Roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—SAN FRANCISCO opened later than the other teams, but the transplanted Philadelphians, starring Wilt Chamberlain, swiftly won three in a row: the first against Detroit 140-113. and two overtime decisions against Chicago and Detroit, before losing another overtime to Cincinnati 131-130. A surprising St. Louis team led the West. One reason for the Hawks' 4-1 record is unexpectedly good play by Guard John Barnhill. Meanwhile, the chagrined Los Angeles Lakers only began to win when they finally got home, beating Detroit 134-118. Detroit hasn't won yet (0-5), but Chicago played steadily enough to climb into third place. Boston had an easy time staying undefeated, although the Knicks challenged the Celtics briefly before going down 133-108 to their third straight defeat. New York then followed that by quickly dropping another one, this time to the Hawks. Syracuse, meanwhile, lost only to Boston. The Nationals are second in the East, followed by the Royals who are allOscar Robertson again.
BOXING—DICK TIGER, a Nigerian, won a 15-round title match with Gene Fullmer in the cool of a San Francisco night, cutting and bruising the defending NBA middleweight champion severely around the eyes as he won a unanimous decision (see page 20).
Rubin (Hurricane) Carter appeared at Madison Square Garden wearing a black derby over his freshly shaved head prior to his Garden (and TV) debut, a 10-round match with Cuban Florentino Fernandez. Carter didn't have the derby off long. At 1:09 of the first round he sent Fernandez sagging onto the ropes, knocked out.
FOOTBALL—NFL: NEW YORK Quarterback Y. A. Tittle destroyed the previously unbeaten Washington Redskins with a passing bombardment of awesome proportions. Tittle threw seven touchdown passes (equaling the NFL record) and had 27 completions for 505 yards as he led the Giants to a 49-34 win. Despite the loss, which wasted some unusually fine work by Redskin Quarterback Norm Snead, the Skins Still lead New York in the Eastern Division. Dallas (see page 14) fell from third place, however, thanks to a slippery 28-24 loss to St. Louis in a game played in a Dallas rainstorm. The Browns toppled the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 41-14 rout. Fullback Jim Brown returned to full form on carries (21) and yards (93), but Quarterback Jim Ninowski was sidelined for a month or more with a serious shoulder injury. In the Western Division, Green Bay was hard-pressed by a stubborn Baltimore team, but the Colts didn't have quite what it takes to upset the Packers, losing 17-6 in the final quarter. ThePackers' powerful offense was once again spurred by Fullback Jim Taylor, with Paul Hornung sitting out another one. In the battle of who'll-follow-the-Packers, Chicago lost out, being beaten by Detroit 11-3. Wayne Walker won the game with three field goals and got some cheers at last from Detroit fans who were getting annoyed at his misses. Officials had to step into prevent a spirited slugfest, but nothing could stop Minnesota's Fran Tarkenton from splitting Philadelphia's defenses with his passes. He threw two for touchdowns and scored himself on a 10-yard run as the Vikings won 31-21. It was lucky seven for Los Angeles. Inspired by a 65-yard scoring run with an interception by Halfback Lindon Crow, the Rams pushed on to a 28-14 upset win over San Francisco, their first victory after six losses.
AFL: BOSTON beaned Oakland with a late scoring splurge by energetic Gino Cappelletti (four field goals, one TD and two conversions) for a 26-16 win. The Patriots thus picked up a full game to lead the East when Houston sank under a Dallas onslaught, 31-7. The Texans moved into the top spot in the West as the late-starting Buffalo Bills, rallied by hefty Fullback Cookie Gilchrist, upset Denver 45-38. New York's Titans shocked San Diego by beating them for the first time ever in New York, 23-3, pushing the injury-hampered Chargers right out of the running.
GOLF—TONY LEMA, who appears to be overcoming his habit of shooting one bad early round, played consistently well to win the $22,500 Orange County Open in Costa Mesa. Calif. Lema beat Bob Rosburg with an 11-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole of the playoff, after they had tied at 267.
HARNESS RACING—ELAINE RODNEY ($51.50), neatly navigated through a sloppy blanket of wetness by Driver Clint Hodgins, beat a highly rated international field in the $60,000 United Nations Trot at Yonkers. The upset winner, an unnoticed 5-year-old mare owned by S. L. and K. Stable of Eggertsville, N.Y., was given the whip five times by Hodgins in her come-from-behind surge through the stretch. She beat favored Su Mac Lad going away at the finish. Su Mac Lad found some comfort, however. By winning $15,000 for second he became the top money earner in trotting history—$560,349.
HOCKEY—DETROIT tied Boston 3-3 as the Bruins used Rookie Goalie Ed Johnston, 26 (40 saves), for the first time to give their other rookie goalie, Bobby Perreault (see page 38), a breather. Unbeaten still, the Red Wings blasted past Toronto with a 2-0 shutout and stayed on top. Chicago, in second, played Montreal twice, lost one and tied one in a struggle that saw Gilles Tremblay and Reg Fleming in a stick-swinging brawl. Results: 1 3 stitches across the forehead for Tremblay and a three-game suspension and $100 fines for each. With Jean Ratelle leading the Rangers, New York conquered Toronto 5-1 but lost to Chicago 5-3 and slid closer to the bottom.
HORSE RACING—BEAU PURPLE ($43.30) led an excellent field all the way through the mile-and-a-half Man o' War Stakes at Belmont for a two-length upset win over favored Kelso (see page 63).
Main Swap ($27.20) collected $95,977 in the $159,995 Gardenia Stakes at Garden State, the nation's richest race for 2-year-old fillies. Braulio Baeza rode Fred W. Hooper's winner to a half-length victory over favored Smart Deb after the leader bolted to the outside in the final turn.
HORSE SHOW—KATHY KUSNER, a 22-year-old single-minded ("horses, period") perfectionist, took the President's Cup as part of an unprecedented winning streak by girl riders at the Washington International. Riding Unusual, Miss Kusner survived a double jump-off over a raised course (5 feet 9 inches high and 5 feet 3 with a 7-foot spread) to beat out male teammate Frank Chapot, 28. Another U.S. girl, Mary Mairs, 18, of Pasadena. Calif., youngest ever to ride with the U.S. equestrian team, won the opening night international jump with Tomboy.
MODERN PENTATHLON—RUSSIA claimed its fifth consecutive world title with a timely win in the last event, the 4,000-meter run. after lagging behind a surprisingly strong U.S. team in the championships in Mexico City. The American trio of Jack Daniels, Alan Jackson and Paul Pesthy led through the first four days. But Valeri Pichuizhkin and Edouard Sdobnikov finished one-two in the rigorous run to boost the Soviets to victory and plunge the U.S. to third, behind Hungary.
MOTOR SPORTS—REX WHITE, a burly Spartanburg, S.C. NASCAR driver, eked out extra mileage by running in the slipstream of the leader (who later did run out of gas) to win the $49,000 Dixie 400 race in Atlanta. Jovial Joe Weatherly of Norfolk, Va., the champion NASCAR driver on points, finished second.
SWIMMING—DAWN ERASER, Aussie Olympian (1956 and 1960), reversed swimming's law of geriatrics—only children set records—with two magnificent 100-meter races in the Melbourne trials for this month's British Empire Games. Miss Fraser, a seasoned 25, first hit the imposing 60-second barrier with an even minute clocking (.2 off her own world record) and then four days later came in with a shattering 59.9. Almost as impressive was the showing of Australia's powerful Kevin Berry, 17, who set three world marks in three days: 59.4 for the 110-yard butterfly and 2:09.7 for the 200 meters and 220 yards.
TENNIS—MEXICO defeated Sweden 3-2, in a seesawing Davis Cup interzone semifinal match in Mexico (seepage 66). First, Sweden's steady Jan Erik Lundquist brushed aside erratic Antonio Palafox in the opening singles, 8-6, 1-6, 8-6, 6-4. Acrobatic Rafael Osuna catapulted into a drawn-out victory over Ulf Schmidt, 6-3, 16-14, 1-6, 6-2, a match halted by an overnight curfew. Osuna and Palafox beat the Swedes in the doubles, 6-8, 7-5, 12-10, 6-1, but Schmidt came back against Palafox, 11-9, 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. Finally Osuna clinched it, beating Lundquist 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
Rod Laver turned down a lucrative offer from a tobacco company—a $9,800-a-year job in public relations that was made in the hope he would remain an amateur after the Davis Cup.
MILEPOSTS—DIED: ROBERT F. McALLISTER, 63, retired New York police inspector who was known as "the flying cop" during his turbulent career as both policeman (five citations, one perjury charge and one murder acquittal) and track star (two world indoor records), considered one of the country's greatest sprinters in the '20s; in Hollywood, Fla.
