NCAA Puts Texas El Paso on Five Year’s Probation

The NCAA put Texas El Paso’s troubled athletic department back on probation Thursday, this time for five years.

Several violations were found that David Swank, chairman of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, characterized as relatively minor but rampant.

Swank said the violations--in football, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s rifle--concerned grade-average calculations, athletes’ free use of departmental copying machines, overall institutional compliance and other problems.

The school--which had been placed on three years probation in 1991--faces limits on athletic scholarships and forfeiture of games in which ineligible athletes competed.

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A major figure in the investigation into alleged point shaving in Fresno State basketball games had other gamblers place large bets for him when suspicious bookmakers wouldn’t take his wagers, according to a published report. Gamblers said pawnbroker Dan Jelladian laundered bets through others on at least three games, claiming he had “insider information,” the Fresno Bee reported.

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Three Louisiana State football coaches have reimbursed the university more than $1,900 for long distance phone calls that could have been interpreted as personal calls.

College Basketball

The courting of former UCLA coach Jim Harrick by Rhode Island might have hit a snag.

A wave of phone calls to the university has led school officials to postpone a decision on hiring Harrick, Athletic Director Ron Petro said.

“We’ve had so many calls to so many search committee members and so many people,” Petro said. “We’re just listening and deciding and checking everything out.”

After two days of increasingly serious talks, Harrick flew back to Southern California on Thursday morning without an offer.

Said Petro: “We’re just doing more investigation and basically that’s it.”

Harrick could not be reached for comment.

Michigan forward Robert Traylor, whose ties to a university booster are being investigated, will leave school and make himself eligible for the NBA draft, the Detroit Free Press reported. Also, Michigan severed ties with basketball recruit Dionte Harvey after officials learned the player pleaded guilty to a sex offense involving a 16-year-old girl.

Tennis

Anke Huber, playing for the first time in a month because of a shoulder injury, lost, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), to Barbara Schett of Austria in the second round of the Rexona Cup at Hamburg, Germany. . . . Top-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa moved into the quarterfinals of the Croatian Bol Ladies Open at Zagreb with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over American Kristina Brandi.

Thomas Enqvist failed to reach the third round of his fifth consecutive tournament, losing, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, to Italy’s Andrea Gaudenzi in the second round of the BMW Open at Munich, Germany. . . . Yevgeny Kafelnikov, coming back from a three-month injury layoff, joined the list of defeated seeded players in the Czech Open, when he lost, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, to German qualifier Marcel Craca at Prague. . . . U.S. Davis Cup player MaliVai Washington had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair damage from a February injury.

Miscellany

Eight U.S. cities signed up in hopes of being the U.S. city bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympics: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.

Jamaica’s Beverley McDonald and Raymond Stewart swept to comfortable victories in 100-meter races in an IAAF meet at Fort-de-France, Martinique. . . . Tampa Bay’s Rob Zamuner scored 1:22 into the game as Canada defeated the U.S., 5-1, at the World Hockey Championships at Turku, Finland. . . . The defending champion United States routed winless Japan, 12-2, to improve its record to 3-1 at the Women’s Lacrosse World Cup at Tokyo. . . . Hugo Simon of Austria won the first leg at the Volvo show jumping World Cup final at Gothenburg, Sweden.

Minnesota Viking running back Maurece “Moe” Williams will be issued a summons after a 21-year-old woman said he had raped her at Lexington, Ky., officials said. . . . Receiver Tony Martin signed a four-year contract with the San Diego Chargers. . . . German-born striker David Wagner has been given approval by FIFA, soccer’s governing body, to play for the U.S. . . . Nigerian soccer player Nwankwo Kanu was cleared to resume playing, five months after heart valve surgery. . . . Former Masters and PGA Championship winner Henry Picard died at age 90 after a lengthy illness.