Sports briefs 9/28/05

Baseball

• Byron "Mex" Johnson, who played shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues and for Satchel Paige's traveling team, died Saturday in Denver. He was 94.

Johnson had prostate cancer, his daughter, Jacquelyn Benton, said Tuesday.

Johnson played for the Monarchs in 1937-38, when blacks were barred from the National and American leagues. He joined the traveling team of the legendary pitcher Satchel Paige in 1939 and stayed through 1940.

College

Kansas State running back Thomas Clayton was charged Tuesday with misdemeanor battery on Tuesday afternoon, stemming from a complaint that he almost hit a university parking services official earlier this month.

Clayton, a junior from Alexandria, Va., was arrested Sept. 16 on a complaint of aggravated battery. Parking services officials said that he nearly hit employee James A. Seymour while trying to avoid having his vehicle immobilized for parking violations.

He has not played since, but coach Bill Snyder said Monday that Clayton will play Saturday in the Wildcats' Big 12 opener at Oklahoma. Snyder has not said whether Clayton will start.

His suspension in last week's 54-7 victory over North Texas was only supposed to be for the first quarter, but Clayton told Snyder to leave redshirt freshman Parrish Fisher in the rest of the game. Fisher ran for a freshman-record 169 yards and earned Big 12 offensive player of the week honors.

Football

* The desperate New York Jets brought back 41-year-old Vinny Testaverde on Tuesday after starting quarterback Chad Pennington and his backup Jay Fiedler were lost for the season with shoulder injuries.

In turning to Testaverde, who played for the Jets from 1998-2003, the team hopes he can back up untested third-stringer Brooks Bollinger, who is scheduled to start Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.

Pennington and Fiedler were on the same flight to Alabama on Tuesday to see Dr. James Andrews, the noted orthopedist who repaired Pennington's rotator cuff in February.

* New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison will miss the rest of the season with torn ligaments in his left knee.

The Patriots placed Harrison on injured reserve Tuesday, and agent Steve Feldman said the 32-year-old strong safety would have surgery in four to six weeks for a torn anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and posterior cruciate ligament.

Hockey

* A day after their dressing room was cleaned and disinfected as a precaution, the flu-ridden Columbus Blue Jackets returned to the ice Tuesday on wobbly legs.

About three-quarters of the 39-man roster complained of fever, aches and pains, headache, dizziness and upset stomachs last weekend. Because of the number of sick players, the dressing room was closed Monday.

The Blue Jackets were expected to be near full strength for Tuesday night's exhibition game at Pittsburgh.

-- From wire reports