2B
Wednesday, April 12, 1995
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BRITCHES BONUS SALE
For a limited time you can receive a bonus for shopping at Britches Corner. Come in and take advantage of the following extra bonus taken off the already low sale price.
BONUS: Something given or paid in addition to what is usual or expected (Lat. .good). 2. An extra incentive to purchase.
$50 Offany Tallia Suit
$25 Offany Peerless Suit
$25 OffanySportcoat
$10 Offany Raphael Slack
843 Mass
$ 5 Off any SilkTie
Lawrence Ks
Baseball legend never lost spirit
Bob Allison died at age 60 Sunday
The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Former teammates and friends of Bob Allison say the great competitive spirit the Minnesota Twins outfieldler showed on the baseball field never left as he battled a degenerative neurological disorder.
Allison, 60, died around midnight Sunday. He first realized he had a health problem several years ago when he had trouble catching the ball in an old-timer's game.
Born William Robert Allison on July 11, 1934, in Raytown, Mo., he attended the University of Kansas for two years, playing football and baseball.
By the time of his death, the 1859 American League rooide of the year couldn't walk and had trouble reading, swallowing and talking.
Allison stopped breathing while watching TV with his wife, Betty, at his home in Rio Verde, Aril-, his eldest son Mark Allison said on Monday.
who is coordinated enough to be a marvelous athlete, and the tragedy is he loses all coordination," said his neurologist, Richard Price.
Doctors believe Allison may have died from aspiration in the lungs related to ataxia, a neurodegenerative disorder, or from a massive heart attack, said Mark Allison, who lives in Plymouth.
Allison had olivopontocerebellar atrophy, a form of ataxia that affects nerve cells in the brain. He had been in a wheelchair for the past year.
There are no effective treatments for most types of ataxia, and the cause is unknown. Price said.
Allison and his family founded the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center at the University of Minnesota about five years ago.
Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew of Scottsdale, Ariz., said Allison's death was like losing a family member.
"I've known Bob for over 40 years," Killebree said. "I never met a better competitor. He was a fierce competitor. He fought this thing just like he did on the ball field.
"The guys used to call him Mr. America," longtime Twins radio announcer Herb Carneal said. "We always thought he was Mr. Indestructible. You didn't think anything could happen to him."
Former teammate Frank Quilici said Allison kept his positive attitude as his health deteriorated.
"The one thing you never worried about with Bob was self-pity. He was always in his element when he was with the guys," Quilcii said.
"He was a wonderful person and a tough, tough ballplayer," added former teammate Tony Oliva.
Allison joined the Washington Senators late in the 1958 season and was the league's top rookie the following year, when he hit .261 with 30 homers, 85 RBI and a league-leading nine triples.
He was with the franchise when it moved to Minneapolis in 1961, and he
played for the Twins until he retired after the 1970 season.
During his 13 major league seasons, Allison batted .255 with 256 home runs and 796 RBIs. His 99 runs scored led the AL in 1963, and he drove in more than 80 runs five times.
During his baseball career, Allison worked during the off-season in sales for Coca-Cola Bottling Midwest Co. in suburban Minneapolis. He continued with that business after leaving baseball, becoming a plant manager and a sales manager.
He retired in 1989 and moved with his wife a few years later to Rio Verde, near Scottsdale. Ariz.
Besides his wife and son Mark, survivors include sons Kirk of Minneapolis and Kyle of St. Louis Park; his mother, Frances Allison of Raytown, Mo.; a brother, Jim, of Lee's Summit, Mo.; a sister, Frances Louise Graham of Weston, Mo.; and two grandons.
The family has requested that memorials be sent to the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center in St. Paul, Minn.
Agassi to defend top ranking in Japan as spectators flock
The Associated Press
TOKYO — Flanked by two uniformed Japanese security guards, Andre Assi, the world's new No.1 tennis player, pushed through a small knot of spectators at the Japan Open to enter an outside court.
The convoy brushed back through a slightly bigger group an hour later with nary a word from anyone but the guards: "He's busy now. Let us through."
there was plenty to see yesterday.
For those who opted for watching matches rather than Agasi's practice,
Today, Agassi will move to the stadium court to make his competition debut at the top of the world rankings, meeting fellow American Tommy Ho in a second-round match.
Among the first-round losers was No. 11 seed Patrick McEnroe. Australian veteran Wally Masur, who has slipped from 21st to 139th in the rankings, beat McEnroe 6-2, 6-4, ending with a service winner and three aces.
Seeds who advanced into the second round were No. 12 Lionel Roux of France, No. 15 Sebastien Lareau of Canada and No. 16 Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark.
The women's top seed, Japan's Kimiko Date, seeking her fourth
Roux beat Japanese wild-card Takao Suzuki 6-4, 6-4, Lareau ousted Roger Smith of the Bahamas 6-3, 6-3 and Carlsen defeated Sweden's Tomas Nydahl 6-4, 6-2.
straight Japan Open title, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Rennae Stubbs of Australia.
Reaching the second round were No. 2 Amy Frazier of the United States, No. 4 Mana Endo of Japan, No. 5 Kyoko Nagatsuka of Japan, No. 7 Patty Fendick of the United States and No. 8 Nana Miyagi of Japan.
Frazier beat her doubles partner, Rika Hiraki, of Japan, 6-1, 6-2. Ended maureen Drake of Canada 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), Nagatsuka trounced Katerina Kroupova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1, Fendick beat Anmatil Ellwood of Australia 6-3, 6-3, and Miyagi defeated Yi Jingqin of China 7-6(8-6), 6-3.
Tennis chart toppers
There have been 53 changes at the top of the men's tour since the first ATP ranking in 1973. The 12 No. 1s: Your first ranked No. 1 weeks
| Andre Agassi | 1985 | * |
| :--- | :--- | ---: |
| Pete Sampras | 1983 | 101 |
| Jim Courter | 1982 | 58 |
| Boris Becker | 1991 | 12 |
| Stefan Edberg | 1990 | 72 |
| Mats Wlander | 1988 | 20 |
| Ivan Lendl | 1983 | 270 |
| John McEnroe | 1980 | 170 |
| Bjorn Borg | 1977 | 109 |
| Jimmy Connors | 1974 | 268 |
| John Newcombe | 1974 | 8 |
| Ilie Nastase | 1973 | 40 |
*Begins April 10
SOURCE: ATP
Tour; research by
ROY GALLOP
Knight-Ridder Tribune
---