Ex-Eagles Owner Blames Free Drinks For Gambling Debts
-- FOOTBALL
An Atlantic City casino plied Leonard Tose, former Philadelphia Eagles owner, with free drinks and forced him to gamble while drunk, causing him to lose millions of dollars at the blackjack table, his attorney said.
Tose, 77, of Villanova, Pa., is asking a federal judge in Camden, N.J., to absolve him of more than $1 million in gambling debts amassed at the Sands Hotel Casino. Between June 1981 and April 1986, Tose lost $14.6 million at the casino, records show. That was repaid, and the casino is seeking to recover an additional debt of $1.3 million.
Tose, 77, of Villanova, Pa., said casino officials fed him an endless supply of drinks.
But in court documents, the casino said Tose was a poor blackjack player who usually played seven hands simultaneously, wagering $5,000 a game.
-- Green Bay linebacker Johnny Holland has a herniated disk in his neck and has been advised not to play football again until the condition is corrected, the team said.
-- San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana was activated from injured reserve.
-- BASEBALL
Jerome Walton, Chicago Cubs outfielder; Bob Milacki, Baltimore pitcher, and 36 other players joined the largest free-agent class ever when teams failed to offer them 1993 contracts by yesterday's deadline.
Carlton Fisk, Chicago White Sox catcher; Ellis Burks, Boston outfielder, and Todd Benzinger, Los Angeles first baseman, also were in the group.
Outfielder Willie Wilson left Oakland and agreed to a $1.4 million, two-year contract with the Cubs. Outfielder Joe Orsulak and the New York Mets agreed to a $650,000, one-year deal, and outfielder Harold Baines accepted Oakland's offer of arbitration.
Reliever Larry Andersen agreed to a minor-league contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.
-- The Atlanta Braves extended Manager Bobby Cox's contract two years, through the '95 season.
-- GOLF
Nick Faldo took the lead as strong winds, hard fairways and deep rough continued to frustrate and infuriate the select field in golf's World Championship at Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Faldo matched par 70 and reached the halfway point of the season-ending, $2.7 million tournament at 141, one over par.
Tom Kite and Greg Norman were a stroke behind. Kite shot 69. Norman had a second straight 71.
Masters champion Fred Couples came back from an opening 77 with a 69 and was at 146.
-- Jane Crafter recovered her composure after three successive bogeys today and shot a 4-under-par 70 to take the lead after the second round of the Alpine Australian Ladies Masters golf tournament at Gold Coast, Australia. Crafter had a 36-hole score of 139 over the par-74, 6,179-yard Royal Pines resort course after a roller-coaster round that comprised an eagle, six birdies and four bogeys. The Australian led by one shot over 26-year-old American Kristal Parker, who had a 3-under-par 71 to add to her first round 69.
-- TRACK AND FIELD
John Billingsley, the 10th-ranked hammer thrower in the United States in 1989, has been banned from competition for life, USA Track & Field said.
Billingsley, 26, a former Woodway High School and Washington State athlete who lives in Placentia, Calif., failed to appear for a drug test Oct. 19. He was suspended for two years in June 1991, after testing positive for high levels of testosterone.
-- SKI RACING
Canadian Kate Pace overcame bitter cold to post the fastest time in the final training run for today's women's World Cup downhill race at Lake Louise, Alberta.
Eva Twardokens of Santa Cruz, Calif., was taken down the mountain on a stretcher after suffering a knee injury.
American Julie Parisien left for Maine after learning that her brother, Jean Paul Parisien, 24, was killed Thursday night in a hit-and-run automobile accident.