For Third Time, King a Winner in Iditarod Race

Jeff King battled blowing snow and poor visibility Tuesday to earn his third victory in the Iditarod sled-dog race at Nome, Alaska.

King, of Denali Park, Alaska, crossed under the burled arch that represents the finish line of the 1,100-mile race from Anchorage to Nome at 4:52 p.m. Alaska time, with an unofficial time of 9 days 5 hours 52 minutes.

Only Alaskans Rick Swenson of Two Rivers and Susan Butcher of Manley have won more Iditarods. Swenson is the race’s only five-time champion. Butcher has won it four times. Defending champion Martin Buser of Big Lake, Alaska, also is a three-time winner.

King rode the final five blocks through downtown Nome with his 6-year-old daughter, Ellen, accompanying him on the sled runners.

He gave his lead dog, Red, much of the credit for the victory.

“He went from a good lead dog to a fantastic lead dog throughout this race. I’ve never had a better one,” King told Gov. Tony Knowles, who called to offer his congratulations.

The final 77 miles from White Mountain were particularly tough, with snow and winds so fierce that King said he could barely see Red at the front of the harness line. But Red, a veteran, knew the way to Nome.

“I don’t feel very rugged right now,” he said, perched under a red-white-and-blue winner’s arch, lead dogs Jenna and Red flanking him, each dog wearing the traditional garlands of yellow roses.

Race veterinarian Stu Nelson said it was the first Iditarod he knew of where no dogs had died along the trial by the time a winner arrived at Nome.

For winning, King will get $51,000 and a new pickup truck.

Pro Football

Former Detroit Lion linebacker Reggie Brown has made enough progress to allow doctors to remove the halo brace used to stabilize his spine, doctors said. It was replaced by a neck brace that allows more movement.

Brown, 23, was injured during the Lions’ final regular-season game against the New York Jets on Dec. 21 when he jammed his neck while making a tackle.

He underwent career-ending surgery the next day to fuse two neck vertebrae and has been wearing the halo brace to stabilize his upper spine.

The Carolina Panthers agreed to one-year contracts with wide receiver and special-teams player Dwight Stone and quarterback Shane Matthews. . . . Running back Ricky Whittle agreed to a multiyear deal with the Tennessee Oilers. . . . The Dallas Cowboys re-signed defensive end Broderick Thomas, who served as a situational pass rusher with the team last season, to a one-year deal.

A lawyer charged that Jim Kelly damaged the career of A.J. Faigin when the former Buffalo Bills’ quarterback wrote that the sports agent mishandled his money.

Kelly’s libel trial began in U.S. District Court in Concord, N.H., with Faigin’s attorney saying Kelly knew when he wrote his book, “Armed and Dangerous,” that the claim was false.

Faigin, of Laguna Niguel, is suing Kelly for an undisclosed amount but has said he lost more than $1 million in business because of the book.

Names in the News

Patrick Shurmur, nephew of Green Bay Packer defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, was hired as offensive line coach at Stanford.

Shurmur, a Michigan State graduate who has been a coach with the Spartans since 1990, takes over from Dave Borbely, who accepted a position at Notre Dame.

Chinese figure skater Lu Chen, a former world champion and twice an Olympic bronze medalist, said from Beijing she is retiring to study in the United States.

Defending champion Thomas Muster has withdrawn from the Lipton tennis tournament at Key Biscayne, Fla., because of a thigh injury suffered in last week’s Newsweek Champions Cup at Indian Wells.

Former heavyweight boxer Mitch “Blood” Green was arrested in New York on charges of violating an order of protection filed against him by a 40-year-old woman.

Green, 41, was arrested on a Harlem street corner after police received a telephone call charging that he had harassed the woman, police spokesman Jerry Varson said. The woman was not injured.

Jack Nicklaus will push one of the most remarkable streaks in sports a little further by accepting a special exemption to play in the U.S. Open. The U.S. Golf Assn. had extended invitations Monday to Nicklaus to play in the next three Opens.

Ray Rosenbaum of Headlines Inc., a Los Angeles public relations firm, has been named president of the Bowling Writers Assn. of America.

Miscellany

Forward Mia Hamm scored three times, leading the U.S. women’s soccer team past China, 4-1, in the Algarve Cup at Louli, Portugal.

The Americans will play World Cup champion Norway on Thursday, with a victory or a tie earning them a place in the championship game. Norway, perennially the Americans’ toughest competition, edged Finland, 1-0.

NASCAR, hoping to even out the competition in its Winston Cup stock car racing series, has made its second modification this month to the rear spoiler of the new Ford Taurus.

The latest change, made after the sanctioning body took a sampling of cars for wind tunnel testing last week at Lockheed Aviation in Marietta, Ga., leaves the height of the Taurus’ rear spoiler intact at 4 3/4 inches, but cuts the spoiler’s width by two inches to 55.

Daron Rahlves, the top-ranked super-giant slalom skier in the United States, won a NorAm super-G at Jackson Hole, Wyo., by almost a second over American teammate Ehlias Louis.

Rahlves, seventh in his specialty in the Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan, negotiated the 1 1/4-mile Rendezvous Mountain course in 1 minute 25.07 seconds. Louis finished in 1:25.97.