Tennis Greats Segura, Kramer Recall Riggs Fondly at Funeral

Old friends recalled fond memories of Bobby Riggs at a memorial service for the late tennis champion Monday at Encinitas.

Pancho Segura remembered learning poker and gin rummy from Riggs, then losing all his money to his mentor.

Jack Kramer remembered pitching pennies with Riggs to see who would buy lunch on a Sunday afternoon in Christchurch, New Zealand, “and we almost get put in jail for gambling.�

To Ted Schroeder, one word summed up Riggs’ life--action.

The three tennis legends provided levity at the service, drawing chuckles as they recalled the faster side of Riggs’ life.

Riggs died of prostate cancer Wednesday night at 77 at his home in nearby Leucadia.

His contemporaries also remembered Riggs the tennis player.

Riggs gained his greatest fame in 1973, when, at 55, he lost to 29-year-old Billie Jean King in the nationally televised “Battle of the Sexes.�

Thirty-four years before that, however, Riggs was a Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion. The year of his Wimbledon title, 1939, he not only won the men’s singles but shared the championships in men’s and mixed doubles, as well. He won U.S. Open titles in 1939 and ’41.

“Riggs was a hell of a lot better player than anybody will ever realize,� Kramer said. “People won’t even mention him with [Andre] Agassi and [Pete] Sampras and those guys, but believe me, he’d have played with them.�

Basketball

The Washington Bullets, attempting to fill the void left by the injured Mark Price, obtained point guard Robert Pack from the Denver Nuggets for forward Don MacLean and guard Doug Overton.

The Nuggets also gave the Bullets “future considerations.�

Pack averaged a team-high 18 points and 5.4 assists in eight preseason games with the Nuggets this season.

Price, obtained from the Cleveland Cavaliers last month, was supposed to handle the Bullets’ offense this season. But he sustained a foot injury early in training camp and is expected to be out several weeks.

New Mexico basketball recruit Kenny Thomas struck out again with the NCAA, which has declared the freshman power forward ineligible.

The NCAA Council’s subcommittee on initial eligibility waivers reconsidered Thomas’ case and stood by its Oct. 18 decision that Thomas is ineligible because a ninth-grade science course he took at El Paso Austin High was not one of the 13 core courses required by the NCAA.

Clemson forward Iker Iturbe, who was expected to start this season, is out indefinitely because of a blood clot in his shoulder.

Jurisprudence

The insurance-fraud trial of boxing promoter Don King is winding down.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence McKenna told the jury that the government might rest its case today and that the defense case might be completed as early as next week.

King is charged with nine counts of mail fraud and if convicted, could face up to five years in prison on each of the nine counts.

The government has argued that King amended his contract with boxer Julio Cesar Chavez to fool Lloyd’s of London into believing he had paid Chavez $350,000 in nonrefundable training expenses for a 1991 bout.

The fight between Chavez and Harold Brazier was canceled after Chavez cut his nose.

Philadelphia 76er guard Vernon Maxwell pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor marijuana charge, stemming from an incident over the summer when police stopped his car in Houston. Maxwell could face up to a $2,000 fine and 180 days in jail.

Miscellany

South Africa’s light-heavyweight boxing champion, Ginger Tshabalala, was shot and killed by suspected car hijackers at a Johannesburg taxi stand.

Police said Tshabalala, 29, was picking up a friend at the taxi stand Sunday night when the suspected hijackers shot him at point-blank range before taking his car.

Tshabalala, who was ranked third by the World Boxing Council, was 18-1-1.

Shotputter Gregg Tafralis of San Bruno, Calif., ninth in the 1988 Summer Olympics and ranked fifth in the world in 1994, has been suspended for four years after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.

Tafralis, 37, failed the test in February and did not appeal within the time limit set by USA Track & Field. His third-place finish in the U.S. indoor championships last March and second-place finish in the Pan American Games later that month have been nullified.

Former Youngstown State football player Tamron Smith was in satisfactory condition, recovering from a gunshot wound above his right eye. Police said Smith, Youngstown State’s all-time rushing leader, apparently was trying to prevent a fight outside a bar when he was wounded.

Suntory International Corp. of Japan sold Michael Jordan’s former minor league baseball team to a California company. The Elmore Sports Group Ltd. paid an undisclosed price for the Birmingham Barons, the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.