Fanfare 11/15

College

After months of phone calls, letters and courting by collegiate basketball powerhouses, the agonizing is officially over for Reno standout David Padgett.

On Wednesday, the 6-foot-11, 242-pound Reno High senior signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Kansas, the No. 2-ranked team in this year's preseason poll.

Now, Padgett is just looking forward to playing basketball.

"It's kind of weird thinking the college process is done," Padgett told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "It's big. It's not as big as when I made my (verbal) commitment, but it felt good to get it out of the way.

"Right now, I just want to concentrate on my season ahead of me. This is my senior season, my last chance to try and win something.

"After that is done, I'll try to be in as good a shape as possible when I get back there to be ready to go," he said.

The Jayhawks went 33-4 last season and lost to Maryland in the NCAA championship game.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski didn't return to the Blue Devils' bench for the second half of Thursday night's exhibition game because of pain in his right leg.

The 55-year-old Hall of Fame coach had his right hip replaced March 24, his second hip replacement operation. He was limping badly as he made his way to the locker room at halftime of his team's game against the EA Sports All-Stars.

Mike Cragg, an assistant athletic director, said Krzyzewski was taken to Duke Medical Center for X-rays. Cragg said Krzyzewski had a checkup on his hip last week, and doctors said he was doing fine.

Football

NFL sacks leader Julius Peppers of the Carolina Panthers failed a urine test and could be suspended by the league if another test on the same sample comes back positive, a source told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The test was first reported on The Charlotte Observer's Web site.

A source close to Peppers, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that report and said that steroids were not involved.

The rookie defensive lineman should be able to play Sunday against Tampa Bay while the NFL continues its investigation.

"My understanding is he will be our starting left defensive end this Sunday and all of my focus -- and his, too -- is on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers," coach John Fox said.

Panthers general manager Marty Hurney, citing league rules, would not comment on Peppers' situation. Marvin Demoff, Peppers' agent, did not immediately return calls from the AP.

A second test on the initial urine sample will be done in the next few days, and if that comes back positive, Peppers would have 10 days to appeal the findings.

Peppers practiced with the Panthers (3-6) on Thursday, but did not make himself available to reporters.

Peppers was the second overall pick in the draft out of North Carolina, and leads the NFL with 10 sacks.

If the league suspends him for four games, it would cost him about $235,000 from the seven-year, $62 million contract he signed in July. Peppers is the highest-paid player in Panthers history.

Former NFL tight end Jim Hester died Thursday after a lengthy battle with heart and lung disease. He was 57.

Hester, who grew up in Davenport, was drafted in 1967 by the New Orleans Saints and played there for three years. He went to Chicago in 1970 and played for the Bears with Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers.

Hester graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1967, where he played basketball with Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

Golf

The PGA Tour is returning to the Boston area for the first time in five years with a $5 million event that will end on Labor Day and feature Tiger Woods, whose foundation will get the charitable proceeds.

The tournament will be called the Deutsche Bank U.S. Championship and will be played at the TPC of Boston for at least the first two years of the four-year contract, the PGA Tour and IMG announced Thursday.

While Woods will not be the tournament host in the same fashion as Jack Nicklaus (Memorial Tournament) or Arnold Palmer (Bay Hill Invitational), the world's No. 1 player will be heavily involved through his foundation.

"We are confident the tournament will be well-received," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.

The Associated Press first reported on the new Labor Day tournament four weeks ago as negotiations were ongoing with IMG and the TPC at Boston.

Most tournaments have four-year contracts with a golf course. Officials with IMG and the PGA Tour said they wanted to keep their options open, which could mean the West Coast is still a possibility, because it would put golf on prime-time television.

ABC Sports will broadcast the final two rounds on Sunday and Monday.

The PGA Tour was last in the Boston area in 1998, when the CVS Charity Classic, held at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Mass., ended a 30-year run.