North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano said Sunday he was never offered the coaching job with the New York Knicks and will remain with the Wolfpack. ”I want to end any speculation concerning myself and the New York Knicks,” Valvano said in a prepared statement. . . . When the Dallas Mavericks were searching for a coach in the wake of Dick Motta`s retirement, they reportedly approached Julius Erving. The Mavs eventually hired John MacLeod.
If South Korean dissidents can jeopardize the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, triple jumper Willie Banks wonders what Basque separatists might plan for the 1992 Barcelona Games. ”If it is decided not to hold the Olympics in Seoul because of the unrest, people would know that a simple protest could apply enough pressure to stop what began as an effort to bring peace to the world,” Banks said. ”The 1992 Games are going to be held in Barcelona. There, of course, you have the Basque problem. They`re not student protesters, they`re terrorists. If students can stop the Olympics, you know that the Basque terrorists can.” Banks downplayed recent remarks by International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch that the Games will be canceled if they can`t be held in Seoul. ”If he said that, perhaps it is an effort to apply pressure on people to remedy their problems ahead of time,” Banks said. Banks would like to reform the habits of American sports fans. ”Most people want to see competition between the Soviet Union and the United States,” he said. ”Unfortunately politics have taken that competition to another level. At the Olympics, people don`t know who Willie Banks is, but if they see U.S. on his uniform, they root for him. And if they see USSR, they boo.”
Dieter Brock, 36, says a back injury will force him to retire. The quarerback has two years left on a $2.1 million, four-year contract with the Los Angeles Rams. Brock has ruptured discs and a cracked vertebra in his lower back that would require surgery if he were to continue playing. ”To have something like that done would be crazy,” he said. ”I`d have a 50 percent chance of successful surgery and coming back, and 50 percent is not good enough.” Brock also said his playing time would be limited thanks to Jim Everett.
Former Wisconsin interim football coach Jim Hilles insists he isn`t bitter, but he remains critical of the way his ouster was handled last fall. Hilles, who is the defensive coordinator at Kent State, said the worst thing about his one-year stint as interim coach wasn`t being able to prove he was better than his 3-9 record. ”Initially I was told wins and losses would have no bearing on whether I would be retained,” he said. ”It turns out that was a falsehood. I don`t think the administration handled it very well; it was a pretty shabby deal. You know, the Purdue coaching staff was relieved at about the same time as our staff was, but in contrast to our situation, they were given an office and at least had a home base froom which to find other jobs. I found out I was fired the day before Thanksgiving and told I had to be out of my office by Sunday. That was my big chance. Sure, they used me, but I sought out being used.”
When the Dallas Mavericks were searching for a coach in the wake of Dick Motta`s retirement, they reportedly approached Julius Erving. The Mavs eventually hired John MacLeod.
Frank Tate took a 12-round unanimous decision over Troy Darrell in Atlantic City to capture the vacant United States Boxing Association middleweight title. Tate, the 1984 Olympic 156-pound champion, is 19-0. . . . Lupe Aquino became the World Boxing Council superwelterweight champion when he earned a unanimous decision over Duane Thomas in Bordeaux, France.
