Buffalo’s Levy Decides It’s Time to Step Down

Marv Levy, who led the Buffalo Bills to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances from 1990-93, losing every one of them but doing so with a unique blend of poise and dignity, retired Wednesday after 12 seasons.

The 72-year-old Levy, whose head coaching career began 39 years ago at the University of New Mexico, had fully intended to continue as the Bills’ coach, telling friends in recent weeks that he felt physically and mentally capable of coaching several more years.

But after a series of weekend meetings with team owner Ralph Wilson, Levy decided it was best that he step aside from the team’s rebuilding program and allow a younger coach to take over.

The team will soon announce the hiring of defensive coordinator Wade Phillips as Levy’s replacement.

“Today is a bittersweet day for me,” Levy said at a news conference. “Visions from a lifetime of thrills keep flashing before me. The future beckons and I look forward to it with anticipation and excitement.”

Levy downplayed his differences with Wilson, but according to sources familiar with the Bills’ situation, Wilson wanted Levy to make several changes among his assistant coaches.

Levy wanted to keep his staff intact, but decided to retire, rather than force a standoff with Wilson, who had said as recently as a few months ago that Levy would be his coach, “even if we went 0-16.”

Had he stayed, Levy next season would have surpassed George Halas as the oldest coach in NFL history.

Levy coached the Bills 12 years. He has led one team longer than any current coach or manager in the four major sports except Minnesota Twin Manager Tom Kelly, who was hired two months before Levy in 1986.

Bill running back Thurman Thomas, meanwhile, said he may decide to call his pro football career quits now that Levy is stepping down.

Thomas, who lives in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land and who has spent the last decade with the Bills, told Houston station KRIV-TV:

“It does change my thinking a little bit because I knew deep down I was coming back for another year, but I was wanting to come back another year under Marv Levy. I really haven’t made a decision.”

Baseball

Cuban pitcher Orlando Hernandez, his wife and another baseball player who escaped from Cuba on a small boat were cleared by the State Department to enter the United States.

They were in a group of eight who were being held in the Bahamas while U.S. officials considered their request for asylum.

The State Department said that Hernandez, a star pitcher on the Cuban national team and the half-brother of World Series most valuable player Livan Hernandez of the Florida Marlins, could enter the U.S. along with his wife, Noris, and Alberto Hernandez Perez.

State Department spokesman James Foley said the two players had been banned for life from baseball in Cuba after helping Livan Hernandez defect in 1995, depriving them of their livelihoods and subjecting them to harassment.

The other five Cubans will remain in the custody of Bahamian immigration authorities, Foley said.

Jurisprudence

Pernell Whitaker was charged with reckless driving after a police officer pursuing the boxer’s vehicle said he weaved around traffic and ran a red light in Virginia Beach, Va.

The officer tried to pull over Whitaker on Tuesday night after seeing the car cut in front of an ambulance, according to police spokesman Lou Thurston. The ambulance was not on a call at the time and did not have its flashers or siren on.

After a pursuit of about two miles, Whitaker stopped. Thurston said Whitaker wasn’t charged with eluding police because he told the officer he did not initially see the police car. Whitaker, 33, was released on an $800 personal recognizance bond.

NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick, who has a life-threatening form of leukemia, was sentenced to three years’ probation for his part in a bribery and kickback scandal involving American Honda Motor Co.

A federal judge ordered Hendrick, who owns teams featuring drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven, confined to his Charlotte, N.C., home for 12 months, during which time he cannot participate in his automobile business or NASCAR operations. He also must pay a $250,000 fine.

Winter Sports

Even though he had already clinched a spot on the U.S. Olympic ski team, Todd Lodwick of Steamboat Springs, Colo., overcame a bad second jump in the Nordic combined, made up a 21-second deficit in the cross-country portion of the competition and beat Tim Tetreault by a foot to win the event at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Two-time Olympian Jim Herberich continued his mastery at the national bobsled drivers trials with two untouchable runs at Park City, Utah that moved him halfway to a slot on the U.S. Olympic Team.

Herberich, who won the first race of the two-man sled competition Tuesday at the Utah Winter Sports Park, repeated that performance with a two-run combined time of 1:40.02, nearly a half-second ahead of Todd Hays. Third went to Bruce Rosselli.

Maksim Afinogenov scored with 39 seconds left in overtime as Russia ended Canada’s reign as world junior hockey champion with a 2-1 quarterfinal victory at Helsinki, Finland. Canada had won five consecutive titles and seven of the last eight championships.

In the other quarterfinals, the Czech Republic defeated the United States, 4-1; Switzerland beat Sweden on penalty shots after a 1-1 tie; and Finland crushed Kazakstan. 14-1.

Miscellany

Although he’s banned from boxing, Mike Tyson could be back in the ring soon--as a pro wrestling referee.

Tyson, prevented from fighting after he bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear, may participate in “Wrestlemania XIV” on March 29 in Boston.

The World Wrestling Federation says it is negotiating with promoter Don King to get Tyson to appear.

The third Gilbert Cup, an invitational table tennis tournament featuring eight world-class players, will be held Friday and Saturday in the Wooden Center at UCLA. Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner, the 1997 world champion; Korean national champion Kim Taek Soo and two-time U.S. champion David Zhuang are among those competing. Play begins each day at 3 p.m. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or UCLA ticket office. Details: (310) 967-1338.

Hall of Fame jockey Jorge Velasquez, retiring at age 51, finished his career after riding three horses at Calder Race Course in Miami.

Velasquez was the sixth-most productive rider in North America, winning 6,795 races and earning purses of $125.2 million. Two of his most notable victories were the Kentucky Derby in 1981 on Pleasant Colony, and the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1985 on Proud Truth.

Former jockey Warren Mehrtens, who won the Triple Crown aboard Assault in 1946, died Tuesday at the age of 77. Mehrtens rode his first winner in 1940 and went on to post 614 career victories and win $3.5 million in purses.