A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—NBA: The success of the New York Knicks, staging their best season ever and now only three games away from the Eastern Division crown, was reflected in the one million attendance record set this week (while beating San Diego 107-103), the first pro basketball team to reach that mark in a regular season. Milwaukee, with a 3-1 week, secured at least a tie for second in the division as Lew Alcindor scored 32, 31, 39 and 38 points in the four games and raised his rookie season average to 28.4, two points higher than his college record. Western leader Atlanta pulled two games ahead of Los Angeles after the Lakers lost 101-93 to the Hawks and 105-100 to the Bullets for a 2-2 week. Seattle won both its contests to move up to a tie with Chicago for fourth place and a chance to make the playoffs.
ABA: In the East the Carolina Cougars moved within half a game of second-place Kentucky: despite Louie Dampier's 122 points, the Colonels suffered a dismal 0-3 week, including a 126-106 beating by the West's last-place team, Los Angeles. The Stars, now under the new ownership of Denver television executive Bill Daniels, were the only undefeated team in the ABA. With a 108-105 victory over Eastern leader Indiana and a 135-122 defeat of Western leader Denver to add to their win over the Colonels, they ran their streak to an unprecedented five games.
NBA—East: New York (3-0), Milwaukee (3-1), Baltimore (2-2), Philadelphia (2-2), Cincinnati (2-3), Boston (1-2), Detroit (2-1). West: Atlanta (2-1), Los Angeles (2-2), Phoenix (1-2), Chicago (1-1), Seattle (2-0), San Francisco (1-4), San Diego (1-4).
ABA—East: Indiana (3-1), Kentucky (0-3), Carolina (2-1), New York (2-1), Pittsburgh (1-3), Miami (2-1). West: Denver (2-3), Dallas (2-2), Washington (2-2), New Orleans (0-2), Los Angeles (3-0).
BOATING—The 12-meter AMERICAN EAGLE finished second, behind Windward Passage, but won the Miami-Nassau race on corrected time of 25.4177. Eagle also took the Nassau Cup, a 31-mile leeward-windward race, finishing third, but winning again on corrected time to clinch the championship of the Southern Ocean Racing Conference for her skipper, Ted Turner (page 16).
BOWLING—GEORGE PAPPAS of Charlotte, N.C. registered his second PBA victory in three weeks by beating Bill Johnson of New Orleans, 227-197, in the $45,000 Greater Buffalo Open. Earlier Pappas took first in the Miller High Life Open in Milwaukee.
BOXING—Panama's ISMAEL LAGUNA regained the world lightweight title he held briefly in 1965, battering and cutting Mando Ramos of Long Beach, Calif. The fight was stopped in the ninth of a scheduled 15-round match in Los Angeles.
Rufus Brassell decked JERRY QUARRY with a punch after the first-round bell—and the angered Quarry retaliated by knocking out Brassell with a left hook in the second round in a match at Miami Beach Convention Hall.
CURLING—Art Tallackson Jr. skipped the GRAFTON (N. Dak.) CURLING CLUB to victory in the 14th annual U.S. Men's Curling Association championship at Hastings and Ardsley-on-Hudson in New York. The Grafton club registered an 11-0 record in the meet, the only one of 12 teams to go undefeated in the round-robin bonspiel.
FIGURE SKATING—American champion TIM WOOD of Colorado Springs, Colo. and GABRIELE SEYFERT of East Germany both retained their titles in the world championship in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. Wood outscored European champion Ondrej Nepela of Czechoslovakia, and Miss Seyfert held off strong contender Beatrix Schuba of Austria, who won the silver medal. Surprise winner of the bronze medal was Julie Lynn Holmes of Littleton, Colo., while U.S. women's champion Janet Lynn finished a disappointing sixth. Russia's IRINA RODNINA and ALEXEJ ULANOV won their second consecutive pairs title.
GOLF—Arnold Palmer missed a four-foot putt on the final hole of the $150,000 Florida Citrus Invitational and finished one shot behind winner BOB LUNN's 271 at Orlando's Rio Pinar Country Club Earlier Palmer twice scored a course-record 64 to take the lead after the first and third rounds.
HOCKEY—NHL: Boston took a two-point lead over New York in the East as the Rangers suffered three straight defeats, worst streak to hit the team this season. To add to the injury, one of the New York losses was a 2-0 victory by Detroit, the first shutout scored against the Rangers in 131 games. Chicago and Detroit both won three games to remain tied—this week in third place—while Montreal lost two contests and was threatened with missing the playoffs for the first time in 22 years. In the West the Minnesota North Stars snapped a 20-game nonwinning streak, one short of a league record, by trouncing Toronto 8-0, then went on to register a 2-2 tie with Philadelphia and an 8-3 victory over the Maple Leafs, moving up to a tie with Oakland for fourth place.
NHL—East: Boston (1-1-1), New York (0-3-0), Chicago (3-0-0), Detroit (3-0-0), Montreal (0-2-0), Toronto (2-2-0). West: St. Louis (2-1-1), Pittsburgh (1-1-1), Philadelphia (0-0-3), Minnesota (2-0-1), Oakland (0-3-0), Los Angeles (1-2-1).
HORSE RACING—Seven-year-old QUICKEN TREE ($19.80), ridden by Fernando Alvarez, started dead last but rallied in the stretch to win the $145,000 Santa Anita Handicap by¾ of a length over Fiddle Isle. Quicken Tree's 1:59[3/5]% finish tied the track record for the 1-mile distance.
At Hialeah, Ray Broussard rode MY DAD GEORGE ($19.60), owned by Raymond Curtis, to a nose victory over Corn Off The Cob in the $161,400 Flamingo Stakes, while the 3-to-5 favorite. Silent Screen, finished eighth (page 55). The 1‚⅛-mile race was won with a 1:48[3/5] clocking.
MOTOR SPORTS—Australia's durable JACK BRABHAM, 43 years old and three times the world driving champion, opened the new Formula I racing season by winning the South African Grand Prix. Brabham covered the 204 miles at an average 111.70 mph in his Brabham-Ford, finishing 8.1 seconds ahead of challenger Denny Hulme of New Zealand. American entry Mario Andretti, the 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner, was forced to retire on the 26th lap with a broken radiator.
SKIING—DENVER UNIVERSITY outpointed Dartmouth 386.6 to 378.8 to win the NCAA ski championships at Franconia, N.H.—the ninth title for Denver in 10 years.
TENNIS—Defending champion STAN SMITH of Pasadena, Calif. retained his USLTA indoor crown by beating Brazil's Tomas Koch 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 at the National Indoor championship in Hampton, Va.
TRACK & FIELD—Villanova's MARTY LIQUORI led his school to its fourth consecutive title at the IC4A competition at Madison Square Garden, running the mile in 4:02.1 to set a meet record and score his 10th straight Garden victory. Second in the mile was Keith Colburn of Harvard, who switched from his usual 1,000-yard distance to clock an impressive 4:03.6, almost eight seconds faster than his previous best performance. Villanova's LARRY JAMES successfully defended his 600-yard title with a 1:10.4, while teammate ANDY O'REILLY ran the 1,000 in 2:11.7. Meanwhile, at the 60th annual Big Ten indoor championships in East Lansing, Mich., WISCONSIN won its fourth consecutive title as two Badgers, MARK WINZENRIED and GREG JOHNSON, took double victories. Winzenried won the 880 with a meet-record 1:49.8 and also took first in the mile with 4:05.9, while Johnson captured the 70-yard low hurdles and the long jump. HERB WASHINGTON of Michigan State broke Jesse Owens' 1935 meet-record 6.1 for the 60-yard dash, cutting it to six flat.
MILEPOSTS—ORGANIZED: The Association of Independent Tennis Professionals, a group of 32 international players who hope, through their new outfit, to wield the bargaining power of contract professionals while maintaining the independent status necessary for Davis Cup competition. Included in the membership are Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Clark Graebner, Cliff Richey and Jim McManus, who was chosen the North American representative.
DIED: PAUL CHRISTMAN, 51, All-America quarterback at the University of Missouri from 1938-40, who led the NFL's Chicago Cardinals to the 1947 league championship and, more recently, became well-known as a professional football television color commentator; of a heart attack, in Lake Forest, Ill.
DIED: BI SHIVELY, 91, one of the first harness drivers to be inducted into the U.S. Harness Writers' Association's Living Hall of Fame, whose long racing career was climaxed in 1952 when, at 74, he became the oldest driver ever to win The Hambletonian; in Pomona, Calif.
