SPORTS OF THE DAIL
The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, July 16, 1980-Page 15
} Sports
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Johnson protests his innocence
ATLANTA (AP)-Eddie Johnson, the.
Atlanta Hawks guard jailed on drug
charges Sunday, declared his innocen-
ce yesterday but said he didn't blame
police for arresting him.
"I'm not guilty," Johnson told the
Atlanta Journal in an interview at the
Fulton County jail. "I was driving a
rent-a-car. That stuff (a quantity o .
white powder suspected to be cocaine)
could have been there when I got the
car.
"They thought I had a concealed
p weapon and they treated me that way,"
he added. "They got me against the car
and searched me. They were just doing
their 'job. I don't fault any man for
doing his job."
Johnson was charged with possession
of cocaine, driving under the influence
and driving without a valid driver's
license.
The 25-year-old National Basketball
Association All-Star was bound over to
Superior Court Monday after he waived
a preliminary hearing and met with a
judge in chambers.
In the interview yesterday, Johnson
said he wanted to continue playing for
the Hawks and to dedicate the 1980-81
season to Terry Furlow, a former Hawk'
who died in an apparent drug-related
auto accident near Cleveland, Ohio, in
May.
"I want to dedicate the season to
Terry," Johnson said. But he added,
"There's no way I'll abuse my body like
Terry Furlow, my best friend, did.
There were times when I loved him and
times I hated him, but he was a real
man."
Asked if he had a drug problem,
Johnson said: "No, I don't. I'm
covered. You all think athletes use
drugs. That's society."
Miller still unsigned
ATLANTA (AP) - It looks like No. 1
draft choice Junior Miller won't be on
hand Wednesday when the Atlanta
Falcons open their summer training
camp at Suwanee, Ga.
Miller, a tight end from Nebraska
who was the Falcons' first-round draft
pick this year, still had not signed his
contract Tuesday, team officials said.
Under National Football League rules,
he cannot practice without a contract.
"We'd like to have him here, of cour-
se," said Eddie LeBaron, the Falcon's
general manager. "But it doesn't look
like he will be here. The chances are
less than 50-50 he'll be in camp anytime
soon."m
The Falcons' problem with their No. 1
draft pick isn't unique. Some of the
bigger names from the draft also hadn't
signed contracts as of Tuesday.
"It's unusual," said LeBaron. "I can
never remember this many first-round
choices being unsigned this late in the
game.
"I don't know what it is, either. I
thought it would all break loose when
Billy Sims signed with Detroit, but ob-
vious 4 that isn't the case."
South Africa expelled
MOSCOW (AP)-South Africa was
formally excluded Tuesday from the
International Amateur Basketball
Federation, Tass reported.
The Soviet news agency said an
"overwhelmingly majority" of
delegates to the pre-Olympic FIBA
congress voted to expell South Africa,
but it gave no figures.
"Prev'iously, South African
basketballers were not allowed to take
part in international tournaments and
friendly games helad' under the
auspices of FIBA," Tass said. "The
representatives of that country could
only take part in the work of the
federation."
Fourteen new delegations attended
the FIBA congress for the first time;
pushing membership to 155 countries
and making it the biggest international
sports federation.
"Earlier the International Football
Federation with 150 member countries
was the biggest," Tass said.
Sharers willfight Cobb
CANTON, - Ohio (AP)-Veteran
heavyweight boxer Earnie Shavers is to
meet Randy Cobb of Beaumont, Texas,
in a 10-round fight Aug. 2 at Joe Louis
Arena in Detroit, according to Frank
Luca, Shavers' manager.
The bout will be on the same card as
the World Boxing Association cham-
pionship fight between titleholder
Pipino Cuevas and Thomas Hearns.
Both bouts will be carried on closed cir-
cuit television.
Shavers, of Warrren, Ohio, originally
-had signed to fight New York
heavyweight Gerry Cooney pt thet
Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.
Cooney withdrew, however, after suf-
fering a back injury in training last
week.
Cooney's withdrawal came
simultaneously with the announcement
that Shavers had been licensed to fight
,by the New York State Athletic Com-
mission. Doctors pronounced Shavers
fit after he underwent surgery to repair
a damaged retina suffered in a title
fight against Larry Holmes last year.
Nicklaus shoots for
fourth British Open
MUIRFIELD, Scotland (AP) - Jack
Nicklaus, spurred by his U.S. Open vic-
tory, is making an untroubled approach
to his next major challenge: winning
the British Open golf championship for
a fourth time.
Nicklaus and fellow-American Tom
Watson are co-favorites for the tour-
nament that opens Thursday over the
windswept 6,926-yard par 71 Muirfield
course on Scotland's East Coast.
"I'M PLAYING all right, hitting the
ball all right," said Nicklaus, who has
completed three practice rounds here
and found nothing amiss with his game.
"I'm not worried about anything
right now," he added.
Nicklaus won his first British Open
title as long ago as 1966, following up
with further wins in 1970 and 1978. But
then came the longest lean streak of an
illustrious career, leading to rumbles
that he was over the hill. But his win
last month in the U.S. Open silenced the
gloom merchants and the Golden Bear
was back on top.
OTHER LEADING rivals in the tour-
nament that offers more than $400,000
in total prize money are Seve
Ballesteros, the Spaniard who added
the Masters title to the British Open
championship he won last year, PGA
champion David Graham of Australia,
South Africa's Gary Player, Japan's
Isao Aoki, who was runnerup in the U.S.
Open and a whole squad of America's
seasoned circuit veterans.
In addition to Watson, who has twice
won the British event, these include Lee
Trevino also a two-time winner, former
champions Tom Weiskopf and Johnny
Miller, Andy Bean, Hubert Green, John
Mahaffey, Larry Nelson, Jerry Pate
and Ben Crenshaw, a runnerup in both
1978 and 1979.
Crenshaw told reporters that he is
backing himself to win this time,
although he nominated Nicklaus and
Watson as his major problems while
Trevino was playing "very well.
Nicklaus noted that the way things
are in Scotland, conditions may vary
vastly during the day. "You play in the
morning and get really different
weather in the afternoon," he said, ad-
ding that on the whole he'd prefer some
Scottish sunshine to the wind and rain.
TAKE A LITTLE OFF
CINCINNATI (AP)-Tom Seaver,
the star of the Cincinnati Reds pitching
staff, believes in cutting his percen-
tages fine in pitching. ,
"You shouldn't ever try to throw at
100 per cent velocity," he said.
"Because when you do, you have a ten-
dency to try to do more. If you stay just
below 100 per cent, you'll be fine. If you
overdo, you usually fall way short."
A real'] 0'
It seems hard to believe that it was only four years ago that 15-year-olk.
Nadia Comaneci of Romania captured the world's heart by becoming the
first Olympic competitor ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10. Comaneci,
shown here in Moscok practicing up for next week's Olympics, is expected
:to excel again in the Games.