Salt Lake City Officials Warned

The governor’s representative on Salt Lake City’s Olympic committee wants its top two officials to have no role in an investigation of alleged bribery to win the 2002 Winter Games.

Nolan Karras, who represents Gov. Mike Leavitt on the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, said Wednesday that SLOC President Frank Joklik and senior vice president Dave Johnson must have nothing to do with the ethics inquiry into charges of buying votes during the bidding process.

Joklik was a member of the bid committee that landed the Games and Johnson was a central figure in the process.

“If we’re going to recover from this, there can’t even be the appearance that Frank or Dave are controlling this,” Karras said.

Revelations that the now-disbanded bid committee paid nearly $400,000 to fund 13 scholarships, six to relatives of members of the International Olympic Committee, have rocked the Olympic movement.

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Gold medalists Picabo Street, Jonny Mosely and the U.S. women’s hockey team were honored by the U.S. Olympic Committee as Sportswoman, Sportsman and Team of the year.

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The Seattle Olympic Bid Committee, formed to seek the 2012 Summer Olympics, is expected to disband today, an action that ends Seattle’s attempt to play host to those Games.

College Football

Despite statements this week by Ron Dayne’s uncle, the Wisconsin running back has not decided whether he will make himself eligible for the NFL draft, Coach Barry Alvarez said.

Dayne’s guardian and uncle, Robbie Reid of Blackwood, N.J., said the junior tailback decided to stay in school another year to improve his rushing yardage, make himself more attractive to professional teams and get his college degree.

Joe Montgomery, the second-leading rusher for third-ranked Ohio State, has petitioned the NCAA to return for another season.

Montgomery, who has gained 670 yards and scored six touchdowns, was declared academically ineligible his freshman season after the NCAA refused to approve an economics course he took at Richards High in Oak Lawn, Ill.

Montgomery, whose team plays Texas A&M; in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, said that class is now accepted by the NCAA as a core course.

Fordham will name Villanova offensive coordinator Dave Clawson head coach, replacing Ken O’Keefe, who resigned last week to become offensive coordinator at Iowa, a Fordham athletic department spokesman told Bloomberg News.

Miscellany

Shav Glick of The Times will be among those honored by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Assn. at a banquet Jan. 16 at the Renaissance Hotel in Long Beach.

Glick and longtime promoter Les Richter will be honored for their contributions to the sport.

The main portion of the banquet will fete the Auto Racing All-American team, which is headed by Jeff Gordon, the youngest three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion, and consists of two drivers each from stock car, open wheel, drag, short track and road racing along with two drivers at large.

One of the drivers will receive the Jerry Titus Memorial Trophy, which goes to the association’s driver of the year.

Marcelo Rios of Chile, who held the No. 1 ranking for six weeks this year, will play in the Mercedes-Benz Cup at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA, July 26-Aug 1. Rios joins No. 1-ranked Pete Sampras and 1998 champion Andre Agassi as early entries. . . . Steffi Graf of Germany, who has struggled with injuries the last two years, said she intends to keep playing until the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Natalie Williams had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Portland Power to a 72-67 victory over the Nashville Noise before 1,898 in an American Basketball League game at Nashville.

Natalie Neaton and Justi Baumgardt scored for the U.S. women’s soccer team in a 2-1 victory over Ukraine at UCLA. The U.S. has won eight in a row, and is unbeaten in 18 games, 43 on American soil.

An arbitrator will be chosen to resolve an $11-million contract dispute between the Golden State Warriors and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority.

The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals, which had seen sponsorship revenues, prize money and attendance decline in recent years and lost its biggest sponsor after the 1998 beach volleyball season, announced a complete reorganization beginning in 1999. The AVP will have its first full-time chief executive, Bill Berger, and will no longer be governed by a players-only board of directors. There will be 14-18 events in 1999, all televised by Fox Sports.

Ed Podivinsky of Canada, who won the bronze medal in the 1994 Olympic downhill, suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury in the opening practice for consecutive World Cup races at Val Gardena, Italy.