Former USC Golf Coach Wood Dies

Stan Wood, a former USC golf coach and golf writer for the old L.A. Mirror newspaper, died Monday after suffering a heart attack while playing a round at Los Robles Golf and Country Club in Thousand Oaks. He was 79.

Wood coached 57 All-Americans at USC, including Al Geiberger, Craig Stadler, Dave Stockton and two-time NCAA champion Scott Simpson, from 1955 to ’80. His teams finished among the top 10 at the NCAA tournament 16 times but never won a national title--his greatest professional regret.

Wood also served as public relations director for several local and international tournaments, including the L.A. Open and Dinah Shore.

He is survived by his wife, Marianne, and two stepsons, Brian and Michael Acason.

Services are pending.

Horse Racing

State racing stewards in Little Rock, Ark., disqualified Valhol as winner of the Arkansas Derby and suspended jockey Billy Patin after concluding he carried a banned electrical device. Stewards ordered that Valhol’s $300,000 winner’s share of the purse be returned and redistributed. Second-place finisher Certain was declared the winner.

Event Of The Year, who had never finished worse than third before winding up fourth as the 3-10 favorite in last Saturday’s Mervyn LeRoy Handicap, has been retired, trainer Richard Mandella said. A 4-year-old son of Seattle Slew owned by John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm, Event Of The Year suffered a wrenched right front ankle in the race and a second set of X-rays taken this week revealed a minor problem with his left front knee. Event Of The Year finished with five victories in nine starts and earned $1,095,200.

Tennis

Carlos Moya of Spain kept alive his quest to reclaim the No. 1 world ranking, but top-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands saw his hopes dashed with a loss to Hicham Arazi of Morocco in the German Open at Hamburg. Moya defeated Italian qualifier Marco Meneschincheri, 6-3, 7-5. Krajicek lost to Arazi, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). . . . Martina Hingis of Switzerland, returning from a one-month layoff, rolled over Natalie Dechy of France, 6-1, 6-1, in the Italian Open at Rome. . . . Patty Schnyder was joined by her mother in Rome, indicating that their rift has eased. Since she began a relationship with a new coach who has been described as a faith healer, Schnyder had broken relations with her parents, boyfriend and coach. . . . Olga Barabanschikova of Belarus upset top-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0, in the second round of the Warsaw Open.

Miscellany

New evidence linking Australian Olympic official Phil Coles to Atlanta’s bid for the 1996 Games deepened controversy surrounding him as calls for his resignation increased.

Documents released in Atlanta show Coles was officially thanked for “help and advice” given to the Atlanta bid team before the International Olympic Committee chose the city as the site for the 1996 summer games, a report said.

The proposed Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act was approved by the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The bill would help protect boxers from exploitation by promoters and managers by requiring disclosure of the complex money trail that often accompanies big-time fights.

Notre Dame, fearing a major investigation of its football program, hired a law firm to represent it before the NCAA Committee on Infractions. School spokesman Dennis Moore said Notre Dame had been confident the gifts and trips booster Kimberly Dunbar gave to as many as a dozen current and former Irish players would be considered a secondary violation by the NCAA. But the school has to appear June 4 before the committee, which usually handles only major infractions.

An attorney representing a former director of tutor services at USC who sued the university after being fired amid controversy said he has moved to shelve the case because his client is living outside the country. “We filed a request for dismissal without prejudice,” said Anthony B. Gordon, the lawyer for Christopher Cairney. Cairney has been living and working in Japan for about six months, Gordon said, and the motion, if granted, might allow him to pursue the case later “if he decides that’s what he wants.” Cairney was at the center of university and Pacific 10 Conference investigations into USC’s Student Athlete Academic Services program after making charges of widespread abuses, but was fired for allegedly providing inappropriate assistance to an athlete on a paper himself.

Former Northwestern running back Dennis Lundy, 26, was sentenced in Chicago to one month in prison and put on probation for two years for lying to a federal grand jury investigating campus gambling. . . . Frank Renger, one of four defendants charged with savagely beating a French policeman at last year’s World Cup in France, admitted in Essen, Germany, that he had kicked the officer, but denied stomping on his head as prosecutors charge. Renger, Andre Zawacki, Tobias Reifschlaeger and Christopher Rauch face attempted murder and other charges stemming from the attack. . . . Quarterback Brad Johnson of the Washington Redskins is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, performed this week after he experienced swelling.