Sports in Brief | Boxing Hall of Fame selects Holmes, six other fighters

The pride of Easton, Pa.,

Larry Holmes

, was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame yesterday.

Joining Holmes in the 2008 class at the Hall, in Canastota, N.Y., will be six other fighters chosen by members of the Boxing Writers Association and a panel of boxing historians.

Holmes will be enshrined as the longest-reigning world heavyweight champion in history. He held the title for nearly seven years (1978 to '85). Holmes' 20 successful heavyweight title defenses were surpassed only by

Joe Louis

' 25.

Holmes was on the verge of matching

Rocky Marciano's

49-0 mark when he was upset by

Michael Spinks

. Holmes compiled a record of 69-6, with 44 knockouts.

Holmes will be inducted June 8 along with junior welterweight

Eddie Perkins

. Middleweight

Holman Williams

will be inducted posthumously in the Hall's modern-era category.

Middleweights

Len Harvey

and

Frank Klaus

and Philadelphia welterweight

Harry Lewis

will be honored in the old-timer category, and 19th-century Irish heavyweight

Dan Donnelly

in the pioneer class.

D.C. Jefferson,

rated as the top quarterback in Florida by Rivals.com, committed to Rutgers over the weekend. Jefferson is a 6-foot-6, 240-pound quarterback at Winter Haven High School. Earlier, Jefferson had orally committed to Rutgers but switched to LSU.

Nine members of the West Virginia marching band are being disciplined for putting inappropriate messages on their instruments at the Dec. 1 game with Pitt.

Les Miles

released a statement in response to a report in the Detroit Free Press that the LSU football coach had spoken with Michigan athletic director

Bill Martin

and school president

Mary Sue Coleman

late last week.

"I was doing nothing more than helping them with their search for a football coach, just as any loyal alumnus might do," Miles said. "It was nothing more than that. I'm not a candidate for that job, and I will not be a candidate for the job."

Authorities have charged two North Carolina State athletes with breaking into cars in Cary, N.C. Police said football player

Cedric Hickman

and wrestler

Christopher Sutton

were arrested early Monday. Both were charged with five counts of breaking and entering motor vehicles and five counts of larceny. A university spokeswoman said both were suspended.

Elsewhere: Ashley Gale of La Salle and

Scottie Reynolds

of Villanova were named Big Five players of the week. . . . Senior cornerback

Orlando Brown

of Widener was named to the all-East Region first team by D3Football.com. . . . Temple sophomore kicker

Jake Brownell

was named to the 2007 Academic all-Mid-American Conference football team. . . . Pitt's 6-9 freshman basketball center,

Austin Wallace

, will undergo surgery to repair a fractured left kneecap and will be out for the rest of the season. . . . Vanderbilt football coach

Bobby Johnson

has withdrawn from consideration for the head coaching vacancy at Duke. . . . South Carolina assistant

Tyrone Nix

has accepted the job as defensive coordinator for new Mississippi coach

Houston Nutt

. . . . Auburn offensive coordinator

Al Borges

resigned after four seasons.

Washington athletic director

Todd Turner

resigned effective Jan. 31. . . .

Paul Wulff

returned to his alma mater, Washington State, as football coach after eight years at nearby Eastern Washington. . . . Southern Mississippi finalized a contract with Oklahoma State offensive coordinator

Larry Fedora

as its new head coach, ESPN.com said. . . .

Tubby Smith

completed a seven-year contract with Minnesota worth $1.75 million a year.

Tiger Woods

was voted the PGA Tour's player of the year by his peers for the third straight year and the ninth time in his 11 years as a pro.

Elsewhere:

A court in Copenhagen sentenced an unidentified Danish soccer fan to 20 days in jail for attacking the referee in a drunken rage during a European Championship qualifier between Sweden and Denmark on June 2. . . . Crew chief

Ryan Pemberton

has left Dale Earnhardt Inc., and the team said

Doug Richert

would replace him. . . . Champions on Ice, the top figure-skating tour in the country for more than a quarter-century, will fold after a 38-year run, the Chicago Tribune said.