Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 37

ffjc 2flartfor6 lourant Sports THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 1999 SECTION Carruth Is Found In Tennessee Page C3 About W)men OVULTS Everett: More Power To Sox ''J Ik i ill skull Upgrade On Offense, But For How Long? By DAVID HEUSCHKEL Courant Staff Writer Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette was able to forget about the past and deal with the present Now comes the hard part Knowing he could lose him a year from now didn't stop Duauette from acquiring center the Houston fielder Carl Everett from tros on Wednesday. The Red Sox gave up shortstop prospect Adam Everett (no relation) and minor league pitcher Greg Miller. In return, they get a complete player coming off his best season and entering his prime. Everett, 29, gives the Red Sox some needed power and a third switch-hitting everyday player, along with EVERETT PHOTOS BY JOHN WOIKETHE HARTFORD COURANT SHE'S NOT RUNNING ANYMORE, but Liz Mueller is working hard at a new goal. "I'd like people to say, 'Yeah, that's Liz Mueller she can fight' she said.

THE ROAD NOW TAKEN Champion Runner Liz Mueller Steps Into A New Ring catcher Jason Varitek and second baseman Jose Offerman. With Nomar Garciapara at short, Adam Everett, the Red Sox's No. 1 pick in 1998, was expendable. Everett, who made $2.4 million in '99, hit .325 with 25 homers, 108 RBI and 27 steals in 123 games. His reward will be a huge raise.

Everett could double his salary in arbitration winter. Duquette Is hoping to negotiate a long-term deal with Everett and agent Larry Reynolds. The Astros refused to give the Red Sox permission to talk to Everett before the trade, so Duquette took a risk. Everett will become a free agent after the 2000 season unless he signs an extension with the Red Sox. Reynolds said a new deal probably won't get done soon.

Everett's wife gave birth to a baby boy earlier this week. "Every case is different every player is different, every personality is different," Reynolds said. "That's something that I'll have to Please see EVERETT, Page C2 Difficult Position For Jones i E2 Vr By TERRY PRICE Courant Staff Writer EAST LYME Everybody is running from something. A bad marriage. A checkered past Responsibility.

The reasons can run the gamut Liz Mueller has stopped running. That part of her life is over. Mueller is standing her ground now, but she's not standing stilL Once one of the top female runners in the country, Mueller is bobbing and weaving inside Macy's Gym, preparing for an as yet unscheduled pro boxing debut. "I'm happy with what I'm doing now," Mueller, 24, said. "I guess there are days where I'll miss running and wish that I'd kept with it But I don't miss it enough to ever stop boxing and start running again." Boxing at 132 pounds, the 5-foot-3 Mueller won the Everlast women's national title last April and the women's national Golden Gloves tournament in August the only woman from Connecticut to win a national event She finished second in the world championships in Finland in May.

Her trainer, Bill Kane, believes Mueller, the only professionally licensed woman boxer in the state and the first in at least 30 years, can be just as successful on the pro leveL "I think Liz can change the sport," Kane said. "I think she's that good." Stellar Beginnings A few years ago, there were plenty of people who thought Mueller was headed for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in 2000. She won the New England high school cross country championships four times. She also won the national cross country championship in 1991.

Mueller ran near-Olympic qualifying times (2:05) in the half mile in high schooL In alL Mueller won 11 Class, Open and New England cross country and indoor and outdoor track titles at Waterford High. Her success continued at Central Connecticut State University, if reluctantly. She didn't run competitively as a freshman. As a sophomore, she was undefeated in six races, setting three course records, while winning the Mid-Continent Conference cross country championship. But Mueller refused to run in the 1995 NCAA championships and dropped out of Central after her sophomore year.

Central cross countrytrack coach George Kawecki still agonizes over not being able to convince Mueller to devote herself completely to running. "There's no doubt if she stayed with it she would have been a world-class athlete," Kawecki said. "It's not that she didn't have any talent Please see MUELLER, Page C4 4 1 V- 'TO-'" J'5 J- ,7 IB 7 7 I AT A FIGHTING WEIGHT of 1 32, Liz Mueller goes through a night workout as trainer Bill Kane watches. Pats Have Him Cornered By ALAN GREENBERG Courant Staff Writer FOXBORO, Mass. Tebucky Jones never wanted to be an NFL cornerback.

And he certainly never wanted, as a first-round draft choice, to become a living symbol of his employer's inability to judge talent. But with the Patriots' playoff chances now as diminished as Jones' role, that like it or not, is what he is. With Ty Law, the Patriots' best pass defender, out two to four weeks after reinjuring his broken hand, coach Pete Carroll announced Wednesday that Jones will start in place of Law at left cornerback Sunday in Philadelphia. For Jones, a second-year pro who starred at New Britain High and played at Syracuse, it will be the first start of his pro career. "I think it's about time, get out there and get a chance to play," said Jones, who has played primarily on special teams and as an extra defensive back in passing situations.

"I'm hoping I can get a couple of picks." The Patriots have more realistic expectations. They are merely hoping the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Jones can handle the basics: cover his man without giving up big plays. The Eagles' passing game, especially with rookie quarterback Donovan McNabb injured and not expected to play, hasn't scared anybody. But then, neither has Jones. His reviews as a nickel back have been mixed.

He has been picked on regularly by opposing quarterbacks and has rarely made them regret it Sunday in the third quarter at Indianapolis, he was called for pass interference, resulting in a 30-yard penalty that gave the Colts a first down on the Patriots 16, setting up a field goal. Please see JONES, Page C3 A Football Giant And More Strong Made Name As Two-Sport Star i 1 IT'" 1 CONNECTICUT'S Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg. His 41 home runs in 1930 were an Eastern League record until this year. A broken wrist ended Strong's major league career before it began, but he wound up scoring 484 points in 12 NFL seasons. Strong's bronze bust can be found in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

He's also in the National Football Foundation College Hall of Fame in Kings Mills, Ohio. Strong was the star of the Giants' victory in the 1934 NFL Championship Game, the famed "Sneakers Game." Grantland Rice, the most celebrated of sports writers, maintained that with the possi- Please see A LEGEND, Page C7 By GREG GARBER Courant Staff Writer He was born at the dawn of the 20th century into a highlight-free world in which athletic accomplishments lived in the mind's eye of those lucky enough to witness them. Before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders and Michael Jor-' dan, there was Ken Strong, a gifted, versatile athlete as good truly as great as his noble name. Strong was 6 feet, 205 pounds, but there is an outsized, Bunyanesque quality to his legendary deeds: He was once timed covering 100 yards in 10 seconds flat in a full football uniform, because he refused to be seen in those goofy track shorts. His punts routinely soared 60 and 70 yards when he was a senior at West Haven High School in 1924.

As a senior halfback at New York University in 1928, he ran for 2,100 yards and, including his accurate kicks, led the nation in scoring with 162 of his team's 316 points. When the Yankees sold him to Detroit in 1932 (for five players and the Tigers considered him a better prospect than future No. 16 Ken Strong.