Missouri Linebacker Dies After Collapsing on Field

Missouri linebacker Aaron O’Neal died Tuesday after collapsing during a voluntary workout with teammates, a hospital official said.

University Hospital spokeswoman Mary Jenkins confirmed the death of O’Neal, a 19-year-old redshirt freshman.

The cause of death was not immediately available.

“I can’t begin to express how deeply saddened we are by this loss,” Coach Gary Pinkel, who was out of town Tuesday, said in a statement. “Aaron was a quality young man who was well-liked and respected by his teammates and coaches.”

The Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune reported on its website Tuesday night that O’Neal started to struggle with conditioning drills about 45 minutes into the hourlong workout at Faurot Field, the Tigers’ home stadium. The temperature at the time was in the mid-80s.

Tennis

Steffi Graf had mixed results in her one-night return to tennis, playing for the Houston Wranglers of World TeamTennis

Graf teamed with Mardy Fish to win a mixed doubles set, 5-3, against Mark Knowles and Anna Kournikova of the Sacramento Capitals.

Graf lost in singles to Elena Likhovtseva, 5-4 (3), and lost in women’s doubles, teaming with Ansley Cargill in a 5-2 loss to Kournikova and Likhovtseva.

Sacramento won the match, 21-18.

The player field for the upcoming Acura Classic will include Australian Open champion Serena Williams, defending champion and Wimbledon finalist Lindsay Davenport, French Open finalist Mary Pierce of France along with Russians Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva, and Kim Clijsters of Belgium.

Not playing in the tournament, which is July 30-Aug. 7 in Carlsbad, are Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium.

Barry MacKay is the tournament honoree for the 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cup to be held July 25-31 at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center. MacKay, the tournament winner in 1960, will be honored July 31 after the singles final.

Pro Football

Kansas City Chief cornerback Eric Warfield has been suspended for the first four games of the 2005 season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Warfield, 29, was arrested Sept. 20, 2004, in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kan.

Representatives from the Coliseum will meet today with NFL executives at league headquarters to continue negotiations on a possible return to the Los Angeles. The NFL suggested conducting the meeting over the phone, but the Coliseum representatives offered to come to New York. The NFL will have a similar meeting Thursday in a teleconference with representatives from Anaheim.

Jurisprudence

A judge in Miami allowed Washington Redskin safety Sean Taylor to travel to training camp, and Florida prosecutors did not offer a plea deal at a court hearing to discuss charges that the player pointed a gun during a dispute over a vehicle.

A federal judge has turned down heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko’s bid to be named mandatory challenger to International Boxing Federation champion Chris Byrd.

Klitschko sued for breach of contract after the IBF demoted him to No. 4 in its May rankings, replacing him at No. 3 with DaVarryl Williamson.

Miscellany

Slow progress continued toward a new collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the players’ association, the 300th day of the lockout that the league imposed in September.

Negotiators met in New York for the ninth day in a row, still sparring over the language of terms they’ve agreed on and seeking solutions to other minor but thorny issues. To mollify players and accelerate the process, the NHL is believed to be considering reducing the age for unrestricted free agency to 27 in the last season of the six-year deal, instead of 28.

UCLA’s Alfred Aboya, a 6-foot-8 freshman basketball player, had surgery on his right knee to remove loose cartilage and will be ready for the start of practice in mid-October.

Davon Jefferson, a 6-8 forward from Hawthorne, has announced that he will attend prep school in the fall in the Los Angeles area or at Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C., after failing to graduate from Lynwood High and rescinding his commitment to Nevada Las Vegas.

Greg Andrulis was fired as coach of the Columbus Crew, which has the worst record in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference a year after winning the conference title. The Crew, which will be coached on an interim basis by assistant Robert Warzycha, is 4-10-2.