A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—NBA: There were just about two minutes remaining in the third period and already the young giant sat on the bench, his team hopelessly trailing in its final bid for the NBA Eastern championship. New York fans were on their feet, chanting "Goodby Lewie, we hate to see you go." And Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., who later said it would have been "redundant to put me back in," watched silently as the Knicks put together an invincible 132-96 effort and took the series from Milwaukee, 4-1. "We've got nothing to be ashamed of," said Alcindor, and, indeed, with the Knicks conducting a blitzkrieg in every department, it seemed doubtful anyone could have stopped them. Only the Lakers, surprise winners of seven straight playoff games, now stood between them and their first world title. For Willis Reed, it was a dual challenge; had any previous center been forced to battle the likes of Alcindor and Wilt Chamberlain in consecutive series? But Willis had a plan. Sensing that Chamberlain's knee injury had slowed him somewhat on defense, he decided to go right at Wilt. The results, although he suffered a shoulder injury that could hamper him the rest of the way, showed 37 points and a Knick playoff record of 16 field goals for Reed. Still, the Lakers steadily shaved a 20-point Knick lead and, with 11:05 left, surged ahead by five on a Chamberlain stuff. Now it was up to the Knick defense—unanimous NBA All-Star Jerry West found himself bottled by Dick Barnett; the other Knicks clung like glue to their opponents and the Lakers managed but two field goals in the next seven minutes of play. And there were Cazzie Russell, Dave DeBusschere and Walt Frazier, combining for 10 straight points. The final score was 124-112, and New York, in the playoff finals after 17 years of frustration, seemed primed for the challenge.
ABA: Freddie Lewis, a 6-foot guard whose 16.4 average was only the league's 24th best during the regular season, suddenly turned into a scoring demon for Indiana, his efforts of 29, 26, 20 and 31 leading the Pacers to a 4-0 series sweep over Carolina in the first round of playoff action. Lewis played all-league ace Bob Verga even as Indiana moved into the Eastern semifinals against either New York or Kentucky, knotted at 2-2 in their series. In the West, Los Angeles surprisingly opened a 3-2 lead over Dallas while Washington pulled the biggest upset, closing a 2-0 deficit into a 3-3 tie with division champion Denver. A 40-point effort by Rick Barry pulled the Caps from a halftime tie to a 116-111 victory in the sixth game.
GOLF—HOLLIS STACY, a 16-year-old high school sophomore from Savannah, Ga., became the youngest champion ever to win the 68th North and South women's amateur tournament by defeating Mrs. Paul Dye, 6 and 4, in Pinehurst, N.C. MILLER BARBER sank a birdie on the 2nd hole of a sudden-death playoff for the New Orleans Open prize while FRANK BEARD followed with a weekend victory in the $150,000 Tournament of Champions.
HOCKEY—While Boston was scoring in the final moments to take a 4-0 sweep over Chicago (page 18), St. Louis claimed the early edge over Pittsburgh for the right to meet the Bruins for the NHL championship. The Penguins, who scored only two goals at the St. Louis Arena all season, found the going rough again as the Blues claimed 3-1 and 4-1 victories. But when the series went to Pittsburgh, rookie Center Michel Briere scored once and added an assist as the Penguins won 3-2.
HORSE RACING—Exploding in the stretch and atoning for a fourth-place finish in his season debut, ARTS AND LETTERS ($4.20) won the $84,650 Grey Lag Handicap at Aqueduct by half a length, Braulio Baeza easing Rokeby Stable's 1969 Horse of the Year home in 1:48[2/5] for the 1‚⅛ mile race.
Though largely overlooked by the crowd of 50,000, Chilean-bred QUILCHE ($31.80) sped to an American record for 1‚Öú miles in the $80,500 Century Handicap at Hollywood Park, Jerry Lambert pushing him to 2:11[3/5].
In final preps for the Kentucky Derby, DUST COMMANDER ($72.80) astonished with a victory in the Blue Grass Stakes (page 61) while MY DAD GEORGE ($7.40), the Raymond Curtis colt ridden by Ray Broussard, edged Terlago in the seven-furlong Stepping Stone.
Son of the owner, R. Penn-Smith Hannum, guided MORNING MAC to victory by 2½ lengths in the 74th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup at Glyndon, Md. The 8-year-old gelding, competing in the grueling four-mile, 22-jump timber race for the first time, clocked 9:38[2/5] over the soft course.
LACROSSE—While Army dropped from the unbeaten ranks in a 9-8 loss to Johns Hopkins, Navy remained the only undefeated team in the nation with an 11-7 victory over Virginia. Steve Soroka replaced injured All-America Lennie Supko in the goal and contributed 13 saves, while Harry MacLaughlin had three unassisted goals in sparking the Middies to their sixth straight victory. For Johns Hopkins, upset by Virginia a week ago, a goal by Doug Honig in the last five seconds provided the one-point margin.
MOTOR SPORTS—Porsche maintained its lead over Ferrari in the battle for the world championship of sports car manufacturers as the Mexican-Finnish team of Pedro Rodriguez and Lee Kinnunen won the 1,000-kilometer Monza, Italy auto race.
TENNIS—While Australia won the Sutton clay-court women's singles title, MRS. BILLIE JEAN KING routed defending champion Julie Heldman 6-1, 6-3 to claim the women's singles title of the Italian International Tennis championship.
TRACK & FIELD—He straightened his body five yards from the finish and threw up his arms in celebration of himself. With that gesture, JOHN CARLOS may have cost himself a world record, but it didn't matter much to the 32,145 Penn Relays fans as Carlos' 100-yard dash performance proved electrifying enough as it was. His time of 9.2 seconds equalled the fastest ever clocked in the East, and the victory gesture was well earned as he conquered a field including three Olympic sprint finalists. As usual, Villanova ran away from the relays field, winning five of the eight baton events for the third straight year. At the Drake Relays, it was Texas A&M's Mills brothers who provided most of the thunder (page 57). Aggie relay units won three titles, including a world mark of 1:21.7 in the 880-yard relay that saw CURTIS MILLS churn a 19.6 anchor leg. Thirteen other meet records fell, including American marks in the 440-yard hurdles (49.4 by RALPH MANN) and the two-mile relay (Kansas State, 7:16.3). Other highlights included JEFF BENNETT's 8,072 points in the decathlon, third highest total by an American; a 16'6¾" pole vault by BYU's Finnish Olympian ALTTI ALAROTU; and a 7'1" high jump by Kansas State's RAY McGILL, second time the seven-foot barrier had been surpassed at Drake. On the West Coast, CHI CHENG set All-Comers Records in the women's 100-meter hurdles (13.3) and 220-yard dash (23.2), while LEE EVANS won two events within an hour in the Mount San Antonio Relays.
A 31-year-old chemist, RON HILL, became the first Englishman ever to win the Boston Marathon, claiming the 74th annual championship in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 30 seconds, a record for the 26-mile, 385-yard event. Runner-up Eamon O'Reilly trailed Hill by 250 yards as the European marathon winner shaved more than three minutes from the previous Boston standard.
MILEPOSTS—TRADED: From Cincinnati to Milwaukee, star NBA Guard OSCAR ROBERTSON, 31, in exchange for FLYNN ROBINSON, the league's top free-throw shooter, and rookie CHARLIE PAULK. Robertson, a 10-year pro who averaged 25.3 points this season despite continued rumors the Royals sought to trade his services, will join forces with the Bucks' Lew Alcindor at an estimated salary of $175,000 a year—about $50,000 more than he had been receiving with the Royals. In another deal, Phoenix sent Center JIM FOX and its 1971 second-round draft pick to Chicago for Guard CLEM HASKINS, a 20.3 scorer who ranked third in the league in assists.
HIRED: As the first coach of the NBA's new Portland Trail Blazers' franchise, ROLLAND TODD, who compiled a 96-40 record over the last five years at Nevada Southern University.
PURCHASED: For an estimated $1 million-plus, the floundering Pittsburgh Pipers' ABA franchise, by NEIL ROSENSTEIN, president of Haven Industries through subsidiary Airport Services Inc.
DEPARTED: From the Los Angeles Rams, two aging members of the vaunted defensive unit: LAMAR LUNDY, 35, senior Ram with 13 NFL seasons, traded to San Diego for a draft choice, and EDDIE MEADOR, 32, an All-Pro back who retired after 11 seasons.
DIED: STANLEY BENHAM, 57, America's top bobsled competitor during the early 1950s; of a heart attack; in Miami. Benham, world champion in four-man competition in 1949 and 1950, also won a pair of silver medals for the U.S. in the 1952 Winter Olympics and was once cited as the AAU's outstanding athlete of the year.
