- Publish date:
A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASEBALL—The YOMIURI GIANTS of Tokyo clinched their 10th Central League pennant in 15 years and will meet the NANKAI HAWKS, the Pacific League champions, in the Japanese World Series.
BOXING—New England light heavyweight champion MARION CONNERS, who until a few weeks ago served as Tom McNeeley's sparring partner, met McNeeley in Boston for the regional heavyweight title and won a unanimous 12-round decision. Conners weighed 178 to McNeeley's 207.
FOOTBALL—AFL: SAN DIEGO, the top team in the West, played BOSTON, the bottom team in the East and—what do you know—they tied 13-13. The unbeaten Chargers (4-0-2) suddenly couldn't score after the first half and salvaged a tie when their stubborn defense stopped everything except two field goals by Gino Cappelletti in the second half. It was the first nonlosing game for the Patriots in six tries. BUFFALO'S defense set up two last-quarter TDs and two field goals that defeated Kansas City 23-7 and moved the Bills 1½ games ahead in the East. The Chiefs held second in the West but were joined by OAKLAND, which gained in the standings despite a 24-24 tie with winless NEW YORK. DENVER, last in the West, beat Houston, second in the East 28-17, when John Griffin intercepted a pass and ran it back 44 yards for one TD and scored another on a 10-yard run with a blocked punt.
NFL: Bart Starr's three touchdown passes (62, 31 and 77 yards) in the third quarter overcame Detroit's 21-3 halftime lead and led GREEN BAY to a 31-21 win. The Packers remained first in the West with a perfect 5-0-0 record, while the Lions dropped from a second-place tie into a tie for third. BALTIMORE held on to second by swamping Washington 38-7 as Johnny Unitas passed for two touchdowns. The strong Colt defense also scored when Al Haymond picked off a Redskin pass and ran it back 30 yards. SAN FRANCISCO handed Los Angeles its third straight loss 45-21, and tied the Lions in the standings. John Brodie threw TD passes to John David Crow, Ken Willard and Dave Parks for the winners before turning the ball over to George Mira in the last quarter. Gale Sayers scored four times for CHICAGO, once on a 96-yard return of a kickoff with two minutes remaining, to lift the Bears to a 45-37 victory over Minnesota. CLEVELAND built a 13-point lead in three periods on a Jimmy Brown TD from the 10, a 29-yard TD pass from Frank Ryan to Walter Roberts and three field goals by Lou Groza, then barely held on to beat Dallas 23-17. The Browns remained tied for the lead in the Eastern Division with ST. LOUIS, which defeated Pittsburgh 20-7 as Charley Johnson tossed two touchdown passes, one a 71-yarder to Bobby Joe Conrad early in the fourth quarter. The loss did nothing for the Steelers, who remained tied for last with the Redskins, both with imperfect 0-5-0 records. Surprising NEW YORK stood tall in third place after Earl Morrall threw four scoring passes—71 yards to Aaron Thomas, 46 yards to Joe Morrison, 89 yards to Homer Jones and two yards to Bob Crespino for a 35-27 victory over Philadelphia.
GOLF—With birdies on eight of the last 16 holes, South Africa's GARY PLAYER, winner of the U.S. Open and the Canada Cup individual title, beat Peter Thomson of Australia 3 and 2 in the final of the Piccadilly World Match Play championship in Wentworth, England. The match ended when Player sank a 20-foot putt for a birdie on the 34th hole. Tony Lema and Arnold Palmer were eliminated in semifinal matches.
The USGA Senior Women's Amateur championship—54 holes for women 50-and-over with 15-and-under handicaps—was won by MRS. HULET SMITH, a grandmother from Pebble Beach, Calif., with a 242 total, 26 strokes over women's par. Mrs. Smith, also the 1964 winner, finished three strokes ahead of Mrs. John Haskell of Reno, Pa. on the Exmoor course in Highland Park, Ill.
HARNESS RACING—Going a mile and a half for the first time in his career, DARTMOUTH ($2.80), driven by Ralph Baldwin, easily won the $50,000 Roosevelt Trot by three-quarters of a length over Lord Gordon. Myra, the only mare in the field, finished third, two lengths farther back. Dartmouth will now be turned out for the year, with a season record of 10 victories in 14 starts.
HORSE RACING—The $223,875 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct paid its winner, BUCKPASSER ($3.80), Braulio Baeza up, the biggest winner's purse ever earned by a Thoroughbred in New York State. The $163,875 for first also made the bay colt the world's leading 2-year-old money winner with a total of $568,096. Four lengths back in second was Our Michael, while Advocator came in third. Priceless Gem, the filly who beat Buckpasser in The Futurity three weeks earlier, finished a disappointing sixth.
Moccasin, a top contender—along with Priceless Gem—for 2-year-old filly honors, won the $37,735 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland, finishing 15 lengths in front of Chalina. Larry Adams rode the winner, now unbeaten in six starts, in the nonbetting race.
Roman Brother ($3.20), winner of the Woodward, took his next start, the $56,000 Manhattan Handicap at Aqueduct, by eight lengths over Hill Rise. Roman Brother's time for the 1‚Öù-mile race was 2:43⅕ just 2[1/5] seconds off the track record.
George D. Widener's STEEPLE JILL ($5.60), Johnny Ruane up, won the $56,700 Vineland Handicap at Garden State Park by two lengths over Cordially. Tosmah, who led until the stretch, finished third. It was the 26th consecutive time that Steeple Jill finished in the money.
Another Widener horse, CORNISH PRINCE ($5.40), ridden by Johnny Rotz, took the $29,500 Quaker City Handicap by a head over Flag Raiser. Big Rock Candy came in third.
JUDO—Olympic all-weight champion ANTON GEESINK of Holland retained his world title in Rio de Janeiro by beating Seiji Sakaguchi of Japan in his elimination group and Mitsuo Matsunaga in the final bout of the 43-nation event. The following day, Geesink, the first non-Japanese ever to win a world championship, announced his retirement.
MOTORS SPORTS—FRED LORENZEN battled back and forth with A. J. Foyt through the final stages of the National 400 Stock Car Race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway until Foyt hit the guard rail on the 254th lap of the 267-lap race and had to go to the pits, leaving Lorenzen the winner. Six caution flags lowered Lorenzen's average speed to 119.117 mph, considerably slower than his winning time last year. One flag was up for 17 laps, after Harold Kite of Augusta, Ga. was killed on the first lap when his 1964 Plymouth was involved in a five-car pileup.
Walter Hansgen drove his Lola T-70 at speeds of 98.2 and 96.2 mph in winning both heats and overall first place at the Monterey Grand Prix in California. Jim Hall, the prerace favorite, demolished his Chaparral when it flipped in the first heat.
TENNIS—Top-seeded BITSY GRANT, 54, of Atlanta took the USLTA Seniors' 55 Clay Court Singles title when he defeated last year's runner-up Jack Staton 6-4, 6-2 in Knoxville, Tenn. ALPHONSO SMITH of Alexandria, Va. and CHARLIE BROOKE of Towson, Md. gained the doubles title.
TRACK & FIELD—LUDVIK DANEK of Czechoslovakia, who holds the world record and an Olympic silver medal in the discus throw, bettered his mark, set last year, by 2 feet 2 inches with a throw of 213 feet 11½ inches in Prague.
Britisher TIM JOHNSTON, who had never before competed at a distance longer than 10 miles, broke the world record for 30 kilometers (18.63 miles) with a time of 1:32:34.6.
MILEPOSTS—DECLINED: An invitation for KELSO to represent the U.S. again in the Washington, D.C. International at Laurel on November 11, by his owner, Mrs. Richard C. duPont, because of an eye injury. The damage occurred on September 22 in the Stymie at Aqueduct when a clod of dirt hit Kelso in the eye. The famous 8-year-old gelding, who has run in the International four times and won it last year, was just $22,604 short of the $2-million mark for lifetime earnings after the Stymie. The only American entry so far is Hail to All.
DIED: DAN FLORIO, 68, trainer for former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson since the start of his professional career and lately Patterson's manager of record, of complications following surgery in New York. Among the world champions trained by Florio during his 47-year career were Gene Tunney, Jersey Joe Walcott, Jack Delaney, Tony Canzoneri, Petey Scalzo, Freddie Miller and Battling Battalino.
