Iowa State’s Davis to Forgo Senior Season and Turn Pro

Pro football is beckoning, and Iowa State’s Troy Davis is on his way.

Davis, the first major-college player to rush for 2,000 yards twice, announced Thursday that he would forgo his senior year to make himself available for the 1997 NFL draft.

The junior from Miami, second in Heisman Trophy voting this season and a two-time All-American, said he has been considering the move since the end of the season. He made up his mind after conferring with his family and Coach Dan McCarney.

Davis led the nation in rushing the last two seasons, gaining 2,185 yards this season and 2,010 last year, when he became the first sophomore to reach 2,000.

The 5-foot-8, 190-pounder, who is expected to be a high draft pick, is Iowa State’s all-time leader in rushing with 4,382 yards and in all-purpose yardage with 5,177. His 20 100-yard games also constitute a school record and he holds the Iowa State single-game rushing record of 378 yards, set against Missouri this year.

His yardage figure this year is the third-highest in NCAA history and his 402 carries were only one fewer than Marcus Allen’s NCAA record.

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Notre Dame officials have arranged a teleconference today with Ron Powlus, during which the quarterback will announce whether he’s returning for a fifth year or declaring for the NFL draft. He has asked new Coach Bob Davie to attend the news conference in his hometown of Berwick, Pa.

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One of two Ohio State players accused of assaulting another athlete is going to the Rose Bowl with the No. 4 Buckeyes. The other is not.

Freshman defensive back Garrett Shea has been suspended indefinitely and will not make the trip to Pasadena for the Jan. 1 game against second-ranked Arizona State.

Shea and freshman defensive lineman Joseph Brown were charged with assaulting Eric Leeder, the Ohio State crew president, after a party Nov. 24.

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Kansas State’s All-American cornerback, Chris Canty, will play in the Cotton Bowl, despite having been arrested earlier this month for driving under the influence.

Jack Siedlecki, who had a winning record and won coaching honors in four years at Amherst, a Division III school, was hired to try to turn around the struggling Yale football program. He replaced Carm Cozza, who retired after 32 years.

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John Hadl, associate athletic director and a former star quarterback at the University of Kansas, has withdrawn as a candidate to replace football Coach Glen Mason, who has taken the coaching job at Minnesota. . . . Bob Sutton, who directed Army to a 10-1 record this season, won the Bobby Dodd Award as national coach of the year for 1996. . . . Archie Amerson, Northern Arizona’s 2,000-yard rusher, won the Walter Payton Award as the top player in Division I-AA.

Miscellany

A basketball game between two junior colleges had to be stopped after a brawl erupted between fans of Jamestown (N.Y) Community College and players and a fan of Butler County (Pa.) Community College.

Officials ended the game with 2:36 to play and Jamestown leading, 87-85.

About a dozen people apparently attacked a Butler County fan who was taunting the Jamestown players.

A memorial service for Pete Rozelle, former NFL commissioner who died recently of brain cancer, will be held Jan. 7 at 11 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Players from the Senior PGA Tour tee off against athletes and entertainers in the Lexus Challenge, hosted by Raymond Floyd, a charity event held at the La Quinta Resort today and Saturday.

The 3-year-old trotting filly Continentalvictory, winner of the Hambletonian, the World Trotting Derby and the Yonkers Trot, won harness racing’s horse-of-the-year designation in a landslide vote.