Sports briefs 9/25/04

Football

• Soldier Field was thrown for a loss -- a recommendation to strip the home of the Chicago Bears of its national landmark status.

An advisory committee of the National Park System voted unanimously on the move, agreeing with architectural analysts that a $660 million renovation destroyed the stadium's historic character.

The recommendation now goes to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Norton probably will decide by the end of the year, said Carol Ahlgren, architectural historian for the Midwest regional office of the National Park Service.

Staff for the National Park System Advisory Board wrote in July that the "futuristic new stadium bowl is visually incompatible with the classical colonnades and the perimeter wall of the historic stadium."

Hockey

• William T. "Billy" Reay, the winningest coach in Chicago Blackhawks' history, has died. He was 86.

Reay died of liver cancer in Madison, Wis., on Thursday, Blackhawks spokesman Jim DeMaria said.

Reay became the Blackhawks coach in 1963 after coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs for two seasons in the late 1950s. Over the next 14 seasons, his record was 516-335-161. His 516 wins is nearly three times as many as the next winningest Blackhawks coach, Bob Pulford, whose teams won 182 games.

Motorsports

• Jeremy Mayfield won the pole in qualifying Friday at Dover International Speedway, putting behind him a wreck that seriously damaged his championship hopes in the Nextel Cup series.

Mayfield crashed last Sunday at New Hampshire after Robby Gordon intentionally spun Greg Biffle. A finish of 35th left Mayfield 142 points behind co-leaders Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. after the first of 10 races among the top 10 championship contenders.

On Sunday, he won't qualify as anything but the favorite in the MBNA 400 after taking the pole with ease. He got around The Monster Mile at 159.405 mph.

Ryan Newman, also unlucky in New Hampshire, where he blew an engine late in the race, was second-fastest. His Dodge got around the track at 159.018.

Tennis

• Andy Roddick hit a record 155 mph serve in his 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Vladimir Voltchkov on Friday to give the United States a 1-0 lead over Belarus in the Davis Cup semifinals.

Roddick's serve in the final game of the match eclipsed his own record of 153 mph set at the Queen's Club tournament in England in June. Even with the record speed, Voltchkov managed to get his racket on the ball but was unable to return it.

The crowd stood and cheered when the record speed of the serve was shown.