A roundup of the week July 21-27
BICYCLING—JOHN ALLIS of Cambridge, Mass. covered the 115-mile course in 4:29:57 to win the men's National Road Race in Pontiac, Mich. The women's 34.5-mile road race went to JANE ROBINSON of Seattle in 1:53:30.
BOATING—DORA IV, a 61-foot sloop owned by Lynn Williams of Chicago, was the overall and Class A winner of the 50th annual 298-mile Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island yacht race. The sloop's elapsed time was 51:21:57, which was corrected to 49:19:46.
BOWLING—Rolling a 203 final in the Houston-Sertoma Open, TOMMY HUDSON of Akron defeated tour veteran Bill Beach by 11 pins for the $5,000 first prize.
FENCING—The SOVIET UNION won the Grand Prix des Nations in the world championships in Grenoble, France. ILDIKO BOBIS of Hungary took the women's individual foil title, and the U.S.S.R. the team event. Sweden's ROLF EDLING retained his men's individual epée crown as his country won the team division.
PRO FOOTBALL—WFL: In the East, Florida remained undefeated, blazing past Houston 15-3. The New York Stars shone in a 17-15 victory over the Philadelphia Bell for their first win, while the Jacksonville Sharks were cooked by the Southern California Sun 22-19. Birmingham and Chicago continued undefeated in the Central Division, the Americans flagging the Memphis Southmen 58-33, and the Fire consuming the Portland Storm 29-22. Detroit remained winless, the Hawaiians putting the blocks to the Wheels 36-16.
GOLF—BOBBY NICHOLS shot a final-round 68 to win the $200,000 Canadian Open at Port Credit, Ontario. Nichols' 270 total, 10 under par, beat John Schlee and Larry Ziegler by four strokes and assured him of a spot in the four-man World Series of Golf, which is played at Akron's Firestone C.C., Nichols' home course.
Carole Jo Skala fired a final-round 73 for a 54-hole total of 212, four under par and four strokes up on second-place Jane Blalock, to win the $35,000 Wheeling (W. Va.) Classic at Oglebay Park.
HARNESS RACING—BUCKEYE COUNT ($42.80), a Swedish trotter driven by compatriot Hakan Wallner, beat out a field of Hambletonian 3-year-olds in the $63,665 Gold Cup at Vernon Downs. He covered the mile in 2:00⅕ three-quarters of a length ahead of Christopher T.
HORSE RACING—Nelson Bunker Hunt's DAHLIA ($3.75), ridden by Lester Piggott, became the first repeat winner of the $290,640 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Slakes at Ascot. The French-trained 4-year-old filly galloped the 1½ miles in 2:33.03, finishing 2½ lengths ahead of Highclere, a filly owned by Queen Elizabeth II.
Ruffian ($2.60), Jacinto Vasquez up, won the $104,480 Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park, setting a stakes record of 1:09 for six furlongs. Hot N' Nasty was second, 2½ lengths back.
MOTOR SPORTS—The California team of MITCH MAYES and A. C. BAKKEN was the elapsed-time winner of the $60,000 Baja International off-road race, wheeling a 400-cc. Husqvarna over the 380-mile course in 8:07:25. The race was marred by an accident; Parnelli Jones' Ford Bronco collided head-on with a motorcycle, killing the driver, Michael Vaughan.
Averaging 131.651 mph in a Dodge, RICHARD PETTY exploited the yellow caution flag to move into position and then went on to win the Dixie 500 at Atlanta. David Pearson came in second in a Mercury.
Mario Andretti won his second straight Formula 5,000 road race in his Lola at the Road America course in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Running short of fuel, Andretti finished just ahead of Brian Redman, with whom he is now tied in the standings.
SOCCER—NASL attendance leader San Jose toppled Vancouver 3-1 before another near-sellout crowd (pane 14) in a week in which more than half the league's action was intradivisional. In the East, Miami beat defending champion Philadelphia 2-1, as Steve David scored both Toro goals, virtually knocking the Atoms out of playoff consideration. Second-place Baltimore was trampled by Washington 6-0 as two Diplomats, Mori Diane and Leroy Deleon, scored two goals apiece. Another upset and another big gate highlighted Seattle's 5-1 win over West leader Los Angeles. Dallas, which has clinched a playoff berth in the Central, topped Denver 4-0. The Dynamos also dropped a game to Washington 1-0. Northern Division leader Boston split two—beating Miami 3-0 and losing a 1-0 tie-breaker to Rochester—as did Toronto, which beat Washington 2-1 and lost 2-1 to Los Angeles. New York, still in the Northern cellar, defeated Seattle 2-1.
TENNIS—STAN SMITH rallied to defeat Marty Riessen 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final of the International Festival of Tennis in Chicago, earning $9,000 for the victory. RIESSEN then teamed with TOM GORMAN to lake the doubles crown, beating Raul Ramirez and Brian Gottfried 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
TRACK & FIELD—At an international meet in Turin, Italy JIM BOLDING shaved .1 of a second off Ralph Mann's world record for the 440-yard hurdles, with a clocking of 48.7. Bolding was entered in the 400-meter hurdles, which he won in 48.3, but by agreement was also timed for the longer distance. At the same meet RICK WOHLHUTER took the 800 in 1:46.2, SAM COLSON won the javelin with a 242'5" effort, JOHN POWELL threw the discus 210'4", DWIGHT STONES soared 7'4‚Öù" in the high jump and FRANCIE LARRIEU won the women's 1,500 in 4:13.9.
MILEPOSTS—HIRED: To manage the Chicago Cubs for the rest of the season, JIM MARSHALL, who had been third-base coach after six years of managing in the Chicago farm system. He replaces Whitey Lockman, who became director of player development.
NAMED: CLYDE KING, 50, to manage the Atlanta Braves for the remainder of the season. King managed the San Francisco Giants in 1969-70.
PURCHASED: The ABA Utah Stars, for $3 million, by a group headed by Salt Lake City financier Jim Collier, after Star fans met his proviso that they buy 7,000 season tickets.
RESIGNED: As head tennis coach at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, CLARENCE MABRY, who in 19 years had a 320-35-9 dual-match record as well as producing two Wimbledon champions, Karen Hantze Susman and Chuck McKinley. Mabry becomes head coach and general manager of the WTT Houston EZ Riders; Bob McKinley will assume head coaching duties for his alma mater.
RETIRED: JOHNNY UNITAS, 41, after 18 years as an NFL quarterback; because of arthritis in his knees. Johnny U. starred for the Baltimore Colts from 1956-72 and finished his career at San Diego. He was the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1957, 1964 and 1967, six times an All-Pro and played in 10 Pro Bowl games. Unitas holds pro records for pass attempts (5,186), completions (2,830), yards gained passing (40,239), touchdowns through the air (290), 300-yard games (26) and consecutive games throwing a touchdown pass (47, 1956-60).
SUSPENDED: For at least one year, six members of Notre Dame's national championship football team, including four regulars, because of violations of university parietal rules.
DIED: DON McCAFFERTY, 53, head coach of the Detroit Lions; of an apparent heart attack; in Pontiac, Mich. McCafferty, who played on the 1942 national championship Ohio State team, coached for 25 years, his most celebrated win coming in the 1971 Super Bowl when his Baltimore Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys 16-13.
