A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—Having clinched the Eastern title, Boston last week sat back, relaxed and lost three straight before beating the 76ers 133-111 to even the series between the two at 5-5. CINCINNATI beat the Warriors twice but lost four others (one by 43 points to the Bullets) and remained 14½ games behind Boston. PHILADELPHIA had a 2-3 week but managed to end a five-game losing streak with a thrilling 110-109 win over the Royals in which Wilt Chamberlain scored 48 points and the winning basket. NEW YORK, typically, won one, lost three, eliminating itself from the playoffs for the sixth season in a row. In a losing cause against the Lakers Willie Reed scored 46 points, a club record for rookies. In the Western Division LOS ANGELES, with first place not yet wrapped up, kept on playing and winning—four games out of five—but second-place ST. LOUIS, with four straight wins, gained half a game in the standings. BALTIMORE won three and appeared secure in third place as DETROIT's challenge faded with three losses in five games. SAN FRANCISCO played in typical style—one win, three losses.
BOATING—BOLERO, the late Sally Langmuir's famed yawl, now skippered by William L. Brittain of Grosse Pointe, Mich., was the triple winner of the Lipton Cup race off Miami. Hampered by 30 to 35 knot winds, Bolero was the first to cover the 28-mile course, led the Class A entries, and took overall honors with a corrected time of 3:17.05. In addition, she was the first yacht in four Southern Ocean Racing Conference races to finish ahead of Robert Johnson's Ticonderoga.
BOWLING—Twenty-year-old MIKE LIMONGELLO of Babylon, N.Y., who joined the PBA tour last summer, won the Oklahoma Tournament of Stars and $5,000 by defeating Bob Strampe of Detroit, 245-225, in the final game.
BOXING—The WBA's world heavyweight championship (page 28) was awarded by unanimous decision to ERNIE TERRELL of Chicago after a 15-round bout with Eddie Machen at Chicago's International Amphitheater.
CURLING—The U.S. men's national championship in Seattle (page 20) ended in a sudden-death playoff between Illinois and Wisconsin, each with a 10-1 record. WISCONSIN won the playoff, 9-4, and thus became eligible for the Scotch Cup in Perth, Scotland, symbol of the world championship.
FIGURE SKATING—Frenchman ALAIN CALMAT, who had competed in the championships for 11 years, never successfully, finally won the world singles title at Colorado Springs by following a top effort in the compulsory figures with the best free-skating exhibition of his career. Scott Ethan Allen of Smoke Rise, N.J. was second, the best U.S. finish since David Jenkins won in 1959. Other winners: PETRA BURKA of Canada in the women's division, Russian husband and wife team, LYUDMILA and OLEG PROTOPOPOV, in the pairs and Czechoslovakia's EVA and PAVEL ROMAN in the ice dancing.
GOLF—DOUG SANDERS sank a 35-foot putt on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff against Jack Nicklaus to win the $65,000 Pensacola Open. Sanders and Nicklaus had finished 72 holes with scores of 277. KEN VENTURI (page 64), who had a 72 at the end of one round, dropped out after cold winds had aggravated the circulatory difficulty in his hands.
Sam Snead won his second straight seniors' championship at Fort Lauderdale, Fla. with a four-round total of 278, four strokes better than Joe Lopez of Miami, who finished second. In winning, the 52-year-old slammer earned the right to meet the yet-to-be-determined British senior champion in a mano a mano match in Liverpool this July.
HOCKEY—Eight shifts took place among the top three in the NHL last week. MONTREAL (1-1-1) did most of the moving—into a tie for second with the Red Wings, then into a tie for first with the Black Hawks, then suddenly into third, all alone, a point in back of second-place DETROIT (3-0). CHICAGO (1-2) stayed on top, but its margin was reduced to one point. TORONTO broke a four-game losing streak with its 4-1 win over the Black Hawks and ties with the Canadiens and Bruins. NEW YORK, with a win and three losses, was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, and BOSTON, long gone, had a 1-1-2 week.
HORSE RACING—Jockey John Rotz guided NATIVE CHARGER ($14.20) of the Warner Stable to a half-length victory in the $143,600 Flamingo Stakes (page 60) at Hialeah. Sparkling Johnny was second and favored Hail to All third.
Lucky Debonair ($8.80) set a Santa Anita Derby record of 1:47 for the 1‚⅛-mile distance when he won the $134,300 event by four lengths over highly favored Jacinto.
Lt. Stevens, the favorite ($8.80), ridden by Thomas Barrow, won the $115,000 John B. Campbell Handicap at Bowie by a nose over Knightly Manner. The 4-year-old winner has finished out of the money only once in 19 starts.
POOL—The 1965 World Pocket Billiard champion is CICERO MURPHY, 29, of Brooklyn, who completed the 36-day event at the American Billiard Parlor, Burbank, Calif. with final-round wins over Jimmy Moore of Albuquerque and Joe Balsis of Minersville, Pa. for a record of 17 wins and three losses and runs of 56 and 67 balls. In second place was Defending Champion Luther Lassiter of Elizabeth City, N.C. and in third, Irving Crane of Rochester, N.Y.
SKI JUMPING—JOHN BALFANZ of Elizabeth, Ill. jumped 325 feet during competition at the Pine Mountain (Mich.) invitational tournament. The jump set a new North American record that bettered by a foot the mark set by Norwegian Toralf Engen at Leavenworth, Wash. earlier this year.
TENNIS—DENNIS RALSTON snapped back from two recent late-round losses to win the Good Neighbor tournament in Miami, beating Tomas Koch of Brazil 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. MARGARET SMITH of Australia defeated her teammate, Lesley Turner, 6-2, 8-6 in the women's division, and Australian FRED STOLLE and Frenchman PIERRE BARTHES took the doubles from Ralston and Frank Froehling, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
TRACK & FIELD—VILLANOVA won its fourth consecutive IC4A indoor meet and its seventh in nine years, with a point total of 24. Maryland was second with 21½, Harvard third at 14. The winners had two firsts, TOM SULLIVAN in the mile (4:09.2) and NOEL CARROLL in the 1,000 (2:11.5). Maryland's FRANK COSTELLO (no kin) went over the high-jump bar at 7 feet for the first time in his career, leaving the rest of the field below at 6 feet 8 and less. SAM PERRY of Fordham won the 60-yard dash four times in one day in spite of a bad knee, and JOHN UELSES of La Salle cleared 16 feet in the pole vault.
Ron Clarke of Australia set a world 10-mile record in Melbourne, just hours after returning from his brief U.S. indoor tour. His time: 47:12.8.
MILEPOSTS—NAMED: To serve as nonplaying captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team, GEORGE R. MacCALL, a Los Angeles businessman who is the fifth-ranked senior player in the country. He succeeds Vic Seixas.
PROMOTED: LOU WATSON, assistant basketball coach at Indiana University, to the head coaching job, replacing Branch McCracken who retires after 24 seasons. McCracken's teams had won two national championships, three Big Ten titles and a co-championship and had finished out of the first division only seven times.
PROMOTED: JOE DAN GOLD, to the head basketball coaching job at Mississippi State University, succeeding BABE McCARTHY who retired after 10 years and a 169-85 record on the job.
DIED: PEPPER MARTIN, colorful outfielder and third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals' Gashouse Gang of the 1930s, of a heart attack in McAlester, Okla. at the age of 61. Martin played on four Cardinal pennant-winning teams (1928, 1931, 1934 and 1944) and had a 15-game World Series batting average of .418. His greatest glory came in the 1931 series against the Philadelphia Athletics, when he made 12 hits, stole five bases and was responsible for three of his team's four wins.
