Sports briefs 7/19/05

Baseball

• Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers turned himself in to authorities Monday on misdemeanor assault charges stemming from his tirade against two cameramen.

Arlington police spokeswoman Christy Gilfour said Rogers faces a charge of assault with injury in the shoving of KDFW cameraman Larry Rodriguez. She also said police will mail an assault citation to Rogers' attorney for shoving Fox Sports Net Southwest cameraman David Mammeli.

The assault charge involving Rodriguez is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000. The other charge is punishable by a fine of up to $500.

Football

* Harvard quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, a seventh-round pick of the St. Louis Rams, has agreed to a three-year contract.

Fitzpatrick is the fourth player from this year's 11-player draft class to come to terms, following fourth-round safety Jerome Carter, seventh-round running back Madison Hedgecock and fourth-round offensive lineman Claude Terrell.

Fitzpatrick threw for 5,234 yards with 39 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions during his college career. He's second on Harvard's career lists in completions, touchdowns, passing yards and completion percentage and was the first quarterback in school history to rush for 1,000 yards.

Fitzpatrick will compete for a backup job with Jeff Smoker and Jamie Martin when training camp opens on July 28.

* The Buffalo Bills traded running back Travis Henry to the Tennessee Titans on Monday for a third-round draft pick in 2006.

Henry had been a starter since his rookie year of 2001 and was coming off consecutive 1,300-yard rushing seasons before losing his job to Willis McGahee last October.

Henry threatened to sit out this season, the final year of his contract, if he wasn't traded. He already missed three minicamp sessions this spring -- including a mandatory three-day camp last month.

Henry played college football at Tennessee and is the Volunteers' career leading rusher with 3,078 yards -- an average of 5.5 yards per carry.

* Tim Brown signed a one-day contract and retired with the Oakland Raiders on Monday, gracefully ending his 17-year career as one of the NFL's most prolific receivers.

Brown, the Heisman Trophy winner at Notre Dame in 1987, spent his first 16 seasons with the Raiders in Los Angeles and Oakland, becoming the self-proclaimed "Mr. Raider." He spent last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after refusing to accept a tiny role with Oakland, but he always intended to finish his playing career in silver and black.

"At some point in my career, I didn't think this day would ever come," Brown said. "I thought I'd just keep playing and keep playing. But I'm very glad this day has come, and I can move on to the next phase of my life."

That phase might involve NASCAR. Brown, a Dallas native with no background in auto racing, used his retirement to announce plans to partner with Roush Racing on a NASCAR team based in Charlotte, N.C., and to begin competition next year.

If the venture gets off the ground, Brown would become the first black majority owner of a NASCAR team.

Golf

* For the first time in eight years, Dana Quigley will be doing something different during a Champions Tour event -- watching on television.

A nagging hip injury and travel delays caused by weather forced Quigley to abandon hopes of playing this week in the Senior British Open, ending his streak of playing every tournament on the 50-and-older schedule at 264 in a row.

The eight-year streak dates to August 1997 at the Bank of America Championship in Massachusetts and went through the Senior Players Championship two weeks ago in Michigan, where Quigley played despite his hip injury and tied for fifth. He currently leads the money list on the Champions Tour.