Briefly
Congress passes legislation to tighten rules for sports agents
Congress has moved to impose tougher penalties on unethical sports agents who lure student athletes into contracts that compromise their amateur standing and damage the reputations of their schools.
The legislation that passed by voice vote in the Senate late Thursday and goes to the president for his signature was promoted by Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., the former star Nebraska football coach.
“As a former coach, I witnessed time and again sports agents illegally using cash and gifts to recruit student-athletes,” Osborne said in a statement Friday. “This unethical behavior on behalf of the sports agents threatens the athletes’ eligibility and harms the integrity of college sports.”
The NCAA has rules, and some states have standards, for sports agents, but Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., principal author of the bill, said that hasn’t stopped some unscrupulous agents from “aggressively pursuing these kids anyway, possibly ruining a chance to compete on the college level and get a degree.”
The legislation would bar agents from recruiting student athletes by giving false or misleading information or providing anything of value to the athlete or his family before entering into a contract.
The agent must also disclose in writing that the athlete may lose NCAA eligibility after signing an agency contract and requires the athlete and the agent to notify the school’s athletic director that the athlete has signed a contract so the school does not play a now-ineligible athlete in a game.
Violators would face civil actions by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general and fines of up to $11,000 a day could be levied for each offense.
Basketball
Drexler inducted into Hall of Fame
On the playgrounds of Houston, a young Clyde Drexler used to pretend he was Julius Erving, flying over defenders with a championship on the line.
On Friday night, Drexler’s idol, “Dr. J,” presented him for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield Mass.
“I’m dreaming tonight,” Drexler said. “My childhood idol is presenting me for induction into the Hall of Fame. It doesn’t get any better than this. I am dreaming.”
Drexler, who earned the nickname “Clyde the Glide” for his own swooping moves, was inducted Friday along with coach Bill Sharman, already in the Hall of Fame as a player; the late Maurice Stokes, the 1956 NBA rookie of the year; Lynette Woodard, an Olympic gold medalist and the first woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters; Jerry Colangelo, chairman of the Phoenix Suns; and Drazen Dalipagic, an international star.
Horse racing
Ghostzapper tops Woodward entries
Trainer Bobby Frankel will send out Ghostzapper in the $500,000 Woodward Stakes, one of three Grade 1 races on today’s card at Belmont Park in New York. The others are the $500,000 Man o’War Stakes and the $250,000 Gazelle Handicap. Unbeaten in his last three races, 4-year-old Ghostzapper is the likely favorite in a field of eight for the 1 1/8 th-mile Woodward.
Miscellany
Williams gets title shot at Klitschko
Representatives of Vitali Klitschko said the boxer would defend his WBC title against Danny Williams in December. … Jake Tsakalidis signed a three-year contract with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. … Japanese baseball players and owners averted the first strike in the history of the sport in Japan, reaching a last-minute agreement in that will allow teams to continue play through the weekend.