College Too Rough, so Hogs’ Williamson Will Turn Pro

A bruised and tired Corliss Williamson, who led Arkansas into the last two NCAA title games and the 1994 national championship, is headed for the NBA.

With his parents’ blessing, Williamson said Friday in Fayetteville, Ark., that he would pursue his academic degree later and play professional basketball next season.

The 6-foot-7 junior forward, who averaged 19.7 points as the Razorbacks went 32-7 last season, had said after Monday’s championship game loss to UCLA that he planned to stay in school. He changed his mind Thursday and will make himself available for the NBA draft.

“My emotions took over and made me say that,” Williamson said. “I didn’t end my college career the way I wanted to. I wanted to go out on top with a victory. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.”

Williamson’s father, Jerry, said the consistent pounding his son took inside played a role in the decision.

“We got to see the battle scars and the bruises around (Corliss’) head and neck,” he said. “He’s hurting. If you are going to get hit like that, get paid to get hit.”

Coach Nolan Richardson said he backed the decision.

“We go to school to get better educated. We are supposed to get better jobs,” Richardson said. “I can’t think of any better job than where he’s going right now.”

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Eddie Payne, who developed a winning program at East Carolina, where there was no strong tradition, was named Oregon State’s basketball coach. Contract terms were not disclosed. Payne, 43, will try to resurrect a program that was once among the best in the West, but only 9-18 last season.

Pro Football

Former Arizona State defensive end Shane Collins was acquired by the San Francisco 49ers in a trade with the Washington Redskins, who received a 1996 draft pick.

The Philadelphia Eagles signed defensive end Daniel Stubbs, a pass-rushing specialist who sat out last season after being cut in training camp by the Cincinnati Bengals. Stubbs was San Francisco’s second-round pick in 1988 and also has played in Dallas.

Kicker Mike Cofer, returning to the game after a one-year absence, signed with the Indianapolis Colts. Cofer, who set franchise records for San Francisco for consecutive field goals (17) and field goals in a season (29), was granted unconditional free agency by the 49ers in February 1994.

Bill Lange, an offensive guard with the Ram team that won the 1951 NFL championship, died of a heart attack Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio. He was 67.

Auto Racing

Jeff Gordon gained his fourth pole in seven races this season with a fast lap of 118.765 m.p.h. in qualifying for the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro, N.C.

Britain’s David Coulthard overcame the opposition and bad weather to take the provisional pole with an average speed of 83.100 m.p.h. on the first day of trials for the Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires.

Larry Dixon of Northridge broke the track record for quarter-mile time with a clocking of 4.763 seconds at 298.50 m.p.h., and three other Top Fuel dragster drivers eclipsed 300 m.p.h. in qualifying for the seventh annual Winston Select Invitational at Rockingham (N.C.) Dragway. A two-time winner already this year, Dixon shared the first-day spotlight with John Force of Yorba Linda and Scott Geoffrion of Aliso Viejo, who set the pace in Funny Car and Pro Stock.

Tennis

Top-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain survived a tough first set to beat No. 5 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 7-5, 6-0, in a quarterfinal match in the Bausch & Lomb championships at Amelia Island, Fla. No. 2 Gabriela Sabatini beat fellow Argentine Ines Gorrochategui, 6-0, 6-3; No. 3 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria turned back Italy’s Laurence Courtois, 6-2, 6-2; and No. 8 Sabine Hack of Germany defeated Poland’s Katarzyna Nowak, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2).

Alberto Costa of Spain beat second-seeded Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals of the Estoril Open at Lisbon. Third-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria, the only seeded player left, overcame Javier Sanchez, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Muster will play Sanchez’s older brother, Emilio, who beat local favorite Nuno Marques, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Costa will meet France’s Fabrice Santoro, who ousted Austrian Gilbert Schaller, 6-4, 6-3.

Miscellany

Five cities, including two in California, were named finalists as host for the NCAA Women’s Final Four in 1999 and 2000. In mid-April and mid-May, a subcommittee will visit four cities: Sacramento, with Pacific as host; San Jose, with Stanford as host; Orlando, Fla., with Stetson as host, and Philadelphia, with St. Joseph’s and Pennsylvania as co-hosts. Atlanta is also in the running. The committee expects to announce its decision after its June 26-30 meeting.

Defenseman Chris Imes, a former Olympian who led Maine into the NCAA championship hockey game last weekend, signed with the Minnesota Moose in St. Paul, Minn. Selected by the NHL Florida Panthers in the supplemental draft, the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Imes played on the 1994 Olympic team.

Gwen Torrence ran 50.73 seconds in the 400 meters to defeated fellow Olympic teammates Danette Young and Pauline Davis at the Sea Ray Relays at Knoxville, Tenn. Young finished second in 51.25.

West Coast all-women crews from the California, Richmond and Seattle yacht clubs were within three-quarters of a point of one another at the top of the standings in the U.S. Women’s Challenge after six of eight races off Newport Beach.

A court placed Olympique Marseille in receivership in Marseille, France, after the scandal-plagued former European soccer champion ran out of money to pay its players and was $48 million in debt.

The defending champion United States was tied with Russia going into today’s final round of the Freestyle World Cup wrestling tournament at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Forward Karyn Bye had five goals to lead the U.S. women’s national team to a 12-0 victory over Japan in the 1995 International Ice Hockey Federation Pacific Women’s Hockey Championships in San Jose.

Cross-country ski racing pioneer Tony Wise, who started a series of international races, died Thursday of an undisclosed illness in Minneapolis. He was 74.