Sports in Brief: Leonard claims sexual abuse

Sugar Ray Leonard

says in his forthcoming autobiography that he was sexually abused by a coach as a young boxer in the early 1970s.

In The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring, the Hall of Famer writes that an unnamed "prominent Olympic boxing coach," who has since died, assaulted him in a car in a deserted parking lot across the street from a rec center after praising his bright future.

COLLEGES: The Fiesta Bowl is seeking the return of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions made to U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, and other Arizona politicians, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press.

The contributions were made by bowl employees and their families that the bowl then reimbursed. In all, it wants $48,225.17 returned.

The latest class of College Football Hall of Famers is loaded on the defensive line. Defensive tackles Marty Lyons of Alabama, Russell Maryland of Miami, Doug English of Texas, and Rob Waldrop of Arizona were among the 14 players chosen for induction.

Also headed for the Hall are Florida State cornerback Deion Sanders and former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. The rest of the players in the class are: Florida receiver Carlos Alvarez, Oregon State fullback Bill Enyart, Georgia defensive back Jake Scott, Nebraska guard Will Shields, Minnesota quarterback Sandy Stephens, West Virginia linebacker Darryl Talley, Oklahoma halfback Clendon Thomas, Michigan State receiver Gene Washington, and Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry.

The selection of 1995 Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George from Abington High and Ohio State was announced Monday.

Drexel's women's basketball, women's tennis, and field hockey teams received the NCAA's Academic Performance Program public recognition award, given to teams that posted multiyear Academic Progress Rate scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports.

Among the list of academic overachievers, Butler's men's basketball team was the only team that reached the championship round in Division I football, men's basketball, or women's basketball.

NCAA officials annually announce the top 10 percent of teams in each sport and all teams with perfect APR scores. This year, 909 teams made the list of so-called overachievers. That's an increase of 68 from last year and nearly 150 from two years ago.

TENNIS: Julien Benneteau upset sixth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, 7-6 (3), 6-2, in the first round of the Open de Nice in Nice, France. Andy Roddick withdrew from the event because of a right shoulder injury.

Mardy Fish won his match to give the United States a 1-1 tie with Kazakhstan in the World Team Cup. Fish defeated Andrey Golubev, 6-4, 6-2, while Mikhail Kukushkin outlasted Sam Querrey, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

RUNNING: Kenyan authorities began an investigation into Samuel Wanjiru's death in a balcony fall, while the Olympic marathon champion's mother accused his wife of killing him to gain control of his property. Officials said the 24-year-old Kenyan runner died from a fall off his bedroom balcony after he was allegedly found by his wife with another woman.

Ann Wanjiru alleged her son was killed in the bedroom and his body dumped from the balcony to the ground to cover up the cause of death.

Athletes from Big Five schools won a pair of events at the ECAC and IC4A Track and Field Championships in Princeton. Shericka Ward of Villanova captured the ECAC women's 100-meter hurdles in a time of 13.45 seconds. Penn's men's 4x800 relay team, anchored by Brian Fulton, took the IC4A event in 7 minutes, 25.59 seconds. The top local team finishers in the competition were Villanova (13th) in the ECAC and Penn (ninth) in the IC4A.

- Staff and wire reports