A roundup of the week Aug. 1-7
BOXING—DUANE BOBICK, unbeaten in his last 55 fights, earned the heavyweight berth on the U.S. Olympic team when his opponent was disqualified in trials at West Point. TIM DEMENT knocked out Jesse Trujillo to take the flyweight title. Other winners included DAVID ARMSTRONG, light flyweight; RICCARDO CARRERAS, bantamweight; LOUIS SELF, featherweight; REGINALD JONES, light middleweight; MARVIN JOHNSON, middleweight; RAY SEALES, light welterweight; and JESSE VALDEZ, welterweight.
CHESS—At the world championships in Reykjavik, Iceland, BOBBY FISCHER of the United Slates maintained a two-point (6½-4½) lead over champion Boris Spassky of the U.S.S.R. with a draw, a win and a loss (page 24).
FOOTBALL—The DALLAS COWBOYS escaped with the season's "Texas Championship" by defeating Houston 26-24 on four field goals by Toni Fritsch. Miami played without Bob Griese at quarterback and lost to DETROIT 31-23. WASHINGTON jumped on Baltimore's defense 33-3, and John Riggins' 26-yard run in the last minute of play turned the NEW YORK JETS into 17-10 winners over San Francisco. KANSAS CITY spoiled Abe Gibron's debut as the Chicago Bear coach 24-10, while SAN DIEGO coasted to a 30-7 victory over Atlanta. PITTSBURGH easily defeated the New York Giants 28-10 despite a second-quarter injury to Quarterback Terry Bradshaw. In other games LOS ANGELES upended Cleveland 13-3 (page 67), ST. LOUIS stopped Buffalo 27-10, GREEN BAY defeated Cincinnati 24-14 and OAKLAND came from behind to top New England 31-24.
GOLF—GARY PLAYER of South Africa won his sixth major tournament, the PGA championship in Birmingham, Mich., with a 281, two strokes ahead of Jim Jamieson, who bogeyed the last three holes (page 58).
Kathy Whitworth overtook Jane Blalock as the leading money-winner on the LPGA tour by winning the Knoxville Classic with a 54-hole score of 210, four strokes better than Sandra Haynie. The victory, Miss Whitworth's third of the year, boosted her earnings to $41,737.
HARNESS RACING—Canadian John Hayes' STRIKE OUT ($3.40), driven by Keith Waples, won the final heat in 1:58 to take the $57,000 Thomas P. Gaines Memorial for 3-year-old pacers at Vernon Downs, N.Y.
HORSE RACING—FREETEX ($24.40), Michael Hole up, took the $100,000 Monmouth Invitational at Monmouth Park, N.J. by 1¼ lengths over King's Bishop. Heavily favored Riva Ridge finished fourth.
Key to the mint ($3.60), a 3-year-old ridden by Braulio Baeza, beat seven older horses in winning the $57,250 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. Tunex was second two lengths back.
Chou Croute ($6.60), with Robert Kotenko aboard, won her 14th race in 19 career starts, an eight-length victory over Grafitti in the $55,350 Susquehanna Handicap at Philadelphia's Liberty Bell Park.
MOTOR SPORTS—JAMES HYLTON, 38, winner of just one NASCAR race in his eight-year career, drove his Ford across the finish line half a length ahead of Ramo Scott to win the Talladega 500 at the Alabama International Speedway.
Pole sitter GEORGE FOLLMER wheeled his Porsche to a wire-to-wire victory in the $83,200 Mid-Ohio Can-Am race in Lexington. Follmer, subbing for the injured Mark Donohue, covered 192 rainy miles in 2:04.3.
ROWING—National champions filled the three remaining U.S. Olympic team categories by winning trial heats on Connecticut's Lake Waramaug. A combination shell representing the VESPER BOAT CLUB of Philadelphia and the UNION BOAT CLUB of Boston won the fours without coxswain in 6:15.18 over the 2,000-meter course. JOHN VAN BLOM and TOM McKIBBON of Long Beach, Calif. took the double sculls in 6:33.43, and the UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA team won the pairs with coxswain in 7:17.12.
SWIMMING—MARK SPITZ, who set three world records in four days, and GARY HALL, Spitz' former teammate at Indiana University, who broke a world mark in the 400 individual medley and tied one in the 200 medley, paced the five-day Olympic Trials in Chicago (page 16).
TENNIS—The UNITED STATES, with Stan Smith recovering from an early singles loss to Andres Gimeno, defeated Spain 3-2 in the Davis Cup Interzone semifinals in Barcelona (page 62).
Unseeded BOB LUTZ, 24, stroked past highly ranked John Newcombe, Rod Laver, Cliff Drysdale and Tom Okker to win the $50,000 U.S. Pro Championships in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Lutz' 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Okker in the finals made him the first American to win the title since 1962.
Margaret Court avenged her 1971 Wimbledon loss to Evonne Goolagong with a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over her countrywoman in the finals of the $42,500 Western Championships in Cincinnati.
TRACK & FIELD—STEVE PREFONTAINE, prepping for the Olympic 5,000-meter run in a meet in Oslo, Norway, ran the fastest 1,500 of his life one night (3:39.4), only to lose to PEKKA VASALA of Finland (3:38.3), and then broke his U.S. mark in the 3,000 with a 7:44.2 clocking the next.
MILEPOSTS—FINED: By Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, CHARLES O. FINLEY, owner of the Oakland Athletics, for critical statements he made concerning the commissioner's role in the Vida Blue signing. Finley said that if he did pay the $500 fine, he would do so under protest.
SIGNED: To a two-year contract by the New York Jets, Quarterback JOE NAMATH, for a reported $500,000, making him the highest-paid player in pro football history despite missing 19 regular-season games the past two years due to injuries.
SIGNED: Boston Bruin Center DEREK SANDERSON by the Philadelphia Blazers of the World Hockey Association, to a multiyear contract worth $2.6 million. The deal not only makes Sanderson the highest-paid team athlete in America, but also includes a scouting job with the club for his father. Boston, which now has lost five players to the WHA, is suing Sanderson and Goalie Gerry Cheevers for breach of contract.
SOLD: Two disgruntled members of the ABA champion Indiana Pacers, RICK MOUNT and BOB NETOLICKY, to the Kentucky Colonels and Dallas Chaparrals, respectively.
SCOLDED: By the LPGA, SANDRA PALMER, seventh leading money-winner on the tour, for statements made in Atlanta last month in defense of previously suspended Jane Blalock. Specifically, Miss Palmer said she believed one of the affidavits accusing Miss Blalock of illegally moving her ball was false. Miss Palmer got one year's probation.
TRADED: By the Dallas Cowboys, problem player DUANE THOMAS to the San Diego Chargers for Wide Receiver Billy Parks and Running Back Mike Montgomery, thereby ending two years of discordant relations between the Super Bowl champions and one of pro football's finest runners. San Diego also acquired the equally iconoclastic TIM ROSSOVICH, a linebacker from the Philadelphia Eagles, in exchange for next year's first draft pick.
TRADED: Guard JIMMY WALKER, 28, whose 21.6 scoring average last year was the highest of his five-year NBA career, to the Houston Rockets by the Detroit Pistons. In exchange, the Pistons received Guard STU LANTZ, 26, who scored 18.6 points per game. Walker, who teamed with Dave Bing in Detroit's guard-oriented offense, had fallen into disfavor with the Pistons' second-year coach, Earl Lloyd.
