Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — MOTOR SPORTS

NASCAR owner injured

NASCAR team owner Jack Roush was in serious but stable condition after walking away from a plane crash in Wisconsin on Tuesday night. Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith said in a text message to The Associated Press that the plane belonged to Roush, and he was flying it. Smith said Roush’s injuries include facial lacerations. Roush, an aviation buff, was attending the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., this week. According to the EAA, the National Transportation Safety Board and Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that two occupants on board were Roush and Brenda Strickland of Plymouth, Mich. “Each exited the aircraft following the accident,” the statement said. “Both were transported to local hospitals, with Roush in serious but stable condition and Strickland with non-life threatening injuries. The NTSB is leading the investigation into the accident.” It is the second close call for Roush, who crashed a plane into a pond in Alabama in 2002 and was rescued by an ex-Marine who lived nearby.

SOCCER

Argentina drops Maradona

Diego Maradona, 49, was removed as coach of Argentina’s national team Tuesday, ending a 21-month stint that culminated in an exit in the World Cup quarterfinals. The Argentine Football Association, following a unanimous vote of its executive committee, said that his contract would not be renewed after Maradona had said he would only accept the AFA’s offer of a new four year deal through to the 2014 World Cup if his entire staff also remained. That was unacceptable to Argentine Football Association President Julio Grondona. He had asked for several assistants to be replaced. One of them is Maradona’s close friend, Alejandro Mancuso. The federation’s executive committee sided with Grondona, a little more than three weeks after Argentina was eliminated at the World Cup in South Africa with a 4-0 loss to Germany.

FOOTBALL

Ex-Vol dies

NFL veteran offensive lineman Harry Galbreath from Tennessee has died. He was 45. His death was announced by the Tennessee athletic department and confirmed by CSX Transportation in Mobile, Ala., where he was working at the time of his death. Galbreath was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the eighth round of the 1988 NFL Draft after playing for Tennessee in 1984-1987. He was named to the NFL’s all-rookie teamthat season. He spent five seasons with the Dolphins, three with the Green Bay Packers and one with the New York Jets before retiring at the end of the 1997 season. The Clarksville, Tenn., native started for the Volunteers for three seasons and was named to the 1987 All-SEC team.

TRACK & FIELD

Carolina hurdler going pro

South Carolina hurdler Johnny Dutch will give up his senior season to turn pro. The reigning NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles said he would remain at school to train with track and field Coach Curtis Frye and finish his bachelor’s degree in media arts. Dutch was an eight-time All-American at South Carolina. He won the SEC title in the 400 hurdles this spring and ran the second-fastest time in the world this season at 47.63 seconds in the USA Outdoor Championships in June. Dutch plans to run in pro meets in Stockholm, London and Zurich next month before the start of next semester.

BASKETBALL

Yao eyes quitting

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming says he is considering quitting basketball after next season if he doesn’t fully recover from his lingering foot injury. The 7-6 Yao turns 30 in September and missed last season following foot surgery. He is set to return to the Rockets after deciding not to opt out of the final year of his contract. Though he has said his recovery was going well, the Rockets have signed 7-0 veteran Brad Miller to share the work at center. Yao, who was in China for charity events and remains wildly popular in his country, all but ruled out playing in the 2012 London Olympics. Without Yao, the national team has played lackluster ball, including an embarrassing home loss to Iran in the final of the Asian Championship last year. Yao attributed the poor showings to China’s focus on the 2008 Beijing Olympics and neglect of development teams and the country’s professional league.

HORSE RACING

Belmont winner out

Belmont Stakes winner Drosselmeyer is recovering from an ankle injury that has sidelined the 3-year-old colt for the rest of the year. Elliott Walden, the racing manager for WinStar, the farm that owns Drosselmeyer, said the injury was discovered about a month after the colt’s three-quarter length victory in the Belmont on June 5 in Elmont, N.Y. Walden said he anticipates the horse returning to training in 60-90 days and then running again in 2011.

FOOTBALL

Raiders’ hard-hitting Tatum dies at 61

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Jack Tatum, the Pro Bowl safety for the Oakland Raiders best known for his crushing hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley in an NFL preseason game in 1978, has died. He was 61.

Nicknamed “The Assassin,”Tatum, died of a heart attack Tuesday in an Oakland, Calif., hospital, according to friend and former Ohio State teammate John Hicks. Hicks said Tatum had diabetes the past several years, and had lost his left leg because of circulation problems.

On Aug. 12, 1978, in a preseason game against the New England Patriots, the hard-hitting Tatum slammed into Stingley with his helmet while the receiver was running a pass pattern. The blow severed Stingley’s fourth and fifth vertebrae and left the receiver paralyzed from the neck down.

The two never met after the hit. Stingley died in 2007.

After starring for Ohio State, Tatum was drafted in the first round by the Raiders in 1971. In nine seasons with the Raiders, Tatum started 106 of 120 games with 30 interceptions and helped Oakland win the 1976 Super Bowl. He played his final season with the Houston Oilers in 1980.

Tatum was a central figure in “The Immaculate Reception” in the Raiders’ 1972 playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. With 22 seconds left, Tatum jarred loose a pass to Frenchy Fuqua from Terry Bradshaw, and the ball bounced off Fuqua’s foot and ricocheted into the arms of Steelers running back Franco Harris. Harris never broke stride and ran 42 yards for the winning touchdown.