Super Bowl theory
Fran to run line ragged,
pass pants off Raiders
By BRUCE LOWITT
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - There’s this
theory floating around the Super Bowl
scene — that Fran Tarkenton of Min
nesota is going to run Oakland’s line
ragged, then pass the pants off the
Raiders.
“Well, I don’t know about that,” says
Otis Sistrunk, one of Oakland’s three
defensive linemen whose job, in part,
will be to catch the Vikings’ scrambling
quarterback. “I think we may have a
few surprises in store for him."
Tarkenton, too, has reservations
about the widely held view that his
ability to move laterally, combined
with the three-man Oakland line rather
than the usual four, will make the
Raiders especially vulnerable.
“It doesn’t matter whether ( you’re
going against a three-four (Oakland’s
three linemen and four linebackers) or
a conventional four-three or a five-two
or a two-five or whatever,” says
Tarkenton, a veteran of 16 years in the
National Football League, a
quarterback who has probably seen
every kind of defense imaginable.
“What matters isn’t the formation,
it’s the guys who are in it, their ability,
their desire. There is no mystery to
defense, only to how well they play.”
The reason the Raiders’ three-man
line (installed by Coach John Madden
because of a wave of injuries in the pre
season) won’t make a major difference,
Tarkenton points out, is the presence of
.Maryland eagers may include
, a world heavyweight champ
By HANK LOWENKRON
AP Sports Writer
* Maryland’s 15th-ranked bas
ketball team may include a fu
ture world heavyweight cham
, pion.
Three Maryland players were
ejected for fighting as the Ter
rapins defeated Richmond 90-78
«* Tuesday night.
“Our three big men were
ejected,” said Maryland Coach
Lefty Driesell. “We can’t afford
to have those guys on the bench.
I told them that if they’re going
to fight in the future to do it
after the game.”
Junior Mike Davis, 6-foot-10,
' Nadia Comaneci athlete of year
NEW YORK (AP) - Nadia
•’* Comaneci of Romania, the cov
er girl of the 1976 Olympics who
thrilled millions with her grace
and perfection in the
gymnastics competition, has
added another trophy to her
case—The Associated Press’
Female Athlete of the Year
Award.
With the sports world focused
** on Montreal for the Summer
Olympics, Miss Comaneci, then
14, grabbed center stage, mov
a ing into an area never traveled
before the realm of perfection.
Congratulations
■ •
To
ROGER’S RESTAURANT II
On Your Formal Opening
WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE BEEN
SELECTED TO FURNISH YOUR
DECORATIONS AND FURNISHINGS.
jhhhmz 3 B B
a fourth linebacker, who will more than
likely be blitzing in at him most of the
day.
And that fourth linebacker, says the
fearsome-looking Sistrunk, could
create problems for Tarkenton. “He
won’t know how often that linebacker
will be coming — and more important,
he won’t know which one’ll be coming,”
Sistrunk says.
One of those linebackers is the Mad
Stork, the angular Ted Hendricks. He’s
looking forward to a few footraces with
Tarkenton.
“I can remember more than a few
games when he was running back and
forth, back and forth, with me right
after him,” says Hendricks, an eight- I
year pro who spent his first five seasons
with Baltimore.
“I tell you, there are few things more
i frustrating than chasing that man all
over the joint, then seeing him get a
' pass off. I mean, you punch your fist
into the ground, you kick dirt, you curse I
i “Ah, but it’s oh, so sweet when you
1 catch him.”
Oakland is the first team with an
almost constant threeman line to make
■ it into the Super Bowl. “It’s been said
* you can’t win with it, but we don’t seem
to be doing too bad,” says Dave Rowe,
i the middle guard who will be playing
i between Sistrunk and John Matuszak
on the line. “I think it gives you a lot '
> more mobility, a lot more chances to do
a lot more things.”
230 pounds, was thrown out for
punching Craig Sullivan when
the teams lined up for the center
jump starting the second half.
Larry Gibson, 6-10, and Law
rence Boston, 6-8, each 210
pounds, were thrown out, along
with Richmond’s Mike Dow,
with 5:57 left in the game.
John Campbell of Richmond
sank two free throws after Bos
ton was given a technical, cut
ting Maryland’s lead to 75-64,
and the upset-minded Spiders
got within nine points when Ke
vin Eastman followed with a
field goal.
Steve Sheppard, who made
Her first flawless routine
came on the uneven parallel
bars, the first perfect score in
Olympics gymnastics history.
Proving the feat no fluke, Miss
Comaneci picked up six more
perfect 10s on her way to win
ning three gold medals.
Miss Comaneci was a land
slide winner in the balloting by
a nationwide panel of sports
writers and broadcasters for
the Female Athlete of the Year ;
Award. She compiled 342 of 605 <
votes, far outdistancing Doro- ]
thy Hamill, the gold medal fig- i
M IB IP I
Bo flfilr.'
H ■ H 1 H
■ W ■
Tarkenton
two straight three-point plays to
kill Richmond’s late bid, fin
ished with 25 points as Mary
land posted its 10th consecutive
triumph after an opening-game
loss to Notre Dame.
In the only other game in
volving a member of the Top 20,
18th-rated Arkansas scored its
first victory in 20 trips to the
Texas Tech campus in Lubbock,
opening its Southwest
Conference season with a 41-38
decision. Ron Brewer hit a 25-
foot jump shot to break a 38-38 ,
deadlock with four seconds to ;
play. i
The victory was the ninth in 10 ;
ure skater at the Winter Olym
pics. Miss Hamill of Riverside,
Conn., who overcame her ten
dency for falling down to strike
gold, received 106 votes.
Chris Evert, winner of this
award the past two years, fin
ished third with 80 votes in,
perhaps, her best tennis season
ever. Miss Evert, the world’s
No. 1 female player, won Wim
bledon, Forest Hills and, at one
point, over 100 straight matches
on clay. It is her misfortune,
however, to be a professional
tennis player in the year of the
starts for the Razorbacks.
Brewer led Arkansas with 15
points. Grant Dukes of Texas
Tech scored 19.
In other games, Navy erased
an 11-point deficit and beat
Texas Wesleyan 102-87; Lafa
yette routed Yale 90-59, with
Jim Lundy scoring 18 points for
the victorious 7-2 Leopards;
Arizona State outscored Port
land State 115-92 despite 36
points by the losers’ Freeman
Williams, the nation’s leading
scorer with a 40.2 average, and
southwestern Louisiana led all
the way in routing Marshall 103-
70.
amateur athlete.
Following Miss Evert in the
balloting were speedskater
Sheila Young of Detroit, who
won a gold, silver and bronze
medal at the Innsbruck Olym
pics; East German swimming
sensation Komelia Ender, who
won four Olympic gold med
als—including the gruelling 100-
meter butterfly and the 200-me
ter freestyle races 26 minutes
apart; golfer Judy Rankin, the
first SIOO,OOO winner on the
women’s tour, and skier Rosi
Mittermaier, the cheerful West
German who won gold medals
in the downhill and slalom and
came within .12 seconds of win
ning the giant slalom at In
nsbruck for what would have
been an unprecedented sweep of
the women’s Alpine events.
King leads
SEC scoring
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) —
Mississippi State leads South
eastern Conference basketball
scoring with an average of 87.5
points per game.
Kentucky continues to pace
the defense, allowing opponents
only 62.7 points per game.
State also passed Auburn for
the lead in rebounding with an
average of 51.8 to 49.3, but Au
burn allows foes only 33 per
game for one of the nation’s top
figures.
Tennessee hits field goals best
with 53.6 per cent, and Auburn
makes the most free throws,
75.4 per cent.
In individual statistics, Ber
nard King of Tennessee has
eased ahead of teammate Ernie
Grunfeld to lead in scoring with
24 points per game to Grunfeld’s
23.7. Grunfeld has the most
points, 213 in nine games, to
King’s 168 in seven.
Flames deny team to be sold
ATLANTA (AP) - The chair
man of the board of the Atlanta
Flames continued to deny re
ports Tuesday that the National
Hockey League club will be sold
to businessman Earl J.
Thomas.
But a son of the financier in
Ohio said his father would buy
the Flames.
“This broke two days early,”
said Kingsley Thomas, a senior
vice president of Thomas In
dustries, Inc. He said the exec
utive would work out details at a
Thursday meeting in Atlanta.
Kuhn may lighten suspension
ATLANTA (AP) — A spokes
man for baseball Commissioner
Bowie Kuhn’s office has said
that there is a possibility that
Atlanta Braves owner Ted
Turner’s one-year suspension
All you got to do is ask
Punter not charged
with blocked punt
By Murray Olderman
The tipofff:
The Oakland A’s may be signalling a new trend by
playing more than half their home games this year in
daylight. That saves Charlie Finley an electricity bill
for a stadium which would be empty anyhow.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, HermanFYanks would
like to persuade Phil Wrigley to install lights at last
for the Cubs — so he and his coaching cronies would
have the day hours for playing golf.
Q. How is a punter charged against his average on a blocked
kick? Does he get negative yardage if the ball winds up behind
the line of scrimmage? — T.M., Denver, Colo.
Under rules instituted this year, he’s not even charged at all
for the kick. Previously, he just got zero yardage on a blocked
punt which rebounded behind the line. However, in team pun
ting averages, a blocked kick is registered as an attempt.
Q. How many owners are there that own the New York Jets
and the New York Giants? — M.R., Anaheim, Calif.
The Giants are, as they have been since their formation in
the mid-19205, in the hands of the Timothy Mara family, which
now consists of two branches — one is Wellington Mara; the
other is his nephew, Tim Mara. The Jets have four major
owners — Phil Iselin, Leon Hess, Townsend Martin and Mrs.
Helen Dillon.
Q. You recently answered a question about two tall women
who are freshmen basketball players for Mercer University
this year. I thought you might like some interesting informa
tion about them. Kathleen Mclntyre is 6-9 and Dee Hazel is 6-7
and until someone proves otherwise, we can claim to have the
tallest pair of collegiate players in the nation. To go with Dee
and Kathleen, we have 5-11 Cindy Brogdon, who was on the
silver-medal American team in the Olympics. — Jack Pigott,
Macon, Ga.
Much obliged. But would you call them freshwomen or
freshpersons instead of freshmen at Mercer?
Q. In the no contact game of baseball, why is the offense
player allowed to charge bodily into the baseman (or ball
receiver) when in football, which is bodily contact plus, if a
runner as much as touches a receiver he is declared guilty of
interference and therefore penalized? — R.C. Grady, Walnut
Creek, Calif.
I don’t think the situations you mention are analagous. In the
first place, I don’t believe a baseball runner can charge
haphazardly into a fielder. A base runner does have the right
of way and can barrel into a fielder blocking his path on the
baselines. I have always felt the most overlooked interference
call in baseball is a catcher blocking the plate before the ball
arrives. In football, incidentally, a defender is allowed to
manhandle a receiver by giving him one solid shot before the
ball is thrown.
Got a tough question about sports and the people who play
them? All you got to do is ask Murray Olderman. Write him
care of this newspaper. The most interesting questions will be
answered in this column. Olderman regrets that he cannot
write personal answers to all questions.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN >
Louisiana State’s Durand
Macklin has grabbed 139
rebounds in 10 games to take the
lead in game average and total
rebounds. His 13.9 per game
leads Mississippi State’s Rickey
Brown, who averages 12.7, and
Tennessee’s King, who nabs
12.6.
LSU guard Kenny Higgs ac
cumulated 32 assists in four
games in the past two weeks to
hold his claim as the league’s
leading playmaker. Higgs has
passed out 91 assists in 10
games, a 9.1 average, to lead
the 8.6 of Tennessee’s Johnny
Darden.
Freshman centers Reggie
Johnson of Tennessee and La
von Mercer of Georgia lead in
field goal shooting. Johnson is
44 of 62 for 71 per cent, while
Mercer has hit 54 of 81 for 66.7
per cent.
Page 11
Tom Cousins, majority owner
of the Flames, said he had no
appointment with Thomas.
“I have never met Mr. Thom
as and have not been contacted
by him, and I’m the guy they
have to talk to,” Cousins said.
“The story is not true.”
Thomas, 66, chairs the board
of Thomas Industries Inc., a
holding company with 32 sepa
rate corporation and 157 divi
sions. Its executive offices are
in Miami, its corporate offices
are in Worthingon, Ohio, and its
world offices are in Atlanta.
from baseball may be light
ened, the Atlanta Constitution
said in today’s editions.
The paper quoted an uniden
tified spokesman for the com-
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201 W. Vineyard Road at N. Expressway
Wednesday Only
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Served With Cole Slaw And
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Thursday Special Fish Fry
Includes Flounder or Catfish
All You Can Eat $ QOO
Served With The Goodies
After 5:00 P.M.
— Griffin Daily News Wednesday, January 5,197 M
Atlanta radio station WGST
reported Tuesday that Thomas
was flying to Atlanta from
Florida Tuesday night for talks
with Cousins about purchasing
the club for a reported $5.2 mil
lion.
Kingsley Thomas would not
say whether the franchise
would remain in Atlanta if it
were purchased.
Contacted in Miami, the elder
Thomas would neither confirm
or deny the report.
Members of the Flames took
a voluntay pay cut in December
missioner’s office as saying that
Turner’s suspension may be
lightened “if Turner behaves
himself.” It did not elaborate.
Kuhn denied the report today.
He said the story is “is untrue
without any basis in fact.”
Kuhn suspended Turner for
one year from the operation of
the Braves Sunday for action in
his contractual pursuit of free
agent outfielder Gary Mat
thews. The Braves’ $1,875 mil
lion contract, with Matthews,
.which had been held up by
Kuhn, was approved Monday by
National League President
Chub Feeney.
Turner was buoyed by a re
port that the Atlanta Chamber
of Commerce planned to send
Kuhn a wire protesting the deci-
SEC sets attendance record!
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -
The 1976 season brought the
greatest football attendance in
the history of the Southeastern
Conference, Commissioner
Boyd McWhorter said today.
Statistics showed 3,377,610
spectators watched the 64 home
games of the 10 SEC teams, an
average of 52,775 per game.
Both figures were records,
breaking the 1973 average of
51,254 and the 1974 total of
3,301,465.
College football attendance
over-all reached an all-time
high, 32,012,008 persons for the
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B ppec«
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B G °?. d KANtE RiCARD
B *TrOpenEveniW s ste rcHARGE or BANKA
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to help the team out of financifl
difficulties. Gov. Georgl
Busbee, Mayor Maynarl
Jackson and local businessmen
also helped the club make isl
mid-December payroll witfl
large-block ticket purchases!
Cousins admitted the Flamefl
are seeking more financing bul
said he was not considerinfl
selling the team.
The expansion club has beefl
in Atlanta since 1972 and mad®
the playoffs in two of the foul
previous seasons.
sion and claiming Turner afl
“Atlanta’s most valuable asl
set.”
Telephone calls continue tfl
come from fans offering moral
and financial support if legal
action is decided upon.
Appearing on “Today,” fl
morning network television
program, Turner took a soft apffi
proach, saying Kuhn “has had fl
tough year, with the trial anfl
everything. Maybe things will
turn out better when he has fl
chance to think it over.” He wafl
referring to trial of the suit bfl
Oakland A’s owner Charlie®
Finley against Kuhn.
Turner is to meet with Kuhifl
Jan. 18 and has been told tfl
continue normal Braves’ activi-l
ties until then.
637 four-year colleges that field
teams.
The South led the way for the
20th straight season, with 9,-1
301,826 viewing the home games
of 119 teams — almost 30 per
cent of the total.
The SEC figures were second
in the nation, behind the Big
Ten, which averaged 59,661 and
had a total of 3,579,682.
Michigan paced the nation’s
attendance with an amazing av
erage of 103,159 persons per
game. Ohio State was second
with 87,702, and Tennessee was |
third with 80,703.
