Skip to main content

A roundup of the sports information of the week

BASKETBALL—NBA, Eastern Division: BOSTON was beaten by an Eastern club for the first time this season when last-place New York, 18½ games out, defeated the Celts 110-100. Philadelphia, with Wilt Chamberlain maintaining an incredible 48.5 average, stayed 6½ games behind the Celtics. Syracuse lost top scorer Dolph Schayes, who suffered a fractured cheekbone, and fell to within 2½ games of the Knicks.

NBA, Western Division: LOS ANGELES pulled eight games ahead of Cincinnati. The Royals had no problems scoring; Robertson, Twyman and Embry were among the league's top 10 scorers, but the defense continued to be shoddy, and they lost two games in the standings to LA in one week. Detroit held third place, while St. Louis, Last year's division champion, was still stumbling along, 15½ games behind LA. Chicago's last-place woes were increased when the team was fined 52,500 by League President Maurice Podoloff for arriving 50 minutes late for a game with Detroit in a New York double-header.

BOXING—ALEJANDRO LAVORANTE, the NBA's third-ranked heavyweight, made short work of fourth-ranked Light Heavyweight Von Clay, knocked him out in 1:10 of the second round in Los Angeles. Lavorante set up the knockout with left hooks seconds before the end of the first round. He ended the fight with a powerful combination that dropped Clay to the floor face down.

Mike Pusateri, unbeaten Massachusetts light heavyweight, knocked out Willie Clemmens of New York in the second round, for his 13th straight K.O, in New York.

FENCING—HERB COHEN of New York University took seven of his eight final-round matches to win the intercollegiate invitation foils tournament in New York. Jay Lustig of Columbia was second, winning six and losing two matches.

FOOTBALL—The SOUTH, powered by Baylor Quarterback Bobby Ply's three touchdown passes and his one-yard scoring plunge, whipped the North 35-10 in Miami. The game's most valuable player, Ply set up a fifth score with a 31-yard run. The touchdown was then made on an 18-yard rush by Miami Fullback Jim Vollenweider, the game's leading ground-gainer.

Houston Oilers, top scorers in the AFL, managed to score only twice—on a 46-yard field goal and a 35-yard touchdown pass—to beat the San Diego Chargers 10-3 for their second AFL championship in San Diego. The game was marked by many injuries, interceptions and penalties. For the second straight year Billy Cannon was voted the most valuable player.

Ernie Davis, Heisman Trophy winner and everyone's All-America, signed with the Cleveland Browns for a $15,000 bonus and a three-year contract totaling $65,000. Cleveland Halfback Bobby Mitchell was sent to the Washington Redskins as part payment for the negotiating rights to Davis. Cleveland also traded field goal kicker and punter Sam Baker to the Dallas Cowboys for Defensive Halfback Tom Franckhauser.

Allie Sherman, in his first year as head coach, was named NFL coach of the year. Sherman directed the New York Giants to the Eastern Conference title.

Paul Hornung, the NFL's leading scorer the last three years, was named the league's most valuable player.

GYMNASTICS—YURI TITOV upset Olympic gold medal winner and long-reigning Soviet titleholder Boris Shaklin as all-round gymnastic champion of the Soviet Union at championship meet in Tbilisi, Russia. An outstanding performance in the vaults and a near-perfect score of 9.55 for the horizontal bar gave Titov a narrow 0.15-point victory over Shaklin.

HANDBALL—STEVE AUGUST of Detroit rallied from 5-17 to defeat Winfield Ballance, national one-wall junior champion, 21-19, 21-13, in the finals of the USHA's national four-wall junior singles championship in Aurora, Ill.

HOCKEY—MONTREAL eased the first-place pressure, moved to a five-point lead over Toronto. New York, after a winless stretch of six games, got back on the right skate, won three in a row to open a comfortable seven-point gap over Chicago. Erratic Detroit slid to fifth and Boston was last.

HORSE RACING—REVEL, with Alex Maese up, ran six furlongs in 1:09.8 to win the $23,500 Palos Verdes Handicap by two lengths over Ole Fols in Santa Anita, Calif.

Bright Holly ($25.60), a 12-to-1 long shot, came on in the stretch to win the Las Flores Handicap for fillies and mares by¾ of a length over Linita in Santa Anita, Calif. Ridden by Braulio Baeza, the 3-year-old mare ran the six furlongs in 1:09.8.

MOTOR SPORTS—JIM CLARK finished 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Stirling Moss to win the Grand Prix of South Africa in East London. Despite an extended pit stop because of faulty brakes, Clark drove his Lotus over the 200-mile course at a record-breaking average of 92.2 mph. Clark also set a single-lap record of 94.2 mph in winning his third straight race on the South African circuit.

SKIING—EINO KIRJONEN of Finland leaped 241 feet 3 inches and 240 feet to win the opening event of the International Four-Hill German-Austrian ski-jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany. For the second event the meet moved to Berg Isel Hill, Innsbruck, Austria, the site of the 1964 Olympic jumping competition, where Willi Egger combined a slope record leap of 292 feet 10 inches with an earlier jump of 264 feet 8 inches to win the competition.

TABLE TENNIS—DICK MILES, nine times national champion, defeated Erwin Klein, the current titleholder, 21-17, 21-23, 22-20, 21-18, in New York. Miles led an eastern team to a 6-3 victory over the West.

TENNIS—AUSTRALIA, led by U.S. and Australian singles champion Roy Emerson and Wimbledon winner Rod Laver, whipped Italy 5-0, to win the Davis Cup Challenge round at Kooyong Stadium, Melbourne. The defeat was the worst suffered by any team in more than 50 years of the competition. The Italians failed to win a set in the first three matches, as Emerson defeated Nicola Pietrangeli 6-2, 6-3. 6-4, Laver beat Orlando Sirola 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 and the doubles team of Emerson and Neale Fraser beat Sirola and Pietrangeli 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the cup. Playing the subsequent, meaningless singles matches, the Italians rallied and extended the Australians. Emerson defeated Sirola 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, and Laver was forced to five sets by Pietrangeli before winning 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 8-6.

Alice Christner defeated Heidi Lincoln 6-1, 6-1 to win the national indoor title for girls under 18 in Brookline. Mass. Yale Stockwell beat Susan Mabrey 6-4, 6-1 to win the 15-years-and-under championship. Virginia Gilbane and Joanne Swan-son beat Miss Christner and Miss Lincoln 6-1, 6-0 for the doubles title.

TRACK & FIELD—JOHN UELSES vaulted 15 feet 1 inch to become the first 15-foot pole-vaulter of the indoor season and set a Holiday Meet record, at the University of Chicago Field House. Rimas Vaicitis defeated national champion Ron Zinn in the mile walk. Vaicitis' time of 6:27.9 is the best recorded in the event in several years. Jared Nourse of Duke ran a fast 9:00.9 in the two-mile event despite a field of 48 entries that forced two heats. Brooks Johnson, the meet's only double winner, won the 60-yard dash in 6.2 and the 220 in 22.3.

MILEPOSTS—DIED: TOWNSEND WHELAN, 84, a leading authority on small-arms instruction and author of The American Rifle, a West Point textbook, in University City, Mo. A retired Army colonel, Whelan was a director of the National Rifle Association, a founder of the Washington, D.C. hunters' supply firm of Parker-Whelan Co. and associate editor of the magazine Sports Afield.

ENGAGED: CARIN CONE, 21-year-old beauty who once held the world's 200-meter backstroke record, to 2nd Lieutenant Al Vanderbush, 1960 Army football captain.

MARRIED: DON HOAK, 33. tough field leader of the Pittsburgh Pirates, to Singer Jill Corey, 26, in a civil ceremony at Pittsburgh. It was Hoak's second marriage and Miss Corey's first.

APPOINTED: JOHN B. HARALSON, Bakers-field, Calif, teacher and coach, to succeed Pincus Sober as Amateur Athletic Union committee chairman of track and field.

RESIGNED: JOHN W. HANES, chairman of the New York Racing Association—a position he has held since 1955-because of poor health. He will be succeeded by James Cox Brady, prominent industrialist, financier, breeder and Thoroughbred owner who has been a member of The Jockey Club for 22 years and was the executive vice-president of the NYRA until November of 1959. The NYRA also announced the appointment of Charles H. Johnson as Director of Public Relations. Johnson had held a similar post at Pimlico for five years.