University Of Florida

Sydney Lewis, 79, who with his wife pioneered the catalog showroom business and became an internationally known art collector, died Friday in Richmond, Va. The co-founder and former chairman of Best Products Inc. had been in ill health for a number of years.Gershon Legman, 81, a self-taught scholar of dirty jokes and bawdy limericks and ballads who played a pivotal role in opening up the field of erotic folklore to scholarly study in the 1960s and 1970s, died Feb. 23 at a hospital near his home in Opio, France.

Julia Gorman and Jill Johnson Chasson, former North Baltimore Aquatic Club members who earned international recognition over the past 10 years, are the newest members of the Maryland Swimming Hall of Fame.Inducted during the group's sixth annual awards program last week, they are the 24th and 25th selections since Arthur "Red" Hucht became the first in 1985.At the same time, members Patrick Kennedy and John Considine were formally recognized. Both had been inducted in a less-formal setting a decade ago.Kennedy was an All-American at Loyola High School and the University of Florida, and an Olympian, (eighth in the 200 breaststroke in 1984 at Los Angeles)

Errict RhettPosition: Running backHeight: 5-11Weight: 211Age: 27College: FloridaYear: 5thHighlights: Traded to Ravens from Tampa Bay for a third-round draft choice in 1999. Competing for starting running-back job with Jay Graham. Rhett ran for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons with the Buccaneers, earning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors in 1994. He rushed for a career-high 1,207 yards in 1995. Lost his starting job to Warrick Dunn last year and appeared in 11 games, running for 91 yards on 31 carries.

University of Florida President John V. Lombardi withdrew yesterday from consideration for the presidency of the Johns Hopkins University, saying he still wanted to finish the job he had started in Gainesville nearly six years ago.The position had been essentially Dr. Lombardi's to take, Hopkins and Florida higher education officials said. The decision clearly dismayed Hopkins administrators and faculty members, many of whom offered positive reviews after meetings with Dr. Lombardi last week.

Officials at the Johns Hopkins University are poised to offer its presidency to University of Florida President John V. Lombardi, but they want to hold off until a conflict between Dr. Lombardi and Florida's university system regents is resolved.Dr. Lombardi will decide in the next few days whether to stay at Gainesville or to tell Hopkins officials that he wants the job here, associates said.A week ago, he told a group of major Florida donors that the regents' opposition to his drive for more authority on his campus had convinced him to seek a position elsewhere.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Academic idealism is taking root at the University of Florida.This week, students will vote on a new honor code for the state's flagship university.The tradition many of their parents knew so well -- signing a pledge on tests and assignments that they hadn't cheated -- died decades ago with the arrival of the computer.Since the university went to electronic registration, University of Florida's 39,600 students have not had to take the pledge. Paperwork doesn't matter much anymore.

Nice guys don't always finish last. Just ask Dick Estes about his former pupil Torrance Zellner, considered one of the best hurdlers in the nation.Zellner, whose fastest time ranks 12th in the world this year, was the champion in the 400-meter hurdles of the Olympic Festival on Aug. 1, but Estes says Zellner won't develop an inflated ego.That's because Estes will always remember the 23-year-old Woodlawn graduate for an act of altruism in a 1988 4A state...

BARCELONA, Spain -- Martin Zubero speaks proudly of his Spanish heritage, a neat trick for a swim- ,4p6,6l mer born in Jacksonville, Fla., and living in Gainesville, Fla.Zubero, 23, is the world-record holder in the 200-meter backstroke, and Spain's leading gold-medal contender in the 25th Olympiad. Who cares if he stumbles over the mother tongue?It's called dual citizenship, and it's a useful advantage in the pursuit of an Olympic dream. The Spanish happily play along, seeing as how they have won a total of four gold medals since 1896.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A new AIDS test pioneered by a University of Florida researcher may soon allow people to test their saliva at home for signs of the virus.The simple "dip-stick" test will be manufactured by a Singapore company under a five-year contract with the university.University medical researcher Roger Clemons, who developed the test last year, said it will go on sale abroad within several weeks. Approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration probably will delay over-the-counter sales in this country until at least 1994.

The countdown to the U.S. Olympic trials continues for Anita Nall and the rest of the Baltimore area's swimming elite.Nall, a Towson Catholic High sophomore and the American record holder in the 200-meter breast stroke, is Baltimore's best bet in the trials on March 1-7 in Indianapolis.The first two finishers in each event, plus four men and four women to round out freestyle relays, will make the team that will go to the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.Nall, 15, qualified for the trials in the 100 breast stroke as well as the 200. She will make her bid in the 200 on March 2 and in the on March 4.Aside from Nall, who swims for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, the locals most likely to make the U.S. team are NBAC teammate Julie Gorman, Fallston's Julie Kole, now at Stanford, and Jill Johnson, a Dulaney High and Stanford grad who's training at Harvard.