Former Packer Pitts Dead at 60

Elijah Pitts, a running back who played nine years for the Green Bay Packers and a longtime assistant coach with the Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills, died Friday in a hospital in Buffalo, N.Y. He was 60.

Pitts had been on medical leave from the Bills since being given a diagnosis of abdominal cancer last October. He was undergoing prolonged chemotherapy treatment.

The Packers won four NFL championships and two Super Bowls during Pitts’ career.

In 1967, he became the first player to rush for a touchdown in the Super Bowl when he scored against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Coliseum.

Pitts is survived by his wife, Ruth, a daughter and two sons.

*

An appellate court in Cleveland has cleared the way for season-ticket holders of the old Cleveland Browns to pursue a lawsuit against Art Modell, who moved the team to Baltimore in 1995.

The decision Thursday by the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Cleveland gave new life to a class-action lawsuit that had been thrown out last year.

The appeals court found Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Callahan was wrong in May 1997 when he dismissed the lawsuit.

Robert Ducatman, who represents the former Browns, said the decision would be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Jurisprudence

Fuzzy Zoeller is suing Florida Today and its sports columnist, Peter Kerasotis, for a satirical column that poked fun at comments the golfer made last year about Tiger Woods.

The April 12 column, headlined “Fuzzy Speaks with Forked Tongue,” depicts a fictional interview with Zoeller and puts a satirical spin on comments Zoeller made after Woods’ victory in the 1997 Masters.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Orlando, Fla., last month, seeks an unspecified amount of money.

An FBI affidavit says Atlanta Hawk free-agent center Greg Anderson admitted involvement in a four-person cocaine operation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

A federal indictment filed June 25 in U.S. District Court in Biloxi, Miss., said Anderson “knowingly and willfully” possessed as much as a kilogram of cocaine, conspired with at least three others in making deals for the controlled substance and carried the drugs across state lines from Houston, Texas, to Biloxi, the newspaper said.

*

In a rare case of a hockey fight leading to legal action, Jesse Boulerice, 19, a Philadelphia Flyer draft choice, has been charged with “assault to do great bodily harm less than murder”--a felony that carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years and up to a $5,000 fine, prosecutors in Detroit said Friday.

The Ontario Hockey League has suspended Boulerice for one year for the April 17 incident.

*

Jalen Rose of the Indiana Pacers faces a $750,000 lawsuit in Detroit over charges he spit his gum at an airline employee.

Tennis

Semi-retired Boris Becker, who has not won a tournament in two years, beat defending champion Felix Mantilla, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the Swiss Open semifinals at Gstaad. Becker will play Marcelo Rios, ranked No. 2 in the world. Becker, ranked 119th, fell from the top 100 this week for the first time in 13 years. . . . Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna moved into the Czech Open semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over France’s Sarah Pitkowski at Prague.

*

Jimmy Connors, 45, will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport, R.I., today. The late Herman David, the former All England Club chairman, also will be inducted.

Miscellany

Mighty Duck officials were expected to interview Butch Goring for a third time as they seek a replacement for Pierre Page as their coach.

*

An attorney for Olympic swimming gold medalist Gary Hall, who was suspended temporarily by the international swimming federation FINA after testing positive for marijuana during a recent competition, said there will be additional testing of a urine sample on Wednesday at an International Olympic Committee laboratory in Montreal.

Hall is contending that FINA lacks authority to impose a suspension for a “non-performance enhancing substance” for a test taken at a non-sanctioned event. Hall said the test was conducted May 15 at the U.S. West-Nortel Swimfest in Phoenix.

FINA’s honorary secretary, Gunnar Werner, said this was Hall’s second marijuana offense. The first came during the Atlanta Games and resulted in a warning.

*

Rick Craven, who had missed the last 12 Winston Cup races because of post-concussion syndrome, won the pole for the Jiffy Lube 300 at Loudon, N.H. Craven toured the 1.058-mile New Hampshire International Speedway track at 128.394 mph. . . . The Sparks signed 5-foot-10 guard-forward Michelle Reed from Western Kentucky. Reserve guard Erin Alexander was waived. Reed played part of one pro season in Croatia after leaving Western Kentucky in 1996. . . . Thomas Ravelli, the goalkeeper for Major League Soccer’s Tampa Bay Mutiny, was suspended for six games for kicking a ball that struck a referee after a successful penalty shot against him on July 4.