PEOPLE

It might have been a scene from Macomber or Kilimanjaro. Patrick Hemingway, 43, son of the late novelist Ernest Hemingway and now a wildlife management instructor, joined a group of conservation students trying to flush a wounded bull buffalo from the Tanzanian bush last month. Breaking off the search at dusk, Hemingway was headed back when the animal suddenly burst from the trees and charged. Hemingway dodged behind an acacia tree, but the buffalo Came close enough to snag the sling of his rifle as it went by, carrying the weapon off into the bush.

Miami running back Jim Kiick paid a visit to the Biscayne Kennel Club with a friend, public-relations man Julian Cole, and was spotted by a woman who thought she recognized him. When she had trouble coming up with the name, Cole said, "I'll give you a hint," and began humming I Gel a Kick Out of You. "Oh, sure," she said. "You're Garo Yepremian."

If Britain does well in the Olympic sprints this year, watch for scenes like this all over the world. Ron Jones, British 100-meter champion, is hoping that hauling on a one-ton automobile will build up his muscles for a faster start. And who knows? If this works, maybe he can move up to trucks, then railroad cars, then....

Twenty-year-old Robert Zubrin of Great Neck, N.Y. was awarded patent No. 3,652,091 last week for his new three-man chess game. It is played on a 96-square, hexagonal board with three sets of standard chessmen—in red, white and black. The winner is the last one left after the capture of the two enemy kings. Zubrin may have one of those inventions whose time has come. It sounds like just the board for the mixed-up matches scheduled this summer between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.

The National Audubon Society is up in arms over a report that Wilt Chamberlain had a bedspread made from the nose fur of thousands of wolves. Robert C. Boardman, the public information director for the society, wrote to Chamberlain taking him to task for his inadvertent support of the bounty program against wolves. "If, after reading this, you agree that it is wrong to kill wolves that aren't bothering anybody," wrote Boardman, "please let me know and I'll pass on the word...The wolves could use a friend about your height and weight."

Golf hustlers everywhere are sleeping a little easier these nights because George Low has found honest work. Low, whose deadeye putting stroke has broken the heart of more than one clubhouse sharpie and steadied the aim of many a touring pro who came to him for coaching, is nom marketing his own line of blades, 10 designs in all. The new putters will no doubt be a hot item among pros and hustlers alike—assuring Low a piece of the action even when he can't get into the match.

Kids of Atlanta's inner city came face to face last week with an Easter bunny even larger than Harvey. Claude Humphrey, defensive end of the Atlanta Falcons, dressed up in the appropriate duds complete to cotton tail and floppy ears—and then dropped out of the sky in a green helicopter, carrying an enormous basket of eggs. Outfitting Humphrey was a bit of a close thing, since bunny suits do not traditionally come in NFL defensive-end sizes. But then somebody remembered one that was left over from a Rock Hudson TV series. The cast-off suit filled the bill perfectly. And, at 6'5" and 248 pounds, Humphrey filled the suit perfectly, too.

This week's Law-and-Order Award goes to light-heavyweight boxer Bob Foster, who moonlights as a deputy sheriff in Albuquerque between fights. It seems Foster recently spotted this car exceeding the speed limit, hauled it over and wrote out a $25 ticket. For that bit of crime-busting, foster has paid dearly. The miscreant happened to be his wife, Pearl, and, besides giving him an argument at the scene, she didn't cook him a meal for a week.

Give the man credit. Even though he quit after 200 miles of kidney-busting competition across the Nevada desert, hydroplane driver Bill Muncey deserves high marks for his efforts in the recent 270-mile Del Webb Desert Rally near Las Vegas. Driving a two-seat buggy, he expressed deep respect for land racers, "I have the greatest admiration for anyone who enters one of these things," said Muncey afterward, but from now on, he'll stick to the ups and downs of hydroplaning.

Mercedes-Benz is taking applications for a novel tournament to be played this June at the Royal Zoute Golf Club on the Channel coast of Belgium. Only Mercedes-Benz owners will be allowed to make the trip, at $570 per head. Of course, explains Mercedes' public-relations director Leo Levine, "If a golfer who doesn't own a Mercedes-Benz wants to go, all he has to do is agree to take delivery of a new car." This will add a mere $6,000 to the trip. Maybe Ford has a better idea.

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