A Roundup of Sports Heroes of 1987

ARCHERY—DENISE PARKER, 14, of South Jordan, Utah, became the youngest gold medalist ever—in any sport—at the Pan American Games and won the U.S. Junior championship.

AUTO RACING—AL UNSER SR., 48, became the oldest winner of the Indianapolis 500 and tied A.J. Foyt's record of four Indy wins.

COLLEGE BASEBALL—ROBIN VENTURA, Oklahoma State's sophomore third baseman, hit in an NCAA-record 58 straight games and batted .428.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL—GEORGE BELL, 28, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder, batted .308 with 47 home runs and 134 RBIs.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL—DAVID ROBINSON, 7'1" Navy center, in his senior season averaged 28.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.5 blocks a game.

PRO BASKETBALL—MICHAEL JORDAN, 24, Chicago Bulls guard, in 1986-87 scored 37.1 points per game, the highest average in the NBA since the 1962-63 season.

BIATHLON—JOSH THOMPSON, 25, of Gunnison, Colo., finished second in the 20-km event at the Biathlon World Championships. It was the best finish ever by an American in a major biathlon.

BOWLING—PETE WEBER, 25, led the PBA tour in earnings ($175,491), had the No. 2 average score (215.53), made the finals of all triple crown events and won the Tournament of Champions.

BOXING—MIKE TYSON, 21, ran his career record to 32-0 and unified the heavyweight crown for the first time since 1978.

CROSS-COUNTRY—JOHN NGUGI, 25, won his second straight world cross-country crown and led Kenya to the team title.

CYCLING—STEPHEN ROCHE, 28, of Ireland became the second rider ever to win the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the World Pro Road Championship in the same year.

EQUESTRIAN—RODNEY JENKINS, 43, of Montpelier Station, Va., won four Grand Prix events to increase his career total to 68.

FIELD HOCKEY—SHERYL JOHNSON, 30, of Fremont, Calif., led the U.S. national women's team to a silver medal at the Pan Am Games by scoring five goals in five games.

FIGURE SKATING—KATARINA WITT, 22, of East Germany, regained the world women's title she had lost to Debi Thomas of the U.S. in 1986.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL—DON McPHERSON, senior quarterback, completed 129 of 229 passes for 2,341 yards and 22 TDs to lead Syracuse to an 11-0 record.

PRO FOOTBALL—JERRY RICE, 25, receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, through 13 games had tied NFL marks for touchdown catches in a season (18) and consecutive games with a TD reception (11).

GOLF—LAURA DAVIES, 24, of England, by adding the U.S. Women's Open title to the Ladies' British Open title she had won in 1986, became the only woman to win both Opens.

GYMNASTICS—AURELIA DOBRE, 14, of Romania was the first non-Soviet in 21 years to win the women's all-around at the world championships.

HOCKEY—WAYNE GRETZKY, 26, center for the Edmonton Oilers, paced the NHL in goals (62) and assists (121), and led the Oilers to their third Stanley Cup in four years.

HORSE RACING—ALYSHEBA, 3, won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Super Derby.

JUDO—MIKE SWAIN, 27, of San Jose, Calif., got the first gold medal ever won by a U.S. male at the world championships, in the 156-pound division.

LACROSSE—TIM GOLDSTEIN, a junior attackman, had 10 goals and 15 assists in three tournament games as he led Cornell to the NCAA finals.

LUGE—BONNY WARNER, 25, of Mount Baldy, Calif., became the first American to win a World Cup event and tied for third in the overall women's World Cup standings.

SAILING—DENNIS CONNER, 45, skippered Stars & Stripes to a 4-0 victory in America's Cup competition against Australia's Kookaburra III.

SKIING—PIRMIN ZURBRIGGEN, 24, of Switzerland won World Cup titles in downhill, giant slalom, combined and Super G to become the overall World Cup champion.

COLLEGE SOCCER—BRUCE MURRAY, a senior forward, led Clemson to the NCAA crown by scoring 20 goals during the Tigers' 18-5-1 season.

SPEED SKATING—KARIN KANIA, 26, of East Germany successfully defended her women's world sprint and all-around titles.

SQUASH—JEFF STANLEY, a Princeton sophomore, won U.S. Amateur and Intercollegiate titles.

SURFING—TOM CURREN, 23, of Santa Barbara, Calif., won his second straight professional world surfing title.

SWIMMING—TAMAS DARNYI, 20, of Hungary, set world records in the 200- and 400-meter IMs with times of 2:00.56 and 4:15.42, respectively.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING—CAROLYN WALDO, 23, of Beaconsfield, Quebec, won gold medals in both the solo and duet events at the FINA Cup.

TABLE TENNIS—INSOOK BHUSHAN, 35, of Aurora, Colo., won her eighth national women's crown and successfully defended her Pan Am singles title.

TEAM HANDBALL—PETER LASH, 28, of Charlottesville, Va., scored 11 goals in the U.S.'s 34-32 overtime upset of Cuba in the Pan Am Games final.

TENNIS—IVAN LENDL, 27, won the French and U.S. Opens and the Masters to retain the No. 1 ranking for the third straight year.

TRACK & FIELD—BEN JOHNSON, 26, of Toronto, clocked a world-record 9.83 in the 100 meters.

TRIATHLON—RICHARD WELLS, 26, of New Zealand, won the long-and short-course world titles.

VOLLEYBALL—STEVE TIMMONS, 29, an outside hitter from Newport Beach, Calif., led the U.S. men's team to a USA Cup victory over the Soviets and to a Pan Am Games win over Cuba.

WEIGHTLIFTING—KARYN MARSHALL, 31, of Pelham, N.Y., won the 181.75-pound title at the first women's world championships by lifting 209.4 pounds in the snatch and 275.6 in the clean and jerk for a combined lift of 485 pounds.

WRESTLING—JOHN SMITH, a senior at Oklahoma State, won Pan Am and World titles in the 136½-pound class, and the NCAA at 134.