Jeff Gillooly Receives a Two-Year Sentence

Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding’s ex-husband, was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday, drawing the harshest penalty of the five defendants in the January attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.

In Portland, Ore., Dist. Atty. Michael Schrunk urged the sentence be reduced to one year because of Gillooly’s cooperation with investigators. But Circuit Court Judge Donald Londer said he would stand by the terms of the original plea agreement.

“You are a prime example of how ruthless ambition and raw greed can disrupt, degrade and disfigure a sport of grace even to the height of the Olympics,” Londer told Gillooly.

The sentence included a $100,000 fine.

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Relief pitcher Johnny Ruffin of the Cincinnati Reds will not have to serve time under terms of a plea bargain in which he pleaded no contest to a felony charge of attempted sexual battery. Ruffin, 22, was arrested in January after a woman told police in Sarasota, Fla., that he had sexually assaulted her.

A plea agreement calls for Ruffin to pay the victim’s counseling costs, serve five years’ probation, donate $5,000 to a rape-crisis center and perform 500 hours of community service.

Labor

Interim baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, said that owners and players must put their years of acrimony behind them and find a way to prevent baseball’s eighth work stoppage in 22 years.

However, with the possibility of a player strike looming, the Milwaukee Brewers’ owner stood firm on one point--that the owners will aggressively push their revenue-sharing plan, which includes a salary cap for players.

The NBA and the NBA Players Assn. filed written summaries in their court battle, which is similar to baseball’s, but no decision was issued by U.S. District Judge Kevin Duffy, who is handling the case in New York.

Basketball

Before leaving for St. Petersburg, Russia, the basketball team that will represent the United States in the Goodwill Games July 23-Aug. 7 will play a team of rookie and nonroster Clippers in a Summer Pro League exhibition tonight at 7:30 at the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine.

In a preliminary game at 5:15, the Magic Johnson All-Stars will play an NBA team. Johnson is expected to play.

Miscellany

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, under pressure from gay rights groups to move volleyball competition out of Cobb County, may soon have an alternate site, chief executive Billy Payne said. Last year, the County Commission passed a resolution condemning the gay lifestyle, leading gay rights advocates to demand the competition be moved.

Mississippi defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn was named the Rebels’ interim football coach, replacing Billy Brewer, who was fired Tuesday. . . . Rudy Tomjanovich, coach of the NBA champion Houston Rockets, was free on $500 bond after spending the night in jail in West University Place, Tex., on a drunk driving charge.

Cal State Fullerton outfielder Dante Powell signed a contract with the San Francisco Giants that included a $507,500 bonus. He is expected to leave today to join the Giants’ minor league team at Everett, Wash.