Joe Dial improved his U.S. pole-vault record by 1 1/2 inches Saturday with a jump of 19 feet 6 1/4 inches at the Lobos World Record Invitational in Albuquerque. After breaking the American mark, Dial tried to surpass the world record of 19-8 3/4, set by Sergei Bubka last year. But the wind shifted, and Dial missed two attempts at 20 feet.
Lloyd Bloom, who with partner Norby Walters reportedly has paid thousands of dollars to college players in violation of NCAA rules, said he isn`t worrying about being a target of a federal grand jury investigation in Chicago.
In fact, Bloom said, business is booming. ”This whole thing has enhanced our business. It hasn`t hurt us. Kids, major stars, are calling us to be with us,” Bloom told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. ”The publicity hurt us a little at first, but now we have no problem. Other agents are jealous of us.
”They are sleazeballs. Ex-jocks and accountants. They are meaningless to me. Gnats. I will not be defeated by small-time guys in polyester suits.”
Bloom said he and Walters haven`t been subpoenaed by the grand jury. ”I promise you there will be a lot of embarrassed people. They have nothing on Lloyd Bloom. I`m innocent,” Bloom said.”Why should I sweat it? I paid a few college players. That`s not breaking the law.”
Bloom denied that Ohio State wide receiver Cris Carter and Michigan State running back Lorenzo White were under contract to him.
The Green Bay Packers are trying to sign Ron Jaworski, and a team official says the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback has responded to the Packers` initial offer with a proposal of his own. ”He`s interested in Green Bay,”
said Tom Braatz, the Packers` executive vice president of football operations. The Mesa Tribune has reported that court documents suggest prosecutors in the Phoenix Suns drug investigation may have induced guard Walter Davis to become their key witness by threatening to indict him on unsubstantiated charges. . . . The arraignments of Seattle SuperSonics Dale Ellis and Kevin Williams on charges resulting from a Houston nightclub fracas have been delayed. They previously was postponed because the Sonics were involved in the National Basketball Association playoffs. The reason for the latest delay couldn`t be learned, but a court clerk confirmed the case had been reset from Monday to July 1.
Swimmers Donna de Varona and Shirley Babashoff, boxer Floyd Patterson and track and field coach Leroy Walker will be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be July 16 in Durham, N.C., a day before the opening of the U.S. Olympic Festival. The four were selected in voting among members of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, members of the U.S. Olympic Committee and USOC officers and president. The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame began in 1983 with the selection of 20 athletes, plus the entire 1980 U.S. ice hockey team.
Richard Boushka, a member of the 1956 gold medal-winning Olympic team, will become the ninth president of the Baskeball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. The St. Louis native will succeed Larry O`Brien, a former National Basketball Association commissioner, on July 1. . . . Texas has lost three of its six returning basketball players because of academic deficiencies, according to coach Bob Weltlich. Point guard Alex Broadway and center-forwards David Cones and Jerome Spinner will not be readmitted for the fall semester. Broadway and Cones each had one year of eligibility; Spinner had two.
The Breeders` Cup selection committee has recommended that Churchill Down host the $10 million series of races in 1988. The choice of Churchill Downs for the fifth Breeders` Cup had been rumored for weeks. . . . Retired racehorse Round Table died at Claiborne Farm, where he was born 33 years ago. The horse was buried in an oak casket at the Paris, Ky., farm next to 1984 Kentucky Derby winner Swale, said Luther Jones, a security guard at the farm. Round Table won 43 of his 66 starts and, at the time he retired from racing in 1959, was the world`s top money-winning horse at $1,749,869. He finished third in the 1957 Kentucky Derby.
