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A roundup of the sports information of the week
BADMINTON—Four unofficial world titles were settled at the All-England Badminton Championships in London. ERLAND KOPS of Denmark won the men's singles, URSULA SMITH of Britain the women's singles. MRS. ULLA RASMUSSEN STRAND and her sister, MRS. KAREN JORGENSEN, both of Denmark, took the women's doubles, while the Malaysian team of NG BOON BEE and TAN YEE KHAN won the men's.
BASKETBALL—Both third-place teams led after the three games of the NBA's opening-round playoffs. PHILADELPHIA defeated CINCINNATI 119-117 in the first game on the Royals' court and again in the third 108-94, as Hal Greer scored a total of 67 points. The Royals won the second game 121-120. BALTIMORE won its opener 108-105, but ST. LOUIS came back in the second 129-105, and in the third game the Bullets put on a 77-point second-half show to win 131-99. The Bullets and the 76ers needed only one victory each to qualify for the division finals against Los Angeles and Boston.
Bill Russell of the Celtics was voted Outstanding Player for the fourth time in five years, while WILLIS REED of the Knicks was chosen as Rookie of the Year. WILT CHAMBERLAIN took the league scoring title for the sixth straight time. His average was 34.7 points per game, his percentage of accuracy .510. In six years of NBA play (464 games) Chamberlain has never fouled out, another record. Tops in rebounds was Russell. LARRY COSTELLO of the 76ers led in free throws, while Oscar Robertson had the most assists.
The WEST won what might be called a split decision over the East in the third annual National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star Game in Lexington, Ky. Sparked by North Carolina's Billy Cunningham, the East was winning 56-50 in the second half when Cunningham ripped the seat of his pants and had to retire for repairs. The West, led by Gail Goodrich of UCLA and Flynn Robinson of Wyoming, took charge, and by the time Cunningham reappeared his team was behind by eight. Final score: 87-74.
BOATING—The U.S. silver medalist in Star class sailing at the Tokyo Olympics, DICK STEARNS of Chicago, won the Star class spring championship in Nassau, BWI, with two firsts, two seconds and a third in the five-race series. E. W. (Skip) Etchells of Old Greenwich, Conn. was second, and Olympic gold medal winner Durward Knowles of Nassau was third.
BOWLING—BILL ALLEN of Orlando, Fla. rolled five strikes in his final match against Nelson Burton Jr. of St. Louis to win the PBA's $32,500 Buffalo Open in Depew, N.Y. by a score of 206-190.
BOXING—MANNY GONZALES, the world's second-ranked welterweight, won a unanimous decision over ninth-ranked Gaspar Ortega of Mexico in a 10-round match in Houston.
GOLF—A not-so-sudden-death playoff, the second longest in the history of the PGA, ended in victory for DICK HART, a club pro from Hinsdale, Ill., when he parred the 8th hole at the Azalea Open in Wilmington, N.C., while Phil Rodgers, who had led the field halfway through the last round, missed the green, chipped to within four feet, then missed the par putt. The two had finished regulation play with 276s for 72 holes.
HANDBALL—The U.S. four-wall handball singles championship, held this year on the University of Texas' new glass-enclosed court, was won for the sixth time by JIMMY JACOBS of New York, who defeated Dave Graybill of Phoenix, Ariz. 21-12, 21-11 in the final match.
HOCKEY—DETROIT capped its late-season rush by beating the Rangers 7-4 to clinch the NHL title. It was the Red Wings' 13th victory in 16 games. Alex Delvecchio scored three goals—his second hat trick in 15 seasons—and Norm Ullman scored twice, bringing his total to 42. The Red Wings finished the schedule, their first championship season since 1956-57, with a 40-23-7 record. While the Wings, along with MONTREAL (36-23-11), CHICAGO (34-28-8) and TORONTO (30-26-14), got ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs, NEW YORK (20-38-12) and BOSTON (21-43-6) sat back to watch.
HORSE RACING—JAY TRUMP, 8-year-old bay gelding bred in Pennsylvania, ridden by Crompton (Tommy) Smith, an amateur jockey from Middleburg, Va., won England's Grand National Steeplechase (page 24).
Ampose ($38.40), who joined the handicap ranks only two weeks ago, came from behind to win the $111,900 Gulfstream Park Handicap, beating second-place Tronado by three quarters of a length. Gun Bow was third, Candy Spots eighth and last.
Briardale Farm's MARIBEAU ($53.80) recorded his third victory in four starts when he won the $18,275 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, 2½ lengths ahead of Hail to All and four lengths in front of favored Sparkling Johnny.
MOTOR SPORTS—A Chevrolet-powered Chaparral built and driven by JIM HALL and HAP SHARP of Midland, Texas came through heat, rain and darkness at Sebring, Fla. (page 93) to win the 12-hour endurance race, four laps ahead of a Ford Grand Touring prototype driven by Bruce McLaren and Ken Miles.
SKIING—The NCAA championship, held this year at Washington's newest resort, Crystal Mountain, was won by Willy Schaeffler's DENVER UNIVERSITY squad with 380.5 points to second-place Utah University's 378.4. MIKE ELLIOTT of Ft. Lewis A&M College in Durango, Colo. won the nine-mile cross-country in 55:34; RICK CHAFFEE, Denver University sophomore, took the slalom; and BILL MAROLT of Colorado, who had fallen on both runs of the slalom, won the downhill. ERIK JANSEN of Denver captured the jumping on a 55-meter hill with leaps of 172, 168 and 149 feet. Utah's surprising second-place finish was the result of second and third places earned by Frithjof Prydz and Matz Jenssen in the jumping event.
Adrien Duvillard of France won the Stratton Cup at Stratton Mt., Vt., the final event of the U.S. pro season. Duvillard's time for two 90-gate slalom runs was 2:18.03. Winner's purse: $2,000.
Visiting teams from France and Austria swept the slopes of Sun Valley, Idaho clean in last week's Harriman Cup races. KARL SCHRANZ of Austria won the downhill and was third in the slalom (behind winner MICHEL ARPIN of France) to take the men's combined title. MARIELLE GOITSCHEL of France won the women's downhill and slalom. The best American performance was Jean Saubert's second in the slalom, 1.03 seconds behind.
SWIMMING—Despite the new scoring system (page 17), USC defended its NCAA title successfully for the second time with a 285-point total at Ames, Iowa, a victory that was not decided until the final event was completed. The Trojans led Indiana by half a point going into the 400-yard freestyle relay. Yale won the race, setting an American record of 3:07.2, but USC finished third to Indiana's sixth and that was enough. ROY SAARI, who won three titles for USC last year, was a triple winner again in the 200-, 500-, and 1,650-yard freestyle. In the last one he lowered his American record to 16:39.9. The double winners were FRED SCHMIDT of Indiana (100-and 200-yard butterfly), KEN SITZBERGER of Indiana (one-and three-meter diving), STEVE CLARK of Yale (50-and 100-yard freestyle) and GARY DILLEY of Michigan State (100-and 200-yard backstroke). In 17 events, eight American, nine NCAA and 10 meet records were broken.
WRESTLING—Oklahoma State led by 22 points going into the championship round of the NCAA tournament in Laramie, Wyo. (page 82). Furthermore, State had five men competing, while second-place IOWA STATE had only two. But both Iowa finalists won, and that, combined with six third places, gave the Cyclones the team title by one point over State, the defending champion.
MILEPOSTS—ELEVATED: At the end of a 20-year career playing high school, college and pro football, JESSE RICHARDSON, tackle for the Boston Patriots of the AFL since 1962, to post of defensive line coach.
