Newspaper Page Text
Page 8
— Griffin Daily News Friday, July 18,1975
Atlanta fans starved for winner
Time right for Rodgers
By DAVID MOFFIT
ATLANTA (UPI) — Pepper Rodgers, going into his
second season as head football coach at Georgia Tech,
couldn’t have picked a more opportune time to appear on
the Atlanta sports scene.
Not only was Georgia Tech, once recognized as one of
the powers of collegiate football, in the throes of a decade
long recession, but the professional sports teams which
helped cause the Yellow Jackets decline are all in a
depression.
Make no mistake about it. If the Atlanta Falcons, the
Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta
Flames were all championship contenders — or if even
one was — Rodgers would have had a difficult time
reestablishing Georgia Tech's popularity.
But Atlanta fans are starved for a winning team. And, if
as expected, Rodgers turns out a bowl-caliber team this
fall, he’ll be one of the most popular men in town.
Pepper Rodgers is tailormade for a hero’s mantle in
Atlanta.
The bouncy, witty, 43-year-old redhead, nicknamed by a
grandfather who was impressed with baseball star
Pepper Martin, Rodgers is an Atlanta native who starred
here in high school and then at Georgia Tech where (1951-
53) he helped the Yellow Jackets post a 32-2-2 record,
including an Orange Bowl victory and two Sugar Bowl
victories.
An assistant at UCIA at the time, Rodgers was listed
among the candidates for the head coaching job at Tech
when Bobby Dodd retired after the 1966 season, but took
the top job at the University of Kansas when Dodd
assistant Bud Carson was promoted.
After the ’7l season, when Carson was dumped, an
effort was made to talk Rodgers, then head coach at
UCIA, into switching to Georgia Tech. But he declined.
Torre whips
Braves, 4-3
NEW YORK (UPI) - Joe
Torre’s eighth inning homer
broke a 3-3 tie to give the New
York Mets a 4-3 victory over
the Atlanta Braves Thursday
night.
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Torre led off the inning with
his third homer of the year off
losing pitcher Tom House, now
3-3, who hadn’t given up a run
in 28 consecutive innings.
Clarence Gaston paced the
As Rodgers explained later:
“My first year at UCLA (27-1) was a disappointing one
and I wanted to prove what I could do there before
thinking about going anywhere else.”
Rodgers, who coached Kansas to the Big Eight
championship and an Orange Bowl berth in ’6B, was 9-2 at
UCIA in ’73, so when Bill Fulcher, the man who succeeded
Carson, decided coaching “is no longer fun,” Pepper was
more receptive to returning to Georgia Tech.
“I’ve come home,” is the way Rodgers described it
when he agreed to become only the sixth head coach in
Georgia Tech’s 80 years of football on Dec. 5,1973.
Pepper Rodgers was an instant success upon his return.
Heralded as “the Moses who will lead the Yellow
Jackets out of the football wilderness,” Rodgers installed
the WishboneT that did so well at UCLA. The Yellow
Jackets, setting a bundle of rushing records along the
way, won five of their last seven games — including a
convincing 34-14 victory over arch rival Georgia—to wind
up 6-5 for the season.
“And that,” said Rodgers, “was just for starters.”
Rodgers predicts that the 1975 Yellow Jackets “will be
the strongest, physically, Tech team ever.” He’s had
them on a weight program that has added weight and
strength to every one of his 40 returning lettermen.
Fifteen of those lettermen were starters in ’74 and the
word from the Flats is that some of those will be hard
pressed to keep their jobs.
Some of the more optimistic Tech fans are predicting a
9-2 season for the independent Yellow Jackets. That’s
conceding games against Auburn, figured to battle
Alabama for the Southeastern Conference
chammpionship, and Notre Dame.
The remainder of the schedule, with eight of the 11
games at home, is made up of teams Georg trolina, Miami
Braves to a 3-0 lead with a
homer and a double. He led off
the fourth with his sixth homer
of the year, and in the sixth
inning followed a leadoff double
by Earl Williams with his own
two-base hit for the second
Atlanta run. He went to third
on Larvell Blanks’ infield hit
but was thrown out at the plate
on Vic Correll’s grounder to
short.
Starting Mets hurler Jerry
Koosman then hit Roland Office
with a pitch, loading the base,
and that brought on reliever
Ken Sanders. Braves pitcher
Phil Niekro bunted perfectly,
scoring Blanks with the Braves’
final run.
The Mets tied the game in
the sixth on a leadoff single by
Ed Kranepool and back to back
homers by Rusty Staub, his
11th, and Dave Kingman, his
16th.
Rick Baldwin, the third Mets
pitcher of the game, hurled the
last three innings, allowing just
two hits to pick up his second
victory in five decisions.
The game was delayed by
rain for 40 minutes in the third
inning.
Allison,
Di-Gard
part
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
(UPI) — Despite the departure
of driver Donnie Allison, the Di-
Gard racing team is expected
to enter a car in the Talladega,
Ala., 500-mile race Aug. 10, the
next major NASCAR event.
Leading candidates for the
driving job are believed to be
former Indianapolis 500 winner
Johnny Rutherford and Darrell
Waltrip, a NASCAR driver
from Franklin, Tenn.
Allison and Di-Gard parted
ways Wednesday after a rift
had been rumored for weeks. A
Di-Gard spokesman said chief
mechanic Mario Rossi would be
retained.
Sandeman
retires
GREENVILLE, S.C. (UPI) -
Offensive tackle Bill Sandeman,
bothered in recent years by a
back ailment, announced his
retirement Thursday at the
Atlanta Falcons training camp.
Sandeman, a 260-pound, 10-
year National Football League
veteran, missed the 1974 season
following surgery on his back
and had been considered
doubtful this year. He was
claimed by the Falcons on
waivers from New Orleans in
1967.
Atlanta Coach Marion Camp
bell said he was “disappointed”
Sandeman had to retire.
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Fast ball pitcher
collars Cincinnati
By United Press International
It took a pitcher with a
blistering fastball to finally put
the collar on the Cincinnati
Reds. It took a blistering bat to
keep Los Angeles from gaining
any ground.
While Montreal was handing
the Reds their first loss in the
last 10 games, 3-0, Thursday
night, Los Angeles was having
trouble coping with Pittsburgh,
leaders in the National League
East. The Dodgers blew their
first opportunity in two weeks
to gain on the Reds by dropping
a 5-2 decision to the Pirates.
Montreal’s Steve Rogers was
working with “good velocity”
for six innings against Cincin
nati before retiring to the
showers with a blister on his
right forefinger. Rogers had
held the Reds, the National
League batting leaders, to five
hits, all singles, while walking
two and striking out seven.
Dale Murray came in from the
bullpen to preserve the shutout
and nail down the victory.
Lassies win
in semi-finals
Winning an important simi
final game last night, the WHIE
Lassies shut out the Augusta
Streakers 7-0. In Contrast to the
7-6 loss they suffered Wed
nesday night, the Griffin girls
played almost errorless ball in
last night’s victory.
Behind the pitching of Kay
Watkins, who also blasted a
triple to help her own cause, the
leading hitter were Portia
Vaughn who was 3 for 4, Donna
Boggs and Joyce Thompson
who were both 2 for 3, Nancy
Kelly with a double and a single,
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Going into his second season as head coach of the Georgia
Tech Yellow Jackets, Pepper Rodgers (in file photo) could
not have picked a better time to appear on the Atlanta
sports scene. Rodgers is tailormade for a hero’s mantle,
of Florida, Clemson, Florida State, VMI, Tulane, Duke,
Navy and Georgia — and some Tech fans are already
making plans to spend part of the yearend holidays at a
bowl.
Atlanta fans are unhappy with the Falcons, Braves and
Pepe Mangual started things
rolling for Montreal with a
homer in the first inning, Pete
Mackinin added another homer
in the fifth inning and Gary
Carter, after walking, tallied in
the sixth on a single by Larry
Parrish.
Rogers moved his record to 6-
7 while Jack Billingham, who
failed to get his 11th win, was
charged with his fourth loss.
“It’s the first time I’ve been
forced out of a game because of
a blister since I’ve been in the
majors,” Rogers said. “I really
had good velocity out there and
the Reds were not able to hit
the ball too hard. I had a lot of
confidence in my stuff.”
Pittsburgh’s Dave Parker,
who did not make the All-Star
roster despite batting .338,
smashed two homers to extend
his hitting streak to 14 games
and his total homers to 17.
Willie Stargell, who also sat
out the All-Star break with a
.311 average, added his 18th
homer for Pittsburgh, while
and Reth Daniel with a triple
and a single. Retha stretched
her triple, which was a towering
hit that almost cleared the
fence, into a run on a throwing
error by Augusta.
Last night’s win sets the stage
for this evenings State ASA
Youth championship game
when the Lassies will meet
Lithia Springs. The Griffin
teenagers will have to win two
games as the Lithia Springs
team is undefeated. The first
game is scheduled to start at
7:30 at Friddel Field in
McWhorter, Ga.
Bruce Kison allowed six hits in
8 2-3 innings and brought his
record to 9-4 after getting ninth
inning relief help from Dave
Giusti. All three of the homers
came off Andy Messersmith, 12-
7, who failed for the fourth
start in a row to win his 13th
game.
Pittsburgh remained 6%
games ahead of Philadelphia,
which edged Houston 6-5 in 11
innings.
Elsewhere in the NL, New
York clipped Atlanta 4-3,
Chicago beat San Diego 6-5 and
St. Louis blanked San Francis
co 1-0.
In the American League,
California whipped Milwaukee
6-1, Chicago split with Detroit,
the White Sox taking the first
game 4-0, the Tigers taking the
nightcap 9-1, Boston ripped
Kansas City 8-3, Oakland beat
Cleveland 6-3, Baltimore
downed Minnesota 6-3 in 12
innings and Texas defeated
New York 7-2.
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as Atlanta’s fans are starved for a winner, and if he can
turn out a bowl-caliber team this fall, he’ll be the most
popular man in town. (UPI)
Hawks these days. But some of the Yellow Jacket faithful
have bumper stickers on their cars which read:
“Pepper Has Put The Sting Back In!”
Pepper Rodgers couldn’t have had better timing if he’d
planned it.
Woman’s softball
tourney scheduled
The Women’s Mid-Georgia
Softball Classic will be played in
Griffin Saturday and Sunday at
Dundee Park and City Park.
Games begin Saturday at 9
a.m. Games will be played each
hour until 9 p.m.
Action resumes Sunday at 1
p.m.
Four teams represent Griffin.
Griffin competes against teams
from Thomaston, Barnesville,
Red Oak, Hapeville, Jonesboro,
Jackson, Monroe and
Americus.
The double-elimination
tournament featurtes some of
the best women’s softball teams
in Georgia.
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The championship game is
scheduled Sunday at 5 p.m.
There is no admission.
Skeetleaders
CHARDON, Ohio - Skeet
shooters Robert Schuehle of
Chicago and John Satterwhite
of Kirkland, Wash., scored
first-day 99s Thursday to share
the lead in the 15th U. S.
International Shooting Cham
pionships.
The two veteran international
skeet shooters each posted
three perfect rounds of 25
before missing a single target
apiece in the day’s closing
round.