BRIEFLY : GOALIE HEXTALL CUT BY FLYERS, MAY BE FINISHED.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Ron Hextall was waived by the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, perhaps ending his 13-year career.

Hextall, the Flyers' winningest career and playoff goaltender and a former Vezina Trophy winner, will wait 48 hours for another team to claim him. If no one does, the Flyers will buy out the final year of his contract and perhaps offer him a job in the front office or as an assistant coach.

The Flyers picked a goaltender, Maxime Ouellet, in the amateur draft for the second straight year. They already have Brian Boucher and Jean-Marc Pelletier waiting to back up starter John Vanbiesbrouck.

Hextall won the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender in 1987, when he led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals. This season, as Vanbiesbrouck's backup, he passed Hall of Famer Bernie Parent for the team lead with 240 victories.

FOOTBALL: Jerry Sandusky, who turned Penn State into ``Linebacker U'' in 31 seasons as defensive coordinator, will retire after the 1999 season.

As an assistant to Joe Paterno, Sandusky has coached teams through four unbeaten seasons and two national championships, and has also had nine first-team All-Americans. As one of four assistants who have been at Penn State for more than two decades, he was seen as a candidate to replace the 72-year-old Paterno one day.

In making the announcement, Sandusky said he wants to spend more time working with The Second Mile, a charity he founded for kids.

The San Francisco 49ers signed former Stanford quarterback Steve Stenstrom to a two-year contract worth $1.2 million.

Stenstrom, 27, started seven games for the Chicago Bears last season, completing 112 of 196 passes for 1,252 yards and four touchdowns.

Stenstrom, a fourth-round pick by Kansas City in 1995, spent the past four seasons with Chicago.

Eric Metcalf, a wide receiver and running back who holds the NFL record with 11 kick-return touchdowns, agreed to terms with the Baltimore Ravens.

Metcalf, 31, an 11-year veteran, played under Ravens owner Art Modell with the Cleveland Browns before the franchise relocated to Baltimore.

OLYMPICS: Atlanta Olympic organizers pledged full cooperation with congressional investigators looking into possible corruption in the bid for the 1996 Games, although they said there was nothing to find.

The House Commerce Committee investigators, who opened their probe in the wake of bribery allegations involving the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, will have ``unfettered access'' to all records, including eight sensitive boxes of documents, said Billy Payne, former head of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who chairs the subcommittee leading the investigation, welcomed the announcement of cooperation, even if it came after a harshly worded letter written to Payne on Tuesday threatening subpoenas and other legal action.

A 14-year-old Special Olympian from Egypt died in his sleep early Thursday, probably from an epileptic seizure, officials of the Special Olympics World Summer Games said in Cary, N.C.

Mohamed Abdul Baset Barin, a volleyball player, was pronounced dead in his room at North Carolina's Morrison Hall at Chapel Hill, N.C., after his coach called paramedics, officials said.

``It is tragic, it is saddening, but it was also, sadly, unavoidable,'' Tim Shriver, president and CEO of Special Olympics Inc., said.

BOXING: A judge in Tulsa, Okla., ordered retired heavyweight Tommy Morrison to undergo a competency evaluation, rather than sentencing him on a drunk-driving charge.

Morrison, who appeared in court wearing shorts and carrying a small book, nodded in response to the judge. Any comments he made were inaudible in the courtroom.

Morrison pleaded guilty in April to a drunk-driving charge and two other traffic misdemeanors after numerous delays in the case. The maximum possible punishment on the three counts combined is two years and 10 days in jail.

He was charged July 17, 1998, with driving under the influence of alcohol, driving while his license was revoked and failing to stop at a red light. Broken Arrow, Okla., police said they arrested him after he tried to fill his car with gas and then drove off with the nozzle and hose attached to the tank.

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PHOTO Longtime Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky will retire after this season.

Craig Houtz/Associated Press