- Publish date:
A roundup of the week Aug. 29-Sept. 4
BOATING—TED TURNER'S Courageous beat archrival Enterprise for the 13th time in 20 races and was selected by the New York Yacht Club to defend the America's Cup against Australia, which became the challenger by beating the Swedish yacht Sverige 4-0 in a best-of-seven series at Newport, R.I. (page 24).
BOWLING—BILL SPIGNER, of Hamden, Conn., won the $60,000 New England Open in Cranston, R.I. by 361 pins over leading money-winner Mark Roth. Spigner's first PBA title was worth $6,000.
PRO FOOTBALL—O. J. Simpson was still complaining about blurred vision, even after mesmerizing the Tampa Bay defenders with a weaving 62-yard touchdown run following a short pass from Joe Ferguson. That play helped Buffalo beat the Buccaneers 17-6. And in Miami, where the Dolphins lost to New Orleans 17-10, Bob Griese left the game, complaining, "My eyes are not working together." Then he returned wearing glasses instead of contact lenses. The Saints' Chuck Muncie, who wears specs all the time, had no trouble finding the goal line, scoring on six-and eight-yard runs. Craig Morton has found a home in Denver. He threw a touchdown pass and led two long scoring drives, as the Broncos won for the fourth time, 27-10 over Seattle. Cincinnati intercepted two passes for touchdowns as the Bengals crushed Minnesota 26-7, Jerry Anderson, a rookie from Oklahoma, going 95 yards with his theft, and Marvin Cobb taking the other 57 yards. Oakland scored six of the first seven time's it had the ball, twice on Ken Stabler-to-Dave Casper touchdown passes, to wallop San Francisco 33-0. Los Angeles was 1-4 after losing to San Diego 26-25 on a last-play 22-yard field goal by Toni Frisch. James Harris threw three touchdown passes against his former team. Trailing 13-0 at halftime, Pittsburgh came back to beat Philadelphia 21-13. The key play was a 23-yard touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw to John Stall-worth. The Steelers' All-Pro Linebacker Jack Lambert, who had spent most of the preseason aboard a friend's yacht, saw his first action after signing a five-year contract reportedly worth $1.25 million. Bert Jones hit Ron Lee with a 32-yard touchdown pass, and Baltimore made five interceptions while beating Detroit 21-10. Cleveland's Greg Pruitt ran for 126 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown run, as the Browns beat Green Bay 19-14. Houston defeated Dallas 23-14, with Skip Brown kicking three field goals and third-year man Don Hardeman, nicknamed Jaws because of his unfulfilled rookie boasts, running for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Jim Hart hurled a 95-yard touchdown bomb to Ike Harris in St. Louis' 23-14 win over Chicago. In the New Jersey Meadowlands, the Jets defeated the Giants 10-0 as Richard Todd hit Jerome Barkum with a six-yard touchdown pass. The New England Patriots beat Washington 45-7, piling up their biggest preseason point total ever.
GOLF—BOBBY COLE of South Africa shot a final-round 67 for a 17-under-par 271 to win the $100,000 Buick Open by one stroke over Fred Marti in Flint, Mich.
HARNESS RACING—Billy Haughton drove GREEN SPEED to victory in straight heats in the $284,131 Hambletonian, twice trotting the mile in 1:55⅗ a record for 3-year-olds. Texas finished second (page 22).
HORSE RACING—MY JULIET ($12.40), Tony Black in the saddle, won the $132,800 Michigan Mile at Detroit Race Course by three-quarters of a length over Strike Me Lucky. The winner covered the mile and an eighth in 1:48[2/5].
MOTOR SPORTS—AL UNSER, driving a Parnelli-VPJ Turbo, won the $345,000 California 500, finishing 48 seconds ahead of A. J. Foyt in a Coyote-Foyt. Unser averaged 154.687 mph on the 2.5-mile oval. TOM SNEVA finished third to clinch the 1977 USAC driving championship.
SOCCER—The NEW JERSEY AMERICANS won the ASL championship at New Brunswick, N.J., beating the Sacramento Spirits 3-0. Ringo Cantillo scored on a 20-yard shot 26 minutes into the game, and Telmo Pires and Juan Cano booted goals in the second half.
SWIMMING—Powered by victories in three relays and four 1-2-3 sweeps, the U.S. defeated the Soviet Union 212-132 in a dual meet in Leningrad. TRACY CAULKINS set an American record of 2:37.28 in the 200-meter breaststroke while finishing second to Yulia Bogdanova.
TENNIS—MANUEL ORANTES defeated Eddie Dibbs 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 to win the $125,000 U.S. Pro championship at the Longwood Cricket Club in Brookline, Mass.
Guillermo Vilas won his sixth straight clay-court tournament and 39th consecutive match, crushing Ilie Nastase 6-2, 6-0 in the Lionel Tennis Week round robin at Harrison, N.Y. Vilas' victory was worth $10,000.
TRACK & FIELD—The U.S. lost 127-120 to EAST GERMANY in the first World Cup in D√ºsseldorf, West Germany, when Maxie Parks collapsed while leading on the final leg of the final event, the 1,600-meter relay (page 16). The U.S. team of BILL COLLINS, STEVE RIDDICK, CLIFF WILEY and STEVE WILLIAMS lowered the world record in the 400-meter relay—set by a U.S. foursome in the Munich Olympics—from 38.19 to 38.03. Second-place finisher MARTY LIQUORI broke his own American record in the 5,000 with a time of 13:15.1, and JAN MERRILL'S 8:46.6 in the women's 3,000 lowered Francie Larrieu Lutz' American record by 8.3 seconds.
VOLLEYBALL—In the final week's scramble for IVA playoff spots, Santa Barbara clinched second place and the right to meet Orange County in the Western Division semifinal by winning three straight against Phoenix. That knocked defending champion San Diego out of the playoffs. In the Continental Division, El Paso-Juarez won its final eight matches on the frontline play of Ed Skorek and the backcourt passing of Sharon Peterson and Malia Ane to finish one victory back of its semifinal opponent, Denver.
MILESPOSTS—TRADED: Forward ADRIAN DANTLEY, last season's NBA Rookie of the Year with a 20.3 scoring average, and Forward MIKE BANTOM, by the Buffalo Braves to the Indiana Pacers for Forward/Guard BILLY KNIGHT, the league's second-leading scorer with a 26.6 average. The Braves also obtained former All-Star Guard NATE (Tiny) ARCHIBALD from the Nets for Center GEORGE JOHNSON. Archibald, acquired by the Nets last year, averaged 20.5 points in 34 games before suffering a broken leg. Buffalo also sent Center JOHN GIANELLI to the Milwaukee Bucks for cash and a first-round draft choice.
DIED: ERNY PINCKERT, 70, a two-time football All-America at USC (1930-31) and a star halfback for the NFL Redskins from 1933 to '40, of pneumonia; in Los Angeles. Though principally a blocker, Pinckert ran for two touchdowns in USC's 21-12 win over Tulane in the 1932 Rose Bowl.
DIED: RALPH SAMUELSON, 74, the inventor of water skiing, of cancer; in Pine Island, Minn. When Samuelson introduced the sport in 1922 on Lake Pepin, a wide portion of the Mississippi River, he said, "If you can ski on snow, why not on water?"
