Contents

24 Wilbur's Knuckler Is Alive and Swell
Getting good wood on the dipsy-doo deliveries of the White Sox' Wood has become the season's neatest trick

30 A Power Hitter Goes on Trial
A revolutionary black graphite shaft gives golfers extra distance, and draws some dark looks from the USGA

32 Ringing Bells and Spiking Dreams
San Diego had its Freaks, Long Beach its Jocks, and when they met in the NCAA volleyball finals everybody ducked

36 Last Act in a Bloody Bad Show
The goriest feud in sports history ends with a horseman convicted of conspiring to kill his brother

44 Are You Being Two-Faced?
Most men—and women—consider athletics risky and inessential for girls. These attitudes are being disproved

76 And Smile, Smile, Smile
Madison Square Garden was awash with good feeling as China's gymnasts clapped, hugged—and won some, too

82 The Highest Price for Fish
Vanished on a steaming day in the Florida flats were their composure, their manners, their catch and...

The departments

19 Scorecard
59 People
60 Baseball
71 Fishing
75 Horse Racing
76 Gymnastics
99 For the Record
100 19th Hole

Credits on page 99

Cover photograph by John Iacono

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ILLUSTRATION

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ILLUSTRATION

82

Next week

Mighty Oakmont, site of the U.S. Open, is surreal in Artist Don Moss' view, but its fast greens and 187 bunkers are all too real for defending champ Jack Nicklaus and challengers.

The thoughts of penny Tweedy include the dictum of breeding classic horses for classic races—e.g., Secretariat. Martha Duffy portrays the doyenne of Meadow Stable.

Dreams of glory possessed the bonus pitcher as he set forth to join the McCook (Neb.) Braves. Pat Jordan tells his own story—one of high hopes dashed in a flat land.