The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 25

IOUTDOORS2C I TVRADIO 2C I COLLEGES 3C I NBA4C INFL5C I CLASSIFIED 6C Sports BOXING Una's time In court not over yet I NEW YORK Boxing promoter i Don King found himself waiting for a decision Thursday. Just 90 minutes after a mistrial Friday, November 17, 1995 News-Leader 00 GDDtB vim Nice guy Vaughn nips Belle for MVP By Larry S. Hazelrigg News-Leader was declared in King's in-j surance fraud I case, a federal judge ordered jurors to return to court today for possible further deliberations. The bizarre reversal came I 4t s. 4 King The Associated Press It was an honor to play the USA National Team a "grand experience" and it's good to have it over.

Southwest Missouri State coach Cheryl Burnett said. The U.S. women's team rolled to an 89- USA 38 victory in an on NEW YORK Mo Vaughn beat out Albert Belle for the AL MVP award Thursday in one of the closest elections ever, a vote that called into question whether the Cleveland star's surliness 90 SMS 38 exhibition game Thursday night at Hammons Stu 2t cost him the honor. The two sluggers tied for the AL RBIs lead with 126. Belle, however, led the majors with 50 home runs in the shortened season and be Vaughn i A fjssoiiiiu I 7 15 Ml after prosecutors appealed the mistrial ruling Thursday afternoon.

King was accused in this case of faking an insurance contract to collect $350,000 in bogus training fees for a canceled 1991 fight. TENNIS Sampras falters in ATP tournament FRANKFURT, Germany An hour after he clinched the No. 1 ranking for the third straight year, Pete Sampras lost to Wayne Ferreira 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-3 on Thurs- day at the ATP Championships. The loss did nothing to affect Sampras' status in the round-robin event as he already qualified for the semifinals with two earlier vic- tones. His No.

1 ranking was assured earlier when Jim Courier beat Thomas Muster 6-4, 4-6, 64. Earlier, Thomas Enqvist beat Michael Chang 6-1, 6-4. Courier and Chang, both 1-1, will meet today to decide who will join Enqvist from the Red Group in the semifinals. Ferreira, with a 2-1 record, must await the outcome of today's match between Boris I Becker and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Graf beats Fernandez in baseline battle NEW YORK Steffi Graf survived a baseline slugfest Thursday night, powering her way past Mary Joe Fernandez 6-3, 64 and grabbing a spot in the semifinals of the WTA Tour Championships.

Graf, the top seed in this 16-player, season-ending tournament, will next take on defending champion Gabriela Sabatini or surprising Natasha Zvereva, who play 4heir quarterfinal match tonight. BASEBALL Oakland picks Howe as new manager A 1ft 1 TT-X A TT dent Center. The crowd was 7,755, the second largest of six games the national team has played on its collegiate tour. "We were happy to be playing the best team in the world, the team we hope wins the gold medal in the Olympics," Burnett said. "Now we can gauge ourselves off the best there is." SMS was stuck on 10 points for nearly seven minutes as the national team expanded its lead from 17-10 to 31-10, and eventually a 46-17 advantage at halftime.

The visitors also had streaks of 10 and 12 points in the second half. Six-foot-five center Lisa Leslie and guard Nikki McCray scored 14 points each and guards Ruthie Boltonand Jennifer Azziadded 13 apiece for the U.S. team. Junior point guard Jessie McVay led SMS with 10 points. The national team enjoyed a 59-35 rebounding advantage, led by 11 each from Leslie and 6-4 Rebecca Lobo.

Leslie said SMS' intensity was good: "It felt like it was closer." Had SMS not had some defensive breakdowns, it would have been closer, Burnett said. "When we had solid defense, the USA had a difficult time scoring. We just didn't have solid defense enough of the time," Burnett said. "I told the team we could have held them 20 points below what it was had it not been for some breakdowns at the end of the first half. But we still held them 10 below their average.

We saw some good things come out of this game." Inside: Box' score. 2C came the first player to get 100 extra-base hits since Stan Musial in 1948. Belle has earned a reputation, however, for being uncooperative and downright rude to reporters who do the voting. He is expected to be penalized by major league baseball this month for berating a television reporter during the World Series, although that outburst came after all 28 ballots were returned. "I guess it really does say something," Vaughn said at a news conference in Boston, held at a center where he founded a youth development program.

"People are looking at the whole thing and that it's just not numbers." A letter that accompanies the official ballot tomembersofthe Baseball Writers Association of America lists the five rules which have remained unchanged since the original ballot in 1931 to consider. The third guideline: "General character, disposition, loyalty and effort." Vaughn, regarded by media members and fans as one of the nice guys in baseball, hit .300 with 39 home runs as the first baseman for the AL East champion Boston Red Sox. Belle batted .317 for the Indians, who had the best record in baseball. Vaughn received 12 first-place votes, 12 seconds andfourthirdsfora total of 308 points. Belle got 11 first-place votes, 10 seconds and seven thirds for 300 points.

Had just one more first-place vote changed positions, Belle would have won. Andy Lavalley For the News-Leader Southwest Missouri State guard Tasha McDowell found it rough going against USA National Team forward Katrina McClain in the first half Thursday night. The USA defeated the Lady Bears 89-38. uaiUjA1u, oani. ah no we is presiding over another youth tnnvpment.

This time, he hones to Chiefs' Davis shows he's special By Kevin Goodwin News-Leader Oilers at Chiefs Magic continues Its carpet ride The Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. At last, a relatively easy night for the Orlando Magic without Sha-quille O'Neal. Anfernee Hardaway scored 30 points and Dennis Scott 21 as the defending Eastern Conference champions continued to win without their All-Star center, beating the injured Indiana Pacers 89-80 Thursday night. Inside: nba. 4C WHEN: 7 p.m.

Sunday RECORDS: Chiefs 9-1, Oilers 4-6 TVRADIO: ESPN; KWTO, 560 AM wants to be on the field when the game is on the line," Davis said. "I can't wait for Sundays to get in the huddle with the defense," Davis said. "Sometimes I find myself shaking with excitement. I've been craving an opportunity for so long that it's kind of hard to believe that it's here." Davis has been on the Chiefs for less than a year. He was signed as a free agent in late November of the 1994 season after being released from Seattle in training camp.

Davis had seven tackles in five games in kickoff coverage. He resigned himself to more special teams work in 1995, but Fields' hard luck created an opening. "His chance might not have come had it not been for Jamie going down," Schottenheimer said. "He had been awfully productive in the kicking game, but we didn't have a whole lot of opportunity to try him on defense." Davis leads all non-starting defensive players with 40 tackles. In addi- See DAVIS, Page 5C KANSAS CITY His speed is comparable to one of the league's elite and he's considered by Coach Marty Schottenheimer the best tackier on the Kansas City Chiefs.

But it took an season-ending triceps injury to linebacker Jamie Fields for Anthony Davis to get his chance to play defense. After three seasons of almost exclusive special teams play, the 6-foot, 231-pound Davis is raising eyebrows as Kansas City's nickel linebacker in passing situations. "Being a part of our special teams core is something I take pride in, but any player who believes in his ability Fowler a name to remember in Bears football By Lyndal Scranton News-Leader stick around to reap the benefits. The Oakland Athletics, whose new owners intend to cut payroll by emphasizing young talent over expensive veterans, hired the ex-Astros skipper Thursday. He signed a two-year contract with a club option for a third season.

Howe, 48, succeeds Tony La Russa, who left the A's to manage the St. Louis Cardinals. Margenau says he's buying Bastien's team MOBILE, Ala. Sports investor Eric Margenau said Thursday he expects speedy Southern League approval of his $4.5 million purchase of the Port City Roosters of Wilmington, N.C., a team he will move to Mobile by 1997. The team is owned by Dennis Bastien, who wanted to move the team to the Ozarks.

But Springfield officials earlier this year failed to secure state funding to build a ballpark, and Ozark residents last week overwhelmingly defeated a measure to increase the sales tax for a stadium. FOOTBALL Seminoles sign Bowden to new contract TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Florida State signed 66-year-old Bobby Bowden to a five-year contract that will pay the patri-arch of college football's most prominent coaching family almost $1 million annually. The agreement will pay him $975,000, including $150,000 of state money. Ticket prices set for KC playoff games KANSAS CITY Ticket prices for any NFL playoff games played in Kansas City will range from $43 to $57, the Chiefs announced rm JccksoRYille St at SMS WHEN: 1:30 p.m.

Saturday WHERE: Plaster Sports Complex RECORDS: JSU 7-3, SMS 3-7 RADIO: KTXR, 101.3 FM "I rushed for over 1,000 yards my senior year. I ran with it pretty good," said Fowler, who won his team's MVP honor for his play at fullback and linebacker. But when Fowler arrived at SMS in August of 1991, he found a deep stable of fullbacks on hand. He and the coaches quickly agreed on the move to linebacker. "Once you run with the football you love it and it was hard to give that up at first," Fowler said.

"But once I started playing linebacker there was no looking back." Fowler said his football career began to take off during his red-shirt freshman year "when I made a personal commitment six games into that season that I was going to start and I've been starting ever See FOWLER, Page 3C make Plaster Sports Complex announcer Rick Jester call out his name several more times as the player closes out his career against Jacksonville (Ala.) State. "I'm trying to approach it like any other game, but it really is something special," Fowler said. "I want to go out with a win." First-year SMS head coach Del Miller regrets only having been around Fowler for one season. He called Fowler "Mr. Consistent." "He's always in there, always around the ball making plays," Miller said.

"What else can you say? He's just a great player." One of the best the Bears have ever had, inside linebackers coach Ozzie Riley said. "I'm kind of biased," Riley admitted. "I've been in coaching quite a long time. I played line- DeLaun Fowler doesn't consider himself an egomaniac. But he admits getting a rush when his name is announced in front of thousands of football fans.

"Hearing my name after every play well, not every play, but after I make tackles now that's fun," Southwest Missouri State's senior linebacker said. "I know that I'm doing a pretty good job if I keep hearing my name." Fowler's name has been heard loud and often during his career at SMS. He's led the team in tackles the last three seasons and is third on the school's all-time list with 404 tackles. Saturday, Fowler wants to v4 IW backer at Arkansas. He's the best we've had at SMS as far as being a playmaker, speed-wise and doing what it takes to win." Instead of spending his career making tackles, Fowler could have spent it trying to avoid them.

He was recruited out of Belleville (El.) East High School to play fullback in the Bears' option offense. Andy Lavalley For the News-Leader SMS linebacker DeLaun Fowler has led the team in tackles the last three seasons. He was originally recruited to play fullback. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Basketball: Mansfield High School is seeking a team for its Swimming: The Southwest Missouri State men's swim- Wrestling: The Springfield Youth Wrestling Club regis- boys' basketball tournament to be held Dec. 9-14, 1996.

Inter- ming team beat Missouri-Rolla 115-90 Thursday at Rolla. tration and parent information meeting for kids age 4-14 ested coaches should call Chris Larsen at 924-3236. SMS' Craig Scoby won the 50-yard freestyle and also was is at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Kickapoo High School on the winning 200 freestyle relay team. wrestling room.

Call 882-0269 or 889-6137. inursaay. Invoices will be mailed to season ticket holders today, and payment must be received by Dec. 7. I.