Contents

12 Thanks for the Memory
A horde of distinguished guests, a Vice-President and a famous golfer made the Bob Hope Classic a happening

16 As Smooth as Silk in Sapporo
Everything went like gracious clockwork at Japan's full-scale rehearsal of the 1972 Winter Olympics

20 Champion of the Armchair Athletes
Each weekend mild-mannered Dr. Del Meriwether strips off his lab coat, dons swim trunks and runs for fun

28 I Got a Surprise for Clay
In a rare and candid interview, Joe Frazier tells how he plans to win and why Ali has always been his target

36 Bugs, Bogs and Bass
If you can get there, St. Vincent Island, off Florida's panhandle, offers plenty of all three

46 A Coach's Garden of Curses
The teams are small-college but the rivalry is major, and, as for fairness, you should hear what the losers say

60 The Closest Thing to Being Born
Many body-surf but few excel, and hardly anyone successfully rides the immense waves at the Wedge

The departments

9 Scorecard
44 People
46 College Basketball
52 Track & Field
54 Boxing
56 Motor Sports
59 Tennis
75 For the Record
76 19th Hole

Credits on page 75

Cover photograph by Sheedy & Long

PHOTO

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ILLUSTRATION

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Next week

Boxer vs. Slugger is the classic match-up. A portfolio of art recalls the Johnson-Willard, Tunney-Dempsey, Conn-Louis and Charles-Marciano bouts and sets up Ali-Frazier.

The mountains of Maine are host to touring World Cup racers for the first time as the ski carnival opens its 1971 U.S. show on the slopes of Sugar-loaf. William Johnson reports.

Amateur diplomat Arthur Ashe, after a tour of six African countries for the State Department as a tennis player, would like to return someday as a real-life ambassador.