Knight Makes Alford a Starter Again, but Three Freshmen Stay

Steve Alford is back in Bobby Knight’s starting lineup at Indiana, but he will be joined by three freshmen as Knight sticks with his controversial youth movement.

Knight, who used only six freshmen and senior center Uwe Blab in Sunday’s loss to Illinois, reinstated Alford as a probable starter for tonight’s game against Iowa.

Meanwhile, the mother of Mike Giomi, the player who was dismissed because he failed to meet Knight’s academic standards, says that Knight was wrong.

“I’m sitting here with his grade card from the first semester and it says 2.41 (on a 4.0 scale),” Karen Giomi, said in Newark, Ohio. “That’s eligibility, isn’t it? . . . The truth is he’s been eligible in his grades as far as the Big Ten and the NCAA go, but at Indiana you play by Coach Knight’s standards.

“Every year Coach Knight picks out a player who is going to take the most abuse and this year it’s been Michael,” she said. “Every year this seems to happen and it can’t just be the players’ fault . . .

“There’s a lot of things that go on there that a lot of people don’t know about. You’ve seen the way he treats those kids during the games; he yells and screams at them and gets right up in their face. If he does that in public, what do you think he does in private?”

Miami Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino married his hometown sweetheart, Claire Veazey, Wednesday night at his family church in Pittsburgh.

About 125 people, many teammates of Marino’s at the University of Pittsburgh or with the Dolphins, attended the ceremony. The guests included Dolphin Fulton Walker and former Pitt players Emil Boures, now a Steeler; former Steeler Sal Sunseri, Green Bay Packer Tom Flynn and John Brown.

Olympic boxing gold medalist Tyrell Biggs recently spent three weeks in the CareUnit Hospital in Orange for treatment of drug and alcohol abuse. Biggs admitted himself Dec. 30 and was discharged Jan. 19. According to the report, Biggs was also treated for “accompanying emotional problems.”

Virginia basketball Coach Terry Holland left the hospital where he underwent tests for an intestinal complaint, but does not plan an immediate return to coaching. Holland has been in hospitals three times since Jan. 19.

Minnesota forward Mitchell Lee, arrested in the alleged rape of a university student, will rejoin the team for its two-game road trip this week after a judge removed restrictions on his travel.

Three of Mississippi’s top high school football prospects received anonymous letters warning them that the University of Mississippi will soon be placed on NCAA probation. Ole Miss received a letter of preliminary inquiry from the NCAA last month.

Names in the News

U.S. Boxing Assn. bantamweight champion Gaby Canizales knocked Jeff Whaley down five times and scored a unanimous 10-round decision in a non-title bout at Atlantic City, N.Y. Canizales, of Laredo, Tex., is 31-2; Whaley is 13-5.

Alejandro Pena, Dodgers right-hander, tripled his 1984 salary by signing a one-year contract worth reportedly $360,000. He had filed for salary arbitration, but reached agreement with the club last week.

Mickey Mantle, barred from baseball two years ago for his affiliation with casinos, is hopeful new commissioner Peter Ueberroth will lift the ban. The two met Sunday in New York for 20 minutes.

Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears was named Black Athlete of the Year by a panel of black media writers and broadcasters. New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden was second and hurdler Edwin Moses third.

Wade Boggs, Boston Red Sox third baseman, is asking for a new contract worth $1 million a year. Boston is offering $675,000. Boggs made an estimated $535,000 last year with incentives.

Mike McCallum’s scheduled defense of his WBA middleweight title against former champion Davey Moore Feb. 9 was postponed because of illness to McCallum. No new date has been set.

Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland established himself as the man to beat in the World Alpine Ski Championships starting today with the fastest downhill time of the day, 2:10.04, in Bormio, Italy. Olympic downhill champion Bill Johnson of Malibu was 36th.

Joe Hoerner, former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, was found innocent of reckless and negligent operation of a motorboat in a Missouri accident that killed two men.