treatment. Solares could not be reached for comment.

Los Alamitos jockey Henry Garcia, broke his left leg in two places when the horse he was riding ran into the rail during training. Garcia is expected to be out four to six weeks. . . . Another Los Alamitos jockey, Jim Lewis, is out of a coma but remains hospitalized. He was thrown off a mount March 25 during training.

Names in the News

Floyd Patterson, 63, has resigned as New York’s athletic commissioner amid reports he was suffering from memory loss.

Marcelo Rios, the newly anointed No. 1 tennis player in the world, returned to his native Chile to a flag-waving, chanting crowd and a presidential tribute in Santiago.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario lost to German qualifier Andrea Glass, 6-7 (7-5), 7-5, 6-2, to become the second former champion to fall in as many days during second-round play at the Family Circle Cup at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Three-time world cross-country champion Lynn Jennings, 37, expected to be the top American woman in the Boston Marathon, withdrew from the April 20 race. She said her training was not going as planned.