Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • Page 14

2C FLORIDA TODAY, Thursday, June 21, 1990 Donald hopes fun ride lasts in Buick Pistons' Thomas tries to put gambling accusations behind 'Kv AP 1 I mr, LA 1 pretty bad," Donald said. "But the way everybody treated me, all the nice things they said, pretty soon I started feeling like a winner again." Irwin said Donald can expect a lot more attention and celebrity in the future. "It's a new Mike Donald now," Irwin said. "The way he played, the way he handled himself, he made an awful lot of friends." Irwin and Donald are in the 156-man field for the Buick Classic, which begins today at Westchester Country Club. Donald said Wednesday he wasn't quite ready for the tourney.

"To this point, I've been thinking golf, but not thinking about playing golf," he said. "I can't believe I'm going to be playing in another tournament starting (today)." Jones confirmed he's interested in Beathard's offer to come out of retirement but said he's uncertain if he physically would be able to play. "No question I could compete. No question I can still throw." Falcon linebacker Bruce forced into trash duty Atlanta Falcon linebacker Aun-dray Bruce will be assigned to pick up trash along Gwinnett County (Ga.) highways the next three Saturdays as part of a community service requirement imposed by the courts. Bruce, the NFL's No.

1 draft pick in 1988, failed to show up last weekend for a charity golf event, his original assignment under the community service program. Probation officer Lee McCauley said Tuesday that Bruce will be treated as any other probationer who failed to complete an assignment Bruce was placed on probation in April after he pleaded no contest to one count of disorderly conduct for reportedly threatening a pizza delivery person with a BB gun. MIKE DONALD has gained many new fans through his second-place finish in the U.S. Open. Isiah Thomas, the most valuable player in the NBA championship series, said Wednesday he was deeply disturbed by reports he was involved in an FBI gambling probe.

"It hurt," he said at a ceremony in a midtown New York hotel, where he was presented with the MVP trophy and a new car. "I can't say it didn't affect me at all." Thomas' name became involved in the investigation when Mark Aguirre, his Detroit Piston teammate, met with a former FBI agent to express concern about his longtime friend's association with gamblers, according to sources quoted by a Detroit television station and Detroit area newspapers. "I asked Mark about it," Thomas said. "He said he didn't have anything to do with it. When I talked with the FBI, they said they hadn't talked with Mark and they said Mark hadn't talked with them.

"As long as the government said I wasn't the focus, I don't think there are any more questions to be answered." Mandlikova set to quit singles after Wimbledon After 13 years and four Grand Slam tennis titles, Hana Mandlikova is calling it quits for her singles career after Wimbledon. Mandlikova, 28, who rose to No. 3 in the rankings but is now 31st on the computer, made her announcement Wednesday at the Pilkington Glass Championships in Eastbourne, England. mm I PGA site faces racism controversy FLORIDA TODAY Wires BIRMINGHAM, Ala. The Alabama country club hosting the 1990 PGA Championship excludes blacks from membership and should not receive any municipal money, a city councilman said.

Citing an anti-discrimination resolution adopted 10 years ago, Councilman William Bell said the city should pull its advertising dollars from the tournament, which will be held in August at Shoal Creek Country Club. Mayor Richard Arlington, the city's first black mayor, authorized the purchase of an advertisement key to defending her title in this week's Rochester International. Sheehan, who won the 1989 tournament on the first hole of a playoff with Ayako Okamoto, has won two LPGA tournaments this year and finished second in two others. Forecasters are calling for wet weather today, and Sheehan says that will require patience on slower greens. "Last year was super wet too, and I did all right then," she said.

Local golf, 3C. Compiled by Richard Ehrhard Mfcl I Wednesday's question: Who was the first player to win tennis' Grand Slam? Wednesday's answer: Don Budge. Today's question: How much did boxer Mike Tyson earn in his first professional bout? Answer tomorrow iscount St. Lucie Mets' May busting out all over uto Parts 7 1 if 1 MM -j lt, m. l-ir FLORIDA TODAY Wires HARRISON, N.Y.

As a three-time winner of the U.S. Open, Hale Irwin is no stranger to celebrity. But it's a new, exhilarating feeling for Mike Donald, who's getting as much attention for losing the Open as Irwin is for winning. "I could see it at the airport," said Donald, who until last weekend was a virtual unknown on the PGA Tour. "People recognized me, and they come up and shake my hand and tell me I played good.

And I could see people pointing at me and everything." Irwin won the Open on Monday with a birdie on the first sudden-death hole after he and Donald were still tied after an 18-hole playoff. "Monday night, I was feeling in the PGA's tournament program with Jefferson County, the Metropolitan Development Board and the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. "I know the PGA is open, and there is no racial exclusion," Arlington said. Hall Thompson, the founder of Shoal Creek, has said the Shoal Creek board would consider black membership, but no blacks have been proposed as members. Sheehan: Patience key ROCHESTER, N.Y.

Patty Sheehan says patience will be the plus months of this season. "My father and I really aren't the same kind of players," May said. "He struck out a lot and hit a lot of home runs but he couldn't run. I'm more of a line-drive hitter who can run and steal a base. "But I never really felt it was a disadvantage.

My dad got everything out of the game he could and it was a great opportunity for me to be there and to see him all the time. You know, some kids see their fathers go off to work and then don't see them again until they come home that night. They have no idea what their dads do for a living. It wasn't like that for me. I was able to be there, to see him go through the good times and the bad." The past few years have been rough on Lee May Jr.

Dad is semi-retired. When Pete Rose left baseball in the heat of a gambling controversy, Lee May Sr. also paid the price. One of Rose's coaches, he was not retained by the new regime. "He's gone fishing," May Jr.

said. "It's the first time in twenty-some years that he hasn't been either playing ball or working." The "retired" father does plan to put his fishing pole away long enough sometime this month to take a trip to Florida. He plans on taking in a few St. Lucie games. "Right now, I'm starting to feel my confidence rise a little higher," May Jr.

said. "That's a big thing, an important thing, in baseball." In 1967, Lee May Sr. was named the National League Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News. He was 24 then. His first four years of pro ball? The future big-league star struggled at the plate, striking out too much in Tampa, Rocky Mount and Macon.

In the fifth season, he put it all together and was in the big leagues to stay by the end of his sixth year of pro ball. This is Lee May fifth year as a pro and, he declares, things are starting to look up. Like father, like son? Time will tell. FREE SITE SURVEY THOMAS MANDLIKOVA "I am like an orange without any juice," she said. "The determination is not there, the motivation is not there and I am too proud to be losing to players I should not lose to.

That is why I am walking away." Mandlikova will continue to play doubles in selected events. Chargers show interest in former QB Jones, 38 San Diego Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard says he has approached former Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Bert Jones about playing for San Diego this season. "He's got that rocket arm, he's agile, he looks like he never missed a day of football," Beathard said Monday after watching Jones compete last week in Hawaii with past and present NFL players in "The Quarterback Challenge." Jones, 38, quit pro football in 1982 because of a persistent neck injury that required the fusion of two cervical vertebra. Beathard said he intends to check on Jones' medical status with Ram physician Robert Kerlan, and has spoken to the Rams about Jones' rights. DAP MELBOURNE Aurora Plaza 1717 Wickham Road 255-1693 Open 8-9 NrU0CA70N COCOA 806 Dixon 633-4037 Hurry, MAY, From 1C minor league operations, Gerry Hunsicker, "this is a very important year for Lee.

The first several years of his career have been quite disappointing. It looked like he was about to hit the end of the road until this year." That's scary stuff to the son of a big-league star. Last year, the Mets became so desperate over the lack of production out of the young prospect that they sent him to Alabama in the middle of the season to visit with hitting guru Harry Walker. "It was my first year of trying to switch-hit," May Jr. said.

"And I was really struggling. The Mets have stuck with me." Walker worked with May who went on to have a good instructional league, and this year he looked much improved in spring training. With St. Lucie, he hit .260 in his first 173 at-bats with six doubles, three triples and 21 RBI. The Met outfield prospect also had 17 stolen bases.

"Lee can do a lot of things well on the baseball field," Hunsicker said. "He runs well, he throws well and he's a good defensive player. He just never has hit. This year, I really think he can put everything together." May hit .188 at Kingsport in the Appalachian League in 1986, .229 in 60 games in a return engagement to Kingsport in 87, .211 at Little Falls in the New York-Penn League in '88 and split last season at Columbia in the South Atlantic League and Pittsfield in the New York-Penn League, with averages of .205 and .237. Those are averages that bring expressions of horror to scouting directors trying to plan their futures.

But May also showed he's not his father in another sense: He stole 15, 12, 13 and 27 bases the past four years and had 17 in the first two- I ioo 'OTttlttlii Sfin 8Di Tire Inflator winnino license plate IU fl i i wWiq mm OThD nil I Itr 1 Coupon must be brought into store AQfLIllUl S-y'L i III I I I 1 to receive advertised price. Oder i WJ1 aSk ft YyWVS Gumout Spray 11 i.mjjjiuj rp38 KB Carburetor I MsM OA 88 axKESf EACH XEi ISSS: Cleaner 1 45 Month ywEXCH "3T CIc a lk I 12-Volt CI 7 7 I Battery JTmiWa Py CompressorsYork orA-6 -JK. jyP LIFETIME GUARANTEE UW IT-Nf Most Domestic Starters and Alternators sSwJfefr 'Jp Brake Shoes Prices A97 Zj PEuImST cLl xyJ 4.00 on aii othtn Guarantee I I wexch mm wexch Light Trucks Lii tTM Miintf; -m I UIJ mi .11 in 1 WHY PAY CABLE? WHEN YOU CAN OWN A SEARS Satellite T.V. System 100 SEARS Financing With No DOWN PAYMENT OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK Sale Ends June 26, 1990 Scolly'l Malabai Rd Jammk Palm Bay M. DAP 5 DAP nJ 1DAP DAP 1 Eau Gallic Blvd S.

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