Steve Javie

NOT SURPRISINGLY, Pete Rose is still hellbent on getting back into baseball. What is surprising - at least to us - is that he's now 70 years old. Where has the time gone? Rose, a member of Phillies' 1980 World Series championship team, was the keynote speaker Saturday at an event sponsored by the Ohio Justice & Policy Center in Cincinnati. The all-time hits leader was banned from the game for life in 1989 for betting on baseball games while managing the Reds. He has wanted back in ever since.

Steve Javie of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club and Rob Savarese of Philadelphia Cricket Club prevailed in a three-way playoff on the third extra hole to win the third annual North-South Invitational better-ball-of-partners golf tournament at the Philmont Country Club yesterday. When a storm threatened the tournament on the North Course in the early afternoon, play was abandoned and the format was curtailed from 36 holes to 18. It was decided that the three pairs that had tied for first place at 5- under-par 65 on the South Course in Friday's opening round would meet in a playoff to decide the winner.

Steve Javie, the pride of La Salle High and Temple, is going to the NBA referees' training camp tomorrow hoping against hope that he can work a 25th season. He can't be certain whether he will be able to work, in his words, "one game or 51," or whether he'll be able to work at all. But his goal when he entered the league in 1986 was to make it through 25 seasons, and something inside him tells him he at least must try. He was close to retiring, because he has no cartilage in his right knee.

Given the way Steve Javie traverses the country as an NBA official during the winter, some might think that he has an advantage over his fellow Philadelphia-area golfers because he's able to play in warmer climes. Javie said that it wasn't so, that playing at Whitemarsh through the summer was enough to sharpen his game. He certainly was sharp yesterday, and he and teammate Rob Savarese, a cousin of his, found themselves in a four-way tie for the lead at the seventh annual North-South Invitational at Philmont Country Club.

Steve Javie, the NBA ref who was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury for allegedly being a tax cheat, has a defense to the criminal charges, his Philadelphia lawyer contends. Like eight other NBA refs charged so far, six of whom have pleaded guilty, Javie is accused of skimming money from NBA airfare reimbursements and failing to report this additional income on his tax returns. Prosecutors contend the refs downgraded their airline tickets from first-class to coach, yet claimed they flew first-class, and pocketed the difference.

At least 35 NBA referees are the focus of an Internal Revenue Service investigation into an alleged scheme involving millions of dollars in phony travel expenses, the Sunday Oregonian reported. The IRS is looking at allegations that referees swapped first-class airline tickets for cash and overreported travel expenses to the league for reimbursement, avoiding payment of income taxes on the difference. Some of the referees might have pocketed $100,000 or more during the five years ending with the 1993-94 season, the Portland newspaper reported.

For Steve Javie, until recently a well-paid NBA referee, it's a different court altogether, a court of law, with judge and jury. And this is no game. Javie is charged with being a criminal tax cheat who allegedly skimmed about $82,000 from NBA first-class airline travel allotments over a three-year period and avoided paying about $24,000 in taxes on this unreported income. Eleven other pro basketball referees have pleaded guilty to similar criminal charges in courtrooms across the country.

Today is Steve Javie's day in court. One of a group of NBA referees charged with filing false tax returns, Javie has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to take his case before U.S. District Judge James Giles this morning in federal court, at 6th and Market streets. An NBA referee since 1986 and a former baseball player at Temple, Javie is accused of failing to report $82,000 in income from 1991 to 1993, avoiding payment of about $24,000 in taxes. More than a dozen referees, most recently Blaine Reichelt and the retired Paul Mihalak, have been charged with downgrading first-class airlines tickets purchased by the league for cheaper seats, pocketing the difference and not paying taxes on the unreported income.

Portland forward Rasheed Wallace was suspended for two games without pay and fined $10,000 by the NBA yesterday for hitting an official with a towel Thursday night. Wallace, a Simon Gratz product, was ejected with 8 minutes, 56 seconds left in Portland's 100-92 victory over Phoenix after receiving his league-leading 27th technical foul. Wallace charged official Gary Benson near midcourt and threw a towel that hit the referee in the face. Wallace repeatedly rushed at Benson and had to be held back by his coaches and teammates.

The NBA referees are out in the cold, and getting colder. "Talks are off," referee Mike Mathis said yesterday after more than six hours of negotiations Saturday with league officials. The referees have been locked out since Oct. 1. "To say that talks have broken off would not be accurate," said Rod Thorn, the league's vice president of operations. "I would say we're very far apart. "We're hopeful, but it takes more than one person to make a deal. " Mathis, who joined colleague Steve Javie and attorney Fred Slaughter on the referees negotiating committee, seemed pessimistic that his group would have a new contract in time to start the season Friday night.

NOT SURPRISINGLY, Pete Rose is still hellbent on getting back into baseball. What is surprising - at least to us - is that he's now 70 years old. Where has the time gone? Rose, a member of Phillies' 1980 World Series championship team, was the keynote speaker Saturday at an event sponsored by the Ohio Justice & Policy Center in Cincinnati. The all-time hits leader was banned from the game for life in 1989 for betting on baseball games while managing the Reds. He has wanted back in ever since.

Steve Javie, the pride of La Salle High and Temple, is going to the NBA referees' training camp tomorrow hoping against hope that he can work a 25th season. He can't be certain whether he will be able to work, in his words, "one game or 51," or whether he'll be able to work at all. But his goal when he entered the league in 1986 was to make it through 25 seasons, and something inside him tells him he at least must try. He was close to retiring, because he has no cartilage in his right knee.

AS HIS LIFE has spiraled out of control, Tim Donaghy has fiercely held on to one precious piece of dignity. He has repeatedly insisted he never made any calls that would have influenced the result of an NBA game or impacted whether he won or lost a bet on any game he officiated. That is also the one thing that kept his father, Gerry, a now retired college official, from being even angrier at what his son did. Sean Griffin, an associate professor in criminal justice at Penn State Abington and a former Philadelphia police officer, is less than sure Tim Donaghy has been telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The relationship between Tim Donaghy and the other Philadelphia area referees was first strained long ago. That the disgraced NBA referee reportedly will turn in as many as 20 of his former colleagues for taking part in gambling activities has ruptured the relationship beyond repair, sources said. As part of his cooperation agreement with federal authorities, Donaghy will provide the names of officials who bet at golf courses, race tracks during the season and casinos, and are involved in football pools, the Daily News reported yesterday.

The day after they faced former teammate Allen Iverson for the first time, the 76ers appeared to have differing opinions on how fired up they were. Andre Iguodala said he didn't think the Sixers were especially excited. Kyle Korver conceded that "there was a little bit extra" emotion. But coach Maurice Cheeks thought that his team played with extra emotion and energy and that it helped fuel the Sixers in a 108-97 win Tuesday night over Iverson and the Nuggets in Denver. "I think it was going to be natural," he said last night before the Sixers faced the Utah Jazz in the sixth stop on their seven-game road trip.

It wasn't the kind of reunion that Allen Iverson wanted. The 76ers were physical with him on the defensive end and made him work. Then he lost his cool enough to draw two technical fouls in the fourth quarter, sending him to the locker room with 1 minute, 44 seconds to play last night. The Sixers played solid defense and put six players in double figures, leading to a 108-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets before a crowd of 17,436 at the Pepsi Center. It was just the Sixers' ninth win of the season.

Portland forward Rasheed Wallace was suspended for two games without pay and fined $10,000 by the NBA yesterday for hitting an official with a towel Thursday night. Wallace, a Simon Gratz product, was ejected with 8 minutes, 56 seconds left in Portland's 100-92 victory over Phoenix after receiving his league-leading 27th technical foul. Wallace charged official Gary Benson near midcourt and threw a towel that hit the referee in the face. Wallace repeatedly rushed at Benson and had to be held back by his coaches and teammates.

Stella S. Javie, whose smile advertised her joy at being a mom, friend and neighbor, died yesterday. She was 76 and lived in Lafayette Hill. A former resident of Manayunk, the former Stella Stanczak took her job as a mother and homemaker seriously and everything else with a sense of humor. "She was a loving mother and an adoring grandmother who loved to take care of her family, whether it be cooking or baking or preparing holiday meals with everybody coming over to the house," said Steven Javie, one of her sons and an NBA referee.

The father of Venus and Serena Williams has decided to let International Management Group make some money for his daughters. Richard Williams agreed yesterday to give the Cleveland-based sports management and marketing organization exclusive rights to market the sisters' off-the-court endeavors. That includes licensing, endorsements, exhibitions, personal appearances and literary projects. Among the other IMG clients are Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods, Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Navratilova, Peyton Manning, Tim Couch, and Muhammad Ali. Serena Williams, 17, became an even hotter property when she won the U.S. Open earlier this month.

The 76ers once were consumed by the challenge of just trying to qualify for the NBA playoffs for the first time since 1990-91. Now, in front of an NBC audience and what could be a sellout tomorrow at the First Union Center, they'll try to raise it just a little higher. With a record of 24-19, three successive victories and eight in their last 11 games, they host the Orlando Magic at 5:30 in their first network national appearance since 1992-93. All of a sudden, they're talking about being more than merely landing the eighth and final seed in the NBA Eastern Conference.