Contents

20 Playing the Payroll Game
Montana's coaches wanted winners. The Federal aid plan sought to help students. And that's how the Grizzlies grew

24 Never Was a Clyde So Bonny
Golden State defeated Milwaukee in the NBA playoffs as Clyde Lee played some beautiful basketball

26 Now Comes the Big Blue Machine
Kansas City bursts into the baseball season with the newest stadium and meanest bats in the West

28 The Mouth That Nearly Roared
Muhammad Ali was not wired for sound, but he made his point clear enough; he'll be back, greater than ever

34 Being Eaten Alive by Sailfish
After a good day in the waters off the island of Cozumel, Charter Captain Cliff North has an unusual complaint

40 Subtle Side of the Shell Game
As another rowing season begins, a look at the beauty and grace of the sport along with its agony and ecstasy

46 The Grand Master
A chess game in a railway compartment evokes a stream of memories in this short story by a famed Soviet writer

74 Opal Two Comes Back
A POW who remembered his days as a football player sees his old campus and how the sport has changed

The departments

13 Scorecard
56 People
61 Baseball
65 Tennis
68 Hockey
72 Table Tennis
91 For the Record
92 19th Hole

Cover photograph by Neil Leifer

Credits on page 91

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ILLUSTRATION

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Next week

The beat generation seems to include all other Derby colts as Secretariat wins and wins. Whitney Tower believes only his rider or the horse himself can lose the big one.

Only victors in regular golf tour events can compete in the $200,000 Tournament of Champions in La Costa, Calif. Barry McDermott sees who wins among the winners.

Southern-fried jokester Jerry Clower is jawing his way through the banquet circuit with the thigh-slappingest stories ever heard in Dixie. Roy Blount Jr. records the fun.