A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—The NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION played another game of musical chairs, but this time everyone got a seat as former Syracuse coach and NBA player Alex Hannum was named to coach the San Francisco Warriors, replacing Bob Feerick, who will move up to general manager, while Eddie Gottlieb, who owned the Warrior franchise in Philadelphia and remained general manager after selling the club to a San Francisco group, becomes managing director.
"No athletic team has ever paid tribute to the gallant men who forged this country's independence, and certainly Philadelphia, Shrine of Liberty, should do so," said Walter Stalberg after successfully renaming the NBA's recently shifted Syracuse Nationals the PHILADELPHIA 76ers, to win the name-the-club contest over more than 4,000 entries. His reward: An all-expense trip for two to San Francisco and perhaps a chance to see the old Philadelphia club in action.
BOATING—"The crew is tired, I'm tired, and I'm sure Bill Muncey is tired," said Willard Rhodes, president of Associated Grocers, which sponsors Miss Thriftway, the hydroplane, built in 1959 (replacing two earlier Miss Thriftways) that Muncey (SI, July 8) has driven to two Gold Cup victories and three straight unlimited hydro championships. Making her final appearance at the Seafair Trophy race on Seattle's Lake Washington, Miss Thriftway appeared tired, too, as she sputtered out and failed to qualify for the final heat. The $25,000 race was won by Tahoe Miss with Chuck Thompson at the controls.
BOXING—Before 25,000 fans in Ibadan, Nigeria, National Hero DICK TIGER easily retained his world middleweight title by pummeling Gene Fullmer almost at will until the referee stopped the fight after seven rounds (see page 12). It was only the second time that Fullmer had been stopped in 64 pro bouts (55 wins, six losses, three draws). Tiger, who has never been knocked out, now has an overall record of 48 wins, 11 losses and three draws.
BRIDGE—In the AMERICAN CONTRACT BRIDGE LEAGUE'S summer tournament in Los Angeles the team of Clifford Russell, Harold Harkavy, Russell Arnold, William Seamon and Mrs. Edith Kemp, all of Miami Beach, Fla., and Alvin Roth of New York, won the masters' team championship (see page 52) to add the Spingold Cup to the shelf already holding the Vanderbilt Cup won last spring.
FOOTBALL—With opening games less than a month away (Sept. 14) the NFL played its first exhibitions. Viking rookie Fred Cox kicked five field goals to lead MINNESOTA to a 43-28 victory over San Francisco. Packer Quarterback Bart Starr returned to form, completing eight of 15 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns, as GREEN BAY downed Pittsburgh 27-7. Cleveland, playing under new Coach Blanton Collier, fumbled its way to a 24-10 loss to DETROIT. BALTIMORE scored all its points in the first half and held on to beat Philadelphia 26-21, and New York lost to CHICAGO 17-7.
In AFL exhibition games SAN DIEGO trounced Boston 50-17, as Charger Quarterback John Hadl completed 14 of 25 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns and ran four yards for another. HOUSTON, three-time Eastern Division champions, beat the New York Jets 17-0, and OAKLAND downed Denver 35-19.
GOLF—Former Ohio State University Golfer TOM WEISKOPF, 20, upset two-time Public Links champion and Walker Cupper Dick Sikes 3 and 2 and, in the finals, beat National Amateur title holder Labron Harris Jr. 5 and 4 to win the 61st Western Amateur Championship in Benton Harbor, Mich.
The U.S. team of four pros and four amateurs won the CARLING CUP best ball golf match from Canada for the fifth straight time in Toledo.
HARNESS RACING—Don Miller guided favorite CHEER HONEY ($3.30) to an easy 1½ length victory over Campus Queen in the $47,372.50 Hudson Futurity at Yonkers, with Kentucky Belle prancing in third. Later, in the $25,000 Kimberly Kid trot, Norman S. Woolworth's PORTERHOUSE ($10.80), with Earle Avery in the sulky, upset Su Mac Lad, the richest ($700,799) Standardbred in history, by a length.
HORSE RACING—Thomas S. Nichols' TONA ($45.80), with Mike Sorrentino aboard, held on to win the $57,400 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga by a dwindling nose over fast-closing favorite Lamb Chop, as Prodana Neviesta, who had trailed through most of the 1¼ miles, came well in the stretch and finished third.
In an exhibition mile at Saratoga, Jack Price's Carry Back, returning to the track after a busy season at stud, stayed even for half a mile before Chateaugay pulled away to win by five lengths.
Bounding main ($74.80), under Jimmy Nichols, slipped through in the stretch and won the $56,800 Arlington Park Handicap. Favored Hellenic Hero, with Willie Shoemaker, finished second, but Ray Broussard on B. Major (who ran third) claimed interference, and the placings were reversed.
Prince O'Pilsen ($9), with Wayne Chambers aboard, took command in the stretch and went on to win the $29,500 Ventnor Turf Handicap in Atlantic City by 4½ lengths. Favored Hot Dust finished second by a nose over Terminator.
SHOOTING—At Camp Perry, Ohio, Army Sergeant WILLIAM BLANKENSHIP JR. of Columbus, Ga. fired an aggregate score of 2,654 points out of a possible 2,700, shattering his own mark of 2,636 set in 1960, and became the first man to win four straight national pistol championships. GAIL LIBERTY, an Air Force nurse, fired a total of 2,553 to successfully defend her women's pistol title.
SWIMMING—At the AAU outdoor men's swimming and diving championships in Oak Park, Ill., DON SCHOLLANDER, 17, anchored the Santa Clara Swim Club 800-meter freestyle-relay team to a world record of 8:07.6, broke the listed world 200-meter freestyle mark with a 1:59 clocking (he has a time of 1:58.8 pending), took the 400-meter freestyle and finished second to ROY SAARI in the 1,500-meter freestyle event. Other top performances: CARL ROBIE, 18, bettered his own American 200-meter butterfly mark with a 2:08.8 clocking; STEVE CLARK, 20, won the 100-meter freestyle in 54.9, after setting an American record of 54.2 in the preliminaries; DICK ROTH, 16, won the 200-meter individual medley in 2:16, upsetting three-time winner and record holder Ted Stickles; DICK McGEAGH, 19, beat defending champion Tom Stock in the 100-meter backstroke, and LARRY ANDREASEN, 17, who could do no better than 17th last year, won the three-meter diving, defeating veterans Lou Vitucci and Rick Gilbert.
TENNIS—The U.S. WIGHTMAN CUP team got off to a bad start in Cleveland when Britain's Ann Haydon Jones upset upsettable Darlene Hard 6-1, 0-6, 8-6 in the opening match. Billie Jean Moffitt evened the score by defeating Christine Truman 6—4, 19-17, in the longest Wightman contest on record, 1 hour 40 minutes, then teamed with Darlene to win the doubles and move the U.S. into a 2-1 lead. The next day Nancy Richey of Dallas beat Britain's Deidre Catt 14-12, 6-3, and Darlene clinched the cup for the U.S. for a 29th time by downing Miss Truman 6-3, 6-0.
Eugene Scott, 25, fresh from winning the Eastern Grass Courts, upset Allen Fox, the country's No. 4 player, in a tough five-set semifinal match and then went on to beat Britain's Roger Taylor 6-0, 6-2, 8-6, to win the revived Nassau Bowl grass-court tournament in Glen Cove, N.Y. Taylor later teamed with Bobby Wilson to take the doubles from Californians Bill Bond and Tom Edlefsen 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
TRACK & FIELD—Resting only the allotted five minutes between events, BILL URBAN of the New York Athletic Club accumulated 8,492 points to set an American record and win the AAU all-round (100-yard dash, shotput, high jump, 880-yard walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120-yard high hurdles, 56-pound weight throw, broad jump and mile run) track championship in Baltimore. The holder of the previous record of 8,265 points, Tom Pagani, finished third.
MILEPOSTS—DIED: Boston Boxing Manager and Promoter JOHN BUCKLEY, 74, of respiratory complications, in Boston. After taking a beating from one Rudolph Upholtz in 1904 and earning only $7.50, Buckley, age 15, 118 pounds, decided fighting was not for him, became a manager and handled more than 500 boxers, including three world champions—Heavyweight Jack Sharkey. Welterweight Lou Brouillard and Middleweight Paul Pender.
DIED: SIG HART, 91, a bantamweight champion in 1899 and manager of some 300 fighters, including Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson (SI, Dec. 13, 1954); in Chicago. Hart, who was 5 feet tall and never weighed more than 100 pounds, won 110 of 117 bouts. His biggest purse: $250.
DIED: World contract bridge champion SIDNEY SILODOR, 56, who, with 6,450 master points, ranked third behind Oswald Jacoby and Charles Goren in the Western Hemisphere standings, of cancer, in Philadelphia.
