European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                \ wednesday september 14, 1994 sports the stars and stripes Page 33 Hall of Fame candidates rejected.  by David Shoalts Toronto Globe and mail Toronto the hockey Hall of Fame which has often been accused of letting too Many of the sport s ices than Stellar figures gain Entrance surprised every one monday by refusing admission to All six player candidates. It was the first time in Hall history that no player received the necessary 75 percent majority vote from the 15-member player selection committee / left standing at the door were Dick Duff Bernie Federko Clark Gil lies Rick Middleton Dean Prentice and Claude pro Vost. / ". The Only players selected for admission were in the veterans category. One was Lionel Conacher who was voted Canada s athlete of the first half of the 20th Cen Tury because of his All round prowess in sport which included a stint in professional football. Also chosen was Harry Watson who played on four Stanley cup Champion Toronto Maple Leaf teams in the 1940s and 1950s. ,. " in the builders category former nil executive vice president Brian o Neill was selected. Ted Darling who was the play by play broadcaster for the Buffalo sabres Schumacher will remain team Frankfurt Germany a a spokeswoman for Michael Schumacher denied reports tuesday that the sus Pended formula one Leader intends to quit his Benetton team at the end of the  s All speculation we can deny it spokes Orrian Patrizia Spinelli said. Several Swiss and German publications reported tuesday that Schumacher s Law yers had Given a letter to Benetton before the italian grand prix at Monza last weekend notifying the Britain based team that Schumacher intends to break his contract. Schumacher s contract with Benetton runs through 1996. The German Cable television station Rel which has German rights for broadcasting formula one races and which often has Schumacher As a studio guest also denied the reports. Rel said it spoke to Schumacher by Telephone and quoted him As saying some people know More than i  the station denied the reports As speculation and  a Benetton spokeswoman in London also denied the reports and said the team had not heard from Schumacher s Law yers on the matter. The Swiss tabloid Blick the German Magazine Stern and the Magazine spor Auto All reported that Schumacher has decided to break his contract with Benet ton they also said Schumacher was Likely to drive next season for Mclaren which reportedly will be supplied by Mercedes National hockey league for More than 20 years after the team entered the nil in 1970, was chosen for entry in the Media category. There s a lot of Good players out there but it s the great ones we re looking at said Bill Hay president of the Calgary flames and chairman of the player Selec Tion committee when he was asked if the Hall had tightened its admission policy. No i Don t think it s become harder to get in. I be been on this committee since 1980, and every body takes it seriously. They respect the Caliper of the men in the Hall now and what they did to get there of the six former players rejected Only duffs name and maybe Prentice a will be passed on to the veterans committee for consideration the others will be consid ered again next year by the player committee. Under current rules a player has to be retired for at least three years before he can be considered for admission. If the player fails to make admission in the three years after he becomes eligible he is dropped from consideration for another three years but is again eligible after that for another three years. A player s name goes to the veterans committee after he has been retired for 25 years. None of the six players should despair because All of them have better statistics than either Watson or con Acher although Conacher was a dec Neman and All of the six Reje tees were forwards. Conacher known As the big train was part of a famous athletic family along with his brother Charlie who is already in the hockey Hall of Fame. In 12 seasons from 1925-26 to 1936-37, Conacher played for four nil teams and helped the Chicago Blackhawk win their first Stanley cup in 1935. He was one of the Early two sport athletes As he played foot Ball for the Toronto argonauts. Conacher went on to become a member of parliament and died in 1954 at the age of 54, after suffer ing a heart attack during a softball game in Ottawa. Watson also played for four nil teams although he is Best remembered for his Days with the Leafs. He played on a line with Syl Apps and Bill Ezinicki and had four 20-goal seasons with the Leafs Watson is now 71 years old and lives in Markham Ontario. The four new members will be inducted nov. 15. Distributed by scrupps Howard Newt service 3 Grant contracts u Rio Michael Schumacher. Stays with Benetton engines. Mercedes denied the reports. Stern s Story added that the Benetton team chief Flavio Briatore would also leave the team at the end of the season if Schumacher wins the Drivers championship. Schumacher himself told a German newspaper one week ago that he might quit Benetton if he finds out the trouble plagued team knowingly broke rules be Hind his Back. The 25-year-old German Driver has been suspended for two races by the International automobile federation Fia for ignoring a Black Flag signal to leave the race during the july 10 British grand prix at Silverstone. He was also stripped of his Victory at the belgian grand prix last month when the wooden Plank beneath his car a recently introduced Speed reduction de vice was found to be irregular. Newark . Yap a Federal judge monday upheld the contracts of Aba players . Green Chris Dudley and Toni Kukoc rebuffing the league s claim that the deals circumvented the Sal Ary Cap.". However the decision by . District judge Dickinson Debevoise left free agent Horace Grant in Jimbo less than four weeks before training Camp. He wants his $22 million contract with or Lando upheld. The judge said he was  deter mine whether that Deal was intended to get around the Cap. Grant s attorneys said they will seek a hearing As soon As possible. " Green of Phoe Nix Kukuc of Chi Cago and Dudley of Portland recently signed new deals using contract clauses that allowed them to become free agents after one year. Because they re signed with their old teams the new Coin tracts weren t subject to salary Cap limitations Grant the Aba invalidated All three contracts saying the players initially signed for less than their Market value and that the one year opt out clauses were attempts to get around the  Debevoise decided the players deals were valid based on his ruling last year when Dudley signed a seven year $10.5 million Deal the league challenged that contract and lost. Green and the suns filed suit last month after the Aba voided the 6-9 for Ward s five year $26 million Deal signed Oil july 26. Green who signed a five year $15 million contract with Phoenix before the 1993-94 season used an opt out clause that made him a free agent after the end of last season. Dudley whose new Deal pays him $24 million Over six years and the Chicago bulls who signed Kukoc for an average of $4.1 million Over six years filed similar complaints against the  just have to show in each Case the contract is a circumvention of the Cap said Jeffrey Mishkin the league s senior vice president for Legal and business affairs. All new contracts can now be challenged. We think this is a very important Victory for the  Bruce Meyer who represents Green Grant and Dudley said he will show the Grant contract represents the former Chicago Bull s Market value and does t circumvent the salary Cap. We re confident we re going to win eventually Meyer said. We be have the hearing and Well win.". Grant s attorneys will argue that the Aba has approved three new contracts with opt out clauses Chuck person Sand Sean Elliott s with the san Antonio spurs and Dominique Wilkins with the Boston  for the league and players presented their arguments monday in a 90-minute hearing attended by both Aba commissioner David Stern and Green. Aba attorney Howard Ganz said the proliferation of contracts with one year opt out clauses since Dudley s Deal undercut the intent of the salary Cap. This has become a Standard operating procedure on behalf of teams signing free agents who Are looking to change teams Ganz said. Officials7 error Cost Northwestern a win Chicago a the big ten said monday that officials mistakenly awarded a touchdown to Stanford in the Cardinal s 41-41 tie with Northwestern but the error won t change the outcome of the game. It was the third time in a year that the conference acknowledged that mistakes b big ten officials altered the result of a foot Ball game. I we Don t have an instant replay or a Cess to go upstairs and look at a Monitor and reconsider the Call David Parry the league s supervisor of officials said from his Michigan City ind., Home. There is not much to do but live with the  on saturday Stanford s Mike Mitchell fumbled As he was about to Cross the goal line and Northwestern recovered the Ball in the end zone for an apparent touch Back. But officials conferred and decided Mitchell had crossed the goal line before losing the Ball after reviewing esp replays however the conference said monday that game officials were not in position to see Mike Mitchell s Fumble Between the 2 and 1-Yard  the league said that resulted in an obvious error in judgment and the wildcats should have been awarded  the big ten said decisions of game officials Are final but when obvious errors of judgment or rules application have a significant affect on the outcome of the game the conference believes Public acknowledgement of the error is a Propri  Parry said the officials might eventually be i splined but the league would t make such action Public. The officials Are rated and graded and records Are kept. I can assure you of that he said. On two occasions last year Illinois lost because of bad Call s. In Arizona s 16-14 win on sept. 18, two Zillini fumbles that were picked up and run Back for touchdowns should have been ruled dead at the Points of recovery. Illinois lost to Oregon 13-7 the follow ing week but the big ten said officials should have let stand linebacker Simeon Rice s to after he stripped the Ball froma ducks running Back. Instead they ruled the Oregon player s Forward Prog Ress had been stopped. Illinois got an apology in both cases but the losses were not reversed