A roundup of the week May 25-June 1
BOWLING—EARL ANTHONY became the first to win three straight Brunswick-PBA National Championships by defeating Jim Frazier, 245-180, in Downey, Calif. Anthony earned $9,000 to bring his 1975 winnings to $68,560.
BOXING—WBC middleweight champion RODRIGO VALDES of Colombia knocked down Argentinian Ramon Mendez seven times en route to an eight-round TKO in a title bout at Cali, Colombia.
Alexis Arguello of Nicaragua stopped challenger Rigoberto Riasco of Panama in the second round on a TKO to retain his WBA featherweight title in Granada, Nicaragua.
GOLF—HALE IRWIN shot a final-round four-under-par 68 for a course-record 271 total to win the Atlanta Golf Classic and $45,000. It was his first tour victory since last year's U.S. Open. Tom Watson was second, four strokes back.
Kathy Whitworth moved into 11th on this year's money-wnning list with her first tour victory in 15 months, winning her third LPGA championship and $8,000 in Baltimore with an even-par 73 for a 288, one stroke ahead of Sandra Haynie.
The U.S. won its 22nd Walker Cup victory in 25 matches, at St. Andrews in Scotland, defeating Britain 15½ to 8½.
HARNESS RACING—Three-year-old pacer NERO ($2.60), Joe O'Brien at the reins, captured the $52,500 Cane Prep Final by 2½ lengths over Shirley's Beau at Yonkers Raceway. In winning his 16th race in 17 starts, the colt was timed in 1:59 for the mile.
HOCKEY—NHL: The Philadelphia Flyers took their second straight Stanley Cup by shutting out the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 in Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium to take the series 4-2 (page 72).
HORSE RACING—SINGH ($4), ridden by Angel Cordero, captured the $135,600 Jersey Derby by three lengths over Honey Mark, covering the 1‚⅛ miles in 1:50[4/5] at Garden State Park.
Unbeaten RUFFIAN ($2.20), Jacinto Vasquez in the saddle, romped to her ninth straight triumph, this time by 13½ lengths over Sweet Old Girl in the 1‚⅛-mile Mother Goose at Aqueduct. Her time was a stakes record 1:47[4/5].
Gold and Myrrh ($23.80), Walter Blum up, took the lead at the halfway mark and won the $111,400 Metropolitan Handicap by three-quarters of a length over Stop the Music at Aqueduct. The winner was timed in a stakes-record-equaling 1:33[3/5] for the mile. Favorite Forego, carrying top weight of 136 pounds, finished third.
LACROSSE—MARYLAND took its second NCAA title in three years, sinking Navy 20-13 before 10,400 at Homewood Field in Baltimore (page 63).
SOCCER—NASL: The turnstiles were spinning out West as a record crowd of 17,086 showed up in Seattle to cheer the Sounders to a 1-0 victory over Rochester, not to mention a sellout throng of 18,027 in San Jose that witnessed a 1-0 loss to Dallas. St. Louis, runaway leader in the Central Division, set a club mark by winning its sixth game in a row, a 3-1 triumph over Baltimore. Western leader Vancouver defeated New York 1-0, while Miami, first in the Eastern, held a one-point margin over the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The Rowdies won their fifth straight by beating San Antonio 4-0. In the weak Northern Division, front-running Hartford dropped a 3-2 tie breaker to Philadelphia while Boston closed the gap by defeating Rochester 3-2. Uri Banhoffer of Los Angeles scored two goals and assisted on another to help the Aztecs snap a four-game losing streak with a 4-1 defeat of Seattle. Nevertheless, the defending league champions were still third in the Western.
ASL: In a showdown for the Midwestern Division lead, the Cleveland Cobras met the Cincinnati Cats, with the Cobras coming out on top 2-1. General Manager-Player Jim McMillan of Cleveland had a goal and an assist while Cincinnati's Roger St. Vil found the net with one minute left to become the league's scoring leader (10 points). The Rhode Island Oceaneers rolled to their 24th straight game without a loss, defeating Chicago 2-1 on Mohammed (Baby Jet) Attiah's 20-yard goal. Connecticut and Pittsburgh struggled to a scoreless tie and the Boston Astros won their first game out of five by tripping the New Jersey Brewers 3-1.
TENNIS—Invincible on clay, CHRIS EVERT wiped out Martina Navratilova 6-1, 6-0 to retain her Italian Open title in Rome.
TRACK & FIELD—STEVE SMITH of Manhattan Beach, Calif. vaulted 18'5" to better his own world indoor best by an inch at an ITA meet in Madison Square Garden. Smith set the previous pro indoor record of 18'4" two months ago in Portland, Ore. Dan Ripley holds the indoor amateur record (18'1").
Kathy Schmidt of UCLA bettered her American record by 14 inches, throwing the javelin 209'3" during the Long Beach Comets women's invitational meet in Los Angeles.
On her first full day back from a three-week tour of China, FRANCIE LARRIEU broke her own American women's mark for the mile by 1.4 seconds with a 4:31.7 at the U.S. Track and Field Federation championships at Wichita, Kans. At the same meet RICK WOHLHUTER ran a sparkling 3:53.3 in the men's mile. Meanwhile, in London's Crystal Palace, Filbert Bayi turned in a disappointing 3:55.5 mile.
VOLLEYBALL—The IVA opened its first season as the San Diego Breakers beat the El Paso-Juarez Sol 11-13, 12-10, 12-6, 8-12, 12-1 in San Diego (page 26).
MILEPOSTS—INDUCTED: KATHY WHITWORTH, 35, as the seventh member of the LPGA Hall of Fame. The all-time leading money winner with $554,781, Whitworth has 73 tour victories, including three LPGA championships (1967, 1971, 1975).
NAMED: New York Nets assistant ROD THORN, 34, as head coach of the ABA Spirits of St. Louis. An All-America at West Virginia and an NBA player for eight seasons, Thorn replaces Bob MacKinnon who resigned two weeks ago to join the Buffalo Braves as director of player personnel.
PICKED: As the first three choices of the NBA draft: 6'4" Forward DAVID THOMPSON of North Carolina State, by the Atlanta Hawks; 6'8" Forward DAVID MEYERS of UCLA, by the Los Angeles Lakers; and 7-foot Center MARVIN WEBSTER of Morgan State, also by the Hawks.
SIGNED: Former Indiana Pacer GEORGE McGINNIS to a six-year, $2-million plus contract by the New York Knicks, in defiance of NBA bylaws and draft rules. The Philadelphia 76ers, who under the league constitution still own the rights to McGinnis, protested to then-Commissioner Walter Kennedy, demanding the contract be disallowed.
DIED: STEVE PREFONTAINE, 24, in an auto accident; near Eugene, Ore. The outspoken athlete held seven American records: in the two-mile, three-mile, six-mile, 2,000-meter, 3,000-meter, 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs (page 22).
DIED: Jockey TONY DeSPIRITO, 39, North American riding champion in 1952 with a record 390 wins; of unknown causes; in Riverside, R.I.
DIED: EZZARD CHARLES, 53, former world heavyweight champion; of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; in Chicago. Charles, who had a record of 96-25-1 in his 20-year pro career, won the title vacated when Joe Louis retired, defeating Jersey Joe Walcott on June 22, 1949, and defended it eight times before Walcott knocked him out in the seventh round on July 18, 1951. Among Charles' most renowned fights were a decision over Louis in 1950, ending the Brown Bomber's comeback, and a hard-fought loss to Rocky Marciano in 1954.
