NAMES IN THE NEWS

          Phillies broadcaster and Hall of Famer RICHIE ASHBURN
     passed away Monday night after a heart attack in his hotel
     room (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 9/10)....On "Access Hollywood,"
     MAGIC JOHNSON said that he is "free of the HIV virus." 
     Johnson, asked by Pat O'Brien if he feels he is "HIV-free":
     "Yeah, I feel it, yes."  Asked if his doctors feel the same,
     Johnson said, "Yeah, for sure" ("Access Hollywood,"
     9/9)....BROOKE SHIELDS, on ANDRE AGASSI's tennis play since
     their marriage: "They'll blame everything on me.  In the
     beginning when he first was playing well and he was winning
     it was because he met me.  And then when he started to be in
     a slump everybody said it was my fault" ("Tonight Show," NBC,
     9/9)....In N.Y., Anthony McCarron reports that sources
     "close" to LAMAR ODOM confirmed he has chosen the Univ. of RI
     over an offer from the CBA (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/10).