Ram Rookie Little to Face Charge of Manslaughter

Rookie linebacker Leonard Little of the St. Louis Rams, who was involved in an automobile accident last week that caused the death of a 47-year-old woman, was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter.

A spokesman with the St. Louis Police Department said Little was released on a $25,000 bond. If found guilty, he could face one to seven years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Police said Little’s blood alcohol level was 0.19--nearly double Missouri’s legal limit--when he was involved in the Oct. 19 accident.

The incident occurred at a city intersection near the Adams Mark Hotel. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, at least three witnesses told police that Little ran a red light and crashed his sport-utility vehicle into a car driven by Susan Gutweiler, who died the next day.

Little, a third-round pick from Tennessee, is on a leave of absence from the team and sat out Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers.

*

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors is holding back $10 million in revenue meant for Division I schools to help cover a possible settlement in a coaches’ lawsuit. A jury in May set damages in the lawsuit at $67 million after the NCAA was found to have acted unlawfully in capping the salaries of about 1,900 entry-level coaches at $16,000 annually. The Supreme Court this month refused to hear the NCAA’s appeal. . . . The NFL wants to see records of Louisiana gambling interests owned by 49er owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr., who testified that former Gov. Edwin Edwards extorted $400,000 from him to influence a riverboat casino license. . . . State lawyers will ask an Ohio court to throw out former University of Cincinnati basketball player Charles Williams’ lawsuit against the school. Williams, a former point guard for the Bearcats, sued for damages as a result of the school’s NCAA violations.

Baseball

The New York Mets signed pitcher Al Leiter to a four-year deal worth $32 million. . . . Don Baylor, fired as manager of the Colorado Rockies after last season, turned down a job in the team’s front office. Team officials said he rejected it because he is not ready to trade a uniform for a suit. . . . The San Diego Padres picked up their $1.9-million 1999 contract option on catcher-infielder Jim Leyritz. First baseman Wally Joyner, who was eligible to file for free agency, has agreed to a two-year deal worth $6.7 million, plus an option year. . . . Center fielder Doug Glanville of the Philadelphia Phillies agreed to a three-year contract worth $5.575 million. . . . Alan Trammell and Lance Parrish, two key players on the Detroit Tigers’ 1984 World Series championship team, will be back with the team next season as coaches. . . . Texas Ranger catcher Ivan Rodriguez won’t be subject to a new major league rule and can play winter ball if he wants to because of what a team official called an “oversight.”

Miscellany

Joe DiMaggio will be hospitalized for three more weeks in Hollywood, Fla., with pneumonia and a lung infection even though his lawyer, Morris Engelberg, said he had improved from earlier this month when “we were fearful for his life.” DiMaggio has been hospitalized since Oct. 12. . . . Pete Sampras, trying to preserve his No. 1 ranking, and Marcelo Rios, trying to take it away, came back from injuries to win in straight sets at the Eurocard Open at Stuttgart, Germany--Sampras over Nicolas Kiefer, 6-3, 6-4, and Rios over Tommy Haas, 6-3, 7-5. . . . Second-seeded Mary Pierce defeated French compatriot Sarah Pitkowski, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, in the Seat Luxembourg Open to remain on course for a second tournament title in as many weeks. . . . NBA team owners unanimously approved the purchase of the New Jersey Nets by a group of state businessmen who reportedly have an interest in relocating the team to Newark. Approval came a day after the Nets reached agreement with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, their landlord, to keep playing at the Meadowlands sports complex through the 2007-08 season. . . . Former UCLA forward J.R. Henderson, who was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks, and former USC forward Mark Boyd signed with Quad City of the Continental Basketball Assn.

Former Italian League star goalkeeper Walter Zenga was named player-coach by the New England Revolution, whom he led to the Major League Soccer playoffs two seasons ago. . . . Sprinter Marion Jones and Olympic gold-medal skiers Picabo Street and Jonny Moseley were among 103 honored as athletes of the year by the U.S. Olympic Committee. . . . Alexandru Siperco, who helped crack the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles by convincing Romanian authorities not to honor it, was remembered at his funeral in Bucharest as a man who dedicated his life to the Olympic movement. He died Monday at 77. . . . NASCAR driver Dale Jarrett, airlifted to a hospital with gallstones during last weekend’s Dura-Lube 500 in Phoenix, said he will delay surgery until after the NASCAR season ends next month.