The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 31

CENTRAL ILLINOIS EDITION Outdoors Column B4 Oilers oust Chicago B3 Friday, May 17, 1985 Tha Pantograph Texas fires Riadeir JIM BARNHART mrnmwmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm oy i CHICAGO (AP) Doug Rader has been fired as manager of the Texas Rangers and replaced by New York Mets coach Bobby Valentine, Rangers president Tom Grieve said last night. Valentine will take over the Rangers when they play the White Sox in Chicago tonight, Grieve said. Grieve said the agreement had been ironed out earlier in the day and that the official announcement awaited formal notification to Rader, whose team arrived here from New York last night. "Our posture was not to confirm it until a conversation with Doug could be held," Grieve said late last night. "The conversation ended a few minutes ago." Earlier, the New York Times, quoted Valentine as saying he has agreed to terms with the American League team.

Meanwhile, television station WFAA in Dallas reported last night that Rader had been fired and KXAS in Fort Worth reported it also had confirmed the firing. Dennis D'Agostino, assistant public relations director for the Mets, announced in the Astros press box that Valentine had been named manager of the Rangers. "There is no decision left to be made," the newspaper quoted Valentine as saying. "I met today with (majority owner) Eddie Chiles and (general manager) Tom Grieve and put my cards on the table. There were certain things I wanted, like three years and a restruc turing of the chain of command.

"They put no cards on the table," Valentine told the newspaper. "I'd say the terms are set." Reports began circulating early this week that the Texas management had decided to fire Rader. The Rangers, who are last in the American League West, lost their sixth straight game yesterday to the New York Yankees, 6-5, as their record fell to 9-23, worst in the major leagues. Last September, Rader's contract was extended through the 1987 season. Earlier this year, Rader reached the longest managerial tenure in the team's 13-year history, just 324 games over two years and two months.

Do your own If Ted Schmitz could give advice to prospective professional football players who are not going to command big money, it would be to forget about an agent. Schmitz, a former Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan assistant coach, is an assistant with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. Schmitz was discussing Hamilton's recent signing of Illinois State running back Kevin Jones, an athlete Schmitz recruited out of East St. Louis Assumption High School for ISU. "The only players who need an agent are the ones Doug Rader A who are going to get big money and need one for investment purposes," said Schmitz.

"Kevin signed a two-year contract with an option third year," said Schmitz. "He would have been better off to sign a one-year contract because both contracts are on a make-good basis. If he has a good year, he could have some negotiating power for a better con- NBA tabs Jordan top rookie NEW YORK (AP) Michael Jordan, whose flashy style and gaudy statistics earned him All-Star status, fan popularity and more than $2 million in endorsement contracts, was named yesterday the National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year. Jordan, the Chicago Bulls guard who was the No. 3 pick in last year's NBA draft, outpolled the No.

1 choice, Houston's Akeem Olajuwon, 57 votes to 20. Jordan and Olajuwon were the only two first-year players to receive votes from 78 media members, three from each league city and nine representatives of the national media. Jordan was third in the NBA in scoring with a 28.2 average and fourth in steals with 2.39 per game. He led the Bulls, who made the playoffs for the first time since 1981, in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. Average attendance at Chicago jumped dramatically, climbing 87 percent from an average of 6,365 to 11,887.

The Bulls also were one of the seven teams to draw over 1 million fans in combined home-road attendance. The Rockets and Bulls engaged in a season-long debate about which of their rookies was the most valuable. Olajuwon, playing center for Houston, averaged 20.6 points, ranked fourth in the NBA with 11.9 rebounds and was second in blocked shots with 2.68 per game. "I just feel it is very important for each individual to go out and contribute to his team," Jordan said of his rivalry with Olajuwon. "I'm not worried about a 1-on-l thing because he's much bigger than I am." Jordan is 6-foot-6 and Olajuwon 7-0.

Jordan, whose last-minute jump shot gave North Carolina the national collegiate title in his freshman season in 1982, was a starter on last summer's gold medal-winning U.S. team. He moved immediately into Chicago's starting lineup and quickly became a star attraction around the NBA. tract after one year. Jones This way, he's obligated for three years.

If he has a bad year, he's gone anyway." Schmitz said Jones also received a small bonus to take care of some college bills. "It wasn't much but it's enough to help him there. But, he'll lose 30 percent of that on the money exchange between Canada and the United States," said Schmitz. "His agent went way overboard and had 36 incentive clauses ready. So, they had to get that ironed out and they did.

The agent had to be more realistic. It took about two months to get the wrinkles out. A lot of people tell these kids a lot of things. Of course, the agent gets part of his salary. "We had tried to sign Kevin without having him on the negotiating list and we were offering him a one-year contract.

Then, Ottawa got in touch with him and offered him a three-year contract and he seemed to think that was better. Ottawa didn't have him on their negotiating list either. So, we put him on our negotiating list and that meant no one else in the CFL could sign him." Villeneuve out at Indy; Parsons in INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Johnny Parsons a veteran of nine Indianapolis 500s, was named yesterday to drive a March race car formerly assigned to Jacques Villeneuve, the Canadian rookie who has crashed twice this month during practice. Parsons was hired by the Canadian Tire Racing Team two days ago to "sort the car out" after Villeneuve, who now has crashed three times in two years on the unforgiving 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, was unable to top the low 190s in practice. But after Parsons, son of the late 1950 Indy winner Johnnie Parsons, drove the team March to laps above 206 mph in practice on Wednesday, it was decided to make a change.

"Due to our lack of super-speedway experience, we were having trouble sorting out the car," said David Billis, the team director. "Johnny did a super job of getting the car up to speed. "Obviously, Jacques is very disappointed, but I felt he wasn't 100 percent comfortable with this track. Frankly, neither the team nor Jacques have a lot of experience with super-speedways and we needed some guidance." Billis added, "Johnny has a lot of experience here and we're confident he can really do the job. Jacques will remain as our No.l driver and will be back in the seat at Milwaukee (on June 2)." Parsons, whose best finish was fifth in the 1977 race, said, "This is a terrific opportunity for me.

This is a first-rate team with top-notch equipment and all the determination necessary to get the job done. "I'm sorry for Jacques, but I think he demonstrated extreme professionalism in admitting he needed some help. He'll be back here at Indy. I can feel it." As for the car, which he will try this weekend to qualify for the May 26 race, Parsons said, "Right now, we've got it bracketed at 206. With a little more sort, we could be very competitive in the race." Villeneuve, a former Can-Am cham-.

pion and the brother of the late Formula One racing star Gilles Villeneuve, said, "This is very frustrating for me. I still want to try to qualify the car, but I respect David's judgement. We have always worked as a team and it has worked well so far. Maybe I just ran out of time at Indy." The diminutive road-racing specialist qualified for the 1984 Indy 500 with a speed of 200.013, but was kept out of the race after suffering a concussion in a crash during practice. This month, Villeneuve has crashed twice more, escaping injury both times.

Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan displayed the form which helped him win the NBA's Rookie of the Year award yesterday. amilton's training camp opens next week and Schmitz believes Jones has an excellent chance to make the team. Chief's Crown, Eternal Prince made early Preakness favorites "The two Americans who were tailbacks last season are still injured," explained Schmitz. "Kelvin Lindsey from Ohio State is still bothered by a bad knee. John Shepherd of Livingston (Alabama) has a hip that just won't heal.

He may be done. "They'll try to bring in four tailbacks but they might not be able to find them this late. Kevin can catch the ball and that's very important up there. He can also block. He's never been a straight ahead runner but Dan Mortier (ISU offensive coordinator) told me he's learned to run straight ahead.

"However, we only have about four plays for the tailback to run the ball. We run it very little. But, with Kevin's speed, he can do something after he catches the ball. "Kevin is a good kid and has character. Illinois State has had a lot of good football players the last two years." Schmitz said he believes Illinois Wesleyan quarterback John Rooney also has an excellent opportunity at Hamilton.

"We didn't draft any name quarterbacks," said Schmitz. "So, I think he has a heck of a shot. He's a quarterback who can throw on the run and that's what they like up there." Prince, Chris McCarron, 5-2; 5, 1 Am The Game, Donald Miller, 20-1; 6, Tank's Prospect, Pat Day, 6-1; 7, Sport Jet, Ron Allen, 8, Cutlass Reality, Vince Bracciale, 20-1; 9, Sparrowvon, Wayne Barnett, 15-1; 10, Skip Trial, Christopher Antley, 10-1, and Hajji's Treasure, Joe Judice, 15-1. The gross purse was raised $100,000 to this year, but it was not enough to land Derby winner Spend a Buck for the second leg of throughbred racing's Triple Crown. Instead, the colt will be seeking a $2.6 million payday in the May 27 Jersey Derby at Garden State Park.

Three supplemental entries Hajji's Treasure, Sport Jet and Tajawa at a cost of $20,000 each helped boost the purse. BALTIMORE (AP) Favorites Chief's Crown and Eternal Prince will break from the gate side by side, where their jockeys can keep an eye on each other in Saturday's richest Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. And Butch Lenzini, trainer of Eternal Prince, is confident his colt can redeem himself by breaking quickly. In the Kentucky Derby, Eternal Prince was left at the gate and was never in contention, winding up 12th in the field of 13. Chief's Crown, who finished third in the May 4 Kentucky Derby after going off as the 6-5 favorite, drew the No.

3 post position yesterday and was installed as the 8-5 favorite for the 110th Preakness. Eternal Prince, the front-running winner of the Wood Memorial and Gotham stakes before his Derby flop, will leave from post No. 4 at early odds of 5-2. Tank's Prospect, the Arkansas Derby winner who ran seventh in the Derby, was the third pick at 6-1. The morning-line odds on the rest of the field of 11 3-year-olds range from 10-1 to 30-1 for Southern Sultan, still a maiden after eight starts.

The complete Preakness field in postposition order with jockeys and early odds: 1, Southern Sultan, James Terry, 30-1; 2, Tajawa, Patti Cooksey, 20-1; 3, Chief's Crown, Donald MacBeth, 8-5; 4, Eternal boys set sights on qualifying for state meet High today's sectional seeded No. 1 with a best of 54-10 Mi, still short of his 55-5 best of last year. He is ranked third in the discus. Grammer and other field event preformers begin competition today at 4:30 p.m. The running preliminaries are at 5:30 p.m.

followed by finals at 7 p.m. DeLand-Weldon joins the host school as the area entries here. Mahomet-Seymour coach Frank Dutton looks for Monticello, Sullivan, St. Joseph-Ogden, Urbana Uni-High and his own Bulldogs to vie for the team title. Mahomet-Seymour's Neil Mathis tops the 1,600 field.

Mathis (1,600) and teammate Karl Welke (3,200) qualified last year. At Piano Class A cross country champion Troy Maddux will not be attempting a double, opting instead to put his state championship hopes in the 3,200 basket. Plait TRACK, next pag tiac, Herscher and Kankakee McNamara. Among the area squads here are Cornell, Dwight, Flanagan, Gardner, Minonk-Dana-Rutland, Saunemin and Tri-Point. Saunemin's Jeff Schade qualified in the 300 low hurdles and long jump last year, placing fifth in the low hurdles and eighth in the long jump.

The long jump field includes eight jumpers over 20 feet. Other returning state qualfiers are Dwight's Brian Skinner (high jump) and Pontiac's Neil Christopher (pole vault) and Bruce Albright Christopher placed sixth in the vault last year. At Mahomet Mahomet-Seymour's Bob Gram-mer's placed third In the state meet shot put a year ago. He was poised to move into the top spot this year before a broken arm suffered during basketball season set him back. The Southern Illinois University bound football recruit comes into El Paso's Mark Seiver (400) and Olympia's Rick Aper (Class AA shot put and discus).

Possible multiple qualifiers are Maroa-Forsyth's Jeff Query in the long jump, 100 and 300 low hurdles and Eureka's Dennis Schumacher in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. At Coal City Dr. Tony Dustman has given Gridley star Brian Radke the green light to compete in the long jump, 400 and possibly the 100 here Saturday. Radke, who advanced in the 100, 200, long jump and triple jump a year ago, has been nursing a hamstring injury. Radke placed fifth in the 200 and sixth in the 100 at the state meet last year.

Radke's return to competition after a two-week layoff begins Saturday at 10 a.m. with field events and running preliminaries. Finals start at noon. Heading the team race are Pon- LeRoy, Lexington, Maroa-Forsyth, Mason City, New Holland-Mid-dletown, Roanoke-Benson, San Jose, Tremont and Wapella. Among the state qualifiers from a year ago looking for a return trip are Farmer City-Mansfield's Jeff Rolson (shot put and discus) and Chris Campbell (110-meter high hurdles).

Rolson placed eighth in the shot put at last year's state meet. Delavan's John McConnell, who placed sixth last year, heads a high-caliber 800 field. Others under 2:02.9 are Olympia's Craig Bidner, Lowpoint-Washburn's Sean Pollard and Clinton's Rob Carter. Pollard qualified a year ago as did teammate Dennis Ulrich in the triple jump. San Jose' John Waller is a returning qualifier in the 1,600.

High's David Little qualified in the 100 and 400 a year ago as did Wapella's injury-plagued Bill Williams in the 100. Rounding out the list of returning qualifiers is Class A At Clinton For one of the few times in state history, two high jumpers who have cleared 7 feet will be in the same meet. They are Illinois State University recruits Tom Smith of Heyworth and Jerry Giberson of Warrensburg-Latham. Smith, the defending state champion, has a national leading best of 7-5 to his credit while Giberson, the defending state run-nerup, has cleared 7-0. Their battle will begin with other field events today at 3:30 p.m.

followed by running event preliminaries at 4 p.m. and finals at 6 p.m. The team championship in this 26-team field could be decided among El Paso, Lowpoint-Wash-burn, University High, Olympia and Heyworth. Other area entries include Central Catholic, Clinton, Delavan, Tri-Valley, Eureka, Farmer City-Mansfield, Hartsburg-Emden, By RANDY SHARER Pantagraph staff Much of the beauty of track and field is its utter simplicity. Run fast.

Jump high. Throw far. The process of deciding which high school boys are the best in the state at these simple endeavors begins at the sectional level today and Saturday. In Class 44 Pantagraph area teams will compete at five sites, while in Class AA, seven area squads compete at three sites. Their objective will be to qualify as many athletes as possible for the State Meet at Charleston May 24-25.

To qualify, athletes must place in the top two or meet a qualifying standard. See Scoreboard for a list of team entries and qualifying standards. Spectator admission at each meet is $1.50. The following is a brief look at each meet..