Jordan Won’t Get Bucks; Kohl Decides Not to Sell

Milwaukee Buck owner Herb Kohl has decided not to sell the team to Michael Jordan.

Kohl said Sunday that he had extensive negotiations with Jordan and was pleased with Jordan’s time and money commitments to a proposed sale but that he didn’t want to part with the team right now.

“On balance, I simply decided that I am not yet prepared to sell the team at this time,” Kohl said in a statement.

Kohl said he would continue to own the team, “improve them, and commit them to remaining in Wisconsin.”

Kohl, a Democratic U.S. senator from Wisconsin, had said he was willing to sell the team he bought for $18 million in 1985, with the stipulation that any new owner must agree to keep the team in Milwaukee.

Messages left with Jordan’s spokeswoman, Estee Portnoy, were not immediately returned.

Jordan, a five-time NBA most valuable player and a member of six championship teams with the Chicago Bulls, played the last two seasons with the Washington Wizards before retiring again after last season.

He had joined the Wizards in January 2000 as an executive and part owner, but he gave up his ownership stake, as NBA rules required, to return to the court.

College Basketball

The FBI said it had joined the search for a missing Baylor player Patrick James Dennehy, even as fears grew among the athlete’s friends that he may not be alive.

Dennehy, 21, hasn’t been heard from in more than two weeks, and police suspect he was killed in or near Waco, Texas. His sport utility vehicle, its license plates missing, was found abandoned in a mall parking lot at Virginia Beach, Va., last week.

Dennehy’s girlfriend, Jessica De La Rosa, said in a news conference at Albuquerque she last spoke with him the night of June 11.

“It was a typical conversation,” she said. “He was just fine. He told me he just needed to go and would call me the next day.”

De La Rosa and Dennehy communicated frequently by phone after he transferred from New Mexico to Baylor.

Waco police say Dennehy’s teammates and others have been questioned about the disappearance of the 6-foot-10, 230-pound center from Santa Clara.

Track and Field

Tim Montgomery nearly pulled out of the 100 meters in the Norwich Union International at Glasgow, Scotland.

After learning of the birth of his son, Tim, in North Carolina late Saturday night, Montgomery wanted to go home. But after a long talk with girlfriend and Olympic champion Marion Jones, who gave birth several weeks early, she changed his mind.

So with one hour of sleep, Montgomery was clocked in 10.26 and finished second to Dwain Chambers of Britain, who won in 10.15. Mark Lewis-Francis was third in 10.28.

Montgomery wasn’t the only American to struggle in the meet featuring athletes from the United States, Britain and Russia.

Gail Devers finished second to Marina Kislova of Russia in the 100, who at 11.34 seconds was 0.16 of a second faster than the three-time Olympic gold medalist.

Stacy Dragila cleared 14-9 1/2 to win the women’s pole vault in the Josef Odlozil Memorial Grand Prix II meet at Prague, Czech Republic.

Another American, Jon Drummond, won the 100 meters in 10.10 and Ron Bramlett won the 100 hurdles in 13.27.

John Godina, a three-time world champion, won the shotput with a put of 68-0 1/2 and Adam Nelson was second at 67-11 1/2.

Diving

Former Olympian Mark Ruiz finished first in the men’s 10-meter platform for his second title at the U.S. Diving Championships at Indianapolis.

Ruiz shared the spotlight with 13-year-old Thomas Finchum, an Indianapolis eighth-grader who earned a perfect “10” from a judge on one of his dives.

Ruiz scored 611.61 points. Justin Dumais of Ventura was second with 609.84 and Caesar Garcia was third with 569.46. Finchum finished fifth with 541.23.

Ruiz and Dumais qualified to represent the United States at the Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic in August.

Olympian Sara Hildebrand won the women’s three-meter for her third title of the meet and sixth overall.

Women’s Basketball

Rookie LaToya Thomas scored a season-high 23 points to lead Cleveland (6-6) over Indiana (7-6), 66-53, in a WNBA game in front of 7,304 at Cleveland.... Katie Smith scored 19 points and Michele Van Gorp had 17, and Minnesota (7-6) beat host Washington (2-9), 59-50, in front of 13,684.

Passings

Diane Geppi-Aikens, who led the Loyola College women’s lacrosse team to the NCAA semifinals despite an inoperable brain tumor, died in her Baltimore home. She was 40. Story in Section B.

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Chris Dufresne is on vacation.