PAT ON THE BACK

Herewith a salute from the editors to men and women of all ages who have fairly earned the good opinion of the world of sport, regardless of whether they have yet earned its tallest headlines

Thomas H. Shepard started sailing with a ten-foot rowboat in Boston's Dorchester Bay when he was six. This year, at 87, he won the Marblehead Race Week lightship race ("for the sixth or eighth time, I can't remember") despite a broken spinnaker pole. The Brookline, Mass. lumber and manufacturing executive attributes his good health to sailing, picks his crews from among three children, seven grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren.

Marion Park, 14-year-old sophomore at Miami Beach High School, is considered a great diving prospect. In her first year of competition she has won the Florida senior and junior one-meter championships, followed by the national junior three-meter title. Marion is so wrapped up in diving that there is time for little else, even boys, but she likes art and dramatics, is currently shunning sweets to slenderize her hips for better diving form.

Ann Marstona was born in England near Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest, which may account for her skill with bow and arrow. The cute Wyandotte, Mich. youngster has broken all junior archery records. This year at 15 she entered the senior championships (18 and over), finished a strong fifth. Ann's parents both shoot. Last year the Marstons won the U.S. family archery title.

THREE PHOTOS