Gunn Suspended by Express for Disciplinary Reasons

The Los Angeles Express announced that wide receiver Duane Gunn has been suspended indefinitely from the team for what Coach John Hadl called “disciplinary reasons.”

Hadl would not elaborate, but sources said that it was not drug related.

“I don’t want to get into it--it’s very private,” Hadl said. “We’re going to discuss it with the team.”

Gunn, the team’s second-leading receiver with 11 catches for 173 yards, missed last week’s game against San Antonio because of a strained knee. Gunn was also the leading punt returner in the Western Conference of the United States Football League with a 14-yard return average. He returned a punt 45 yards for a touchdown two weeks ago against the New Jersey Generals but injured his knee later in that game.

Gunn will be replaced on the active roster by receiver Gary Lowell, who has spent the last four weeks on the club’s developmental roster.

Baseball owners, meeting in Clearwater, Fla., formally proposed that league playoffs be expanded from a best-of-five series to a best-of-seven series. Owners said they would like to begin the best-of-seven format this year.

“We’re going to have to make a decision on this soon,” said Lee MacPhail, president of the owners’ Player Relations Committee. “Particularly in view of baseball’s financial situation, we can’t let the revenue go by.”

Crenshaw High School, which last Saturday won the California Interscholastic Federation basketball championship, has been selected by the National Federation of State High School Associations to represent the United States during a 35-nation high school tournament May 4-10 in Aarhus, Denmark.

Precautions are being taken to eliminate drug use at the Ontario senior power-lifting championship Saturday.

Each competitor has been told he will have to take a test during the tournament and already 25 of the 35 asked to attend have said they will not be here.

Dr. Doug Morrison, physician at Algoma Steel Corp. and a member of the Sports Physicians Association, will administer the tests to search for performance-enhancing drugs, particularly anabolic steroids.

Morrison will have test kits imported from West Germany available for use on each competitor. Once administered, the tests will be shipped to a West German laboratory and the results returned to Morrison.

Any competitor detected with prohibited substances in his system can be banned from competition for 18 months.

Four young people have been charged with intentionally starting a fire that destroyed a vacant, 81-year-old mansion in Greenwich, Conn., that tennis star Ivan Lendl had bought and planned to renovate.

The arrests, on charges of criminal trespass, reckless endangerment and reckless burning--a lesser felony than arson--were in connection with a March 3 fire that gutted the 52-room stone house.

Names in the News

The New York Giants traded running back Butch Woolfolk to the Houston Oilers for a third-round choice in the April 30 draft.

The New Jersey Nets placed Otis Birdsong, who broke his right hand in a game against Philadelphia last Saturday, on the injured list. Ron Brewer, a 6-4 guard, was signed to a 10-day contract to replace Birdsong on the roster.