Gators Are Stripped of Title Again

The University of Florida has, once again, been stripped of its Southeastern Conference football title.

Presidents of the 10 conference schools voted, 6-4, Thursday to recall the title the Gators chased for more than 50 years and then waited four months to call their own after having been found guilty of recruiting violations.

The vote, in the league’s annual spring meeting at Destin, Fla., overturned an April 3 executive committee ruling that Florida had been punished enough through National Collegiate Athletic Assn. sanctions and should be allowed to keep the title.

No champion will be recognized for 1984.

A federal grand jury that has been investigating drug sales and drug abuse among major league baseball players returned sealed indictments charging seven people with various narcotics offenses, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and two Pittsburgh TV stations.

J. Alan Johnson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, refused to say whether the indictments came from the baseball grand jury. He also refused to identify those indicted but indicated that arrests would be made by today.

Tex Schramm, Tom Landry and Gil Brandt of the Dallas Cowboys received bonuses totaling $5 million when Clint Murchison sold the team to a limited partnership, the Dallas Morning News has reported.

Two sources familiar with the details of the $60 million sale said that Murchison gave Schramm, the club president and general manager, $2.5 million; Landry, the coach, $2 million, and Brandt, the vice president of personnel, $500,000. All have been with the club since it was formed in 1960.

Murchison sold the Cowboys in May to a group headed by H.R. (Bum) Bright that included Schramm. A source told the paper that Murchison paid the bonuses not only to thank the three but also as an inducement for them to stay with the new-ownership group.

Commissioner Harry Usher of the United States Football League said that new antitrust charges have been filed against the NFL. The charges, filed in U.S. District Court, are similar to those filed last October in a $1.32 billion suit by the USFL. The USFL charges that the NFL and its club owners have unlawfully conspired to deny network coverage to the USFL.

The All-American Bowl, previously known as the Hall of Fame Bowl, has been moved from Dec. 29 to New Year’s Eve, taking over the spot left open when the Bluebonnet Bowl made a switch from night to afternoon. The name was changed when sponsors parted with the National Football Foundation.

Shrewd Ruler, winner by a nose in a blanket finish, paid a Rockingham Park record payoff of $498 to win in the second race Thursday, passing the previous mark of $385.20 returned by Buddy Bones Sept. 30, 1948. Shrewd Ruler paid $68 to place and $16.40 to show. Combined with Big Smoker, the $14 winner of the first race, the 9-7 daily double paid $1,229.60.

Scott Skiles, a starting guard for Michigan State’s basketball team, was sentenced to a night in jail and fined almost $300 for impaired driving in Mason, Mich.

He was arrested Sept. 22, 1984, by East Lansing police and originally charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and failure to take a breath-analysis test. That arrest occurred about a month after police in Skiles’ hometown of Plymouth, Ind., had confiscated marijuana from his car. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of possession in the marijuana case.

Nick Beverley, coach for the Los Angeles Kings’ top farm club at New Haven in the American Hockey League, will not be returning next season, the Kings announced. In the last 3 1/2 years, his teams were 124-130-24.

The Cleveland Indians have traded shortstop Johnnie LeMaster to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named or cash. LeMaster, 30, appeared in 11 games with Cleveland, hitting .150. He was acquired by the Indians May 7 from the San Francisco Giants.

Monday, LeMaster and Indian Manager Pat Corrales got into a shouting match when LeMaster objected to being used as a ninth-inning defensive replacement.