Fan Leaves Soccer Team $140 Million
A small suburban soccer club in Rio de Janeiro said Thursday it intends to buy the best players in the world after an ardent bleacher fan died and left the club $140 million in memory of a long-lost sweetheart.
Luis da Silva died last month at 65, leaving an estate totaling $280 million. He willed half to the club and most of the remaining fortune to a home for the aging.
“With this windfall we’ll buy the whole Brazilian national team,” said Castor de Andrade, major financial backer of the Bangu club in Rio’s impoverished north zone.
Bangu has won the Rio championship only twice this century, the last time in 1966. It is overshadowed by city giants Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo, Vasco and America. But apparently this did not matter to one loyal fan--da Silva.
Attorney Humberto Gazzi said da Silva met a girl from the area at a Carnival dance and fell in love with her neighborhood soccer team as well. The girl died and Da Silva did not marry.
Gazzi described da Silva as a noted mathematician and military engineer whose wealth came mainly from stocks and real estate. He was also said to have owned a collection of 2,000 paintings, including five by Van Gogh.
Baltimore Oriole pitcher Mike Flanagan suffered a torn Achilles tendon in a charity basketball game and may have to sit out the action until July. The 1979 Cy Young Award winner was to undergo surgery on his left Achilles tendon at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
Unbeaten Michael Spinks will defend his light-heavyweight title against David Sears in a 15-round bout at Atlantic City Feb. 23. It will be his ninth title defense.
The University of Miami and CBS-TV signed an unprecedented $2.05-million agreement granting the network the rights to televise the Hurricanes’ football games for two years. Miami is the first school without a conference affiliation to sign with CBS, which has agreements with the Big Ten, Pacific 10 and Atlantic Coast conferences.
University of Houston football Coach Bill Yeoman was awarded a two-year contract extension through 1988 and a pay hike giving him a $100,000 yearly salary. Yeoman, 57, has been head coach since 1962.
Derrick O. Holmes, a former contender for the world super-bantamweight boxing title, was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison for an attack on a Christmas tree salesman in Maryland more than a year ago. Holmes, 29, had been convicted of attempted murder, robbery using a deadly weapon and the use of a handgun in committing a crime after the shooting of Rosewell Howard.
The Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law against Sunday gambling, saying it was rooted in religion but served a legitimate purpose in promoting more wholesome pursuits.
Jockey Angel Cordero suffered a slight concussion and broken hand when he was thrown from his mount in the first race at Aqueduct.
The 42-year-old Cordero, a native of Santurce, Puerto Rico, sustained the injuries when his horse, Barrilla, fell midway on the turn between the half and 3/8 poles of the 6-furlong race. The 5-year-old horse fractured his right front shoulder and had to be destroyed.
A volunteer track official who was struck in the head by a 16-pound shot at the 1980 NCAA Track and Field Championships in Austin has been awarded $97,261 by a jury for injuries he suffered in the incident.
James P. Smith had sued the University of Texas, track Coach Cleburne Price of Texas and John Drolla Jr., supervisor of the shot-put competition, for negligence in their handling of the event.
Names in the News
Ricky Greene, quarterback for Oregon State University last season, has transferred to Western Oregon State College.
Former Chicago Black Hawks goalie Glenn Hall and Guy Lafleur, the Montreal Canadiens’ recently retired right wing, were named honorary captains for the National Hockey League’s 37th All-Star Game in Calgary Feb. 12.
