Lemieux Gets Advice, Returns to Penguins

Mario Lemieux got some advice on coming back as a hockey player from someone who made the most celebrated comeback in sports.

Michael Jordan returned to basketball. Why shouldn’t Lemieux be a Pittsburgh Penguin again?

“I played golf with Michael a couple of times last week and we talked about him coming back . . . and how he wanted to be the best when he came back,” said Lemieux on Tuesday in announcing his plans to play next season at 30.

“I’m not coming back to be an average player. If I can play 60-70 games and get my back in shape, I can be where I was a couple of years ago.”

That’s good enough.

A healthy Lemieux led Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup in 1991 and ‘92, and won four NHL scoring titles, but back problems and the effects of treatment for Hodgkin’s disease seemed to prematurely end his career.

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Terry Simpson, who has served as the Winnipeg Jets’ interim coach since April 5, was named head coach and given a three-year contract. . . . A request by Quebec business leaders of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the league’s board of governors for a delay in approving the Nordiques’ move to Denver was denied.

Jurisprudence

A Virginia appeals court reversed the conviction of Georgetown basketball player Allen Iverson on three felony counts in connection with a 1993 brawl in a Hampton, Va., bowling center.

Dallas Cowboys Charles Haley and Leon Lett testified briefly before a grand jury looking into a sexual assault charge against teammate Erik Williams.

Football

New Miami Coach Butch Davis has suspended Hurricane linebacker James Burgess, the team’s second-leading tackler last season, for at least two games--those against UCLA and Florida A&M--after; he was arrested following an altercation at a dance club and charged with battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.

The Buffalo Bills signed their No. 1 draft choice, 304-pound offensive lineman Ruben Brown from Pittsburgh, to a five-year contract worth $5.6 million.

Tennis

Top-seeded and five-time champion Steffi Graf was paired against troublesome 14-year-old Swiss sensation Martina Hingis in the opening round at Wimbledon. Last year, Graf became the first Wimbledon defending champion to lose in the first round when she was ousted by Lori McNeil.

In the men’s draw, top-seeded Andre Agassi drew a first-round qualifier and would face either Richey Reneberg or Patrick McEnroe in the second round. Second-seeded Pete Sampras drew Karsten Braasch in the first round.

Jimmy Connors returned to an ATP tournament at 42 and beat 22-year-old Sebastien Lareau, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), in the first round in Halle, Germany, but tour regular Jim Courier was beaten, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 7-6 (12-10), by Richie Reneberg in the first round.

French Open winner Thomas Muster struggled against unseeded Filip Dewulf, winning, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, in first-round play on clay at St. Poelten, Austria.

Wild-card Tim Henman upset second-seeded Jonas Bjorkman, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, in the first round of the Nottingham Open in England.

Zina Garrison-Jackson eased into the third round of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament in England, beating Karen Cross, 6-2, 6-3.

Administration

The NCAA Presidents Commission reaffirmed support of a plan to reorganize the NCAA’s governing structure, which would empower an executive committee of presidents to make some decisions formerly reserved for a convention vote.

Miscellany

Dutch soccer forward Dennis Bergkamp signed a four-year contract with Arsenal of London worth about $5.6 million in a $12-million transfer from Internazionale of Milan.

John McEnroe, who once called Mary Carillo unfit to announce men’s tennis, will be announcing matches with her for CBS, which added McEnroe to its broadcast team for the U.S. Open.

Forward Kebu Stewart, the former Big West basketball player of the year who was suspended in late February for accepting a pair of shoes from an agent, will not return for his final season at Nevada Las Vegas.

Cuba’s Ivan Pedroso had the year’s best long jump, 28 feet 7 3/4 inches, in winning at the Madrid International, but was overshadowed by the absence of world-record holder Mike Powell, who failed to show.

Name in the News

Ted Silva, a junior right-hander who helped Cal State Fullerton win the College World Series, signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers.