AL AVILA was named Tigers VP & Assistant GM.

Lawrence Honig

Avila was previously a Special Assistant to Pirates GM DAVE LITTLEFIELD (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 4/16). ...Volume Services America elected LAWRENCE HONIG as CEO and a BOD member. Previously, Honig was St. Louis-based Edison Brothers Stores Chair, President & CEO (Volume Services America)....Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Commissioner CHARLES HARRIS has announced his resignation, effective July 14. Harris has held the position since '96 (MEAC)....Churchill Downs Inc. named CPA BRIAN JOHNSON to the newly-created position of Dir of Internal Audit. Previously, Johnson was PwC Audit Manager, handling CDI's accounts (Churchill Downs).

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Ravens Owner ART MODELL is recovering in a CA hospital after suffering a mild heart attack Friday morning. Modell, 76, is scheduled to be released tomorrow (Baltimore SUN, 4/16)....The DENVER POST runs a special report on women execs in MLB. Yankees Assistant GM JEAN AFTERMAN, on women landing baseball operations jobs in MLB: "They're very resistant to outsiders. You get in either serendipitously, or because you know somebody, or because you've always been in baseball. That's where men have the advantage. Men get there first because they've played" (DENVER POST, 4/16) . ...BUSINESSWEEK's Ronald Grover profiles PHILIP ANSCHUTZ and writes that since Anschutz "began cashing in" $2.5B of his Qwest stake in '97, he has been "busily building a far-flung venture in sports, concerts, and movie chains." The $100M Anschutz has invested in soccer is a "bet that the sport will finally take off in the U.S. after a decade of false starts. Hockey in Europe is also uncharted territory." Sports Business Group President David Carter: "They're disparate assets that don't really add up to a sports business — and may never" (BUSINESSWEEK, 4/22)....In Hartford, John Altavilla profiled AXCESS SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT's MICHAEL HUYGHUE. Huyghue and partner DAVID DUNN "hope to modernize the business by managing clients' finances (through a deal with Morgan Stanley), setting up charitable foundations and providing a special place to prepare for the NFL combines and draft — Disney's `Wide World of Sports' athletic complex in Orlando." Huyghue, whose clients are all based in FL, said, "We've focused on the state to start out. We'll eventually branch out" (HARTFORD COURANT, 4/15)....While he has not revealed how much he was paid by the XFL, MN Gov. JESSE VENTURA disclosed yesterday that the league paid for about $320,000 of his expenses — $310,052 to charter flights to games, $3,779 for lodging and meals and $6,023 for limousine rides (PIONEER PRESS, 4/16)....Redskins DE BRUCE SMITH has decided to end the BRUCE SMITH CHARITY GOLF CLASSIC near Norfolk. The move "followed an investigation by the [Norfolk] Virginian-Pilot that revealed years of shoddy tournament bookkeeping, questions about how much money charities received and failures to file federal tax returns. Smith was apparently unaware of the problems" (VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 4/16).

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