A roundup of the week Oct. 26-Nov. 1
BASKETBALL—NBA: For three glorious days Cleveland led the Central Division with a 2-5 record (page 62). Then the Cavaliers lost on the same night Baltimore and Atlanta were winning and dropped behind. Baltimore was bolstered by the play of Guard Archie Clark, a two-game holdout over contract problems, and split its four games to share first with Atlanta. Clark's backcourt mate, Earl Monroe, was still a holdout demanding to be traded. Boston, looking like the Celtics of old, handed Midwest leader Milwaukee its first loss after seven wins, 125-114, and briefly shared first place in the Atlantic Division with Philadelphia. But the 76ers then moved half a game ahead of Boston, beating New York, which played dismally without injured All-Star Willis Reed. Seattle grabbed the Pacific lead from Los Angeles when Don Kojis and Player-Coach Lenny Wilkens sparked a 115-106 victory over the Lakers. Wilkens had 19 assists and Kojis scored 10 points in the fourth period.
ABA: Led by 6'6" Guard Charlie Scott and 6'6" rookie Forward Julius Erving, Virginia won three of four to take the East Division lead from Kentucky. Scott had 119 points and Erving 105 to total 44% of the Squires' scoring. The Floridians also took three of four, including a split with New York, and slipped into second place, shoving the Nets into third. In a 110-95 victory over New York, Al Tucker scored 20 of his 26 points in the third period. The Floridians then pulled to within a half game of Virginia, handing the Squires their only loss of the week when Larry Jones scored five points in the last 23 seconds. Indiana remained on top of the West, getting double-figure scoring from six of eight players in a 121-109 victory over second-place Utah, and getting out of Dallas with no decision when the power failed, postponing the game.
BOXING—BOB FOSTER, light-heavyweight champion of the world to every major boxing body except the World Boxing Association, knocked out contending Tommy Flicks in the eighth round at Scranton, Pa. WBA champion VICENTE RONDON of Venezuela kept pace by knocking out Gomeo Brennan in the 13th round in Miami Beach.
CHESS—BOBBY FISCHER of the U.S. beat Tigran Petrosian of the U.S.S.R. 6½-2½ in Buenos Aires and earned the right to play World Champion Boris Spassky for the title (page 30).
FOOTBALL—American Conference: Earl Morrall completed 11 passes for 286 yards and three touchdowns in leading BALTIMORE to a 34-21 win over Pittsburgh (page 22). Oakland and Kansas City remained deadlocked for the West lead when they tied 20-20 on George Blanda's field goal—his second of the game—with 2½ minutes to go. Blanda, who replaced Daryle Lamonica with the Raiders behind 20-10 in the fourth quarter, also threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Fred Biletnikoff. Blanda's eight points in the game made him the alltime pro scoring leader with 1,609, one more than the retired Lou Groza of Cleveland. MIAMI held first place in the East with its fourth straight victory, 20-14 over Los Angeles on Bob Griese's two touchdown passes, one a 74-yarder to Paul Warfield. HOUSTON won its first game 10-6 over Cincinnati, while John Hadl completed 19 passes for 358 yards and four touchdowns as SAN DIEGO blasted the New York Jets 49-21.
National Conference: Norm Snead, who came in when starting Quarterback Gary Cuozzo was injured in the fourth quarter, threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Bob Grim with 1:04 remaining to lift MINNESOTA past the New York Giants 17-10. It was the fifth victory in a row for the Central Division leaders, who beat Baltimore 10-3 in the Monday night TV game. WASHINGTON increased its lead in the East to two games, defeating New Orleans 24-14 as Bill Kilmer scored one touchdown and passed for another, and Pat Fischer ran back an intercepted pass 53 yards for a TD. Disappointing Dallas alternated Craig Morton and Roger Staubach on every play, but Bobby Douglass showed that one solid quarterback is worth two on the run when CHICAGO beat the Cowboys 23-19 on Douglass' nine-yard TD run and 28-yard TD pass to Dick Gordon, and Mac Percival field goals of 44, 38 and 35 yards. Jim Hart started his first game since the season opener and led ST. LOUIS to a 28-23 win over Buffalo. Punchless Cleveland, which had been shut out the previous week by Denver, fell behind ATLANTA 28-0 in the third period before finally scoring some points. They weren't enough, however, and the Browns lost to the Falcons 31-14 as Dick Shiner passed for two touchdowns. It was the second straight victory for Atlanta under Shiner, who had taken over for the injured Bob Berry. PHILADELPHIA also won its second in a row, edging Denver 17-16, while John Brodie's 71-yard touchdown pass to Gene Washington led SAN FRANCISCO to a 27-10 win over New England and first place in the West.
GOLF—LEE TREVINO set a single-season money-winning record of $227,243 when he won the $135,000 Sahara in Las Vegas (page 28).
Jack Nicklaus shot a 269 to win the $22,400 Qantas Australian Open in Hobart, Tasmania by eight strokes over Bruce Crampton.
HARNESS RACING—ALBATROSS ($2.60) won the $100,000 Shapiro Stakes at Hollywood Park by three-quarters of a length over Winning Worthy.
HOCKEY—New York stayed on top of the East Division by sandwiching a 7-4 win over Detoit between two 1-1 ties with Pittsburgh (page 26). Montreal climbed over Boston into second by beating the Bruins 5-2 and opened up a three-point edge when rookie Ken Dryden beat Detroit 3-0 for his second shutout of the season. It was a bad week for slumping Boston. Gilles Meloche, a rookie making his first start in goal for California, warded off 34 shots in a 2-0 shutout over Boston, the first to be suffered by the high-scoring Bruins in nearly a year. Dune Wilson gave Vancouver its first shutout since the club entered the league two seasons ago, but Toronto's Bernie Parent had himself a shutout in the same game and it ended 0-0. In the West, Minnesota moved to within two points of Chicago, extending its unbeaten string to seven with wins over Los Angeles, St. Louis and Pittsburgh, and a 1-1 tie with Toronto. With their Mutt and Jeff combination—6'2" Cesare Maniago and 5'7" Gump Worsley—alternating in the nets, the North Stars have allowed only 14 goals in 10 games to lead the league. Los Angeles lost four straight to drop from fourth to the cellar. California won three straight to vault from last place to fifth.
HORSE RACING—SHUVEE ($4.60) won the $111,500 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Aqueduct by seven lengths over Paraje (page 68).
MOTOR SPORTS—New Zealand's DENIS HULME won the final race of the Can-Am series at Riverside, Calif., beating Peter Revson by 46 seconds. Revson, however, finished first in the overall standings for the 10-race series, with Hulme second.
TENNIS—ILIE NASTASE of Rumania beat Rod Laver 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the finals of the $50,000 Embassy Open in Wembley, England to move within one victory of the $25,000 first prize in the 32-tournament Pepsi Grand Prix series.
MILEPOSTS—HIRED: Baltimore Oriole director of player personnel, HARRY DALTON, 43, as executive vice-president and general manager of the California Angels. Dalton, one of the most knowledgeable front-office men in baseball, joined Baltimore in 1953 and became personnel director in 1965. Dalton built pennant winners in 1966, 1969, 1970 and 1971.
NAMED: As winner of the Cy Young Award, VIDA BLUE of the Oakland Athletics. The 22-year-old lefthander was 17-3 by mid-July and finished with a 24-8 record, eight shutouts, 24 complete games, 301 strikeouts and a league-leading 1.82 ERA to become the youngest winner of the award.
RESIGNED: BUTCH VAN BREDA KOLFF, 48, as coach of the Detroit Pistons, because of "pressure and health." Forward TERRY DISCHINGER was named to run the Pistons until a replacement could be found.
RESIGNED: SID ABEL, 53, as coach of the St. Louis Blues after a 3-6-1 start, to become general manager. BILL McCREARY, 36, coach of the Denver Spurs, was named to replace him. FRED GLOVER, 43, fired as coach of the California Golden Seals after three games, was hired by Los Angeles Kings Owner Jack Kent Cooke to replace Larry Regan, who continues as general manager. DOUG BARKLEY, 34, quit as coach of the Detroit Red Wings and was replaced by JOHNNY WILSON, 42.
DIED: JIM PITTMAN, 46, football coach at Texas Christian University, of a heart attack during TCU's 34-27 victory over Baylor at Waco, Texas. Pittman, who had a history of heart trouble, had gone to TCU this season from Tulane, which he built into a Liberty Bowl champion.
