In Brief

BASKETBALL

Mullin, Rodman welcomed into Basketball Hall of Fame

Chris Mullin's journey from New York star to Hall of Famer is complete.

Mullin was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on Friday night, earning basketball's highest individual honor after being recognized with the Dream Team last year.

A five-time All-Star with one of the game's best jump shots, Mullin also won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics.

The left-hander followed a decorated amateur career by scoring more than 17,000 points in the NBA. The New York city product recalled his hometown in his speech, saying "Looking out, I realize I'm a long way from Flatbush Avenue, but Brooklyn's definitely in the house tonight."

Dennis Rodman was the other headliner in the 10-person 2011 class, arriving in a gray suit with a feather-lined cowboy hat and giant white sunglasses.

The class also included coaches Tara VanDerveer, who has led Stanford to two national championships and won more than 800 games, Tex Winter and Division II Philadelphia University coach Herb Magee, the career leader at the college level with more than 900 wins. Eight-time NBA champion Tom "Satch" Sanders; big men Artis Gilmore and Arvydas Sabonis; the late Reece "Goose" Tatum of the Harlem Globetrotters; and women's star Teresa Edwards, who won five Olympic medals -- four golds -- also were honored.

Also: Retired NBA star Jayson Williams is preparing to move from a prison in rural New Jersey to New York City's Rikers Island jail complex.

Williams will be transferred from the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown on Aug. 19 after he finishes an 18-month sentence for aggravated assault. From there, he'll begin serving a one-year sentence for driving while intoxicated in New York City.

The 43-year-old Williams drove his sport-utility vehicle into a tree in lower Manhattan a week after he accepted a plea deal stemming from the shotgun death of a limo driver in his New Jersey mansion in 2002.

Sherman White, a 1950s college star at Long Island University who served jail time for point shaving, died in Piscataway, N.J.. He was 82.

White died of congestive heart failure on Aug. 4, his widow, Ellen, said.

The 6-foot-8-inch White was one of the nation's best college players for LIU in the late 1940s and led the nation in scoring in 1951. He appeared destined for a successful NBA career but was arrested in 1951 for taking money to fix the outcomes of games.

COLLEGES

Texas A&M rumored to be considering move to SEC

The Texas A&M System board of regents called a special meeting for Monday that includes an agenda item about conference alignment. The session comes amid speculation that Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.

The item, part of the executive session agenda, is called: "Authorization for the President to Take All Actions Relating to Texas A&M University's Athletic Conference Alignment, The Texas A&M University System."

Texas A&M considered switching to the SEC last year before staying in the Big 12. The university hasn't confirmed it is again discussing a jump to the SEC, but talk has been intensifying that the Aggies are looking to leave.

Also: Former Notre Dame football defensive coordinator and NFL player Corwin Brown was taken to a hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a nearly seven-hour standoff at his Granger, Ind., home, police said.

St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Commander Tim Corbett said he did not know whether Brown's injuries were life-threatening.

Police said they heard gunshots inside the home when they arrived about 1 p.m. in response to a reported domestic dispute. Brown's wife and children exited the house sometime later, and police said they began trying to talk him out using cellphones and a bullhorn.

Brown was Notre Dame's defensive coordinator from 2007 to 2009. The 41-year-old coached defensive backs with the New England Patriots last season but was not retained.

Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino confirmed that running back Knile Davis is expected to miss the season because of a left ankle injury.

The injury is a major blow to the preseason expectations for the Razorbacks, who were 10-3 and reached their first BCS bowl game last season. Davis was hurt in the scrimmage portion of practice Thursday and was carted off the field without being able to put weight on his left leg.

Davis led all Southeastern Conference running backs with 1,322 yards rushing last season and averaged 147 yards per game over the Razorbacks' final seven games.

TENNIS

Serena Williams grinds out win to reach Rogers Cup semifinals

Serena Williams rallied for a hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, reaching the tournament semifinals as she continues her comeback from injury and illness.

The unseeded Williams next will play fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who made quick work of No. 135 Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan with a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Australia's Samantha Stosur also reached the semifinals, defeating Roberta Vinci of Italy, 6-4, 6-1. Stosur will take on Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat No. 11 Andrea Petkovic of Germany, 6-4, 6-3.

Also: While other top players have fallen, top-ranked Novak Djokovic keeps rolling along at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

The world's No. 1-ranked player from Serbia needed just 1 hour, 13 minutes to beat fifth-seeded Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals of the Master Series tournament.

The 2007 Rogers Cup champion will face another Frenchman, 13th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who ousted No. 8 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain, 6-4, 6-4.

American Mardy Fish also advanced, but there was another upset as unseeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia ousted seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych, 6-4, 6-4.

The sixth-seeded Fish survived an error-filled second set to defeat 14th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-0.

MISCELLANEOUS

Low-key Johnson still angry after dust-up with Kurt Busch

Jimmie Johnson is about as mild-mannered as a racer can be, but he wasn't about to take any lip from Kurt Busch.

The two drivers had a confrontation at last week's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono after slamming into each other on the final lap. Johnson accused Busch of trying to run him down, while Busch contended Johnson made the first move. Busch finished third, one spot ahead of Johnson.

Johnson said at a news conference at New York's Watkins Glen International that he was angered by Busch's remarks after their argument in the pits.

"When he got out of the car, we're talking, and the crowd started to build and his bravery started to build," Johnson said. "I walk away and he keeps talking. That's the part that frustrates me. That's when you saw me engage like that. If you're going to say something, say it to a man's face.

"I don't know about you, but that really makes me mad. He just started running his mouth."

Also: Scott LeDoux, a former heavyweight contender who took on Larry Holmes, George Foreman and Ken Norton and twice fought for the title, died Thursday at his home in the Minneapolis suburb of Coon Rapids after a three-year battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 62.

Nicknamed "The Fighting Frenchman," LeDoux was the son of a miner in the northern Minnesota town of Crosby who went on to fight professionally from 1974 to 1983. He had a record of 33-13-4, with 22 knockouts.

He earned a draw with Norton and Leon Spinks, and lost a title fight to Holmes by technical knockout in 1980. He fought Muhammad Ali in a five-round exhibition.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, closing in on 6,000 wins, and champion fillies Open Mind, Safely Kept and Sky Beauty were inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Hollendorfer, long dominant among northern California trainers, was joined in the hall by three 19th century racing figures: jockey Shelby Barnes, trainer Matthew Byrnes and the champion horse Duke of Magenta, who were voted in by the hall's Historic Review Committee.

Aaron Garcia threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jeron Harvey on the final play to give the Jacksonville Sharks their first Arena Football League title, 73-70 over the Arizona Rattlers in Phoenix.