SuperSonics File, so Cartwright Unretires

Bill Cartwright, who had planned to retire after 16 NBA seasons, has unretired because of a salary dispute with the Seattle SuperSonics.

Cartwright, who wound up with Seattle after stints with the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls, withdrew his retirement Thursday, the day the Sonics filed a grievance with the NBA over his claim to this year’s salary under his two-year player’s contract.

Cartwright announced his retirement in July after accepting a regional scouting job with the team. The team contends that move cost him the balance of his pay as a player, which would be $976,000. Cartwright disagrees.

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The Utah Jazz signed 6-foot-8 free agent forward Chris Morris, ending the team’s pursuit of former Portland guard Terry Porter. Morris is expected to compete at small forward with David Benoit.

Morris, who played seven seasons with the New Jersey Nets, signed a three-year deal for a reported $8 million. He averaged 13.4 points and 5.1 rebounds a game while shooting 44.4% from the field and 33.4% from three-point range last season.

Utah’s first-round draft pick, 7-2 center Greg Ostertag, missed the opening session of practice after having two surgical screws removed from an ankle he injured three years ago.

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Star forward Derrick Coleman, who surprised the Nets last month with a trade demand, reported to training camp in Kutztown, Pa., on time.

“I’m here. A lot of people didn’t expect me to come back,” said Coleman, who refused to discuss his trade request. “But where am I going? I’m here.”

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John Williams, a forward and center for the Cleveland Cavaliers, had back spasms and could not practice as the team opened camp in Dayton, Ohio. . . . The Golden State Warriors signed free-agent forward Alaa Abdelnaby and two rookies, forward Andrew DeClercq and guard Matt Maloney.

Golf

South African John Bland, coming off a four-stroke victory in last week’s London Masters, shot a 65, seven under par, in the opening round of the Transamerica at Napa for a one-stroke lead over Lee Trevino, Bob Murphy and Ben Smith.

Bland, a two-time winner on the PGA European tour, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-three 15th and a 25-footer on the par-four 16th to reach six under. He two-putted from 40 feet for a birdie on the par-five closing hole.

Heavy rain halted the Walt Disney Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., causing PGA Tour officials to shorten the tournament to 54 holes.

Motor Sports

Russell Phillips, the pole-sitter in the Winston 100 NASCAR sportsman series stock car race, was killed in a multi-car crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

The top and roll cage on the Oldsmobile driven by Phillips, a race car fabricator by trade and a volunteer fireman in Charlotte, were ripped apart in the accident. Officials said Phillips died of massive head injuries.

The race resumed after about a 40-minute delay.

Phillips, 26, was the ninth fatality in the 36-year history of Charlotte Motor Speedway, including seven drivers and two mechanics. He is the third sportsman driver killed at the track.

Ricky Rudd overcame the heat and stiff competition to win the pole position for Sunday’s UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a fast lap of 180.578 m.p.h.

World Formula One champion Michael Schumacher crashed his car and Jacques Villeneuve blew an engine, causing an early end to tests of the Benetton and Williams teams at the Imola, Italy, autodrome.

Miscellany

Heavyweights Tommy Morrison and Lennox Lewis meet tonight in a scheduled 12-round fight at Atlantic City, N.J. The 6-4 3/4 Lewis weighed in at 241 pounds. The 6-2 Morrison weighed 227.

U.S. men gymnasts in Sabae, Japan, figure they have half their work done for next year’s Olympics. The U.S. team turned in a flawless performance in the compulsory exercises at the World Championships, vaulting to third place in the standings, and said they had accomplished a major goal.

On the optional maneuvers, the Americans slipped back to a ninth-place finish overall.

China, first by .012 of a point after the compulsories, pulled away from Japan with a bit more flair, winning the gold, 566.619 points to 563.558.

The top 12 teams qualify for the 1996 Games at Atlanta. The other qualifiers included Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, South Korea, Bulgaria, Italy and France.

Bryan Ivie had 30 kills and four blocks as the U.S. volleyball team defeated France, 15-11, 6-15, 15-5, 15-3, in the opening game of the three-match series at Paris.

Hrvoje Cizmic scored the winning goal with 2:21 to play in the second overtime at Stanford to lift top-ranked USC to an 8-7 water polo victory over the No. 2 Cardinal.

The Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii--a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike race and a 26.2-mile run--will be contested today among nearly 1,500 competitors, ages 18 to 78, from 50 countries and 50 states.

With a record-setting $555-million TV rights deal with NBC for the 2002 Winter Olympics already signed, the Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee announced that it had picked Utah’s finance director, Gordon Crabtree, as its chief operating officer.

Jurisprudence

Terms of a plea agreement by former Indianapolis Colt quarterback Art Schlichter on felony bad-check charges will remain secret until he is sentenced. Schlichter, 34, was to have gone to trial in Indiana on Oct. 17 on three counts of theft and two counts of check fraud. A Superior Court judge has not yet set a date for sentencing.

Three of the counts involved checks that Schlichter cashed for $1,550 at a store in Carmel. The checks were written on closed bank accounts.

Steffi Graf was questioned for eight hours about alleged tax evasion, a state prosecutor said in Frankfurt. It was the first time Graf had been called in for questioning since her father and manager, Peter Graf, was arrested in August for allegedly failing to report about $35.2 million of his daughter’s tennis earnings.

Officials said there were no grounds to arrest the world’s co-No. 1 player, even though her father and her tax adviser Joachim Eckardt remained in investigative custody in Mannheim.