A roundup of the week Sept. 22-28
FOOTBALL—NFL: In the first sudden-death period this season, Roger Staubach of Dallas passed to Billy Joe DuPree in the end zone to beat the Cardinals 37-31. The Washington defense, led by Tackle Diron Talbert, sacked the Giants' quarterbacks eight times in a 49-13 drubbing (page 30). The Falcons, who had never beaten Detroit in seven meetings, lost again, 17-14, but only after a 14-yard fourth-down toss from Greg Landry set up Altie Taylor's one-yard TD run with 1:20 left to play. Another fourth-down pass, from Oiler Quarterback Dan Pastorini to Tight End John Sawyer with 44 seconds left in the half, produced a touchdown and put Houston ahead to stay, the Oilers defeating hapless San Diego 33-17. The Jets leaned mainly on Running Backs John Riggins and Carl Garrett in a 30-24 victory over Kansas City. Ken Anderson's precision passing continued to plague Cincinnati opponents, the Bengal quarterback completing 17 of 22 against hapless New Orleans, three of them for touchdowns in a 21-0 win. Chicago got its first win of the year from the foot of Bob Thomas, who missed an extra point but then booted a 26-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining to defeat Philadelphia 15-13. Miami squeaked by New England 22-14 after having trailed by 14 at the half. Minnesota overpowered Cleveland 42-10, while the Colts kept on losing at home—they haven't won in Baltimore since 1973. This time Oakland did the job, 31-20. Los Angeles edged San Francisco 23-14. Buffalo Hexed its muscles against Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh, winning 30-21 behind O. J. Simpson, who rushed for 227 yards.
WFL: West beat East when the two division leaders met in San Antonio. The Memphis Southmen faltered, losing 25-17 to the San Antonio Wings as Southman Larry Csonka contributed only six yards and fumbled once. A punt return of 35 yards set up the Wings' first touchdown. In the Eastern division, the Jacksonville Express applied pressure to the second-place Birmingham Vulcans, when Quarterback George Mira hit Steve Barrios on a fourth-period, 40-yard scoring pass that put the Express ahead. Charlie Durkee made the final score 26-18 with a 46-yard field goal. Anthony Davis clicked off 101 yards on the ground (his sixth game of more than 100 yards this season) and scored the winning touchdown in the Southern California Sun's 24-17 defeat of the Charlotte Hornets. The Shreveport Steamer beat the Hawaiians 32-25.
GOLF—WILLIAM COLM, of Pebble Beach, Calif., beat Steve Stimac, of Walnut Creek, Calif., 4 and 3 to win the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, at the Carmel (Calif.) Valley Golf and Country Club (page 98).
Dave Hill scored a par on the first hole of sudden death to defeat Rik Massengale and win the $135,000 Sahara Invitational tournament, at Las Vegas. Both golfers shot fourth-round two-under-par 69s to end regulation play with 14-under-par 270 totals.
HORSE RACING—FOREGO ($3.80) pulled away from Wajima to win the Woodward Stakes at Belmont, covering the 1½ miles in 2:27⅕ (page 109).
LACROSSE—NLL: In the best-of-seven Nations Trophy playoffs, the Quebec Caribous led the Montreal Quebecois three games to two (page 102).
MOTORCYCLE RACING—Accumulating a season's total of 1,358 points, GARY SCOTT, 23, of Springfield, Ohio, clinched his first American Motorcycle Grand National.
Don Vesco, riding a twin-engined Yamaha, set a world speed record for two-wheeled vehicles on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. The 36-year-old motorcyclist from El Cajon, Calif. averaged 302.925 mph for his two runs.
MOTOR SPORTS—Maneuvering his Formula 5000 car through the city's streets, BRIAN REDMAN won the Long Beach Grand Prix (page 32).
Driving a Dodge, DAVE MARCIS averaged a course-record 75.819 mph as he zoomed to his first NASCAR victory in the Old Dominion 500 Grand National stock-car race at Martinsville, Va.
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING—Two Britons, DOUGAL HASTON, 33, and DOUG SCOTT, 34, completed the first successful ascent of Mt. Everest by the southwest face. At least live previous attempts by the same route had failed.
TENNIS—JAN KODES, Czechoslovakia's former Wimbledon champion, moved his country into the 1975 Davis Cup finals against Sweden, beating Tony Roche of Australia 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 and giving Czechoslovakia an insurmountable 3-1 lead, in Prague. For the first time in history, the Davis Cup finals will be between two continental European nations.
Martina Navratilova defeated unseeded Carrie Meyer of Indianapolis 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to win the $50,000 Majestic tournament in Denver.
WEIGHT LIFTING—VASILI ALEXEYEV, of the winning Soviet team, took his sixth world super heavyweight championship with second-place lifts in the snatch and the jerk events at the world championships in Moscow. Alexeyev lifted a world-record total of 942¼ pounds. Super heavyweight Khristo Plachkov, of second-place Bulgaria, snatched a record 439¾ pounds, and the runner-up super heavyweight, Gerd Bonk, of third-place East Germany, jerked 534½ pounds. Featherweight champion Georgi Todorov, of Bulgaria, set a world record with combined lifts of 627 pounds, and flyweight Masamoto Takeuchi of Japan set a world record by snatching 238 pounds.
MILEPOSTS—APPLICATION FILED: By the NEW YORK NETS and DENVER NUGGETS of the 8-year-old American Basketball Association, for entrance into the 29-year-old National Basketball Association in the 1976-77 season. In the face of legal obstacles and clamorous opposition from the ABA and the NBA players' associations, NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien said his league would give the applications "serious consideration."
FIRED: DEL CRANDALL, manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, after four losing seasons (67-94 this year) and an overall won-loss record of 271-338.
FIRED: Minnesota Twins' manager, FRANK QUILICI, 76-83 this year and 280-287 through his 3½ seasons.
REJECTED: The new NFL management contract proposals, by a 835-137 vote of the players from 25 teams. Only three clubs—Dallas, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh—accepted the terms offered last week by the owners.
RETIRED: After 13 seasons of professional football, Quarterback DARYLE LAMONICA, 34, of the WFL Southern California Sun, because of an arthritic knee. In his previous 12 years in the AFL and NFL—the last eight with Oakland—he set a lifetime league record for fewest intercepted passes.
RETIRED: LINDY McDANIEL, 39, after 21 years as a major league pitcher, mostly in relief. He hurled for five teams, most recently Kansas City, and is second in career mound appearances and relief victories to Hoyt Wilhelm.
SIGNED: By the WTT Cleveland Nets, MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, who three weeks ago announced her defection from Czechoslovakia. Her three-year contract calls for a reported $300,000.
SIGNED: FRANK ROBINSON, after a season as player-manager of the Cleveland Indians, to another one-year contract to manage.
DIED: French racing driver RENÉ THOMAS, 89, who won the 1914 Indianapolis 500 at a record 82.47 mph; in Paris. In 1924, driving a 10-liter Delage V-12, Thomas established a world speed record of 143.3 mph.
