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A roundup of the week Sept. 26-Oct. 2
BOXING—Unbeaten RON LYLE knocked out Buster Mathis in the second round of their heavyweight bout in Denver, prompting Mathis to announce he may retire (page 88).
Bob Foster knocked out Great Britain's Chris Finnegan in the 14th round of their light-heavyweight championship fight in London. It was Foster's 11th title defense, including bouts in which he did not have WBA recognition, since he won the championship by knocking out Dick Tiger in 1968.
Venice Borkorsor of Thailand captured the World Boxing Council flyweight title from Betulio Gonzales of Venezuela on a 10-round TKO in Bangkok.
PRO FOOTBALL—NFC: For Washington, it was a hard day's Knight. The Redskins appeared to have gained a tie with underdog NEW ENGLAND when Curt Knight kicked a 32-yard field goal with 1:39 left. But the Patriots were called for roughing him, and Washington accepted the penalty and first down instead of the field goal in order to go for a winning touchdown. New England's defense held, and Knight lined up for a 27-yard attempt—a pro chip-in. He missed, and the Patriots hung on to win, eventually, 24-23. It was no day for conference favorites. Dave Hampton set a team single-game rushing record of 161 yards as ATLANTA beat Los Angeles for the first time ever 31-3. GREEN BAY knocked off Dallas 16-13 on Chester Marcol's field goals from 44, 26 and 22 yards and John Brockington's rushing. Terry Bradshaw hit Frank Lewis on a 38-yard scoring pass with 1:06 left to give PITTSBURGH a 25-19 win over St. Louis. Greg Landry threw one touchdown pass and scored three himself as DETROIT outlasted Chicago 38-24. Bob Griese atoned for a poor passing start in the last two minutes of play by leading MIAMI, pro football's only remaining unbeaten team, to a come-from-behind 16-14 win over Minnesota. A seven-play, 59-yard drive culminated in his three-yard scoring pass to Tight End Jim Mandich with 1:28 remaining.
AFC: Joe Namath failed to equal last week's performance against Baltimore, but mistakes by his teammates and Skip Butler's four field goals had more to do with HOUSTON'S 26-20 win (page 38). Cincinnati fell to CLEVELAND 27-6 after Mike Phipps broke open a defensive struggle with a 68-yard touchdown pass to Frank Pitts early in the fourth quarter. Jan Stenerud's 22-yard field goal gave KANSAS CITY its first win in two starts, but barely, 20-17 over New Orleans, in a Monday night game. Six days later the Chiefs continued their strange, bumbling ways and were tied with Denver 17-17. Then Mike Livingston threw three second-half touchdown passes en route to a 45-24 Kansas City win. New Orleans, meanwhile, lost in more predictable fashion 37-2 to SAN FRANCISCO, whose Quarterback John Brodie picked the Saints' defense apart with 18 completions in 26 passes and two scoring throws. BALTIMORE won its first game after two losses, beating Buffalo 17-0; the Colts' Namath-struck defense stiffened and allowed only 229 yards total offense. Cid Edwards gained 97 yards rushing and caught six passes for 100 yards to give SAN DIEGO a 17-17 tie with favored OAKLAND.
GOLF—BOB CHARLES of New Zealand faltered in the final round with a 76, but won Europe's richest tournament, the $138,547 John Player, by a stroke over American Gay Brewer and Briton Peter Oosterhuis with a one-over-par 285 total, in Turnberry, Scotland.
Deane Beman won the $100,000 Quad Cities Open for the second straight year with a five-under-par 279 in Bettendorf, Iowa.
HARNESS RACING—SUPER BOWL ($2.80), driven by Stanley Dancer, won the $93,097 Yonkers Futurity by a length over Del Miller's Delmonica Hanover (page 93).
Ricci Reenie Time set two world records for 2-year-old pacers on a mile track while winning the $25,691 Meadow Lands Pace in Lexington, Ky. in straight heats. The son of Race Time's second heat of 1:56[1/5] broke Entrepreneur's mile record by [3/5] of a second and his combined time for two heats of 3:54[4/5] bettered the old mark of 3:56 shared by Bullet Hanover and Fulla Napoleon.
HOCKEY—TEAM CANADA staged a remarkable comeback in its series with the Soviet Union, winning the last two games in Moscow on late goals by Toronto's Paul Henderson and taking the eight-game series 4-3-1 after being down 3-1-1 (page 42).
HORSE RACING—KEY TO THE MINT ($5.40), ridden by Braulio Baeza, assured himself of Horse of the Year honors by winning the $115,500 Woodward Stakes over Autobiography at sloppy Belmont Park. Favored Riva Ridge, Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, finished fourth, 6¼ lengths behind KTTM (page 44).
Our Papa Joe ($26) won the 1[1/16] Mile $34,200 Thomas D. Nash Memorial Handicap by a neck at Chicago's Sportsman's Park when favored Joey Bob's jockey mistakenly pulled up [1/16] of a mile from the finish line.
MOTOR SPORTS—MIKE HAILWOOD of Great Britain clinched the 1972 Formula II Europe title by finishing second to Australian Tim Schenken in Hockenheim, West Germany. Hailwood holds a 55-37 lead in the standings over Jean-Pierre Jassaud of France, who dropped out after the third lap.
Dave Anderson of Minneapolis set world land-speed records for drag racing, driving his jet-powered Pollution Packer to a speed of 154.666 mph over a quarter mile and 173.918 mph over 500 meters at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
SOCCER—AJAX of Amsterdam won the World Championship Cup by defeating Independiente of Argentina 3-0 on two goals by Johnny Rep and one by Johan Neeskens, and became the first team to earn, in succession, the National Dutch Cup, the National League, the European Cup and the World Cup.
TRACK & FIELD—JORDANKA BLAGOYEVA, 30, of Bulgaria, silver medal winner at Munich, cleared 6'4¼" at an international track meet in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, breaking the women's high jump world record of 6'3½" jointly held by Illona Gusenbauer of Austria and Olympic gold medalist Ulrike Meyfarth of West Germany.
TENNIS—U.S. Open champion BILLIE JEAN KING, who in 1971 became the first woman athlete to pass the $100,000 mark, guaranteed a repeat performance in 1972 when she reached the semifinals of the Virginia Slims-Phoenix Thunder-bird tournament. She went on to face Margaret Smith Court of Australia in the finals for the third time in three weeks and won for the second time 7-6, 6-3.
Jimmy Connors, 20, beat Roscoe Tanner 6-2, 7-6 in the finals of the $34,000 Golden Gate Pacific Coast championships in Albany, Calif.
MILEPOSTS—REDISTRIBUTED: The purse for the 1968 Kentucky Derby, after the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the state racing commission's contention that the winner, Dancer's Image, had a forbidden medication in his system on Derby day. Runner-up Forward Pass gets the winner's purse ($122,600), Francie's Hat gets place money ($25,000) and T.V. Commercial, show ($12,500).
RESIGNED: TED WILLIAMS, 52, as manager of the Texas Rangers, but expected to remain with the club in an advisory capacity. The Rangers had lost 15 straight games at the time of the announcement and had a record of 52-99—worst in baseball (page 115).
SOLD: To a syndicate headed by Pittsburgh Pirates Owner John W. Galbreath for $21.5 million, HIALEAH RACE COURSE in Miami, marking only the fourth change in ownership since Joseph Widener built the track in 1925.
