A roundup of the week Oct. 7-13
BOATING—George Henley of Eatonville, Wash., driving Dave Heerensperger's hydroplane Pay 'N Pak, set a course lap record of 114.796 mph and swept all three heats to win the 27th Annual Unlimited Hydroplane Regatta at Madison, Ind. It was his and the boat's second consecutive championship.
BODYBUILDING—Arnold Schwarzenegger, the "Austrian Oak," won the Mr. Olympia competition (page 92), held at Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum, for the fifth consecutive time, beating out newcomer Lou Ferrigno of Brooklyn.
CHESS—After 11 games, Victor Korchnoi still trailed Anatoly Karpov 2-0, with nine draws, in their match in Moscow to determine the challenger for Bobby Fischer's world championship. The first player to take five games will be the winner. Draws do not count in the scoring but they do count as games played. If no player is leading after 24 games, the winner is decided by the toss of a coin.
PRO FOOTBALL—NFL: Fran Tarkenton threw three touchdown passes as the Minnesota Vikings, with a two-game lead in the NFC Central, manhandled the Houston Oilers 51-10. Last year's other Super Bowl participant, the Miami Dolphins, fell before the passing arm of Washington's Sonny Jurgensen, who completed 26 of his 39 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns, the second of them for six yards to Larry Smith with just 16 seconds remaining, to give the Redskins a 20-17 win. Washington only managed 26 yards rushing against the Dolphins. This year's two surprise teams, New England and St. Louis, continued their unbeaten ways. The Cardinals needed a late field goal by Jim Bakken to edge the Cowboys 31-28 (page 89) while the Patriots shut out Joe Namath and the Jets 24-0. O.J. Simpson rushed for 127 yards but Buffalo had a tough time with Baltimore before winning 27-14. Roman Gabriel completed his first two touchdown passes of the season as Philadelphia won its fourth straight game, beating the New York Giants 35-7. Quarterback Ken Anderson kept Cincinnati atop the AFC Central by throwing three touchdown passes and running 19 yards for a fourth as the Bengals beat Cleveland for the second time this season, 34-24. The Steelers stayed close to the Bengals as Joe Gilliam also had a sharp passing day in defeating Kansas City by the identical score. Pittsburgh, however, also benefited mightily from the Chiefs' passing attack, which yielded seven interceptions. Atlanta won its second straight, nipping Chicago 13-10 on Nick Mike-Mayer's 31-yard field goal with six seconds remaining. Denver Quarterback Steve Ramsey, an ex-New Orleans Saint, drew his first starting assignment in two years and responded with two touchdown passes as his new team beat his old one 33-17. Otis Armstrong ran for two other Bronco scores. Kenny Stabler threw a four-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Tight End Bob Moore to lead the Oakland Raiders past the surprisingly stingy San Diego Chargers, 14-10. Green Bay played opportunistic football in upsetting the Los Angeles Rams 17-6. Two Packer interceptions led to a touchdown and 32-yard field goal by Chester Marcol. Green Bay got its other score on a 68-yard punt return by little Jon Staggers.
WFL: The demise of Detroit (1-13) and Jacksonville (4-10) caused a rescheduling of games. Florida faced Chicago and the Blazers outflamed the Fire 45-17, leaving the latter in the basement of the Central Division with a 7-8 record after its sixth straight defeat. The Blazers (11-4), leading the Eastern Division, were also in financial trouble and were being bankrolled by the league. A court order prevented a game from being moved out of Orlando. The new Charlotte Hornets (the old New York Stars) made their hometown debut before a sellout crowd of 25,133 and were beaten 27-23 by Memphis. It was the 10th consecutive victory for the Southmen, who got two touchdown passes from Danny White and more than 100 yards rushing from both J. J. Jennings and Willie Spencer. The win kept Memphis (13-2) ahead of Birmingham (12-3) in the Central Division after the Americans dumped Portland 30-8. George Mira passed for two Birmingham scores, and Charley Harraway and Joe Profit ran for the other touchdowns. Al Davis had three touchdowns in the Hawaiians' 25-22 win over Philadelphia. Southern California edged Shreveport 25-23 in another squeaker. Sun Quarterback Tony Adams ran for one touchdown and passed 47 yards to Ralph Nelson for another to keep the Sun far ahead in the Western Division.
GOLF—HALE IRWIN beat defending champion Gary Player three and one for the $24,000 first prize in the Piccadilly World Match Play Golf championship at Virginia Water, England.
Heavy rains drenched the 7,187-yard, par-71 Sobu Country Club course in Inzai, Japan as Gene Littler fired a two-under-par 69 to win the $65,000 first prize in the $300,000 Pacific Masters Invitational golf tournament, five strokes ahead of runner-up Bert Yancey.
HARNESS RACING—HERVE FILION became the first North American driver to win 5,000 races when he guided LOVIN TIME ($4) to a 1¾-length victory at Yonkers Raceway.
HOCKEY—NHL: The NHL season began and teams in the Patrick, Smythe, Norris and Adams divisions (page 40) began their six-month-long battle to see who would be eliminated from the playoffs. Two teams made their NHL debuts on opening day. The Washington Capitals, playing in New York, traded goals with the Rangers until early in the third period, then fell to experience, 6-3. The Kansas City Scouts suffered a similar fate in Toronto as the Maple Leafs launched a four-goal assault in the third period to gain a 6-2 victory. Later in the week the Leafs won again, George Ferguson scoring twice and Jim McKenny contributing two assists to a four-goal outburst in the second period as Toronto handed New York its first defeat, 7-3. In other games, the Montreal Canadiens, with Ken Dryden back in goal after a year's absence, salvaged a 5-5 tie as Pete Mahovlich scored twice in the last 1:54 against the New York Islanders. The California Golden Seals beat the Atlanta Flames as rookie Goalie Gary Simmons made his first NHL start a 3-0 shutout. The Seals scored all three goals in the third period. Danny Gare got the Buffalo Sabres off to a quick start with a goal just 18 seconds into the first period and Gil Perreault scored three more and assisted on two others to pace the Sabres to a 9-5 victory over the Boston Bruins. The Los Angeles Kings defeated the Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers 5-3, then tied Montreal 4-4 in their second game. The Flyers came back to trounce Buffalo 6-1 and even their record.
HORSE RACING—Dahlia ($6.80), ridden by Ron Turcotte, put on a startling burst of speed at the top of the stretch in the 1½-mile weight-for-age Man 'o War Stakes at Belmont Park to score a two-length victory over Crafty Khale in 2:26[3/5] on the grass course. The win boosted the filly's lifetime earnings to $1,111,410.
TENNIS—The U.S. clinched its first-round series in the 1975 Davis Cup competition when Erik van Dillen and Charles Pasarell defeated the Commonwealth Caribbean doubles team of Leo Rolle and John Antonas 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in Nassau. The win gave the U.S. a 3-0 advantage in the three-of-five match.
Fourth-seeded ILIE NASTASE of Rumania defeated second-seeded Bjorn Borg of Sweden 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, to win the men's singles title in the $75,000 Melia International Open in Madrid. The women's singles title went to Helga Masthoff of West Germany, who beat Tine Zwaan of The Netherlands 6-2, 6-4.
WRESTLING—The Soviet Union dominated the 19th World Greco-Roman wrestling championship in Katowice, Poland, winning six golds, three silvers and one bronze medal in the 10-event tournament. The best showing by a non-Eastern European country was Sweden's ninth place. Karoly Kancsar of Lincoln, Neb. turned in the best U.S. performance, finishing fifth to Russia's Vladimir Zubkov in the paperweight division.
MILEPOSTS—FOLDED: The Detroit Wheels and the Jacksonville Sharks, after the World Football League failed to find new investors to take over the financially troubled franchises. The WFL will keep the team rosters intact for the time being on the chance that new owners can be found before next season.
INJURED: DAVE COWENS, 6'9" center for the Boston Celtics, who broke a bone in his right foot during an NBA exhibition game with the Milwaukee Bucks, and KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, the Bucks' 7'2" center, who is nursing an eye injury and a broken bone in his right hand.
NAMED: As head coach of the 1976 U.S. Olympic men's track and field squad, DR. LEROY WALKER, track coach at North Carolina Central College.
DIED: STEVE HAMAS, 67, former heavyweight contender who in 1934 defeated Max Schmeling in a 12-round, non-title bout; after a long illness; in Northport, N.Y.