A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASEBALL—The YOMIURI GIANTS coasted to their ninth Central League pennant since 1950 and will meet the NISHITETSU LIONS, winners of the Pacific League championship by one game, in the Japanese World Series. The Lions, who were 13 games out of first place at midseason, won their first pennant in 10 years by sweeping two double-headers on the last two days of the season. Katasuya Nomura of the Nankai Hawks hit 52 home runs (three in the last two games of the season) to break the old Japanese pro record by one.
Sid C. Keener, 75, retired after 11 years as director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.
BASKETBALL—The BOSTON CELTICS, playing without Bob Cousy for the first time since 1950, opened the NBA season with an easy 109-95 victory over Baltimore and then squeezed by the Royals 93-92 to take over their usual spot at the top of the Eastern Division. Despite its loss, CINCINNATI looked like a strong challenger to the Celtics as the Royals ran away from St. Louis 112-93—with Jerry Lucas (see page 30) scoring 23 points and making 17 rebounds in his pro debut—and New York 127-97. SAN FRANCISCO won its only game (103-102 over Baltimore) and led the Western Division, while LOS ANGELES lost its only game (117-108 to St. Louis) and fell into last place.
BOXING—Cuban LUIS RODRIGUEZ, the former welterweight champion, gained a unanimous decision over Toledo's Wilbert (Skeeter) McClure in a 10-round bout at Madison Square Garden. It was the first loss in 15 pro fights for McClure, the 1960 Olympic light middleweight champion.
At the Sports Palace in Paris SUGAR RAY ROBINSON won a 10-round decision over Armand Vanucci, a French middleweight who is also a guard of the Mono Lisa at the Louvre.
FOOTBALL—NFL: In the Western Division SAN FRANCISCO won its first game by upsetting previously undefeated Chicago 20-14. Led by veteran Lamar McHan, who was starting his first game for the 49ers (regular Quarterback John Brodie was out with an injury), San Francisco scored 17 points in the first half before the Bears made their first touchdown. GREEN BAY tied Chicago for the lead by scoring the first five times it had the ball (two touchdowns and three field goals), for a surprisingly simple 30-7 victory over St. Louis. BALTIMORE beat Detroit 25-21, as Jim Martin, who was traded to the Colts by the Lions just before the season started, kicked four field goals—two of them 45 yards. Danny Villanueva kicked two fourth-period field goals to give LOS ANGELES a 27-24 win over Minnesota, its first of the season. The Rams had led by four points at the half, but Fullback Bill Brown's two touchdowns (a 78-yard kickoff return and a short pass from Fran Tarkenton) within two and a half minutes had put the Vikings ahead at the start of the second half. In the Eastern Division undefeated CLEVELAND easily won its sixth game by crushing Philadelphia 37-7, as Frank Ryan passed to Gary Collins for three touchdowns and to Jimmy Brown for another. Brown also ran 144 yards to set a new NFL career rushing record of 8,390 yards. It took him just 6½ seasons to break Joe Perry's old record of 8,296 yards, set in 13½ seasons with the 49ers and the Colts. NEW YORK defeated Dallas 37-21 to move into a second-place tie with St. Louis, two full games behind the Browns. A 75-yard TD pass from Eddie LeBaron to Frank Clarke had helped the Cowboys build up a surprising 21-17 half-time lead, but in the second half Y. A. Tittle threw two touchdown passes (four overall), and Dick Lynch ran an interception 82 yards for a touchdown. PITTSBURGH, behind 27-24 early in the last period, beat Washington 38-27 when Dick Haley scored a touchdown on an intercepted pass and, four plays later, Ed Brown threw a TD pass to Buddy Dial.
AFL: Halfback Clem Daniels ran for 200 yards and scored three touchdowns in leading OAKLAND to a 49-26 upset over New York, dropping the Jets from first to third place in the Eastern Division. End Gino Cappelletti's 22 points (four field goals, four extra points, one TD pass) were all BOSTON needed in a 40-21 rout of Denver. Three George Blanda TD passes, including one for 80 yards, gave HOUSTON a 28-14 victory over Buffalo and a tie with the Patriots for the lead in the East. SAN DIEGO stayed on top of the Western Division by defeating Kansas City 38-17 as Tobin Rote threw two long touchdown passes (73 and 44 yards) to Lance Alworth.
GOLF—After an embarrassing 4-over-par first round (75), JACK NICKLAUS came back with successive rounds of 66, 66 and 69 to win the $70,000 Sahara Invitational by one stroke over Al Geiberger and Gay Brewer Jr. at the Paradise Valley Country Club in Las Vegas.
Kathy Whitworth of Jal, N. Mex. won the Hillside Open by four strokes over Mickey Wright at the Montecito Country Club in Santa Barbara, Calif. Miss Wright's $950 for second-place lifted her season earnings to $27,600, a new LPGA record.
HOCKEY—CHICAGO took the NHL lead by defeating the Bruins 5-2 (on Stan Mikita's hat trick) and the Canadiens 5-3. TORONTO (2-1 for the week) and DETROIT (1-2) tied for second, two points behind the Black Hawks, while MONTREAL slipped to fourth. Gump Worsley's 2-0 shutout of the Bruins was the Canadiens' only win in three games. NEW YORK won two in a row as Jacques Plante shut out the Red Wings 3-0 and Phil Goyette's four assists in the first period led the Rangers to a 5-1 victory over winless Boston.
HORSE RACING—KELSO ($2.30), guided by Ismael Valenzuela, finished four lengths ahead of Guadalcanal to win the $108,900 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Aqueduct for the fourth successive year.
Claiborne Farm's DUEL ($9.40), ridden by Steve Brooks, was the surprise winner in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, as previously undefeated Golden Ruler, the 1-to-2 favorite, finished fifth.
As expected, W. H. Perry's 3-year-old filly, LAMB CHOP, with Manuel Ycaza in the saddle, decisively won the $69,725 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, by 11 lengths.
With the Irish Sweepstakes riding on its outcome, the Cambridgeshire Stakes was won by COMMANDER IN CHIEF, a 100-to-7 shot, by a neck over American-owned Principal, at Newmarket, England.
E. P. Taylor's CANEBORA ($2.80), ridden by Manuel Ycaza, won the 1½-mile Breeders' Stakes at Woodbine (Ont.) to earn the Canadian Triple Crown (he had already taken the Queen's Plate and the Prince of Wales Stakes).
MOTOR SPORTS—DAVE MacDONALD of El Monte, Calif. took his second international race in seven days when he drove his Ford-engined Cooper-Cobra to victory in the 192-mile Pacific Grand Prix for sports cars in Monterey, Calif.
OLYMPIC GAMES—The International Olympic Committee, meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany, chose MEXICO CITY as the site of the 1968 summer Olympic Games. Michigan Governor George Romney led the U.S. bid by Detroit, but despite campaigning by more than 60 U.S. delegates, five tons of promotional material, and a filmed plea by President Kennedy, Detroit lost its eighth try in 27 years.
MILEPOSTS—DIED: Golfer HORTON SMITH, 55, who collapsed while watching the recent Ryder Cup matches, of Hodgkin'S disease in a Detroit hospital. He had devoted his life to golf—as a player (considered the best putter in the game, he won 33 major tournaments in 37 years as a professional); as an administrator (PGA president 1952-1954); and as an instructor (head pro at the Detroit Golf Club since 1946). Smith won the Masters twice (the 1934 inaugural and 1936) and played on three Ryder Cup teams (1929, 1933, 1935) without losing a match.
DIED: Johnny Gutenko, better known as KID WILLIAMS, 69, the world bantamweight champion from 1914 to 1917, at his home in Baltimore.
DIED: AGESILAO GRECO, 97, a professional fencing master who was unbeaten in a quarter-century of world competition, of pneumonia in Rome, Italy.
