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A roundup of the week June 11-17
BOWLING—Rookie MIKE AULBY, 19, defeated Earl Anthony 245-217 in the finals of the $100,000 PBA national championships in Las Vegas to become the youngest bowler ever to win a major title.
BOXING—DANNY LOPEZ knocked out Mike Ayala in the 15th round to retain his WBC featherweight title, in San Antonio.
Wilfredo Gomez of Puerto Rico retained his WBC super bantamweight title with a fifth-round TKO of Julio Hernandez of Nicaragua, in Puerto Rico. On the same card, ERNESTO ESPANA of Venezuela won the vacant WBA lightweight title by scoring a unanimous decision over Claude Noel of Trinidad-Tobago.
GOLF—HALE IRWIN won the 79th U.S. Open, at Inverness in Toledo, by two strokes over Gary Player and Jerry Pate. Irwin shot a final-round 75 for an even-par 284 total and his second Open title (page 20).
Jane Blalock fired a final-round 72 for a 12-under-par total of 280 and a six-stroke victory over Alice Ritzman in a $100,000 LPGA tournament in Rochester, N.Y. The win was Blalock's fourth on the 1979 tour.
HORSE RACING—SMARTEN ($3.80), Sam Maple up, won the $150,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown by eight lengths over Bold Ruckus. The 3-year-old was timed in a track-record 1:47[2/5] for the 1‚Äö√Ñ√∂‚àö√±‚àö¬µ miles.
SOCCER—NASL: The division leaders had a rough time during the season's busiest week. The Cosmos, on top in the National Conference East, came from behind to beat Tulsa 3-2, but then fell meekly to Vancouver by a score of 4-1. Minnesota stayed in first place in the National Central despite two losses, 5-2 to Atlanta, which got a hat trick from Jeff Bourne, and 2-0 to Dallas. Los Angeles and Vancouver remained tied for the point lead in the National West after each split two games. The Aztecs lost 4-3 in overtime to San Diego, but recovered to beat Detroit 3-1 and spoil English star Trevor Francis' 1979 NASL debut. Before the Whitecaps beat the Cosmos, they lost 3-2 to California on a shoot-out goal by the Surfs Steve David. David scored two more goals as California defeated Atlanta 5-1. Houston split, losing to Fort Lauderdale 4-0 and defeating Tulsa 3-2, but still kept its lead in the American Central. The only two division leaders not to lose were Tampa Bay in the American East and San Diego in the American West. The Rowdies stayed 25 points ahead of Fort Lauderdale with two triumphs, 3-2 over San Jose and 3-1 over New England. After beating Los Angeles, the Sockers defeated Edmonton 2-1.
ASL: California's unbeaten streak ended at 15 and its winning streak at 13 when Las Vegas surprised the Sunshine 3-1. What made it an even bigger surprise was that the Seagulls had lost 13 in a row going into the game. Mario Liuzzi had two goals and an assist for Las Vegas and was named the league's offensive player of the week. Earlier in the week the Sunshine, which still has a 46-point lead in the Western Division, beat the New York Eagles 1-0 on a goal by Andy Chapman with three minutes left in regulation. The Eagles later defeated New Jersey 2-0 to remain tied for the lead in the Eastern Division with Columbus, which beat Cleveland 4-2 and Indianapolis 1-0. New Jersey fired its coach, Arthur Stewart, after a 2-7 start, and in his first game as interim coach, Defender Tom O'Dea led the Americans to a 2-1 victory over the New York Apollo.
TENNIS—EVONNE GOOLAGONG beat Sue Barker 6-1, 6-4 to win the $75,000 Chichester, England grass-court tournament.
TRACK & FIELD—Four American women's records and one men's mark fell at the AAU national championships in Walnut Creek, Calif. (page 16). EVELYN ASHFORD of Los Angeles broke the 100-meter-dash mark with a time of 10.97 seconds, a 10th of a second faster than the record she set last month. DEBY LaPLANTE of San Diego State surpassed by .24 of a second her own 1979 mark in the 110-meter hurdles with a 12.86 clocking. MARY SHEA, a high school senior from Raleigh, N.C., established a 10,000-meter record of 32:52.5, 22.6 seconds better than the mark set in 1977 by Peg Neppel of Iowa State. MAREN SEIDLER of San Jose, Calif. broke her own 1978 shotput record of 62'3¼" with a toss of 62'7¾". CRAIG VIRGIN of Lebanon, Ill. set an American record in the 10,000 meters with a 27:39.4, bettering the late Steve Prefontaine's mark of 27:43.6.
Ruth Fuchs of East Germany established a women's world record in the javelin with a throw of 228'1" in Dresden, East Germany. Fuchs bettered by eight inches the record held by Kate Schmidt of the U.S. since 1977.
VOLLEYBALL—IVA: Albuquerque finally won, beating Salt Lake City 6-3 in a fifth-game tie-breaker for its first victory of the season after 11 losses. Santa Barbara moved into a tie for first place in the Western Division with Seattle by defeating the Smashers 3-1 for its sixth win in a row. Luiz Eymard led the Spikers with 35 kills and seven stuff blocks. Denver won two of three matches to overtake Tucson for first place in the Continental Division.
MILEPOSTS—ELECTED: To the Hockey Hall of Fame, former players BOBBY ORR, HENRI RICHARD and HARRY HOWELL. While playing most of his 12-year career with the Boston Bruins, the injury-plagued Orr, 31, was named the NHL's top defenseman eight years in a row and won the league's MVP trophy three straight years (1970-72) and the scoring championship twice—an unprecedented accomplishment for a defenseman. Richard, younger brother of Hall of Famer Maurice Richard, played 20 seasons at center for Montreal, during which the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup 11 times. Howell, who played for four teams, appeared in 1,514 games as a defenseman.
HIRED: As manager of the Detroit Tigers, GEORGE (Sparky) ANDERSON, 45, former skipper of the Cincinnati Reds. Anderson, who signed a five-year contract, replaces LES MOSS, 54, who was fired only 53 games (27-26) into his first season. Anderson led the Reds to two world championships, four pennants and five divisional titles in nine years, before being let go after last season (page 47).
RESIGNED: After a dispute with the management of the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens, Coach WILLIAM (Scotty) BOWMAN, 45, to become general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. In 12 seasons as coach of the St. Louis Blues (1966-71) and Canadiens (1971-79), Bowman had a record of 529-193-150, He guided the Blues to three Cup finals and the Canadiens to five Cup titles, the last four consecutively.
SIGNED: By the Sierre, Switzerland club team in the Swiss National "B" League, Montreal Canadiens Center JACQUES LEMAIRE, 33, to a three-year contract, reportedly worth $225,000, as player, coach and general manager.
By the NASL Cosmos, Dutch Midfielder JOHAN NEESKENS, 27, to a five-year contract for a reported $1.6 million. Neeskens teamed with Johan Cruyff, now playing with the Los Angeles Aztecs, to lead Ajax of Amsterdam to three consecutive European Cup titles (1971-73).
TRADED: By the Boston Red Sox, First Baseman GEORGE SCOTT, 35, who was batting .224 this season but has a 13-season average of .268, with 269 home runs, to the Kansas City Royals for Outfielder TOM POQUETTE, 27, a .277 bitter in his three seasons. The Red Sox also acquired First Baseman BOB WATSON, a .299 lifetime bitter who was batting only .239 this year, from the Houston Astros.
DIED: STU ABERDEEN, 43, basketball coach at Marshall University; of a heart attack; in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. Aberdeen, who had a 25-31 record in two seasons at Marshall, was previously an assistant coach for 11 years at Tennessee, where he was credited with recruiting such stars as Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld.
Jesse Abramson, 75, a sportswriter; of cancer; in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Abramson, who specialized in track and field, worked for the New York Herald-Tribune from 1924 until the paper folded in 1966.
Loren Murchison, 80, a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. 400-meter-relay team at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics; in Point Pleasant, N.J. Murchison at one time held the American indoor record of 6.2 seconds for the 60-yard dash. He operated a sports jewelry and medal manufacturing company after he was stricken with cerebrospinal meningitis and confined to a wheelchair at age 29.
