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A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—The U.S. Olympic team, well prepared by Oklahoma State's Henry Iba, upset the New York Knickerbockers 65-64 at Madison Square Garden in the first of three games with pro teams. The Olympians' defense and excellent ball handling forced the Knicks into many errors.
BOATING—Miss Budweiser, clocked at 120.321 mph over Lake Pleasant in Phoenix, Ariz. and driven by Bill Sterrett, won the $17,000 Arizona Governor's Cup, beating Miss Bardahl, which had clinched the national championship for unlimited hydroplanes the previous week.
BOXING—CARLOS (Teo) CRUZ kept his lightweight title in his first defense since taking the championship from Carlos Ortiz in June, by winning a 15-round decision over 20-year-old Mando Ramos in Los Angeles. Cruz was in command until the 13th round when Ramos opened a bad cut over his left eye. In the last three rounds Ramos had Cruz in trouble and turned what had been an easy fight into a close decision: 7-6, 7-6, 9-6. On the same bill, Japan's SHO SAIJYO upset WBA champion Raul Rojas to win the featherweight title. Rojas, knocked down in the sixth round, rallied to win the eighth, ninth and 10th but still lost by a wide margin, 12-3, 9-5, 10-5.
"It's great to be a winner," shouted heavyweight GEORGE CHUVALO after he had stopped ranking contender Manuel Ramos in the fifth round of their scheduled 10-round fight at Madison Square Garden. Often just a courageous loser in important fights, Chuvalo astonished the crowd and his critics with his sharp jab, short, effective combinations and smart tactics. On the same card, BUSTER MATHIS returned to the scene of his only defeat (by Joe Frazier) but was not impressive. He was behind on points to James J. Woody in the sixth round when, for the first time in the fight, he put punches together to win by a TKO.
Eddie Jones, the No. 1 light-heavyweight contender, scored a 12-round split decision over Chuck Leslie in a Las Vegas fight billed as the first of an elimination series for a title match with champion Bob Foster. Judges Mike Petrovich and Harry Krause had Jones ahead 56-54, while Judge Art Lurie voted for Leslie 57-56.
DOG SHOWS—CH. STARGAZER OF DARTVALE, a Lakeland terrier, praised for his condition and performance as well as for being a top specimen of his breed, won best-in-show honors at the Virginia Kennel Club show in Richmond.
Ch. Cragmount's Hi-Lo, a golden retriever, the retriever of the year in 1965, 1966 and 1967, was selected best-in-show at the Suffolk County-Kennel Club show in Greenlawn, L.I., N.Y.
FOOTBALL—NFL: It was a black Sunday for some of the game's best passers as defenses and interceptions dominated the action. Green Bay (1-2), NFL champion three times in a row, became a two-time loser as DETROIT (2-1), down 10-0 in the first quarter, came back to defeat the Packers 23-17 on a fourth-period touchdown. The Packers had problems with Lion Cornerback Lem Barney, who intercepted a Bart Starr pass to set up a touchdown and led a goal-line stand that stopped the Packers in the second period. CHICAGO (1-2), after giving up 80 points in two successive games, played tough defense and upset Minnesota (2-1) 27-17. LOS ANGELES (3-0) throttled Cleveland's (1-2) offense, never allowed the Browns to run a play from scrimmage past the 50-yard line and beat them 24-6. BALTIMORE (3-0) tied an NFL record as the Colts scored three times on interceptions and defeated Pittsburgh (0-3) 41-7. DALLAS (3-0) intercepted five passes and recovered two Philadelphia (0-3) fumbles in battering the Eagles 45-13. NEW YORK (3-0) intercepted Sonny Jurgensen passes three times, returned one 47 yards for a touchdown and defeated Washington (1-2) 48-21. ST. LOUIS (1-2) scored after a pass-interference call gave the Cardinals the ball on the New Orleans (1-2) three-yard line with little more than a minute to play and edged the Saints 21-20. SAN FRANCISCO (2-1), with Quarterback John Brodie throwing well despite a bad back, scored three touchdowns on passes to defeat Atlanta (0-3) 28-13.
AFL: BUFFALO (1-3) intercepted five Joe Namath passes, ran three of them back for touchdowns and upset New York (2-1) 37-35. Miami's Bob Griese and Rick Norton fared no better. KANSAS CITY (3-1) picked off five of their passes and whipped the Dolphins (0-3) 48-3. OAKLAND (3-0) stumbled and fumbled but finally put its powerful game together to beat last year's Eastern champion, Houston (1-3) 24-15. BOSTON (2-1) recovered the fumble of an 87-yard punt on the Denver (0-3) one-foot line, scored and went on to defeat the Broncos 20-17. John Hadl passed for two touchdowns and ran for two as SAN DIEGO (3-0) defeated Cincinnati (2-2) 31-10.
GOLF—TOMMY BOLT finished nine strokes ahead of E. J. Harrison to win the $70,000 U.S. National Senior Open in Las Vegas.
Betsy Rawls, two strokes down going into the final round, shot a 68 to win the Mickey Wright Invitational at Fallbrook, Calif. It was her first victory since 1965 and earned $2,025. Kathy Whitworth finished second, four strokes back.
HARNESS RACING—K. G. ADIOS ($4), with Jim Tall-man driving, paced to a four-length victory over Bobby Ed to win the $36,000 New York Sires Stake at Yonkers Raceway.
HORSE RACING—MR. RIGHT ($22.60) upset heavily favored Damascus and won the mile-and-a-quarter $106,800 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park by a nose (page 30).
MOTOR SPORTS—Averaging 94.103 mph, RICHARD PETTY won the Wilkes 400 stock-car race, in North Wilkesboro, N.C. The victory, his 15th of the season, brought him $5,975 and made his total for the year $69,377.
A Ford GT40, driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi, finished ahead of the favored Porsches to win the Le Mans 24-hour race in Le Mans, France (page 68).
SOCCER—ATLANTA, which had played two 0-0 ties with San Diego, one in the championship series, finally broke through and scored three times to win the North American Soccer League Championship in Atlanta. The teams went 22 minutes without a goal until Brian Hughes kicked one from eight yards out. Delroy Scott added a 15-yarder, and Rookie of the Year Kaizer Motaung dribbled through two defenders for the final score.
TENNIS—STAN SMITH defeated Jim McManus in straight sets 10-8, 6-1, 6-1 to win the Pacific Coast International Tennis championship, in Berkeley, Calif. Later he teamed with his Davis Cup doubles partner Bob Lutz to take the doubles 10-8, 11-9 from McManus and Jim Osborne.
TRACK & FIELD—RALPH BOSTON, 29 years old and recently recovered from a bursitis attack in his right knee, long-jumped a world record 27'5½" at an Olympic tune-up meet in Flagstaff, Ariz. Unfortunately the jump was made with a 12-mph carrying wind, which will prevent its acceptance by the IAAF. Boston and Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of Russia share the world mark of 27'4¾".
Margaret Bailes of the U.S. women's Olympic squad bettered the record for the 100-meter dash in the meet, running the distance in 10.8, three-tenths of a second faster than the world record held by Ewa Klobukowska and Irene Kirszenstein, but the wind factor will prevent its acceptance also.
MILEPOSTS—SIGNED: CLEM DANIELS, former Oakland Raider running back and the only AFL rusher to gain 5,000 yards, by the San Francisco 49ers.
FIRED: BOB KENNEDY, manager of the Oakland Athletics, after leading the A's to their best finish, sixth, in 13 years. Kennedy, who managed the team for just one year—the Athletics' first in Oakland—will be replaced by Hank Bauer, who had been dropped by Baltimore in July. For Bauer, it will be the second time around with the Athletics. The first time he lasted slightly longer than one season before he was sacked.
FIRED: CAL ERMER, manager of the Minnesota Twins since June 1967, by President Cal Griffith. A successor will be named after the World Series.
DISBANDED: DETROIT COUGARS of the North American Soccer League because of heavy losses and no hope of improving attendance in the next few seasons.
DIED: SIR NORMAN BROOKES, 90, the first of Australia's outstanding international tennis players and later a coach and administrator of the country's amateur tennis programs, in Melbourne. Two-time winner of Wimbledon (1907 and 1914), Sir Norman led the Australian-New Zealand Davis Cup team from 1905 through 1920 and was one of the finest left-handed players of all time.
