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A roundup of the week Sept. 19-25
BASEBALL—An all-star team from VENEZUELA defeated the Albuquerque Dukes, the Pacific Coast League champions, 6-2 to win the first Kodak World Triple A championship at Honolulu Stadium.
BOXING—MUHAMMAD ALI, whose career record rose to 38-1, scored a seventh-round technical knockout over 37-year-old Floyd Patterson, 55-8, in New York (page 24).
PRO FOOTBALL—AFC: Baltimore should have been too tough to beat playing at home after an opening week loss, but the Colts' old nemesis Joe Namath shredded their celebrated zone defense on the finest statistical day of his career and the NEW YORK JETS soared to a 44-34 victory. Namath's total of six touchdown passes and 496 yards passing included three scoring strikes within 1:32 of the second quarter and two more of 79 and 80 yards to Rich Caster within 2:02 of the fourth period. Namath's performance partially obscured the courageous efforts of Baltimore's Johnny Unitas, who completed 26 of 45 passes for 376 yards and two touchdowns. He and Namath combined for 872 yards, an NFL record. MIAMI kept pace with the Jets in the East by beating Houston 34-13 on a rainy day in the Orange Bowl. Jim Kiick scored two touchdowns and Mercury Morris, Larry Csonka and Bob Griese each ran for one. CINCINNATI, the conference's only other unbeaten team after just two weeks of regular-season play, earned a 15-10 decision over rugged Pittsburgh on five field goals by Horst Muhlmann. Cleveland had not won a game of any kind since Dec. 12 when it clinched last year's Central Division title, so Head Coach Nick Skorich decided to start Mike Phipps, who had a fine preseason record, in place of Quarterback Bill Nelsen. Phipps responded by throwing for one touchdown and running for another as the Browns finally tasted success, beating Philadelphia 27-17. Poor BUFFALO had waited even longer for a regular-season victory—since Nov. 28—and San Francisco had the misfortune to be in the way at the wrong time. Bills Running Back Jim Braxton scored the winning touchdowns in a 27-20 triumph on two short runs in the fourth quarter, and O. J. Simpson added 138 yards rushing. John Brodie, who sprained his left wrist when he was tackled while attempting to pass, was forced from the game in the second quarter. Even NEW ENGLAND, another of the AFC have-nots, caught the fever and rallied to beat Atlanta 21-20, as Jim Plunkett directed the Patriots to two late scores. OAKLAND defeated Green Bay 20-14, but the Packers could have turned the score around if MacArthur Lane had not fumbled on the Raiders' two-yard line in the first period. Oakland Linebacker Jack Tatum picked up the loose ball in his own end zone and raced 104 yards for a touchdown, a sprint that broke the oldest record in the NFL. None other than George Halas had returned a fumble 98 yards back in 1923.
NFC: WASHINGTON edged Minnesota 24-21 on Monday night and then won its second game in six days, 24-10 over St. Louis on Sunday. Tight End Jerry Smith caught a pair of touchdown passes and Larry Brown ran for 148 yards. DALLAS, headed for a midseason confrontation with the Redskins, looked unimpressive in beating the New York Giants 23-14. The Cowboys did not score the clinching touchdown until the last two minutes. Toni Fritsch had kicked three field goals previous to that—one of 54 yards. MINNESOTA rocked Detroit 34-10 as Dave Osborne scored three times and the Vikings picked off four Greg Landry passes. CHICAGO always plays LOS ANGELES well at home and Mac Percival, who has beaten the Rams in Chicago before, kicked a 45-yard field goal to earn a 13-13 tie this time. In other action SAN DIEGO beat Denver 37-14 (page 70).
GOLF—GRIER JONES, the first-round leader, came from five strokes off the pace in the $100,000 Robinson (Ill.) Fall Classic, to force a sudden-death playoff with Dave Marad at 273 after 72 holes. Jones, 25, then won his second tournament of the year with a par on the second extra hole.
HARNESS RACING—STRIKE OUT ($4.60), driven by Keith Waples, sped to victory in straight heats in the $104,916 Little Brown Jug at the Delaware (Ohio) County Fairground (page 76).
Earlier in the week the sport's best pacer, ALBATROSS, driven by Stanley Dancer, set a world mark of 1:55[3/5] over Delaware's half-mile track in a $2,000 non-betting race. Albatross holds the world mark for a race over a ‚Öù-mile track: 1:54[3/5].
HOCKEY—Phil Esposito's tumble during pregame ceremonies in Moscow was merely a prelude to Team Canada's third-period collapse in game five of its series with RUSSIA, which scored five times in the last 17 minutes for a 5-4 victory. On Sunday, TEAM CANADA scored three goals within a minute and a half, winning 3-2 (page 28).
HORSE RACING—Unbeaten LA PREVOYANTE ($2.40), with John Le Blanc aboard, drew only three rivals in the $104,290 Matron Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Belmont Park and coasted to a 7½-length victory over Up Above.
In a rare meeting of Kentucky Derby winners, CANONERO II ($13), ridden by Gustavo Avila, made good use of a 13-pound weight advantage to beat favored Riva Ridge by five lengths in the $28,050 Stymie Handicap at Belmont Park. Canonero II set a track record and equaled the American mark of 1:46[1/5] for a mile and an eighth.
MOTOR SPORTS—Scotland's JACKIE STEWART drove his Tyrrell-Ford to a record speed of 114.282 in winning the Canadian Grand Prix in Bowmanville, Ont. It was Stewart's third Formula I victory of the year. Peter Revson's McLaren was second.
TENNIS—Roscoe Tanner, 21, a first-year professional with a huge left-handed serve, pounded through matches with Pancho Gonzales, Ilie Nastase, Manuel Orantes and Tom Okker to reach the finals of the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles. Then he ran into STAN SMITH and went down in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
Margaret Smith Court upset Billie Jean King 6-4, 6-1 to win the $20,000 Golden Gate-Pacific Coast Classic, an event promoted by Mrs. King's husband, Larry.
TRACK & FIELD—EMIEL PUTTEMANS of Belgium set a pair of world records in Brussels while winning the 5,000-meter run in an international meet. His time of 13:13 shaved 3.4 seconds off the mark set six days ago by Finland's Olympic gold medalist Lasse Viren. En route, Puttemans was timed in 12:47.6 for three miles, 2.8 seconds faster than Australia's Ron Clarke ran the distance in 1966. In another meet in Constantza, Rumania, ARGENTINA MENIS of Rumania hurled the discus 220'10", beating the women's mark set by Fina Melnik of the U.S.S.R. by 22 inches.
MILEPOSTS—AWARDED: To the Milwaukee Bucks, JULIUS ERVING, a Virginia Squire in the ABA last year who signed to play with the NBA Atlanta Hawks this year, despite the fact that Milwaukee had selected him in the April draft; by the league owners. The Hawks had other ideas, but when they played Erving in two preseason games last week, NBA President Walter Kennedy lined them $25,000.
RETIRED: Kentucky Colonels Guard DAREL CARRIER along with his jersey number, 35, the first time an ABA team has so honored a player. The league's finest career three-point shooter (.377) and one of its top five free-throw shooters (.849), Carrier averaged 20.8 points a game in five years. He was selected to the all-star team three times and once scored 53 points in a game against Minnesota in 1968.
DIED: JOSEPH W. BROOKS JR., 70, fishing editor of Outdoor Life magazine and holder of five world angling records at the time of his death; of a heart ailment; in Rochester, Minn.
