A roundup of the sports information of the week
BOATING—Olympic gold medalist RODNEY PATTISSON of Britain, sailing his Superdocious, won the first four races of the six-race Flying Dutchman world championship in Naples, Italy, then took a fifth place in the next to clinch the title.
American yachts took the first three places on corrected time in the transatlantic race from Newport to Cork, Ireland. KIALOA II, a 73-foot yawl owned by John B. Kilroy of Los Angeles, took first place with a time of 12:21.16, 48 minutes better than Ondine, which crossed the finish line first. American Eagle, owned by Robert E. Turner III of Atlanta, came in third.
BOXING—No. 1 ranked middleweight contender LUIS RODRIGUEZ knocked out light-heavyweight Eddie Owens in the seventh round of a scheduled 10-rounder, in Miami, after bouncing Owens off the ropes with left-right combinations.
GOLF—At the Royal Lytham Links, perched on England's wind-battered western coast, TONY JACKLIN, 25, became the first Briton to win the British Open since Max Faulkner, 18 years ago. Jacklin maintained at least a two-stroke lead throughout the final round, finishing with a 72 for a 280 total. New Zealand's Bob Charles was second with 282, and Roberto De Vicenzo of Argentina and Australian Peter Thomson, a five-time winner of the Open, tied for third with 283. Jack Nicklaus and Dave Love Jr. shared sixth as Americans made their poorest showing in 10 years (page 12).
John Jackson Jr., 21, a senior at Arizona State University, who was five strokes behind the leader going into the last round of the National Public Links Golf championship in Erie, Pa., had four birdies, including a 45-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole, in his final-round 70, to win the title with a 292 total. There was a four-way tie for second two strokes back.
HARNESS RACING—CHARMETTE HANOVER ($55.80), driven by John Patterson Sr., the bettors' last choice among the six 3-year-old fillies in the $35,000 Hudson Trot at Yonkers, was predictably at the tail end of the pace after three-quarters of a mile, then burst into the lead and crossed the wire first, by a neck over favored Parula, to take the $19,250 winner's purse.
Earle Avery, 75, driving GUN RUNNER ($6.40), held off a stretch surge by favored Dayan in the $25,000 Yonkers Su Mac Lad Trot for 3-year-olds, to win by a nose in 2:04[1/5] and remain one of the favorites in Saturday's Yonkers Futurity, first leg of trotting's Triple Crown.
HORSE RACING—In the $81,150 Dwyer Handicap for 3-year-olds, over 1¼ miles at Aqueduct, Larry Adams held GLEAMING LIGHT ($11.80) on the lead all the way to win by a head over Jay Ray, the favorite, in 2:04. Braulio Baeza finished fifth in the field of five, then flew by helicopter to Monmouth (N.J.) in time for the start of the $113,800 Amory L. Haskell Handicap but was fifth again as VERBATIM ($27.20), with Pete Anderson up, also stayed in front for the entire mile and a quarter, beating San Roque by a comfortable five lengths, in 2:02[4/5]. Only hours before, Verbatim had been stripped of a track record set in Philadelphia because of a positive drug test result.
Figonero ($13.20), carrying 14 pounds less than favored Nodouble, beat him by a length in the $162,500 Hollywood Gold Cup in 1:58⅘ one-fifth second off the Hollywood Park track record for 1¼ miles held by Swaps and Round Table.
MOTOR SPORTS—In the $50,000 Canadian-American Challenge Cup in Watkins Glen, N.Y., New Zealanders swept the first three places, as BRUCE McLAREN, who had set a course lap record of 132.31 mph in the preliminaries, drove his orange McLaren-Chevrolet to victory, trailed by teammate Denis Hulme in second place, 30 yards behind, and Chris Amon, driving a new Ferrari, in third. Earlier, in the six-hour endurance championship for manufacturers, PORSCHES came in 1-2-3, while-Fords, winners in two earlier major endurance tests this year against Porsches, did poorly. Only one finished and that in fifth place.
ROWING—AL MEDIOLI, 18, of Syosset (L.I.), N.Y., won the national youth singles title over the 1,500-meter Blackrock Channel course in Buffalo, by three feet, in 5:16.3, and earned a place in the World Youth Championships to be held in Italy next month. His closest rival, Andre Albert of the NYAC, lost his chance when he steered erratically over the final 500 meters, shifting from one lane to the other in his frantic efforts to overtake Medioli. In the eight-oared feature, the Litchfield Rowing Association of Kent, Conn., stroked by Kent School graduate Charlie Bradshaw, defeated Undine Barge Club of Philadelphia by 1¼ lengths in 4:17.5.
SOCCER—The Atlanta CHIEFS defeated the Dallas Tornadoes 5-1 in Dallas when Graham Newton kicked a goal in the second half that broke a 1-1 tie. The Chiefs then scored three more in a seven-minute spree.
SWIMMING—Two world records were set in the Santa Clara invitational: GARY HALL, 17, of Garden Grove, Calif., swam the 400-meter individual medley in 4:38.7, clipping 3/10 second off Charlie Hickcox's mark; ROLAND MATTHES of East Germany beat one of his own, winning the 200 in 2:07.4; MARK SPITZ tied two world records, the 100-meter butterfly in 55.6 and 200-meter freestyle in a time of 1:54.3 seconds (page 20).
TENNIS—GEORGE (Butch) SEEWAGEN of New York City beat Zan Guerry of Lookout Mountain, Tenn. in the finals of the men's U.S. Amateur singles championship at Rochester, N.Y. 9-7, 6-8, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4. In the women's singles LINDA TUERO of Metairie, La. beat Guyneth Thomas of Shaker Heights, Ohio 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Mrs. Billie Jean King of Berkeley, Calif., unsuccessful in defense of her Wimbledon title last week, was back in winning form at the Irish Open in Dublin, beating England's Virginia Wade 6-2, 6-2 in the finals. BOB HEWITT of South Africa beat Nikki Pilic, the Yugoslavian pro, 6-3, 6-2 for the men's singles title.
TRACK & FIELD—At a Hawaiian meet serving as a tune-up for this week's triangular competition against the U.S.S.R. and the British Commonwealth, JOHN CARLOS won the 100-yard dash in 9.4 and the 220 in 21.3, JOHN PENNEL won the pole vault at 17 feet, and DORIS BROWN of Seattle set a U.S. record of 4:48.7 in the women's mile, eclipsing Vicki Foltz' record by 10 seconds.
MILEPOSTS—APPOINTED: Director of operations for the ABA Minnesota Pipers, HARRY (Buddy) JEANNETTE, former player, coach and general manager in the NBA.
RESIGNED: After two years as coach of the NBA Seattle Supersonics, AL BIANCHI, because he felt his coaching had not produced the results he desired. In the two years Seattle has been in the NBA it has lost 111 of 164 games.
RETIRED: At least temporarily, NICK BUONICONTI, 28, five-time All-AFL linebacker who was traded to the Miami Dolphins by the Boston Patriots last March. Discouraged over his failure to negotiate a satisfactory contract, he says he will devote himself to his law practice unless the Dolphins reconsider their offer.
RETIRED: KARL MILDENBERGER, 31, former European heavyweight champion, whose southpaw style provided Cassius Clay with one of the few tough fights of his career, to become a sales representative for a brewery.
DESTROYED: DARK MIRAGE, first to sweep New York's Triple Crown for fillies and rated the best 3-year-old of either sex in 1968. Owned by Cincinnatian Lloyd Miller, Dark Mirage was retired earlier this year because of a sesamoid injury. When medication was unable to relieve her of pain she was destroyed. The injury prevented breeding her to Dr. Fager, the 1968 Horse of the Year.
DIED: WHITEY BIMSTEIN, 72, who trained many of the best in boxing, including Lou Ambers, Max Baer, Gene Tunney and Rocky Graziano, after a long illness, in New York.
DIED: WILLIAM W. RENNER SR., 57, of Bronxville, N.Y., captain and quarterback of the University of Michigan's 1933 national championship football team, of a cerebral hemorrhage.
DIED: ROBERT (Red) ROLFE, 60, New York Yankee alltime third baseman, at his home on Governor's Island in New Hampshire, after a long kidney illness. During his nine years with the Yankees (1934-1942) under Manager Joe McCarthy, New York won six American League pennants and five World Series, and Rolfe was superbly consistent in the field and an excellent hit-and-run batter. His lifetime average was .289. After he left New York he coached baseball at Yale, managed the Detroit Tigers for two years and was athletic director at Dartmouth, his alma mater.
