
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 13, 1995                   TAG: 9506130079
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

COURT WON'T HEAR NFL SUIT

The Supreme Court finally ended the NFL's eight-year-long labor troubles Monday by rejecting the appeals of 18 players who said they were wrongly forced to join the $200 million settlement of the antitrust lawsuit.

``It's nice to finally get it over with,'' said Gene Upshaw, the president of the NFL Players' Association, which sided with the league in opposing the suit. ``We thought we were right when we walked out of the courtroom with the settlement and today we finally ended it.''

The suit, tried in Minneapolis, was an outgrowth of the 1987 strike by the players and led to a labor agreement reached in 1993. It included that $200 million settlement. However, the 18 players, in two different suits, challenged the settlement and, after being turned down by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, took the case to the Supreme Court.

The court, however, declined without comment to hear the appeal of the players, some still active. Had they taken it, they would have brought a new element of uncertainty to the league.

One of the suits was filed on behalf of Eric Allen, Sean Jones, Leslie O'Neal, Cris Dishman, William Mathews and Van Waiters. (Jones, O'Neal and Dishman are still active.) The other was filed on behalf of Mark Dusbabek, Carl Lee, Audray McMillian, Felix Wright, Cody Risien, Mark Harper, Sammy Martin, Don Beebe, Gregory Scales, Maurice Hurst, John Fourcade and Byron Evans.

by CNB