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A roundup of the sports information of the week
BADMINTON—The All-England tournament, the sport's unofficial world championship, ended with RUDY HARTONO of Indonesia winning his third straight title by defeating Svend Pri of Denmark 15-7, 15-1. The women's crown went to ETSUKO TAKENAKA of Japan, who beat Mrs. Heather Nielsen of England 11-3, 11-4.
BASKETBALL—NBA: Willis Reed, New York's top scorer with an average of 21.6 points, became the first Knick ever to receive the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award, drawing 61 votes in the balloting. Jerry West of Los Angeles, the league-leading scorer, was second with 51. Meanwhile, the New Yorkers, having clinched the Eastern title last week, relaxed and lost four games, including a 110-102 defeat by Atlanta that secured the Western Division crown for the Hawks. It was Atlanta's fourth straight victory over the Knicks and gave them a 4-2 edge in the season series, the only team in the NBA to have an advantage over New York.
ABA: Indiana won the Eastern Division title for the second time, wrapping it up with a 114-110 victory over third-place Carolina before 8,493 fans in the Anderson (Ind.) High School gym. Then Indiana lost to Western Division leader Denver 128-112, and Rocket Coach Joe Belmont allowed, "I think we've got a good chance of winning it all in the playoffs. We've got a stronger bench than Indiana and we've got Spencer Haywood." Then the Rockets dropped their next game 94-92 to Pittsburgh—but won a 128-105 victory over Carolina behind the shooting of Haywood, who hit for 37. Only a game and a half back of Denver are the Washington Caps, who logged a 3-1 week and moved to second, replacing the slipping Dallas Chaparrals.
NBA—East: New York (1-4), Milwaukee (2-1), Baltimore (3-1), Philadelphia (1-3), Cincinnati (2-2), Boston (1-4), Detroit (0-3). West: Atlanta (3-0), Los Angeles (2-1), Chicago (2-2), Phoenix (3-1), Seattle (2-1), San Francisco (1-2), San Diego (3-1).
ABA—East: Indiana (2-1), Kentucky (3-1), Carolina (1-2), New York (0-0), Pittsburgh (1-4), Miami (0-2). West: Denver (3-2), Washington (3-1), Dallas (1-3), Los Angeles (4-0), New Orleans (2-4).
COLLEGE: UCLA captured its fourth consecutive NCAA championship with an 80-69 victory over Jacksonville University in the final at College Park, Md. (page 16). At New York's Madison Square Garden the MARQUETTE Warriors won the NIT crown by defeating St. John's 65-53 (page 22).
BOWLING—MIKE McGRATH of El Cerrito, Calif. won $10,000 and a new automobile by defeating Dave Davis of Miami 216-192 in the final of the PBA's Cougar Open in Miami.
BOXING—Fighting in Bangkok, Thailand's CHARTCHAI CHIONOI regained the world flyweight title with a 15-round decision over Efren Torres.
Defending his world junior middleweight title, FREDDIE LITTLE of Las Vegas decisioned Gerhard Piaskowy in a 15-round match in Berlin.
Heavyweight JERRY QUARRY of Bellflower, Calif. won a unanimous decision over George (Scrap Iron) Johnson of Los Angeles after 10 plodding rounds in the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium.
Mexico's world bantamweight champion, RUBEN OLIVARES, scored a nontitle knockout when Romy Guelas of the Philippines failed to answer the bell for the sixth round at San Antonio.
At the national Golden Gloves championships in Las Vegas WILLIAM THOMPSON of Chicago beat Lawrence Podesta of San Francisco for the heavyweight title, and Fort Worth, Texas took the team championship with three winners: TONY MORENO in the 112-pound class, JAMES BUSCEME at 125 pounds and MELVIN DENNIS at 147.
CURLING—The Canadians, skipped by Don Duguid of Winnipeg, captured the world championship by beating Scotland 11-4 in the finals at Utica, N.Y.
HANDBALL—Chicago's PAUL HABER earned his fourth U.S. Handball Association title in five years with a 21-5, 21-5 win over Lou Russo at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
HARNESS RACING—"We'll take on any of the 3-year-olds the rest of the season," said Owner Dick Old-field of Adrian, Mich. after his FLORIDA BOUND ($2.80), a 3-year-old Right Time filly driven by George Sholty, paced to a nine-length victory over Stanley Dancer's Timely News in the filly division of the $60,156 Florida Breeders Stake at Pompano Park. Florida Bound won in 2:01⅗ fastest time this year for any 3-year-old over a five-eighths or half-mile track. In the colt division H. A. KNIGHT ($41.60), owned by Tom Sheehan of Rocky River, Ohio and driven by Bruce Nickells, was awarded first place after the stewards upheld Nickells' foul claim against Tropical Time, reined by Sam O'Neil, for interference in the stretch.
HOCKEY—NHL: Boston lost a 5-4 game to the surprising Minnesota North Stars, marking only the second time the Bruins have been defeated by a Western Division team this season, and wound up the week only one point in front of Chicago and just four points from the two fourth-place teams, Montreal and New York, The Rangers put in a 1-1-1 week, beating Pittsburgh 2-0, but slipped from a tie for second to a tie for fourth after a 4-2 loss to Minnesota and a 2-2 tie with Philadelphia. There were no changes in the Western Division standings, although third-place Philadelphia moved to within one point of second-place Pittsburgh.
NHL—East: Boston (1-1-1), Chicago (3-1-0), Detroit (3-1-1), Montreal (2-0-2), New York (1-1-1), Toronto (1-1-1). West: St. Louis (1-1-1), Pittsburgh (0-3-0), Philadelphia (0-2-1), Minnesota (2-1-1), Oakland (2-0-1), Los Angeles (0-4-0).
COLLEGE: CORNELL capped a 29-game undefeated season by beating Clarkson College 6-4 for the NCAA crown at Lake Placid, N.Y.
HORSE RACING—Argentina-bred SNOW SPORTING ($14.20), owned by C. L. Hirsch and ridden by Alvaro Pineda, finished 2½ lengths ahead of Twogundan to win the $123,600 Gulfstream Park Handicap. The 4-year-old colt ran the 1-mile course in a slow 2:04.
Ted Gary's CORN OFF THE COB ($4.20), with Angel Cordero Jr. in the saddle, romped to a 3½-length victory over Naskra in the $34,950 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream, covering the 1[1/16]-mile distance in 1:44[3/5].
The two divisions of the $55,150 San Luis Rey Handicap were won by FIDDLE ISLE ($4.60), Bill Shoemaker up, and QUILCHE ($8.20), a Chilean import ridden by Jerry Lambert. Fiddle Isle was clocked in a track-record 2:23 for the 1½ miles, and Quilche ran the race in 2:25[2/5].
Ronnie Baldwin rode James Echrosh's JIM'S ALIBHAI ($78.60) to the colt's third victory, over Elva's King in the $61,350 Louisiana Derby at the New Orleans Fair Grounds.
Raymond Guest's L'ESCARGOT, a 33-to-1 shot ridden by Tommy Carberry, edged French Tan to win the 21-fence, $29,393 Cheltenham Gold Cup at Cheltenham, England.
MOTOR SPORTS—It took two Ferraris to do it (he switched cars when one broke down), but MARIO ANDRETTI rolled to a 23.8-second victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring (page 57).
TENNIS—In a 2½-hour, five-set match in Sydney, Australia ROD LAVER downed Ken Rosewall 3-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 for the $5,600 first prize at the $28,000 Dunlop International.
WEIGHT LIFTING—Russian strong men broke three world records at the Friendship Cup meet in Minsk: superheavyweight VASILY ALEXEYEV pressed 468¼ pounds, snatched 374¾ and jerked 479½ for a record total of 1,322½. Then STANISLAV BATISHCHEV broke the world mark with a press of 474¾ and heavyweight KARL UTSAR got the third record with a snatch of 355 pounds.
MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, PETER O'MALLEY, whose father, Walter O'Malley, will take on the new title of chairman of the board. O'Malley, who becomes the youngest top executive in baseball at 32, said, "I feel fortunate to have inherited such a fine organization. No, there will be no changes now or in the foreseeable future."
JUGGLED: Basketball coaching lineups at three colleges. Moving in at Memphis State will be GENE BARTOW, who compiled a 93-69 record in six years at Valparaiso University, replacing Henry (Moe) Iba, whose teams have won only three Missouri Valley Conference games in three seasons. At Clemson TAYLOR (Tates) LOCKE, who directed Miami of Ohio to a four-year 56-42 mark and the 1969 Mid-America Conference championship, will succeed Bobby Roberts, who is resigning after eight years. And at Fordham ED CONLIN, the schools' former All-America and a seven-year player in the NBA, will be dropped after a 10-15 season, Fordham's worst in five years.
