The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 9

College, Prep Football 2 Ransom Faces Deris fons 5 Major League Baseball .5 Tennesson THURSDAY September 1, 1983 Section As meni ks for NCAA iu Jydg year state universities in the Regents system. The Regents had conducted a routine audit of the athletic program at the Murfreesboro school, but allegations of eight specific rules violations triggered the additional investigation. The charges reportedly stem from a letter written to Ingram by Charles Smith of Macon, the father of current MTSU reserve basketball player Greg Smith. The elder Smith was not available for comment last night. OF EIGHT areas explored by the Regents probe, four of them including charges that cars were provided to players could not be substantiated by the internal investigation.

"We're very anxious to have the matter cleared up," MTSU basketball coach Stan Simpson said last night. "Right now, we're at the mercy of the NCAA," said school athletic director Jimmy Earle, whose office was criticized in the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Ten-nessean last night When the investigation by chief Regents auditor Robert Adams was complete, four areas of concern emerged: 0 Two MTSU players used promotional coupons from Republic Airlines to obtain a legitimate NCAA action comes from this, I cannot say," Ingram said yesterday. "We are willing to face the music for whatever has happened here," Ingram added. "THERE ARE some gray areas in the situation at Middle Tennessee that leave questions as to whether rules have been violated or not," Regents Chancellor Dr. Roy Nicks said yesterday.

"It was felt by all concerned that the best thing to do was to turn all the information over to the NCAA for their consideration," added Nicks, who oversees MTSU and the five other four- By 6HN LEWIS PITTS TtnmWan Sports Writer MURFREESBORO Middle State University about findings by -a State Board of Regents investigation of their basketball Program, have asked the NCAA for clarification of possible rules violations. An internal report the Regents auditing staff wa.s completed on Aug. 8 and school president Dr. Sam Ingram, who has since forwarded, report to the NCAA. "There's no question that this is going to be an embarrassment to our athletic department and the university, but whether any free flight from the airline, a possible violation of rules against schools providing free trips to athletes; 0 Five Blue Raiders had attendance requirements waived during a weightlifting class taught by MTSU assistant Coleman Crawford in the fall of 1982 and received A's in the class; Four players used a Nautilus machine at the private Court-South racquetball club without being charged for use of the equipment CourtSouth is partially owned by Blue Raider booster club president Dr.

Fred Lovelace; 0 And, preseason conditioning workouts were allegedly man dated for certain players under the supervision of a graduate assistant coach, while players returning for the 1983-84 season were involved in a regular series of informal postseason workouts. IN EACH case, the Regents' report makes specific recommendations to improve administration in the athletic department. Also, the report criticized the handling of the transfer from Western Carolina by center prospect Billy Miller, who was allowed to enroll at MTSU without a letter of release from his former school. That release, verbal- (Turn to Page 9, Column 1) nning Sounds Take Title Wi I i. trp 1K1I i Nashville To Stay In AA Baseball By TOM SQUIRES Tvnnesstan Sports Writer MEMPHIS With an assist from Chattanooga, the Nashville 1 Sounds captured their fifth consecutive second-half Western Di-' 't 4 A.

-1 a 1 "jrzjr 1 f. WITH JOHN BIBB SPORTS EDITOR i vision championship last night bombing rival Memphis 1 2-3. While the Sounds were pounding their arch-rival Chicks in the Southern League regular-season finale, the Lookouts were knock Nashville's hopes of entering Triple-A baseball competition next season disappeared last night. Larry Schmittou, the Nashville Sounds' general partner, told The Tennessean he has received word from officials at Wichita and Ev-ansville that both clubs plan to continue in Triple-A ball in 1984. "The franchises in Wichita and Evansville were the two possibilities we were considering.

Now, I have been informed neither will be available in 1984. Barring some unforeseen changes, both plan to field Triple-A clubs again next season," Schmittou said in a telephone interview from Arlington, Texas where he is a vice president in the Ranger organization. Relocating The Chief ing of first-half champion Birmingham by a 4-3 count to help Nashville finish one game in front of the Barons in the final standings. The win, Nashville's third straight, gave the Sounds a 48-26 second-half record compared to a 42r26 mark by Birmingham. NASHVILLE now moves into a best-of-five championship series I with Birmingham beginning tomorrow night at Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

The Barons will also host the second game before the Western Division playoffs shift to Nashville for the remaining contests. Left-hander Mike King, a surprise starter who hadn't pitched in 10 days, shut out Memphis on just two hits for the first seven innings to rack up his third win in six starts as a Sound. "It was just a gamble," said Sounds' manager Doug Holm-quist, who went with King over 12-game winner Mark Shiflett. "I just thought he would do better in this park. He certainly pitched a helluva game, probably his best of the season.

"This team certainly deserves (Turn to Page 9, Column 4) orses Big investment IT WAS A CRUEL notion, but I couldn't resist asking the Texas Rangers promotional wizard Larry Schmittou If he has considered leasing Chief Noc-A-Homa's tepee for the rest of the season? After all, it looks as though there'll be plenty of room in the Rangers Arlington Stadium this month, and superstitious Braves fans swear Noc-A-Homa's tepee does wonderous things for baseball records. They howl that removing the Chief's hut from Atlanta Stadium last month has been disastrous. THE RANGERS, with the worst record, 16-38, in major league baseball since the All-Star Game break, could use some luck. Among other things, the Texans have lost 25 of 41 one-run decisions this season. Trailing the Chicago White Sox by 14 or so games, the Rangers come home tomorrow to play Kansas City, which is trailing the same White Sox by 9 or 10 games.

It isn't exactly what you'd call a September Showdown. Somebody else already has all the marbles this year. Even the unflappable Schmittou, an eternal optimist, realizes attaining his goal of 1.5 million fans in his first season as vice president of marketing with Texas is a bit shaky. The Rangers have drawn more than 1.2 million and have 15 home openings remaining. "But, quite frankly, the way things look right now our crowd for the opening game of the series with Kansas City will be about the size of some of those old Vanderbilt-Tulane football crowds, if you know what I mean," Schmittou said.

I KNOW EXACTLY what he means. In pre-Roy Kramer days at Vandy, the tiny Commo-dore-Greenie crowds were next-of-kin gatherings. I've seen more pigeons than people welcome the teams at Dudley field, and in old Tulane Stadium the sparrows always outnumbered the fans when Vandy came to town. But back to the tepee deal. If what many Atlanta Braves fans are saying, that razing the Chief's hut has brought serious hurt to the team's won-lost record, maybe erecting the tepee in Arlington would bring some relief to the stumbling Rangers.

By LARRY TAFT IVnnesscaii Sports Writer SIIELBYVILLE, Tenn. Joe Ragan is a multimillionaire who likes horses. Since he saw his first Tennessee Walking Horse show on April ,17, 1982, he has spent well over million dollars on horses. Nq brag, just fact. Chief Noc-A-Homa Schmittou considered the notion at length.

Then he replied: "I TELL YOU what. If you can arrange for us to lease Noc-A-Homa, and his tepee, for the rest of the season, it's a deal-provided we also can lease Dale Murphy." Braves fans abound In Nashville this year. George Dyce, general manager of the Nashville Sounds, reports his concessionaires can't keep up with the demand for Atlanta souvenirs. "Earlier in the year a manufacturers repre- sentative offered us six dozen Atlanta souvenir caps. I was a bit leery about the deal, but he convinced me when he said he'd take back all we didn't sell," Dyce said.

"We sold every last cap the first night we had them. Since then, we have reordered several times. I'd estimate we have sold somewhere between 35 and 40 dozen this season. "BASED ON OUR souvenir sales, Greer Stadium fans are big Atlanta boosters. In order, their 1-2-3-4 preferences are the Braves, the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals seem to be about even as No. 4." fTurn to Page 9, Column 1) story after story of unethical breeding and judging practices. The fear that Ragan, with the clout his money gives him, could be another chapter in the continuing saga of horse vs. man.

"I hope people don't look at me like that," Ragan said when asked about the suspicison with which he is viewed. "I've tried to meet a lot of people in the business, both big and small. I'm not on an ego trip. I'm excited about the breed, not just about one horse." RAGAN, WHO began his business career as a door-to-door salesman of kitchen gadgets, is very convincing when he talks about charges of corruption among some who judge horse shows. "I'm told this has happened many times.

I have no reason to doubt that it has. But it concerns me very deeply. The one thing I insist upon is honesty in every Dway. There was one chap who had some horses of mine in training. I told him don't deal under the table on me.

I'll quit. He didn't do what he should have. I moved my horses and he won't have them again," Ragan said. "I'm an oddball in this busi-. ness.

I'm a newcomer, and always will be. Walking horse fans are second and third generation people. I'll always be an outsider. "But when I become more familiar with the business, I hope to do something about fairness within it. There's no reason we could not have a commissioner, one with power to act and one who would be in charge, not one of the boys or one that would be controlled by anything other what is right" Ragan said.

MANY OF Ragan's horse-buying decisions were influenced by S.W. Beech, of Belfast, whom (Turn to Page 4, Column 1) RAGAN, A 62-year-old Vienna, businessman, is the newest "money man" in the Tennessee Walking Horse business. He has 29 horses in training, a handful of breeding stallions and over 100 brood mares, many with colts at their side. The retired Central Metal craft executive is a man some small people in the business fear. The industry has had very wealthy people in it before, but no one has thrown money around like he has.

The Walking Horse industry has survived soring scandals and Noah Tanner Triumph In U.S. Open Tennis Yf I 1 The injury forced him to retire during a match in the Players' International tournament in Montreal, and he later pulled out of the ATP Championships for the same reason. AGAINST DAVIS, a member of the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team and a qualifier here, Noah's all-court game was in command. match was delayed for 75 minutes after Davis held serve to begin the fourth set But Noah got the only service break he needed in the seventh game, then served out for the match.

The rain put off the first-round match of Martina Navratilova, the top women's seed. She will meet Em Use Raponi Longo of Argentina in the first match today. Besides Lloyd, other seeded women who won their opening-round matches yesterday included No. 9 Andrea Temesvari of Hungary, No. 14 Jo Durie of Britain, No.

10 Zina Garrison, No. 13 Barbara Potter and No. 13 Claudia Kohde of West Germany. Temesvari stopped Jill Davis 6-3, 7-6; Durie ousted Ros Fair-bank of South Africa 6-1, 6-3; Garrison eliminated Leigh Thompson 7-5, 6-1 and Kohde defeated Marie-Christine Calleja of France 6-2, 6-1 OTHER SEEDED men who ad- vanced were No. 12 Johan Kriek, who outlasted Harold Solomon 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4; and No.

13 Steve Denton, who stopped Mike Can-dolfo 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 Lendl, who lost to Jimmy Connors in the final here last year and has yet to capture a Grand Slam tournament never lost his serve as he dominated his Romanian foe. He had 5-1 leads in both the first and third sets as he took only one hour, 23 minutes to move into the second round. Hie Nastase of Romania, tabbed "The Clown Prince of Tennis," and Peter Fleming, better known as the doubles partner of John McEnroe, battled for just over three hours before Fleming prevailed 7-6, 6-4, 2-6, 2-6, 7-5. Wilander dropped his serve In the second and sixth games of the opening set then never lost it again enroute to his easy victory. Evert Lloyd was asked about dropping her opening game.

"I'm not the greatest starter," she said. "That's why when I win the toss, I choose to receive-serve." After that it was a breeze for the women's No. 2 seed as she reeled off the next 12 games. "She basically didn't have anything to hurt me with," Lloyd said of her 17-year-old opponent who joined the professional tour full-time thU past January. NEW YORK (AP) France's Yannick Noah, showing no ill effects from a knee injury or from a rain delay, beat Scott Davis 6-1, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 yesterday in a first-round match in the US.

Open Tennis Championships. The fourth-seeded Noah, who captured the French Open in May the first Frenchman to win that clay court title since 1946 was joined in the second round by No.2 Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia and No. 5 Mats Wilander of Sweden. Meanwhile, Roscoe Tanner won the battle of Tennessee natives as the former Lookout Mountain resident stopped Brentwood 18-year-old Jimmy Brown 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. ALSO WINNING her opening-round match yesterday was defending women's champion Chris Evert Uoyd, who dropped the first game before crushing Britain's Shelly Walpole 6-1, 6-0.

Lendl brushed aside Florin Segarceanu of Romania 6-2, 64, 6-2 at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, and Wilander stopped Guy Forget of France 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Noah has played only one Volvo Grand Prix tournament ince the French Open partly because of a 42-day suspension and because of tendinitis in his right knee. UPI Telephofo Playing to Win v. NEW YORK Chris Evert Uoyd returns a shot against Shelly Walpole during their match at Flushing Meadow. Evert Uoyd beat Walpole 6-1 6-0..