A roundup of the sports information of the week
BICYCLING—After 25 days and 2,937.5 miles, the Tour de France was over and JAN JANSSEN of The Netherlands was the winner by a scant 38 seconds over Belgium's Herman Van Springel. Janssen's overall time was 133 hours 49 minutes 42 seconds.
BOXING—Former lightweight champion ISMAEL LAGUNA of Panama scored an impressive victory at Madison Square Garden over Victor Melendez of Puerto Rico, who was a loser for the first time in 21 bouts.
GOLF—JULIUS BOROS, 48, became the oldest player ever to win the PGA when he came from two strokes behind after three rounds, shot a 69 on the last day and beat Arnold Palmer and Bob Charles by one stroke in San Antonio (page 12).
A two-stroke penalty for slow play cost Marilynn Smith first-place money in the $18,500 Buckeye Savings Invitational Tournament in Cincinnati, as she wound up one stroke behind CAROL MANN, who had a 54-hole total of 209.
HARNESS RACING—The winner of the Gold Division of the $25,000 Challenge Cup Trot at Roosevelt was GRANDPA JIM ($54.20), who built up a four-length lead over heavily favored Roquépine and held on to come home first by a neck.
A track record of 1:58.8 for the mile was set at Vernon Downs by NEVELE PRIDE ($2.20), who finished four lengths ahead of Keystone Spartan in the $25,000 Founder's Gold Cup Trot.
HORSE RACING—DAMASCUS ($4.80) evened his record against Dr. Fager by winning for the second time in four meetings between the two, this time taking the $109,400 Brooklyn Handicap at Aqueduct by two and a half lengths (page 46).
The $100,000 Sorority Stakes turned out to be a 10-length romp for BIG ADVANCE ($5.20), who easily outdistanced Alert Princess at Monmouth Park.
MOTOR SPORTS—Swiss Driver JO SIFFERT was a victor for the first time in his eight years on the Grand Prix circuit as he won the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, England. Siffert, driving a Lotus-Ford, covered the 212-mile course at an average speed of 104.83 mph. Second and third, respectively, were Chris Amon of New Zealand and Jacky Ickx of Belgium, both of whom drove Ferraris.
SOCCER—NASL: According to the old baseball gag, the line goes, "Washington—first in war, first in peace, last in the American League." When it comes to soccer, though, WASHINGTON is now first in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The Whips got there by scoring four times in 18 minutes to beat Chicago 4-1 and then stopping New York 3-2 on Joseph Gyau's goal with 2:15 left to play. One point behind the Whips was ATLANTA, which muffled its opponents with a superb defense. The Chiefs defeated Kansas City 3-1 and held Cleveland to a scoreless tie, allowing a total of just 12 shots on goal in the two games. Tied for third were BALTIMORE, which won twice, and NEW YORK, which had a win and two losses. BOSTON beat Houston 1-0. TORONTO was the only winner in the Lakes Division, knocking off Vancouver 4-3. First-place CHICAGO lost twice and had its lead trimmed to 11 points over CLEVELAND, which had a loss and two ties. DETROIT dropped both its games. In the Gulf Division of the Western Conference, KANSAS CITY lost once. HOUSTON split two games and advanced to second place, 18 points behind the Spurs. ST. LOUIS played one tie, but DALLAS finally won its first game of the season as Branco Kubala scored twice in a 2-1 upset of Los Angeles. SAN DIEGO lost once and had its Pacific Division margin cut to 24 points over OAKLAND, which beat Detroit 3-2 on three goals by Selimir Milosevic. LOS ANGELES had one victory in three games and VANCOUVER a win and a loss.
SWIMMING—Teenagers DEBBIE MEYER, 15, of Sacramento, KAREN MUIR, 15, of South Africa and GARY HALL, 16, of Garden Grove, Calif. set world records at the Los Angeles Invitational. Miss Meyer bettered her own records for the 1,500-meter freestyle (17:31.2) and for the 800-meter freestyle (9:19.0). Miss Muir's 2:23.8 in the 200-meter backstroke lowered the year-old mark of Elaine Tanner of Canada by six-tenths second. In the 100-meter backstroke Miss Muir had a 1:07.3, which was two-tenths second under Miss Tanner's record but not good enough to improve on her own pending mark of 1:06.4 set earlier this year. Hall swam the 400-meter individual medley in 4:43.4, a two-second improvement on Dick Roth's record time in the 1964 Olympics.
TENNIS—NANCY RICHEY of San Angelo, Texas and CLARK GRAEBNER of New York won the USLTA Clay Court singles in Milwaukee. Miss Richey who took the women's championship for the sixth straight year, beat Linda Tuero 6-3, 6-3. Graebner disposed of Stan Smith 6-3, 7-5, 6-0.
Juan Gisbert of SPAIN defeated Nicola Pietrangeli of Italy 8-6, 6-4, 6-2, giving his Davis Cup team a 3-2 triumph in the European Zone A finals in Barcelona. Spain will take on the U.S. squad August 16-18 in Cleveland.
Forty-year-old PANCHO GONZALEZ used his powerful serves to keep Rod Laver off balance as he came from behind to take the National Tennis League championship in Los Angeles 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. MRS. BILLIE JEAN KING also started slowly and had to rally to win the women's title, defeating Mrs. Ann Haydon Jones by scores of 12-10, 6-3.
TRACK & FIELD—World records were set by JOUKO KUHA of Finland in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and by VERA NIKOLIC of Yugoslavia in the women's 800-meter run. Kuha lowered the 1965 mark set by Gaston Roelants of Belgium by 2.2 seconds with an 8:24.2 performance in Stockholm. Miss Nikolic, who won in 2:00.5 at a meet in London, cut six-tenths second from the record established four years ago by Ann Packer of Great Britain. The American mark for the 50-kilometer walk was improved to 4:12:12.0 by LARRY YOUNG at the national championships and semifinal Olympic trials in San Francisco. Young's time, which was just 1:21.0 off the world record, bettered the U.S. mark by a whopping 32:02.0.
At an international decathlon competition in Kassel, Germany, KURT BENDLIN of West Germany scored 8,086 points, the highest total for anyone this year. A teammate, Hans-Joachim Walde, was second with 7,822 points, and Bill Toomey of Santa Barbara, Calif. was third with 7,628 points.
MILEPOSTS—SIGNED: By the New Orleans Saints, End DAVE PARKS, 26, who played out his option with the San Francisco 49ers last season. Parks caught 208 passes and scored 27 touchdowns during four years with the 49ers. In 1965 he led the NFL in total receptions with 80.
TRADED: Quarterback BABE PARILLI, 38, to the New York Jets by the Boston Patriots, who received Quarterback MIKE TALIAFERRO, 27, in return. Parilli, who began his professional career in 1952, played for the Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Browns in the NFL, spent 1959 in the Canadian Football League and then joined the Oakland Raiders in the AFL the next season. In 1961 he was traded to the Patriots, for whom he last year completed 161 of 344 passes for 19 touchdowns. Parilli's career totals read like figures from a hyperactive computer: 1,509 completions in 3,251 tries, good for 22,142 yards and 171 touchdowns. Taliaferro, who was injured most of last season, hit on 11 of 20 throws for one score, giving him four-year totals of 98 completions—eight of them for touchdowns—in 253 attempts.
TRANSFERRED: The New Jersey Americans of the ABA, who were based last year in Teaneck, N.J., to Commack, Long Island, N.Y., where they will henceforth be known as the New York Nets.
RETIRED: Two of the NFL's most proficient kickers—DANNY VILLANUEVA, 30, of the Dallas Cowboys and MIKE CLARK, 27, of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Villanueva holds league marks for the most extra points kicked in one season and the most without a miss in one year, records he set in 1966 when he booted 56 in a row. He had a career total of 491 points, which he achieved by kicking 236 extra points (he had five misses) and 85 field goals in 160 tries. Villanueva broke in with the Los Angeles Rams in 1960 and five years later he was traded to the Cowboys for Flanker Tommy McDonald. Clark started off with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1963, then was sent to the Steelers a year later for a draft pick. He led the Steelers in scoring last season with 71 points, kicking 35 consecutive points after touchdown and connecting on 12 of 22 field-goal attempts. In all, Clark kicked 145 of 156 PATs and 64 of 113 field goals for a career total of 337 points.
DIED: The oldest active member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, EDWARD A. BATCHELOR SR., 84, who worked for both the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News during his 60-year journalistic career; in Detroit.
