Suit Claims Firing of Knight Not Legal

A lawsuit filed Monday in Bloomington, Ind., on behalf of 46 plaintiffs from Indiana and other states seeks to overturn the Sept. 10 firing of basketball coach Bob Knight, contending Indiana University violated the state’s open meeting law.

The lawsuit alleges that the Sept. 9 meetings between university President Myles Brand and groups of four trustees were public meetings as defined by state law. As such, the university should have made public notice of the meeting, instead it violated Indiana’s Open Door Law, the complaint says.

Indiana contends that the firing was in accord with Knight’s contract.

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A federal court jury in Greensboro, N.C., heard testimony on Tuesday from Tijon Redmon, a former Duke special teams player who testified on behalf of Heather Sue Mercer, a former 1994 walk-on kicker who is suing the university. Mercer claims she was cut from the team because of her gender and that Duke violated the Title IX amendment prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs receiving federal funds.

Duke’s attorneys contend that Mercer’s lack of leg strength was a key factor in the decision to cut her from the squad.

The jury also heard testimony from Mercer’s mother and high school coach, Ron Santavicca, who testified she contributed substantially to a football team that won the state championship.

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Donna Harris-Lewis, the widow of former Boston Celtics captain Reggie Lewis, will be able to continue her legal battle against Gilbert Mudge, the doctor who was caring for her husband when he died in 1993. Judge Thayer Fremont-Smith, who had previously denied her appeal, reversed his ruling.

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Jesus Chavez, the No. 1 contender in the World Boxing Council’s super-featherweight division, asked the state of Illinois to pardon an armed robbery conviction so he can box in the U.S. again.

Chavez was deported to his native Mexico in 1997 because of his involvement in a 1990 grocery store robbery.

Tennis

Jennifer Capriati was eliminated from the Porsche Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany, after losing her first set in 17 minutes to Chanda Rubin, 6-0, 6-7 (11), 6-2. Capriati won her first title of the year in Luxembourg two days earlier.

Belgium’s Kim Clijsters beat sixth-seeded Anna Kournikova, 6-4, 6-3.

Sixth-seeded Kristina Brandi beat Sylvia Plischke of Austria, 6-3, 6-4, in the opening round of the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo.

Meghann Shaughnessy was defeated by eighth-seeded Jelena Dokic of Australia, 6-4, 6-2, and seventh-seeded Ai Sugiyama of Japan defeated Alexandra Stevenson, 6-3, 6-3.

Others advancing to the second round include Miroslava Vavrinec of Switzerland and Deja Bedranova of the Czech Republic.

Today top-seeded Monica Seles plays Vavrinec, and second-seeded Serena Williams takes on Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, the world’s top-ranked player, rallied from an 0-4 deficit in the third set to beat American qualifier Vincent Spadea, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, in the first round of the Salem Open in Hong Kong.

Michael Chang beat Andrew Ilie of Australia, 6-2, 6-0. Chang is seeded eighth. Fourth-seeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia struggled to a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) victory over Byron Black of Zimbabwe.

Sixth-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile had no trouble defeating David Prinosil of Germany, 6-3, 6-1. Seventh-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia swept past Kristian Pless of Denmark, 6-4, 7-5.

Miscellany

Larry Mize was added to the U.S. team for next month’s Dunhill Cup in St. Andrews, Scotland, joining Tom Lehman and John Daly. Mize, the 1987 Masters champion, has not won a tournament since the 1993 Johnnie Walker World Championship. Bypassing the Cup are the five top Americans in the world rankings--Tiger Woods, David Duval, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love and Hal Sutton.

Michael Weiss, a two-time U.S. figure skating champion, has withdrawn from Skate America in Colorado Springs, Colo., because of a broken left foot. A replacement has not been selected.

Citgo Petroleum Corp. ended its longtime deal with Wood Brothers Racing to sponsor Jeff Burton’s Winston Cup car. Burton’s new sponsorship begins Sunday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and continues through next season.