A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—NBA: With only a week remaining, PHILADELPHIA (52-25) boosted its Eastern Division lead to a full game over the Celtics by winning four to make it eight in a row for the fast-finishing 76ers. BOSTON (51-26) hung on with three victories, while CINCINNATI (44-32) lost all four games it played and slid out of the race. NEW YORK (29-46) won only one game—133-132 in overtime from the Lakers, despite Elgin Baylor's 46 points and 17 rebounds—and lost three. In the West, LOS ANGELES (42-34) gained the division title for the second straight year and the fourth time in five years when the Lakers beat the Royals 119-116. LA's two other games were both losses. Second-place BALTIMORE (36-41) split four, and ST. LOUIS (33-41), 1½ games behind in third, won two out of five. SAN FRANCISCO (33-43), a game behind the Hawks in fourth, won two of three, while DETROIT (22-54) split two.
BOATING—-GEECHEE, a 39-foot sloop skippered by John Baker of Savannah, won overall honors in the 184-mile Miami-to-Nassau race, and TARA, a 54-foot Luders-built yawl out of Boston, took the Nassau Cup, last race on the Southern Ocean Racing Conference circuit. But the biggest prize, the SORC championship, went to 27-year-old TED TURNER of Atlanta and his VAMP X with a total of 974.75 points in the five races for the title.
BOWLING—GENE RHODA of Valparaiso, Ind. took his second PBA title this year when he defeated Bob Strampe of Detroit 234-190 to win the $37,000 St. Paul Open.
BOXING—Third-ranked Heavyweight DOUG JONES of New York scored a knockout—his fifth straight within a year—over Lou Bailey of Omaha in the sixth round of a scheduled 10-rounder in Miami Beach.
GOLF—PHIL RODGERS of La Jolla, Calif. won the Doral Open in Miami by a stroke over Kermit Zarley of Yakima, Wash, and Jay Dolan of Leicester, Mass. with a 10-under-par 278. The victory was Rodgers' first since the Texas Open in 1963.
HOCKEY—NHL: Bobby Hull scored his 51st goal of the season (page 26) to set a new NHL record as CHICAGO (34-21-7) beat the Rangers 4-2 and broke a string of three shutout losses in a row. Hull then raised his record to 52 goals in a 5-1 win over the Maple Leafs that moved the Black Hawks within one point of league-leading MONTREAL (34-19-8), loser of two out of three games. Before losing to the Hawks, surging TORONTO (30-21-9) made it five victories in a row and pushed its unbeaten streak to nine as rookie Bruce Gamble stopped the Wings 1-0 and the Bruins 6-0, making it four shutouts in five games. DETROIT (27-25-10), five points behind in fourth place, finally snapped its eight-game winless streak with a victory over the Bruins after losses to the Leafs and the Canadiens. NEW YORK (18-34-10) failed to make the Stanley Cup playoff's for the fourth straight year despite two wins and a loss for the week. One of the victories was a 1-0 shutout of the Black Hawks by Goalie Cesare Maniago. For last-place BOSTON (16-39-6), loser of two out of three, it was the seventh year in a row without a spot in the playoffs.
Russia defeated Czechoslovakia 7-1 in the final game at Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, to take its fourth straight world championship with an overall record of six wins, one tie. Czechoslovakia, which could have won the title by tying the U.S.S.R., finished second, with Canada third. The U.S., winner of only two out of seven games, tied Finland for sixth place in the eight-nation field.
HORSE RACING—"Win, lose or draw, I'll hang 'em up," said 59-year-old JOHNNY LONGDEN a few days before the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita (page 88). And he did—after riding Canadian-bred GEORGE ROYAL ($15) to a victory by a nose over Plaque. Longden's win gave him a total of 6,032, the most in racing history.
SKIING—Austria's CHRISTL HAAS swept the women's competition at the Kandahar meet in Muerren, Switzerland when she won the downhill and the slalom to take the combined title. JEAN-CLAUDE KILLY of France gained the men's combined title.
TRACK & FIELD—Seven meet records—four in sprints and three in field events—fell at the NCAA indoor championships in Detroit. Washington State's GERRY LINDGREN took the two-mile (8:41.3); Kansas State's CON NIGHTINGALE, the one-mile (4:03.4); Nebraska's CHARLIE GREENE, the 60-yard dash (.06); Central (Ohio) State's MARTIN McGRADY, the 600-yard run (1:09.4); Nevada's OTIS BURRELL, the high jump (7 feet); Southern California's BILL FOSDICK, the pole vault (16¼ feet); and Los Angeles State's RAINIER STENIUS, the broad jump (25 feet 7 inches). In Tempe, Ariz. at an outdoor dual meet with Arizona State, UCLA's BOB DAY led the Bruins to a 96-49 victory as he won the mile in 3:59, while at another outdoor meet in Eugene, Ore. KEN MOORE of Oregon broke the American 20,000-meter mark by 1:22.2 when he registered a 62:25.6 on a rubber-asphalt track.
MILEPOSTS—APPOINTED: Head basketball coach at George Washington University, JAMES (Babe) McCARTHY, former coach at Mississippi State. In 10 years with State, McCarthy compiled a 169-85 record and won four Southeastern Conference championships.
ELECTED: To baseball's Hall of Fame by unanimous vote, CASEY STENGEL, 75, manager of a record 10 World Series teams. Casey began his long baseball career in 1910 as an outfielder with Kankakee in the Northern Association, and from 1912 through 1925 he played with five major league teams (.284 batting average). In three World Series (1916 with the Dodgers, 1922 and 1923 with the Giants) he hit .393 and won two games with home runs. Casey then managed for seven years in the minor leagues before heading the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1934. Three years with the Dodgers and six years managing the Boston Braves (1938-1943) brought him more fame as a clown than anything else. His teams never finished out of the second division and most of the time rested lazily in seventh place. Then, after five more years in the minors, Casey returned to the major leagues as manager of the New York Yankees. He won a record five pennants in a row and as many World Series (1949-1953), finished second in 1954 and then won four more pennants in succession before finishing third in 1959. After winning the pennant again in 1960 but losing the World Series, Casey was fired. He sat out a year and then, at 71, became the first manager of the New York Mets in 1962. After breaking his hip in midseason last year, Stengel retired from baseball on August 30.
RESIGNED: DAVE NELSON, 45, after 15 seasons as head football coach at the University of Delaware, to devote full time to his duties as athletic director. Nelson, one of the nation's most successful small-college coaches, compiled an 84-42-2 record at Delaware and an overall mark of 105-49-6 in 19 years as a collegiate coach.
RETIRED: JOE SCHMIDT, 34, the Detroit Lions All-League middle linebacker and captain for nine seasons. Schmidt, who was drafted by the Lions in 1953 from the University of Pittsburgh, will serve as an assistant coach of the Lions next season.
RETIRED: Mrs. Richard C. duPont's 9-year-old gelding KELSO, five-time Horse of the Year (39 victories in 63 races) and the biggest money winner in Thoroughbred racing history with career earnings of $1,977,896, after suffering a hairline fracture of his right ankle. "I think the old boy has done enough," said Trainer Carl Hanford.
DIED: SUNNY JIM FITZSIMMONS, 91, the grand old man of horse racing who devoted 78 years to the sport, in Miami. Fitzsimmons began his career on March 4, 1885 as an errand boy for the Brannon Brothers Stable in his native Brooklyn. He was a jockey from 1889 to 1894, riding mostly on the "Frying Pan Circuit" of half-mile tracks. Fitzsimmons never rode a stakes winner and gave up being a jockey when "I got to having trouble with my weight." On August 7, 1900, Sunny Jim saddled his first winner, Agness D., at Brighton Beach and went on saddling winners—2,275 in all, including two that took the Triple Crown, Gallant Fox in 1930, and Omaha, a son of Gallant Fox, in 1935.
