A roundup of the week May 20-25
BOXING—RODRIGO VALDES, of Colombia, scored a seventh-round knockout over Philadelphia's Benny Briscoe to win the WBC world middleweight championship. The scheduled 15-round bout in Monte Carlo was elevated to world-title status after the WBC dethroned Carlos Monzon for refusing to defend his title in a stipulated time period. In a 10-round preliminary, two-time world middleweight champion EMILE GRIFFITH out-pointed Chile's Renato Garcia.
HARNESS RACING—JOURNALIST ($19.20), driven by owner Billy Haughton, wrote the finish of the $31,150 U.S. Harness Writers' Trot with a three-length win over Jefferson Pomp at Roosevelt Raceway. Haughton's son Peter finished third with Rising Wind.
HORSE RACING—ACCIPITER ($9.80), Angel Santiago aboard, won the $60,400 Withers Mile for 3-year-olds, finishing 1¾ lengths ahead of Best Of It and Hosiery at Belmont Park.
Larry Snyder guided TOM TULLE ($4.80) to a six-length victory over Smooth Dancer and Chateauvira in the 1[1/16]-mile, $60,000-added National Jockey Club Handicap at Sportsman's Park in Chicago.
Brindabella ($14.00), ridden by the veteran Walter Blum, finished one length in front of North Broadway and Lilac Hill to win the 1-mile, $53,750 Vineland Handicap at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, N.J.
LACROSSE—NCAA tournament action continued, with Johns Hopkins and Maryland advancing to the final. Washington & Lee led Johns Hopkins most of the way, but the Jays came alive with 14 minutes left in the game and scored four straight goals to win 11-10. Senior Rich Kowalchuk, assisted by freshman Tom Myrick, registered the winning goal with 1:50 remaining. The All-America midfielder also had two others, as did Jim Cahill and Dale Kohler. It was Washington & Lee's first defeat this year. In the other semifinal contest Maryland lied the NCAA tournament record for single-game scoring with a 19-10 trouncing of Cornell. Ed Mullen, Roger Tuck and Dave Dempsey each had three goals, and Dempsey's three increased his total to a Maryland career record 105. In the college division final Towson State captured the championship by defeating Hobart 18-17 in overtime. Wayne Eisenhut, who finished with five goals and four assists, starred for the winners as he charged in for two unassisted goals in the extra period. Hobart's Beaver Draffen had tied it at 16-16 with 1:30 left in regulation play by scoring his eighth goal of the game.
SOCCER—Undefeated Toronto maintained its Northern Division lead alter a 2-1 victory over Vancouver, while winless New York, plagued by a weak midfield, continued to occupy the cellar. The Cosmos have lost each of their four games by one goal, falling this week to Rochester 2-1 and Philadelphia 1-0. Elsewhere in the NASL, Miami led Baltimore by one point for second place in the Eastern Division behind unbeaten Philadelphia. The Toros tripped Washington 4-1, and the Comets, helped by Striker Peter Silvester's two goals, walloped the San Jose Earthquakes 6-2. Silvester now has seven goals in four games. San Jose dropped another contest, losing to Seattle 3-1. but retained a share of the Western Division lead, ahead of the Sounders and tied with the Los Angeles Aztecs, who slipped by St. Louis 4-3.
TENNIS—VIRGINIA WADE won her fourth British Hard Court singles title by beating Julie Heldman 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 at Bournemouth. The record-equaling victory was worth $3,600.
TRACK & FIELD—Tony Waldrop finished fourth (page 24) as PAUL CUMMINGS of BYU ran a 3:57.7 mile at the California Relays in Modesto. World-record holder IVORY CROCKETT dived into the wire ahead of Steve Williams to win the 100-yard dash: both were timed in 9.2 seconds. JOHN POWELL had a spectacular discus throw of 223'4", breaking the old meet record by almost five feet. Another record fell when ARNIE ROBINSON unleashed the sixth-best long jump in history, a 27'2¾" effort. FRANCIE LARRIEU set a new American women's record in the mile with a 4:38.2, and MAREN SEIDLER bettered her own American standard, tossing the shot 56'1½".
Controversy erupted at the IC4A meet in Pittsburgh when Seton Hall, a contender for the team title, and Cornell were declared ineligible in the 440-yard relay for failing to list the names of their runners in the proper order on the entry cards. That cooked Seton Hall's chances. PENN STATE won the race in 40.4 seconds and went on to take the team championship by a wide margin, scoring 50 points to defending champion Navy's 30. Seton Hall and Manhattan tied for third with 27 each. CHARLIE McGUIRE was the only individual winner for the Nittany Lions, with a 28:48.8 victory in the six-mile run. Pitt senior BILL REA won his fourth consecutive IC4A long-jump title with a leap of 25'9½", only a quarter of an inch short of Meredith Gourdine's 23-year-old meet record. Penn's BRUCE COLLINS set a meet record of 50.2 seconds in the 440 hurdles and took the 120 highs in 13.7. Another double winner was Seton Hall sprinter CHARLES JOSEPH, who won the 100 in 9.4 and the 220 in 20.5, which tied Paul Drayton's 12-year-old IC4A mark.
Eastern New Mexico muddled through a raging thunderstorm to win the NAIA championship, in Arkadelphia, Ark.
Mesa (Ariz.) Community College won its fifth NJCAA title in Pasadena, Texas, with Lincoln Land (Ill.) and Essex (N.J.) Community the distant runners-up.
MILEPOSTS—APPOINTED: JOHN H. (JACK) KRUMPE, who resigned in April as the president of the New York Racing Association, to be executive director of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
BARRED: EVONNE GOOLAGONG, from playing in the French Open, second leg of the tennis grand slam and unofficial world clay-court championship, by the French Tennis Federation; and JIMMY CONNORS, from the Italian Open, by the Italian Tennis Federation; both because of their affiliation with World Team Tennis. Goolagong and Connors, the current Australian Open champions, had been the only players who still had a chance to win all four major tennis titles—Australia, France, Wimbledon and Forest Hills—this year.
CHARGED: GARRY McDONAUGH, former security guard at Uniroyal's Providence factory, in connection with the theft of 144,000 golf balls (SI, May 20) valued at $1 80,000.
RESIGNED: KJELL SVENSSON, after two seasons as coach of the Swedish national ice-hockey team, because 10 of his players have signed or are about to sign with North American pro leagues.
RETIRED: NED IRISH, 69, as president of the New York Knicks, effective July 1. A member of basketball's Hall of Fame, Irish was instrumental in bringing big-time basketball to the Garden and creating the NBA.
RETURNED: KEN DRYDEN, 26, to the Montreal Canadiens, after sitting out a year to pursue his law career. His three-year contract is for $200,000 annually, highest ever for an NHL goaltender.
SIGNED: FLOYD SMITH. 39, coach of the minor league Cincinnati Swords for the past three seasons, as coach of the NHL Buffalo Sabres.
SIGNED: Former NBA All-Star Guard LENNY WILKENS, 36, to a three-year contract as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Wilkens agreed to retire as a player in order to secure his release from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
DIED: DEAN HARRIS, 19, starting forward for Kansas State's basketball team; of injuries suffered in an automobile accident; in St. Louis.
DIED: CATHERINE MARY BROPHY, 88, former Ohio amateur golf champion, believed to be the first American woman pro; in Sarasota, Fla.
