Spurned by Packers, Chmura to Retire

Mark Chmura retired from professional football Monday, four months after he was acquitted in a sexual assault case.

Chmura’s lawyer, Gerald Boyle, said the one-time all-pro tight end for the Green Bay Packers wanted to play only for his former team “and they did not make him an offer.”

Boyle said other teams had extended Chmura offers but he declined them. Boyle would not specify the teams.

In 1998, his last full season, Chmura made the Pro Bowl, but a neck injury sidelined him for most of the 1999 season. The Packers waived him a year ago while the charges against him were pending.

He was acquitted in February on a charge of second-degree sexual assault. A girl who was 17 at the time accused him of assaulting her in a bathroom during a post-prom party in April 2000.

The Avengers are expected to restore quarterback Todd Marinovich to their active roster today. Marinovich was suspended two games ago by the team after being ejected from games May 3 and 18.

Jurisprudence

Steve Bohannon, a Daytona International Speedway doctor, testified in a deposition in Daytona Beach, Fla., that stock car driver Dale Earnhardt’s autopsy photos were very graphic and disturbing.

The Independent Florida Alligator, a University of Florida student newspaper, is challenging a temporary injunction that prohibits the autopsy photos from being made public. Earnhardt was killed when his car hit the wall on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in February.

A hearing on the challenge scheduled for next Monday also will test the constitutionality of a new state law restricting the release of autopsy photos. Teresa Earnhardt, who sought the injunction, is expected to testify.

Hockey

The Kings could not reach contract agreements by Friday’s deadline with three players they had chosen in the 1999 entry draft, relinquishing their rights to those players and making all three eligible to be drafted again this year.

Right wing Brian McGrattan, a 1999 fourth-round pick, and goaltenders Cory Campbell (third round) and Jean-Francois Nogues (fifth round) did not sign with the Kings. None was regarded as a top-notch prospect.

Meanwhile, King General Manager Dave Taylor and Coach Andy Murray are expected this week to complete the details on a contract extension for Murray. Murray has one season remaining on his original three-year deal.

Miscellany

Gary Nicklaus, son of four-time winner Jack Nicklaus, had two 66s for the lowest 36-hole score during sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open at Westerville, Ohio.

Among the others qualifying at Westerville, not far from where the Memorial Tournament ended Sunday, were prominent PGA Tour players Fred Couples, Dudley Hart, Bob Tway, Brett Quigley, Tim Herron, Glen Day, Harrison Frazar, Carl Paulson, Robert Gamez, Steve Stricker, Fred Funk and Steve Lowery.

Charles Mukora, of Kenya, a former member of the IOC, reportedly was questioned by Stockholm police about bribery accusations against the chairman of the city’s failed 2004 Olympic bid. . . . Cross-country skier Mika Myllyla of Finland is retiring after being suspended for failing a drug test, ending a career in which he won 13 Olympic and world championship medals. . . . Sofie Manarin, one of Canada’s top junior cross-country skiers, was killed Sunday in Sudbury, Ontario, when her bicycle hit a tractor-trailer on a highway. She was 17.

UCLA’s Jason Kapono is among 16 finalists for the USA Basketball World Championship for Young Men team. . . . Ivan Quaranta of Italy won the 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia cycling race. . . . Brazil and Japan, both headed for the semifinals, played a 0-0 tie at Ibaraki, Japan, in the Confederations Cup soccer tournament. Brazil faces France and Japan takes on Australia in the semifinals.

Passings

Joey Maxim, a former light-heavyweight champion whose greatest ring triumph was a sweat-drenched victory over Sugar Ray Robinson in a title fight in 1952, died Saturday in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 79. (Story, B11).