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19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER
UNHAPPY
Sirs:
Please explain to your readers that the headlines for the Chandler stories were yours not mine (How I Jumped from Clean Politics into Dirty Baseball, April 26 and May 3).
I had no opportunity to either approve or disapprove the headlines. I regret that the words "dirty baseball" were used. I am not, after almost 20 years (your CONTENTS billing, April 19), "still seething."
ALBERT B. CHANDLER
Versailles, Ky.
DAVE HILL
Sirs:
Myron Cope's article on Dave Hill was super (Often Bloody, but Uncowed, May 10)! A man like Hill who stands up to the USGA and PGA officials (who obviously have something against him) deserves recognition. This so-called bad guy of golf has gotten me very much interested in the game. And, by the way, I've never played golf in my life!
GREG STEERE
Salisbury, Md.
Sirs:
Simply put, Dave Hill seems to like the courses he wins on and dislike the ones he loses on. My 4-year-old has the same attitude toward life, but I hope that before he's 10 I can teach him to admit his own shortcomings rather than blaming the world for them. I'm bored with spoiled brats of all ages.
JOHN W. BARKER
West Palm Beach, Fla.
Sirs:
We Michiganders seem to have cornered the market in hotheaded professional athletes. Even your article on native son Dave Hill made a passing reference to Alex Karras, another outspoken, but rarely soft-spoken, player in our state. The Red Wings have been idle in recent years, but they once gave Howie Young a base of operations. And who can forget Denny McLain?
Of course, the facts that Karras was one of the best football players at any position for years, that McLain had the first 30-win season in 34 years and that Hill's accomplishments put him in the front rank are some consolation to a state whose four big-league sports teams have managed about two national championships in the last decade. Now if the Red Wings can just trade one of their Joe Nobodies for Derek Sanderson....
JOHN AUGUSTINE
Essexville, Mich.
THE GREENING OF A DYNASTY
Sirs:
After studying the last paragraph of your article on the NBA champion Bucks (Hey, Look, Ma! Only One Hand, May 10), I came to the conclusion that the only way to win consistently in basketball is to wear a green uniform. Boston won 11 titles in 13 years in Celtic green. The Bucks have now won in a bit darker shade, and it would appear that they will be on top for a few years to come. If any doubters should point out that UCLA won five NCAA championships in a row and seven in the past eight years in blue and yellow, just ask any elementary school child what color results from the mixing of those two colors.
BRUCE DELAHORNE
Tulsa
Sirs:
Your story implies that the Bucks will create a dynasty like the Celtics did. I disagree with you. The Celtics' green is theirs and no one else's. Last year New York showed the country that Lew could not do it all by himself. Now the Bucks have Oscar. He will be 33 years old this November.
PAUL HEANUE
Boston
Sirs:
There may have been Celtic green dominating the Milwaukee scene this year, but next year the Bucks' color will be bloodshot red when a healthy Willis Reed and the New York Knickerbockers converge on the scene. Lew Alcindor may very well be the best big man in pro ball, and Oscar Robertson is never less than sensational, but it takes more than two men to win games. Don't forget that the Knickerbockers defeated Milwaukee four out of five times during the season.
Yes, a dynasty is in the making in the NBA, but its color is Knickerbocker blue.
STEVE KOFFLER
West Lafayette, Ind.
Sirs:
The Bucks must really have it made. They're getting the same treatment the Packers and Lombardi got! I note such adjectives as "unemotional, colorless, humorless and businesslike." Your green eyes are showing.
PAT VANDENBUSH
Green Bay
BRIGHT STARS
Sirs:
Congratulations to Mark Mulvoy for his fine article (North Stars Are the Greatest, May 10). It goes to show that the expansion of hockey is working in some cities. Minnesota has a fine team and tremendous fans. Even though they lost, the North Stars have proven something to the more established NHL teams, especially the Canadiens.
JEFFREY SENNOTT
Newton, Mass.
BIG-GAME HUNTER
Sirs:
Unfortunately, another article has been printed that helps to destroy the already distorted image of the big-game hunter as the dedicated and hardworking sportsman that he really is.
Perhaps I read your article (On the Horns of a Dilemma, April 26) out of context, but I got the impression that most hunters will lie and cheat to win a trophy. I also got the impression that most trophies are given just for the sake of publicity. Perhaps this is true of the companies that award them, but as the only hunter to win all three of the awards mentioned—Weatherby, Air France and Winchester Shikar-Safari—I would like to say that it takes a bit more than strolling down Madison Avenue to win them, and the competition is as fierce as in any other sport. Also, there are no secrets in the big-game hunting world. When a man cheats and buys a set of horns, it becomes quickly known by those who are interested.
The Weatherby award is given for lifetime achievements, i.e., rare animals, most species of animals taken, most countries hunted and best trophies taken. The Air France award was given to me for taking the largest elephant (the tusks weighed 118 and 108 pounds) and the largest Cape buffalo (50½-inch spread) in Africa in a single year, 1967. The Winchester Shikar-Safari award is given for the best animal taken in Asia in a single year. I won it with an Ovis ammon ram with a 67-inch horn, breaking a record of 70 years. Incidentally, I almost lost my life on this hunt. I was in a hospital for five days recovering.
Someday, sometime, I hope that a magazine will have the guts to print the true story of what it takes to be a great trophy hunter. You cannot sit on your duff and win major trophies in the hunting world anymore than you can in other sports. In pursuing my sport, I have worked hard under all kinds of conditions—rain, sleet, snow, desert heat of 130° and freezing temperatures down to 50° below zero. One must be prepared to hunt at altitudes of over 15,000 feet and in hot, stinking jungles so thick you wouldn't believe it. We don't have air-conditioned stadiums to work in. I know, I was there.
C. J. McELROY
Inglewood, Calif.
BOWLING'S ANSWER
Sirs:
Kim Chapin's article Obviously Ws a Leftist Plot (May 3) was extremely well written, and it is obvious that he did his homework. I am pleased to report, however, that we have found a way to fill the right-side track in the lanes in a manner that gives the right-handed bowler a fairly equal opportunity to compete against the lefthander.
In any sport, however, the cream usually rises to the top because of an ability to adjust to changing rules, conditions and equipment. I can't see where bowling is any different.
EDDIE ELIAS
Founder and Legal Counsel
Professional Bowlers Association
Akron
WHIZ KIDS
Sirs:
It's not so bad when items appear in FACES IN THE CROWD about my peers (11-, 12- and 13-year-olds) trying to distance-run. But the article on Kevin Knox (Whoosh Goes the Wasco Whiz, May 3) is going too far. There are many, many young runners who can beat Knox hands down. Moreover, I am one of them. This sounds cocky, but it is probably true.
Still, I am happy that SI is recognizing the ability of young people. Maybe you will lead the way in breaking the segregation at the Boston Marathon, where young people are not allowed to compete.
STEPHEN ANTONAKOS
New York City
Sirs:
Congratulations on the excellent article on Kevin Knox, the first great age-group runner. Although all his records will eventually be broken, he is the first runner to establish outstanding times by which others can set their standards.
As competent physiologists have been preaching for years, track and field, and particularly distance running, is 10 years behind the swimmers, figure skaters and gymnasts. With programs such as Kevin's, the mile will eventually be run in 3:40, and runners who start later than age seven or eight will not be able to compete.
The first National Age Group Championship for boys and girls will be held June 5 in Washington and in Bakersfield, Calif. Entry blanks can be obtained from Dale Knox, 714 Sixth Street, Wasco. Calif. 93280 or Gabe Mirkin, M.D., 14411 Butternut Court, Rockville, Md. 20853.
GABE MIRKIN, M.D.
Rockville, Md.
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