Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current, May 12, 1977, Image 12

Griffin daily news., May 12, 1977, Page Page 12, Image 12

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Newspaper Page TextPage 12 ! — Griffin Daily News Thursday, May 12,1977 58 seconds Norton kayos Bobick in first round By JOHN NELSON AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) - In some musty safe there lies a contract for Norton vs. Ali No. 4. “We’ve signed the contract, Ali has signed the contract, and we’re counting heavily on it,” said Bob Biron, manager of Ken Lose again Turner dons manager’s cap PITTSBURGH (AP)-He had to swallow his team’s 17th straight loss, but owner Ted Turner of the Atlanta Braves found tobacco chewing easier in Sports World \ vih An AP s P° rts Ana| ysi» By WILL GRIMSLEY i /ft/ AP Special Correspondent Quick and merciful NEW YORK (AP) — Like a tornado striking a Kansas farm house, it was over in 58 seconds. A man in the red-cushioned SSO ringside seats reached down to pick up his hat. A lady in a long white gown turned to speak to a mustachioed man behind her. Another man reached in his pocket for change to buy a beer. They blew the fight completely. NBC-TV set an all-time record for reruns. The midnight show came on an hour early. Tall, hard-hitting Ken Norton gets another shot at Mu hammed Ali — his fourth. They’re already booked — con tracts signed and in the safe —for a title fight in Rio de Janeiro in September. It’s appropriate. The end of the season’s reruns on the big tube. Will fight fans stand still for a fourth Ali-Norton fight for millions of dollars? Tune in next September. And young Duane Bobick, boxing’s new “Goden Boy,” the handsome ex-Olympian who came up from the cow country of Bowlus, Minn., almost destroyed in a first round knockout after 38 straight victories — what of him? “He is young and strong. You haven’t heard the last of Duane Bobick,” Norton said graciously afterward. The polite farm boy with the shock of curly copper hair is too good to lose so early. He seems a foreigner to his craft — modest, pleasant, soft-speaking, without bom bast. He took a terrible right hand shot to the throat early in the battle. Water welled in his eyes. He couldn't see. He became a helpless target of Norton’s slashing, relentless fists —a vicious blow to the stomach, a right to the head, right, left, right, left. Blood spewed from Bobick’s handsome features and he crumbled. At the count of nine he rose on rubbery legs, his face a dazed mask of bruises and blood. Referee Patty Della stopped it. It was quick and merciful. Bobick had been brought along too quickly. He was a young bear thrown into the arena with a roaring lion. Bobick’s voice was so raspy, from the blow to the throat, that he could barely be understood. He had no alibis. “I start slow, I didn’t have a chance to get loose,” he ex plained. “He came out barreling to get me.” Somebody asked him what he remembered about the fight. “There wasn’t much to remember,” he replied, giving the smartest appraisal of the bitter night. Another reporter suggested that maybe the fight proved what some had charged, that Bobick’s victories were over setups. Could this bout have proved it? “There must have been one live body in the bunch,” he answered. How would he describe his disappointment? “Shucks," he said. Norton, who already has been guaranteed $2.25 million to fight Ali in Brazil this fall, was a gracious victor. He said he was surprised that Bobick hadn’t applied more pressure — it was almost as if the kid was frozen. “You haven’t seen the last of Bobick,” he warned. WELCOME WOMEN to the special women’s self-defense 8 week class of TAE KWON DO Overseas Membership Affiliation Starts May 12th Thursday Night 7:00 to 9:00 Griffin Nat’l Guard Armory Professional Instruction Dr. Daeshik Kim, 6th Degree Black Belt Tae Kwon Do Advisor Atlas Jesse King, 3rd. Degree Black Belt Chang Moo Kwan, Tae Kwon Do Master of Kickboxing, Black-Red Belt Norton. “We expect to get Ali before the end of the year.” Biron was very evasive about the details of the contract Wednesday night, shortly after Norton had destroyed highly-re garded Duane Bobick. And when Norton was asked about it, he replied, “You’ll his debut as manager. “In the stands, you need a cup to chew. In the dugout, you just spit,” Turner kidded after his Braves lost 2-1 Wednesday night have to talk with my manager. He handles all those details.” But it was clear that a fourth fight with the world heavy weight champion was in the forefront of Norton’s thinking. “My attitude about it is $2% million and the crown,” said Norton. “Os course, Ali will get to the Pittsburgh Pirates, winners of 11 in a row. “I’m doing this to get an edu cation,” added the flamboyant 38-year-old, who donned a uni form and took over as field boss hours after sending Manager Dave Bristol on a 10-day trip to scout the Braves’ farm system. Turner, a yachtsman and television executive, began chewing tobacco and making baseball news after buying the Braves a year ago. “I’ve done all I could sitting up in the stands and we’re still losing. I want to see what it’s like in the trenches,” he said after his team lost its third straight here. The victory margin was a solo homer by Dave Parker, who hit safely in his 22nd straight game and raised his average to .433 — both majors league highs. There were two other key plays that typified the con trasting fortunes of the two teams. In the first inning, Atlanta knucklebailer Phil Niekro struck out Frank Taveras but the pitch fluttered past catcher Vic Correll. Taveras reached first on the wild pitch, took third on a single by Parker and scored on an infield hit by Rennie Stennett. “When you’re snakebit, you’re snakebit,” Turner said after Niekro fell to 0-7 despite a six-hitter. Turner, first owner to man age since the late Connie Mack guided the Philadelphia Athlet ics for five decades, watched his team battle back with an unearned run in the sixth off winner John Candelaria, 4-0. “I was real proud of our guys,” said Turner, who left dugout decisions to coaches Vern Benson and Chris Canniz zaro. Parker’s homer came in the third. The Pirate victory was secured after a ninth-inning play that summed up Atlanta’s woes. After Correll singled, the Braves inserted pinchrunner Pat Rockett. With two out, pinchhitter Darrel Chaney drove a double to rightcenter that looked like it would score Rockett. Yet the ball bounced over the wall. It was a book rule double and Rockett had to hold at third. Then reliever Rich Gossage struck out Rowland Office to end the game. Turner was well aware why Rockett had to stop. “I know what a ground rule double is. I’m not stupid,” he said between puffs on a cigar.- “The only stupid thing I did was buy the franchise,” he added with a laugh. most of the money.” The fight is rumored for Sep tember in Rio de Janeiro. Norton, weighing 222% pounds, came out swinging. His first punch, a right, caught Bobick in the throat, and that was it. A couple more rights landed, and Bobick toppled to the canvas. He reached his feet at the count of nine, but referee Petey Della stopped the contest, 58 seconds into the first round. “I felt he would apply more pressure early," said Norton, “but he wasn’t that aggressive, so I decided to take action.” Bobick, at 26 five years younger than Norton, addressed the press after the fight in a squeaky, crackling voice. “After I got hit in the throat,” Bobick said, “I couldn’t do anything. I’m a slow starter anyway, and he just came out barreling for me.” Besides the throat punch, Norton caught Bobick with sev eral overhand rights to the head, an uppercut and a heavy body shot. “There’ll be another day for me,” said Bobick, who weighed Tennessee favored in SEC track meet TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP)- Tennessee is favored to win its 14th consecutive outdoor title at the 45th running of the South eastern Conference track and field championships Thursday through Saturday. Auburn, the SEC indoor champion, is also expected to challenge. Florida and Ala bama are expected to battle for tTstandings By The Associated Press American League East ..W L Pct. GB NYork 16 11 .593 - Balt 14 10 .583 % Boston 14 13 .519 2 Milwkee 15 14 .517 2 Toronto 14 17 .452 4 Cleve 11 16 .407 5 Detroit 11 16 .407 5 West Minn 19 11 .633 — Chicago 18 11 .621 % Texas 14 12 .538 3 Oakland 16 14 .533 3 K.C. 15 14 .517 3% Calif 13 17 .433 6 Seattle 10 24 .294 11 National League East ~W L Pct. GB Pitts 20 7 .741 - S Louis 17 11 .607 3% Chicago 15 11 .577 4% Montreal 13 11 .542 5% Phila 12 13 .480 7 NYork 10 18 .357 10% West Los Ang 23 6 .793 - San fran 13 16 .448 10 Cinci 12 16 .429 10% S Diego 13 19 .406 11% Houston 12 18 .400 11% Atlanta 8 22 .267 15% | Sports Briefs | Eve Traynor PITTSBURGH (AP) - Eve Helmer Traynor, widow of Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Harold “Pie” Traynor, died Wednesday in Allegheny General Hospital. She was 72. Her husband, star third base man and a former manager of the Pirates, died in 1972. They were married in January, 1931, in Cincinnati. Mrs. Traynor is survived by a sister and a nephew. Funeral services will be held Friday. Leon Douglas DECATUR, Ala. (AP) - Leon Douglas of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basket ball Association paid a $45 fine Wednesday for having beer in his car in a dry county — then signed an autograph for a police clerk’s son. Douglas was charged with il legal possession of liquor, a misdemeanor, after, police said, they found four unopened beer cans in his car. After pay ing the fine, Douglas gave the police clerk this note: “To Joe, best wishes and good luck, Leon Douglas, Detroit Pistons.” 215%. “Sure I’d like to fight Norton again, but I don’t think he wants me right now. He wants that title.” Bobick said he was ready to continue after the knockdown. “I felt I was ready to go on. I was a little wobbly, but every thing was clear,” he said. “But the referee said no. I’m not knocking the referee. It was his decision.” Norton still contends he won his last fight with Ali, a disputed decision that went to the champion last September at Yankee Stadium. In his three meetings with Ali, he won once and lost two close decisions. Norton’s record is 38-4 with 31 knockouts. A fourth Ali fight reportedly would be worth sl2 million to the fighters, $lO million to Ali and $2 million to Norton. As for Bobick, Norton agreed this did not spell his end. “Duane is very young and he’s got a good record,” Norton said. “He’ll get together with Eddie Futch and decide what to do. We haven’t heard the last of Duane Bobick.” third place. The meet begins Thursday with the first five events of the decathlon. Friday the decathlon finishes with five more events .and track and field events begin at 3 p.m. Saturday action begins at 2:30 p.m. The record book at this year’s event will be something new. At least nine records will be written simply because of the change of yards to meters on all individual running events. The appearance of eight SEC record holders and 13 individual event defending champions in the field offers additional ex pectation of a recordsetting weekend. Among the national-ranking athletes in the meet are Harvey Glance, Willie Smith, Tony Easley, John Lewter and James Walker of Auburn; Gary England, Stan Cain, Bud Blythe and Steve Bolt of Alabama; James Barrineau of Georgia; Jon Young, Ronnie Harris, Da vid Lapp, John Wright and Paul McMahen of Tennessee; Wesley Maiyo, Wimpy Alexander and Cliff Barrifee of Florida; and Dennis Otono, Lee Palles, Les Whitehead and Evis Jennings of Mississippi State. Vanderbilt and Ole Miss are the only SEC teams not com peting. 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Bobick got up before the 10 count but Della stopped the fight giving Norton the victory on the TKO. (AP) Oakland’s Page making pitchers rewrite book By 808 GREENE AP Sports Writer Oakland’s Mitchell Page is making American League pitchers rewrite the book. And as far as Boston pitcher Ferguson Jenkins is concerned, you can include the A’s Wayne Gross and Earl Williams. “I went to slow stuff in the fifth inning,” said Jenkins, “but by then it was too late.” Jenkins gave up only five hits, but three were home runs by Page, Gross and Williams as Oakland downed the Red Sox 3-1 Wednesday. “I threw a hard slider to Page, fastballs to the other two guys,” Jenkins said. “Next time, I’ll throw them nothing but slop.” Gross has nine home runs this season, second best in the American League, while Page is tied for third with eight. Wil liams’ was his seventh. Doc Medich, 2-2, went the dis tance for the victory. Boston’s only run was unearned as Carl ton Fisk, who had three hits, doubled home Jim Rice, who had reached base on an error. In other AL games Wednes day, Cleveland clipped Mil waukee 4-3, Detroit stopped Minnesoto 8-3, the Chicago White Sox nipped Texas 4-3 in 10 innings, Seattle defeated the Yankees 5-2 and California blanked Baltimore 6-0. Indians 4, Brewers 3 Paul Dade’s sacrifice fly scored Frank Duffy from third and lifted Cleveland to its third straight victory over Mil waukee. Wayne Garland, a free agent who signed a 10-year, $2.3 million contract with the Indians, scattered eight hits in eight innings, including a homer to Von Joshua, in winning his first game of the season after four losses. Tigers 8, Twins 3 Detroit snapped Minnesota’s four-game winning streak with a four-homer attack, handing Greg Zahn his first loss after five straight victories. Rookies Phil Mankowski and Mark Wagner led off the fourth inning with consecutive homers, sending Zahn to the showers. Ben Oglivie and Milt May also homered in the Tigers’ 12-hit attack. White Sox 4, Rangers 3 Singles by Richie Zisk, Jim Spencer and Chet Lemon snapped a 3-3 deadlock and lift ed Chicago to its 10-inning vic tory over Texas. Chris Knapp, 4-1, held the Rangers to six hits while the White Sox pounded three Texas pitchers for 10 hits. Mariners 5, Yankees 2 Enrique Romo tossed 2 2-3 in nings of shutout relief as Seattle snapped a seven-game losing streak and downed the New York Yankees. Both Yankee runs came on Reggie Jackson’s fifth homer of the season in the first inning. The Mariners used two bloop hits and an error by loser Ken Holtzman to score their runs. Angels 6, Orioles 0 Bobby Bonds, Don Baylor and Ron Jackson slammed con secutive home runs and Frank Tanana scattered six hits, lead ing California over Baltimore. Tanana, 5-1, hurled his second shutout of the season, striking out seven and walking none, as California posted its third straight victory. Mercer signs 6-8 center MACON, Ga. (AP) - Robert Miles, a 6-foot-8% center from Southeastern Community Col lege in Whiteville. N.C., has been signed to a basketball grant-in-aid by Mercer Univer sity. Miles averaged 25 points and 16 rebounds last season when Southeastern’s record was 18-7. Two signed BALTIMORE (AP) - The Baltimore Colts have signed two more free agents, the Na tional Football League Club an nounced Wednesday. Villanova’s Brian Sikorski, a quarterback, came to terms with the Colts, slong with Eric Rosenfeld, a defensive back from Western Maryland Col lege.