Rix Fined for Use of Handicap Tag

Florida State quarterback Chris Rix used an unauthorized handicap parking tag on campus and paid a $100 fine after fellow students told police.

Students recognized Rix as he parked his sport utility vehicle near one of his classes Thursday and chastised him as he walked away. They then left a note on his windshield and called police, who put a lock on a tire so the vehicle couldn’t be moved, school officials said.

Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said Rix would be disciplined but didn’t specify what the punishment would be.

Rix, who has led Florida State to a 4-0 record and a No. 6 ranking, said after practice Monday night that the handicap tag belongs to a family friend he occasionally helps gets medicine. He said he drove her to the hospital Thursday morning, then parked in the handicap spot because he was running late for class.

“There were four handicapped spots. I thought I’d be OK for an hour,” Rix said. “I definitely made a mistake.... I definitely regret it and shouldn’t have parked there.”

Rix said Bowden had been making him run extra each morning this week as punishment.

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Florida Coach Ron Zook scrapped his rotating quarterback system Monday and selected freshman Chris Leak the starter over sophomore Ingle Martin.

Leak will get a long look when the Gators (2-2) play at Kentucky on Saturday.

“We’re going to let him run with it and see what he can do,” Zook said. “We’ll play it by ear. Ingle’s got to be ready, and he knows that, but we’ll give Chris a shot and see how he handles it.”

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Terry Bowden’s taped comments in 2001 alleging Auburn players were being paid when he arrived as football coach may run afoul of an agreement he signed last year with the university.

The agreement Bowden signed with Auburn on May 17, 2002, stated that he knew of no violations at Auburn while he was head coach from 1993-98 and that he agreed to repay $620,000 to Auburn if he made such accusations, in “public or private.”

Associated Press obtained a copy of the agreement Monday. It was the last of three pacts between Auburn and Bowden.

In the first agreement, in 1999, Bowden promised not to say anything negative about Auburn. In a reworking of the agreement in 2000, that clause was removed. But in last year’s agreement, which the Huntsville (Ala.) Times reported Sunday, a similar clause was reinstated.

Under that agreement, Bowden said he knew of no unreported NCAA violations during his term and would “immediately refund and return to Auburn” the $620,000 if he made any comments that were “inconsistent with or contrary to these representations.”

Bowden, speaking on a tape that was recorded in 2001, claimed boosters were funneling thousands of dollars to football players when he became coach in 1993. The Tigers were on probation when he took over, and Bowden said he eventually stopped the payments.

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Add a bad hamstring to a long list of injuries T.A. McLendon has suffered in his short career at North Carolina State.

His latest setback, which occurred on a 67-yard run early in the third quarter of a win over Texas Tech on Saturday, could keep McLendon out of this weekend’s game with North Carolina, Coach Chuck Amato said Monday.

“He’s sore. I’m going on record saying if he plays, it’s going to be a bonus,” Amato said.

In 16 career games, McLendon has had a broken hand, two bad shoulders, a groin injury, a bad knee and now a hamstring strain.

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The parents of a University of Pittsburgh football player who fell to his death through a church ceiling filed a $75-million lawsuit against the priest accused of giving him alcohol.

Billy Gaines, 19, died in June after attending a cookout at St. Anne Catholic Church in Homestead, Pa. Police said the cookout was held by Father Henry Krawczyk, who also has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The suit said Krawczyk served alcohol for several hours to a group of teens, including Gaines, on the night of the accident. Gaines crashed through a ceiling while trying to get to the roof through a crawl space that Krawczyk had shown him, the suit said.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Philadelphia on Thursday, also names the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and three Pittsburgh-area parishes.

Gaines’ parents contend Krawczyk had been accused several times of giving alcohol to minors but had not been disciplined.