Newspaper Page Text
Miss. State defenders
X
steal Blue-Gray show
By JIM MCGREGOR
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (UPI)
—The 35th annual Blue-Gray
football game featured some of
the nation’s top offensive
performers, but two defensive
backs from Mississippi State
stole the show as the South took
a 27-15 victory.
Ken Phares, a 185-pounder
from Clinton, La., put the South
ahead on the third play of the
game Wednesday night when he
stole a pass thrown by
quarterback Tony Adams of
Utah State and raced 34 yards
for the score. The Mississippi
State star set up another Gray
score with an interception and
Frank Dowsing, an All-SEC
performer from Mississippi
State, stopped a Blue drive with
an interception on the two.
The game had been billed as
a passing duel between Adams
and South quarterback Don
Strock of Virginia Tech. Strock
was the nation’s total offense
and forward passing leader.
Adams had completed the 1972
collegiate season second in the
nation in total offense and third
in passing.
Strock hit on 14-of-33 passes
for 153 yards. He was denied a
touchdown, but key passes of 19
and 21 yards from Strock to
Jim Hodge of Arkansas set up
a one-yard scoring plunge by
Ken Garrett of Wake Forest in
the second period. Strock was
chosen the game’s Most Valua
ble Player by sportswriters
covering the game.
Don’t count Auburn out
because of QB problems
By DAVID MOFFIT
UPI Sports Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (UPI)
—You say that since Auburn
was already the Gator Bowl
underdog before it lost its
quarterback, you’re going to
lay down a bundle on Colorado?
You’d better think twice
before you risk the rent money.
Those Auburn Tigers bucked,
and beat, the odds Saturday
after Saturday this past fall.
You’d have been hard pressed
last August to find a forecaster
willing to grant Auburn better
than a break-even season. The
reasoning was simple enough:
The Tigers apparently had
found no replacements for Pat
Sullivan and Terry Beasley,
their All-America passing duo.
The man coach Shug Jordan
finally selected from a ques
tionable crop to move into
Sullivan’s quarterback shoes
was a sophomore named Randy
Walls who completed only 12
passes as freshman.
Wall, who was Auburn’s No. 4
quarterback at the end of
spring drills, was so excited
WRESTLING
GRIFFIN SPORTS PALACE
Saturday, Dec. 30 Starts 8:30 P.M.
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Strock and Phares took the
offensive and defensive honors
for the South while flanker Tom
Forzani of Utah State and
defensive end Eddie Sheats of
Kansas won the honors for the
North.
Bill Sadler of Texas Chris
tian, the game’s leading rusher
with 69 yards, scored another
South touchdown on a one-yard
run. The score was set up by
Phares’ second interception and
a pass interference call. Mark
Williams erf Rice kicked field
goals of 21 and 23 yards to
complete the Gray scoring.
Adams, who shared Blue
quarterbacking chores with
Dennis Morrison erf Kansas
State, had a 16 yard touchdown
pass to Doug Winslow of Drake.
Martin Januszkiewicz of Syra
cuse scored on a four-yard run
for the North and caught a pass
from Morrison for a two-point
conversion.
Peter Van Valkenberg of
Brigham Young, the nation’s
top rusher during the past
season, was held to only 41
yards by the South defense.
The South, which now leads
the series 20-13-1, picked up 21
first downs to 15 for the North.
The North led in passing
yardage 226 to 153, but the
Gray ground attack clicked for
128 yards to 60 for the Blues.
A crowd of 20,000 watched the
annual Lions Club charity game
in Montgomery’s Cramton
Bowl. The game also was
produced for national television.
about starting the first game he
went out for pre-game warmup
with his jersey on backwards.
After barely beating Missis
sippi State (14-3) and Chattan
ooga (14-7), the Tigers were
two-touchdown underdogs
against Tennessee but won 10-6.
Next came Qle Miss, riding a
10-game winning streak, and
the Tigers upset the Rebels, 19-
13.
The following week Auburn
was crushed 35-7 by Louisiana
State (the Tigers’ lone loss in a
9-1 campaign) and most of the
people who had earlier predict
ed a dismal season for the
Tigers insisted their luck had
run out
It certainly looked that way
the following Saturday when
Georgia Tech jumped into a
quick 14-0 lead but the Tigers
battled back to pull that one
out, 24-14—and it was all uphill
from that point on.
Victories over Florida State
(27-14), Florida (26-20) and
Georgia (27-10) enabled Auburn
to take an 8-1 mark into its
season finale against 2nd-
1
MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Gray quarterback Don Strock (15)
of V.P.L looks for receiver as Blue defensive back Eddie
Sheats (84) rushes in trying to stop the play. Laying block for
Strock in the Gray’s 27-15 victory over the Blues is Don
Deweber (75) of S.M.U. (UPI)
ranked, unbeaten Alabama.
Even the faithful who had
insisted that Auburn had been
underrated had to agree that
the Tigers had little chance
against the powerful Crimson
Tide which appeared stronger
than the year before when
’Barna routed Sullivan, Beasley
and company, 31-7.
Alabama, completely domin
ated play for nearly 55 minutes,
led 16-3 before the gods smiled
on Auburn again.
Get this: in the closing
minutes, Bill Newton blocked
TWO Alabama punts and
sideback David Langner •
scooped up the ball BOTH
times and scored BOTH times
to give Auburn an almost
unbelievable, 17-16, victory.
At season’s end, the best
prognosticator proved to be
Shug Jordon.
The Auburn coach had said
beforehand, “We are going to
be a lot better than most people
think. Sure, we must find a
quarterback, but there is team
unity and desire...with all due
respect to our opponents...we
are not conceding anything.”
Auburn again is in quarter
back trouble. Walls and the 3-4
quarterbacks, Ted Smith and
Dave Lyon, will miss Satur
day’s Gator Bowl game against
Colorado. The starter will be
sophomore Jim Whatley, who
completed only two of four
passes during the regular
season and both of his backup
men, Clyde Baumgartner and
Rick Christian, are freshmen.
But Shug Jordan is as
confident now as he was before
the season began.
Although Whatley played less
than 19 total minutes, he was
Auburn’s No. 1 quarterback in
the spring before he injured a
shoulder.
“Wade seems to have accept
ed the challepge of stepping
into a starting role,” said
Jordan. “We lost three different
starters for a game each during
the season and managed to win
all three.
“We just have to believe we
can still win and go out and
take the game to Colorado. We
can’t start sitting back and
wait for something to happen.”
There are a lot of folks who
were disbelievers last Septem
ber who are now convinced that
even against a team good
enough to knock off Oklahoma,
the Auburn Tigers will find a
way to come out on top yet
another Saturday.
NBA
standings)
By United Press International
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
w. 1. pct. g.b.
Boston 28 5 .848 —
New York 28 10 .737 2%
Buffalo 9 25 .265 19%
Philadelphia 3 34 .081 27
Central Division
w. 1. pct. g.b.
Baltimore 20 14 .588 —
Atlanta 21 16 .568 %
Houston 16 18 .471 4
Cleveland 10 26 .278 11
Western Conference
Midwest Division
w. 1. pct. g.b.
Milwaukee 26 10 .722 —
Chicago 22 13 .629 3%
KC-Omaha 20 20 .500 8
Detroit 16 19 .457 9%
Pacific Division
w. 1. pct. g.b.
Los Angeles 28 7 .800 —
Golden State 21 12 .636 6
Phoenix 17 19 .472 11%
Seattle 11 29 .285 19%
Portland 9 28 .243 20
Wednesday’s Results
Atlanta 121 Phila 120
Houston 136 Los Ang 104
(Only games scheduled)
SPORTS
Mays’
basket
wins
PITTSBURGH (UPI) -A des
peration shot by Don May has
set up a showdown battle be
tween the Atlanta Hawks and
the Baltimore Bullets for the
leadership of the National Bask
etball Association’s Central Di
vision.
May sank a 20-foot jump shot
with one second left Wednesday
night to boost the Hawks to a
121-120 victory over the Philadel
phia 76ers.
The victory moved Atlanta to
within one-half game of Balti
more, which meets the Hawks
tonight in Atlanta. The contest
will be the Hawks’ third in as
many nights.
Atlanta had to come from 12
points behind to take its 11 win
in 14 outings in December and
its sixth victory in its last seven
games.
May entered the game with
only 11 seconds remaining and
grabbed the rebound when Pete
Maravich missed a shot with
four seconds left. May then took
his game-winning shot.
Lou Hudson was Atlanta’s
high scorer with 34 points and
Maravich had 25. Fred Carter
and Leroy Ellis had 26 each for
Philadelphia.
THREE RELEASED
OAKLAND (UPl)—lnfielders
Orlando Cepeda and Larry
Brown and pitcher Joel Horlen
were given their unconditional
release Wednesday by the
Oakland A’s as the A’s
trimmed their 48-man roster by
three players.
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3 ways to make Santa’s job easier next year
Open a Christmas Club account at our Downtown Office
Open a Christmas Club account at our Northside Office
Open a Christmas Club account at our Southside Office
Start saving now for
each week. Your coupon book will remind and encourage you.
And, 'way before the big holiday, you’ll have the money you
need for Christmas shopping. It really makes Santa’s life a lot
easier and helps everyone to be a lot merrier. Drop by a
First National Office soon-there’s one close to you.
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... GROWING WITH GRIFFIN
Page 3
Washington ready
to trade Jurgensen?
By MILTON RICHMAN
UPI Sports Editor
NEW YORK (UPl)—Anybody
looking for a first class
quarterback, only slightly used?
Like, say, Sonny Jurgensen?
Win or lose, the Washington
Redskins are ready to unload
him, the way I hear, so look for
him to be calling signals for
someone else next year whether
Washington makes it to the
Super Bowl or not...
Business before pleasure.
Charlie Finley didn’t get so
carried away by winning a
world championship that he
forgot all about his cash
register. Charlie always keeps
an eye on that, and that’s why
for a club owner, he makes
such a good general manager.
Quietly and without any fuss,
he has sliced nearly a quarter
million bucks from his Oakland
A’s payroll in the past two
months. Matty Alou’s switch to
the Yankees accounted for
SIOO,OOO (although the little
Dominican chop hitter has
agreed to accept only SBO,OOO
from his new club), and the
departures of Mike Epstein,
Bob Locker, Orlando Cepeda,
Larry Brown and Joe Horlen
took care of the rest. Add this
to the $231,600 U.S. District
Court Judge Tom Clark award
ed Finley Wednesday and you
know why Charlie puts so much
heart in it when he keeps
telling everybody Happy New
Year...
The First Question
College recruiters say the
first question graduating high
school athletes hit them with is
“what’s the girl situation at
your school? ...
Professional basketball play
ers, like so many others who
make their living in profession
al sports, frequently argue they
— Griffin Daily News Thursday, December 28, 1972
have no further responsibility
to the public after they leave
the court. I think they’re all
wet, and I agree with Walter
Kennedy, the NBA Commission
er, who says: “Once a player
signs his contract he loses his
status as a private citizen and
becomes a ‘special’ citizen with
accompanying special responsi
bilities. He must be aware of
them, and respond to them. If
he doesn’t, he’s doing a
disservice to the sport he
represents.” ... Also to himself
Bear Bryant, whose Alabama
football team goes against
Texas in the Cotton Bowl on
New Year’s Day, concedes he’s
not as close to his players as he
used to be years ago. “Larger
squads,” he says. “There’s no
way you can give each player
the time you used to. Not
enough hours in the day.” . . .
Jim Plunkett, the New
England Patriots’ quarterback,
has two years of pro ball under
his belt now and says the
toughest thing any young
quarterback has to learn is the
exact ability of his own players.
“You have to know how to
utilize them best, where to send
them and how to take
advantage of their assets,”
says Plunkett. “The hardest
thing to do is get complete
command of your offensive
system. That doesn’t come
overnight.” ...
Next AL MVP
If someone had a gun to my
lead, and said holler quickly
who’s going to be the American
League’s MVP next season, I’d
say Baltimore’s Bobby Grich,
particularly now that the
Orioles have themselves Earl
Williams. Earl Weaver now can
have Grich, Williams and Boog
Powell in the heart of the
lineup. Weaver first took to
Grich during an episode that
might have soured some other
managers. This happened late
in 1970 after Grich had come up
from Rochester. Weaver let
him play a few innings, then
yanked him for a pinch
swinger. Grich was furious.
“How do you ever expect me to
learn to play if you take me
out?” he barked at Weaver.
Few rookies would pull
something like that. Weaver
was burned up at first, but after
thinking it over, he came to the
conclusion Grich was the goods
Preston Gomez, one of Leo
Durocher’s new coaches, will be
reunited with one of his old San
Diego pitchers, Dave Roberts,
at Houston. Roberts couldn’t be
happier. He likes Gomez. “He’s
one of the most dedicated
baseball men I’ve ever seen,”
says the hard-throwing left
hander. “There’s no move on
the ball field he can’t figure out
two or three innings ahead of
time. You know the way Bobby
Fischer plays chess? That’s
how Preston Gomez plays
baseball.”...
The Los Angeles Rams say
they’re “evaluating” their
coaching situation. That means
they’re not saying yes, and
they’re not saying no about
whether Tommy Prothro is
coming back, but if I were him
I’d keep my ear to the ground.
Frequently ball clubs use the
word “evaluating” as a euphe
mism for looking around to see
who else is available...