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A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASEBALL—HANK BAUER, 41, who played 12 years in the Yankee outfield (1948-1959) and managed the Athletics two seasons (1961-1962), was given a one-year contract to manage the Baltimore Orioles (he was a coach for the team last season).
BASKETBALL—BOSTON extended its latest winning streak to five games (12 out of 13 overall) with a 126-98 mauling of New York as nine Celtics scored 10 or more points. Disappointing CINCINNATI fell further behind the Celtics in the Eastern Division (4½ games) by losing two out of four games. PHILADELPHIA, which had net won more than one game in a row, suddenly turned around and took its third straight—from New York 118-101—to move within two games of the Royals. During the streak, the 76ers' tightened defense held opponents to an average 100 points a game (in the previous 11 games opponents averaged 116). Last-place NEW YORK absorbed two bad beatings and then defeated Detroit 108-99 by holding the Pistons scoreless for more than four minutes in the last period. LOS ANGELES climbed back into first place in the Western Division by defeating the Hawks 111-99 in its only game (ailing Elgin Baylor scored just eight points). ST. LOUIS also lost two other games, while winning only one, and dropped to second, a half game behind. SAN FRANCISCO, in third, smashed the Hawks 129-96 as Wilt Chamberlain totaled 40 points, the high for the week. Fourth-place DETROIT managed to defeat the Royals 124-118 for its only victory in three games, while hapless BALTIMORE, which did not play, remained buried in the cellar with only three victories in 13 games.
BOXING—Japan's HIROYUKI EBIHARA, the world flyweight champion, knocked out Henry Acido of the Philippines in the 10th round of a nontitle fight in Nagoya. Japan.
CROSS-COUNTRY—Defending Champion VICTOR ZWOLAK of Villanova won the five-mile IC4A University Division race in 24:46.8 to break his own meet record by half a second. For the first time in 55 years, however, NOTRE DAME took the team title, with four runners among the top 20 finishers at New York's Van Cortlandt Park.
FOOTBALL—AFL: Commissioner Joe Foss, out of respect for the late President, postponed last Sunday's games until a later date. This extended the AFL season one week, with the last games to be played Sunday, December 22.
NFL: A dramatic three-way tie for first place in the Eastern Division among the Giants, Browns and Cardinals (8-3), with only three weeks left in the season, occurred when ST. LOUIS broke New York's five-game winning streak with a surprising 24-17 victory (see page 64), and CLEVELAND, snapping back after two losses in a row, defeated Dallas 27-17. Jimmy Brown was limited to 51 yards rushing in 17 tries, but Frank Ryan, who was benched last week, took up the slack with two touchdown passes. The Browns' stubborn defense held Don Meredith, who had completed 55 passes for 762 yards in his last two games, to just 13 for 93 yards and intercepted four (one for a TD). WASHINGTON scored all its points in the first half on two field goals by Bob Khayat and a 31-yard pass from Norm Snead to Dick James to edge Philadelphia 13-10. Sonny Jurgensen, playing his first game in five weeks, completed 19 passes for 209 yards and a TD, but it wasn't enough to keep the Eagles from dropping into the cellar. CHICAGO clung to a half-game first-place lead in the Western Division by tying Pittsburgh 17-17 on an 18-yard field goal by Roger Leclerc late in the last quarter. Bart Starr also played for the first time in five weeks, and second-place GREEN BAY rolled over San Francisco 28-10. The Packers did all their scoring in the first half as Starr threw one TD pass, Jim Taylor ran 34 yards for a TD (115 yards rushing in the half) and Reserve Halfback Elijah Pitts passed for one TD and ran for another. In a pair of meaningless games, LOS ANGELES slipped by Baltimore 17-16 on Danny Villanueva's 13-yard field goal, while MINNESOTA upset Detroit 34-31 when Tommy Mason, with only 2½ minutes to go, plunged for a touchdown.
William Clay Ford, 38, vice-president of the Ford Motor Co. and president of the Detroit Lions for the past 2½ years, purchased the team for $6 million.
The BRITISH COLUMBIA LIONS of Canada's Western Conference defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders twice (19-7 and 36-1) and. for the first time in the team's 10-year history, earned the right to play in the Grey Cup. They will face the seasoned Eastern Conference Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who have played in the final six times since 1950 and won it twice (1953 and 1957).
GOLF—REX BAXTER JR., 27, of Amarillo, Texas, the 1957 NCAA champion but winless on the PGA circuit since turning pro in 1958. took the final 1963 tournament—the $20,000 Cajun Classic in Lafayette, La. Tied for seventh after 36 holes, he shot consecutive four-under-par 68s for a 275 to win by two strokes. Jack Nicklaus. who tied for fourth, collected $1,050. This brought his 1963 official earnings to $100,040 and made him the second golfer ever to top $100,000 in one year (Arnold Palmer won $128,230 this year).
HARNESS RACING—Castleton Farm's SPEEDY SCOT, winner of trotting's Triple Crown, was elected Harness Horse of the Year (he was also voted the best 3-year-old trotter). Other 1963 divisional champions are Overtrick (best 3-year-old pacer), Race Time (best 2-year-old pacer) and Speedy Count (best 2-year-old trotter). Both Speedy Scot and Speedy Count are by the same sire—Speedster.
HOCKEY—CHICAGO increased its NHL lead to nine points by crushing Detroit 5-2 and Montreal 7-3 to extend its latest winning streak to five games (averaging nearly six goals a game). In their private race TORONTO (1-1-1) slipped into second, a point ahead of MONTREAL (1-1), after dropping to third earlier in the week. NEW YORK, with two ties (rookie Gilles Villemure totaled 67 saves playing for the injured Jacques Plante), moved within two points of fourth-place DETROIT (0-1), while BOSTON slumbered in the cellar, tying one and losing one.
HORSE RACING—Mrs. Richard C. duPont's KELSO was named Thoroughbred racing's Horse of the Year for the fourth time in a row (no other horse has won the title more than twice) and for the second year by a unanimous vote (1961). The other champions are Hurry to Market (2-year-old colt), Tosmah (2-year-old filly), Chateaugay (3-year-old colt), Lamb Chop (3-year-old filly). Cicada (handicap mare), Mongo (grass horse) and Amber Diver (steeplechase horse).
Rokeby Stable's QUADRANGLE ($8.40), ridden by Bill Hartack, finished fast to win the $176,250 Pimlico Futurity by 10 lengths at Pimlico, Md.
HORSE SHOW—The WEST GERMAN EQUESTRIAN TEAM won the international jumping title at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto by one point over the U.S. team, which withdrew from the final two days' competition because of President Kennedy's death (the American riders had already taken the Prix des Nations international jumping event).
TENNIS—Only two American Davis Cuppers, Dennis Ralston and Marty Riessen, played in the South Australian championships in Adelaide, and both lost to Australia's JOHN NEWCOMBE (Riessen in the second round, Ralston in the final). It looked as if Ralston might take his second straight Australian tournament when he outlasted top-ranked Roy Emerson 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2, 12-10 in the semifinals, but his game fell apart against Newcombe, and he was defeated 6-1, 6-3, 15-17, 6-1.
MILEPOSTS—APPOINTED: JOEL EAVES, 49, head basketball coach for 14 years at Auburn, to succeed Wally Butts as Georgia's athletic director.
DIED: GLADYS GOODDING, 70, organist at Madison Square Garden sporting events since 1937 and at Ebbets Field for 16 years, of a heart attack in New York City.
DIED: ALFRED MASTERS, 65, who retired last August after 38 years as Stanford's athletic director, of cancer in Palo Alto, Calif.
