A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—NBA: The East and the West shared honors in a two-game series for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial campaign, as the EAST All-Stars won the first game 77-61 at the Singer Bowl in Flushing Meadow on Long Island, and the WEST took the second 108-104 in Philadelphia. Proceeds amounting to more than $150,000 will be divided between the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and New York City's Youth and Physical Fitness Fund.
BOATING—U.S. 5.5-meter Champion GARDNER COX won the first of a seven-race series in the Olympic trials for the class off California's Newport Harbor Yacht Club (page 44).
A low score of 52 points earned veteran skipper EARL ELMS of San Diego the Heinzerling Trophy and an unprecedented third consecutive National Snipe Class Championship off Alamitos Bay, Calif. Runners-up, by 9.8 points, in the best six of seven races were Jim Warfield and Cort Willmott, both of San Francisco.
GOLF—PGA Champion JULIUS BOROS blasted out of a trap, then sank a 12-foot putt for a birdie on the final hole at the $250,000 Westchester Classic in Harrison, N.Y. and defeated three younger rivals by one stroke for the $50,000 first-place prize (page 14). Back in second, at 273, were rookie Bob Murphy, Defending Champion Jack Nicklaus and veteran Dan Sikes.
Kathy Whitworth scored an unofficial record-tying 62 in the final round of the $16,000 Holiday Inn invitational in Normandy, Mo. and took the title for the third straight time, beating first-and second-round leaders Carol Mann and Judy Kimball by six strokes, with a 206.
Joanne Gunderson Carner of Seekonk, Mass. waded her way through the flooded Birmingham (Mich.) Country Club course to her fifth U.S. Women's Amateur title, defeating Seattle challenger and three-time winner Anne Quast Welts, 5 and 4 in the 36-hole final.
HARNESS RACING—U.S. trotters swept the first three places in the $50,000 Gotham at Yonkers Raceway, when the Billy Haughton entry of CARLISLE ($4.80) and Flamboyant finished one, two in the field of nine, followed by Sir Faffee, a 50-to-1 long shot, in third.
Hambletonian Hopeful Nevele Pride broke stride as well as an 18-race winning streak when he lost the first heat, and then summary prize, of the $16,730 Review Futurity at the Illinois State Fair. SNOW SPEED was the winner.
France's redoubtable Roquépine looked less than that in the $30,000 Prix d'Europe for trotters, as she finished eighth to THETISIV (59 to 4) in the field of 16 at the Enghien racetrack near Paris.
HORSE RACING—C.V. Whitney's lightly regarded CHOMPION ($31.20) picked up $55,802 for his owner and a first stakes victory for himself when he upset Forward Pass, Calumet Farm's Kentucky Derby, Preakness and American Derby winner, by 1¾ lengths in the $85,850 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Springs. The win, only Chompion's second in 12 outings this season, generously compensated for his previous failures and upped his 1968 earnings to $87,742.
Irish-bred LUDHAM ($6.40) made Arlington Park's $54,200 Matron Handicap her fourth American victory in six starts (U.S. earnings: $75,980) by finishing six lengths ahead of Patee Canyon in the 1‚⅛-mile grass race for fillies and mares.
MOTOR SPORTS—Scotland's JACKIE STEWART, runner-up to Graham Hill in the 1968 championship driver standings, drove his Matra-Ford to a 4.6-second victory over New Zealander Chris Amon in a 110-mile Guards International Gold Cup Formula I race in Oulton Park, England. On their way to the one-two finish, both Stewart and Amon set lap records of 110.44 mph, while Hill, who dropped out of the race with engine trouble at the seventh lap, had earlier unofficially raised it to 111 mph.
The 100-mile Tony Bettenhausen Memorial race at the Illinois State Fair—a USAC Championship event—was taken by Tucson's ROGER McCLUSKEY, with a winning time of 1:06:37. Larry Dickson of Marietta, Ohio finished second, 10 seconds back.
SOCCER—NASL: ATLANTA held fast to the lead in the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division despite losing a 4-1 game to NEW YORK. Trinidadian Warren Archibald, all of 140 pounds, scored three unassisted goals for the Generals, then set up another. WASHINGTON, meanwhile, won two straight games in pursuit of the first-place Chiefs, came within five points of the leaders and took over runner-up spot. Sweden's Lars Heinemann scored both goals (the second with only three minutes remaining) in the Whips' 2-1 victory over Baltimore, then spurred the team on its way again with the first goal in a 5-3 win over Vancouver. BALTIMORE lost two games, and BOSTON, still in the cellar, took St. Louis by surprise and beat them 3-1 after scoring three second-half goals within 14 minutes. CLEVELAND retained its 13-point lead over CHICAGO in the Lakes Division with a 4-1 rout of last-place Detroit, while the Mustangs, entrenched in second, also took their game with TORONTO 4-1. DETROIT, 0-1-1 for the week and 5-17-4 for the season, lost Coach Len Julians but acquired André Nagy (fired by Washington two weeks ago). SAN DIEGO and OAKLAND were not scheduled but stayed on top of the Western Conference Pacific Division, VANCOUVER lost its game, LOS ANGELES tied one. In the Gulf Division, KANSAS CITY split two games and remained in first, while second-place ST. LOUIS closed the gap to seven points, posting two victories over Dallas and a loss to Boston. HOUSTON, still in contention, won two games; DALLAS dropped three.
TENNIS—Fighting back after an earlier upset (and first American Davis Cup loss this year), home-towner Clark Graebner staged a comeback in his 9-7, 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Juan Gisbert at the interzone semifinals in Cleveland. It clinched the series for the U.S., 4-1 over Spain (page 53).
Aussie KEN ROSEWALL took the men's singles title at the $20,000 Colonial National Invitation tournament in Fort Worth 6-4, 6-3 over Spain's Andres Gimeno, while Defending Champion and No. 1-ranked Rod Laver (page 22) was eliminated in the second round by Mal Anderson.
California's top-seeded, sturdy but swift southpaw KRISTY PIGEON battled through a 56-minute final match in the U.S. Girls' championships at the Philadelphia Cricket Club to win the title from Linda Tuero, of Metairie, La. 6-4, 6-4. Miss Pigeon then teamed with Denise Carter, also of California, to take the doubles.
MILEPOSTS—ABOLISHED: By the executive committee of the PGA, its tournament committee (including player-members Gardner Dickinson, Jack Nicklaus, Frank Beard and Doug Ford). PGA President Max Elbin said that the executive committee will assume complete control of the pro tour "under all circumstances and for all time." The tournament players had announced earlier in the week a split with the association and formed their own organization, to be known as the American Professional Golfers.
SOLD: For an estimated $4 million by National Equities, Inc., the BOSTON CELTICS, NBA's venerable championship team for nine of the past 10 seasons, to P. Ballantine & Sons of Newark, N.J. Plans are to keep the team in Boston, with Red Auerbach remaining as executive vice-president and general manager, and Bill Russell—who has yet to sign his contract—returning as player-coach.
SYNDICATED: For a projected value of $3,200,000, Tartan Stable's DR. FAGER, to stand at stud in his home state of Florida at the beginning of the 1969 season. The 4-year-old son of Rough 'n Tumble-Aspidistra holds career earnings of $832,892 for 15 firsts, two seconds and a third, having finished out of the money only once—the 1967 Jersey Derby.
