Igwebuike

U.S. Customs agents and Bloomington, Minn., police searched Minnesota Vikings place-kicker Donald Igwebuike's apartment Wednesday, and another man was arraigned in Florida as part of a continuing investigation into an alleged heroin-smuggling ring.No drugs were found, and Igwebuike returned to practice after the search.* OILERS: Teddy Garcia, who hasn't kicked regularly since 1988 for the New England Patriots, has been working out for coach Jack Pardee and is the likely replacement for the injured Tony Zendejas on Sunday.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Baltimore Stallions and the Memphis Mad Dogs faced off at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium last night, on a field that features perhaps the most unusual field in the Canadian Football League.The end zones are 14 yards deep, instead of the CFL-regulation 20 yards, and that only accounts for the deepest part of them.They are shaped like half-pentagons, not rectangles, thanks to a field that cannot accommodate the CFL. The sidelines extend just six yards into the end zone, before the lines veer diagonally to the zone's deepest point.

Minnesota Vikings place-kicker Donald Igwebuike pleaded innocent yesterday in Tampa, Fla., to charges that he helped finance an attempt to smuggle $1 million worth of heroin from Nigeria. The football player did not speak during a brief arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Thomas Wilson.Igwebuike, 31, was indicted on Nov. 9, two weeks after ABC News reported that prosecutors in Tampa had "irrefutable" evidence linking him to an attempt to smuggle heroin into the United States from Nigeria.U.

The Memphis kicking game has been horrible this year, making nine of 24 field-goal attempts before last night's game against the Baltimore Stallions at Memorial Stadium.With former Stallion Donald Igwebuike unavailable last night because of work visa problems, the Mad Dogs turned to Nick Mystrom, and he turned in a solid performance, hitting three field goals covering 27, 39 and 22 yards. He had one blocked by Charles Anthony."Iggy wasn't with us, and the young fellow who kicked for us did a wonderful job," said coach Pepper Rodgers.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Minnesota Vikings kicker Donald Igwebuike pumped his fists in the air and broke into tears yesterday when a federal jury acquitted him in a scheme to import $1 million worth of heroin from his native Nigeria."

They welcomed Donald Igwebuike back yesterday with open arms, a round of cheers and a warning."He has to play to stay," coach Don Matthews said after the Baltimore CFLs reinstated Igwebuike as their place-kicker. "I'll judge him on performance, as I do with everybody."Released two weeks ago in the wake of a 30-29 loss to the Sacramento Gold Miners, Igwebuike, 33, emerged as the winner of a kicking competition he had entered at the 11th hour.It was the latest twist in the team's strange kicking saga this season.

If there's a World Cup soccer invasion in the United States, it's doubtful many fans of Baltimore's Canadian Football League team have noticed.Not after watching Donald Igwebuike get his kicks last night in a 45-43 overtime exhibition victory against Eastern Division opponent Winnipeg, raising his scoring total to 34 points in two games.Igwebuike won the game with a 47-yard field goal with no time remaining in overtime. His 52-yard field goal with 12:01 left in regulation had broken a 30-30 tie. It was his second-longest field of the preseason.

Donald Igwebuike, who missed a 21-yard field goal in Baltimore's 30-29 loss to Sacramento last Saturday, was released today by the CFLs.The team's new placekicker is Charlie Baumann, signed after a workout this morning. The former New England Patriots kicker will play Sunday in Saskatchewan against the Roughriders.Igwebuike's fall from grace was stunning and swift. The 33-year-old Nigerian hit 75 percent of his field goals (27 of 36) and scored 116 points in 10 games, but he missed two kicks in Saturday's loss.

It's a disappointing footnote for many Stallions fans planning to attend tonight's game against the Memphis Mad Dogs, but it's a problem that Baltimore grew accustomed to last year, when kicker Donald Igwebuike became the team's most popular player.Igwebuike joined the Mad Dogs last month, after the Stallions transferred his contract. He helped Memphis win the first game in franchise history by kicking the game-winning field goal against Ottawa.But "Iggy," Baltimore's favorite Nigerian kicker, won't be coming home.

Don Matthews' bottom-line policy claimed another casualty yesterday when the Baltimore CFLs coach fired place-kicker Donald Igwebuike.The decision to cut Igwebuike, a crowd favorite at Memorial Stadium, came three days after his failed 21-yard field-goal attempt allowed Sacramento to escape with a 30-29 win.It also served as the strongest statement yet that playing for Matthews comes down to one common denominator: produce or else.Matthews clearly was not satisfied with Igwebuike's performance -- in kickoffs or field goals -- of late, a circumstance that puts former West Virginia kicker Charlie Baumann on the CFLs' firing line this week.

It's a disappointing footnote for many Stallions fans planning to attend tonight's game against the Memphis Mad Dogs, but it's a problem that Baltimore grew accustomed to last year, when kicker Donald Igwebuike became the team's most popular player.Igwebuike joined the Mad Dogs last month, after the Stallions transferred his contract. He helped Memphis win the first game in franchise history by kicking the game-winning field goal against Ottawa.But "Iggy," Baltimore's favorite Nigerian kicker, won't be coming home.

Carlos Huerta has stepped gingerly into the cleats of Donald Igwebuike this summer.At every mention of Igwebuike -- a cult hero in Baltimore's first Canadian Football League season -- Huerta pays homage to his predecessor.The place-kicking job with the Baltimore Football Club unquestionably belongs to Huerta, who was obtained in the dispersal draft of the Las Vegas Posse last April.Yet, it is as if the man fans loved to call Iggy still casts a shadow on Huerta's part of the field.Pressure in this training camp is missing a long field goal, hearing an "Iggy" chant from the home fans, and then lining up for a 50-yarder.

It apparently will take more than a dispersal draft to unite former Las Vegas Posse place-kicker Carlos Huerta and the Baltimore Football Club.Miami-based attorney Dave Schull rejected Baltimore's initial contract offer yesterday, then said Huerta will "remain retired" for now."The sticking point is, Carlos doesn't want to be trapped with no way out," said Schull, who is representing Huerta.Baltimore chose Huerta in the first round of Tuesday's dispersal draft of Posse players. The team is willing to renegotiate Huerta's contract -- he made $25,000 last season -- but also wants to extend it through the 1996 season.

Carlos Huerta, a place-kicker who wanted off the Las Vegas Posse and out of the Canadian Football League, found a situation he could live with yesterday.When Huerta became the first choice of the Baltimore Football Club in a five-round dispersal draft of Posse players, it ended a long ordeal and triggered a broad range of reactions.At Memorial Stadium, team owner Jim Speros was so giddy he proclaimed: "We're going back to the Grey Cup."In Miami, Huerta, who "retired" two weeks ago, was ready to resume his career, even if it meant staying in the CFL.And in Cleveland, the agent for incumbent Baltimore place-kicker Donald Igwebuike began making alternative plans for his client.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The banner read, "No Grey in the U.S.A.," but like most things Canadian yesterday, it was a symbol of an era passed by.Baltimore's resilient CFLs ushered in the new order with a 14-12 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League's Eastern Division final before 25,067 wind-swept nationalists at Winnipeg Stadium.On the strength of Donald Igwebuike's leg and the tenacity of coach Don Matthews' defense, the CFLs became the first U.S. team to reach the Grey Cup.They'll face the hometown B.C. Lions at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday.

All the ominous elements were against them, a myriad of problems that may have deterred the strongest of men embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime mission. There was the unfamiliar field, hostile crowd, wind, freezing temperatures and artificial noise created by a bush-league sound system that was turned up full-bore to confuse their play-calling.Despite all the natural handicaps, and those contrived to distract them, the no-name Baltimore team in the Canadian Football League reached a level of unprecedented achievement that will be documented for perpetuity.

People spot him in a restaurant and make the immediate connection. They know who, they just don't know how." 'Aren't you the kicker for the CFL team?' " they ask. " 'Donald Ig-way-beeee something or other . . . .' "" 'Donald,' " he tells them. " 'Call me Donald.' "For the record, it's Igwebuike. Pronounced Ig-way-BEE-kay. Or Iggy for short.He's the guy who got cut seven weeks ago, then came back two weeks later to reclaim his job and his popularity.With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the late 1980s, Donald Igwebuike was a fan favorite.

Donald Igwebuike was acquitted, but couldn't clear his name.He was vindicated, but couldn't get a job.Justice for the former NFL place-kicker was a tattered reputation and a cold shoulder.When Igwebuike was charged with being an accomplice to smuggling heroin in 1990 while kicking for the Minnesota Vikings, his life stopped as surely as if someone had hit the pause button.And when he was acquitted in federal court in Tampa in April 1991, it almost seemed not to matter. The damage had been done.

People spot him in a restaurant and make the immediate connection. They know who, they just don't know how." 'Aren't you the kicker for the CFL team?' " they ask. " 'Donald Ig-way-beeee something or other . . . .' "" 'Donald,' " he tells them. " 'Call me Donald.' "For the record, it's Igwebuike. Pronounced Ig-way-BEE-kay. Or Iggy for short.He's the guy who got cut seven weeks ago, then came back two weeks later to reclaim his job and his popularity.With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the late 1980s, Donald Igwebuike was a fan favorite.

Donald Igwebuike wound up on the seat of his pants again.But this time, his stock with the Baltimore CFLs didn't fall with him.Iggy made a triumphant return as Baltimore's place-kicker last night, going 4-for-4 in a 40-13 victory over the Ottawa Rough Riders in front of a rain-soaked crowd at Memorial Stadium.His first field goal, from 49 yards out, gave Baltimore a 10-5 lead in the second quarter. His holder, John Congemi, embraced him. The fans roared their approval and chanted his name.