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About Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 1977)
Blazers claim NBA title By 808 BAUM Associated Press Writer PORTLAND (AP) - The Pa cific Northwest is known for rain and clean air. Now, it’s also known for the best basketball played anywhere. The Portland Trail Blazers, who until this year had never had a winning season, claimed the National Basketball Associ ation title Sunday with a hair raising 109-107 victory over the American League Bill Campbell’s heroics defeat former teammates By BARRY. WILNER AP Sports' Writer If Bill Campbell wanted to prove that you can go home again, he did it in style Sunday. Campbell, Boston’s ace re liever who signed with the Red Sox for |1 million as a free agent after leaving the Minnesota Twins last winter, made his first appearance against his former teammates in a Boston’s 5-1 triumph Sunday. Campbell National League Hough huffs, puffs way to 15th save By The Associated Press Charlie Hough huffed and he puffed, but he wasn’t exactly blowing San Diego batters down. A struggle it was, but the Los Angeles reliever managed to preserve a victory for Doug Rau. The usually reliable pitcher was uncommonly erratic Sun day, twice walking the bases loaded in the final two innings. But just as he dug himself into holes, he quickly dug himself out to preserve the Dodgers’ 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. Hough, for all his wildness, didn’t give up a hit while gain ing his 15th save of the season. “What happened to my Hope Diamond?” kidded Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda about his bullpen ace. Another who’s played a major role in getting the Dodgers up front in the National League West is second baseman Dave Lopes. He had a two-run homer Sunday, providing the Dodgers with their eventual winning runs. Rau gave up five hits before Hough relieved him. Mike Ivie belted his fifth home run with the bases empty in the fifth in ning, giving the Padres a 2-1 lead. But Lopes’ two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth put Los Angeles ahead to stay as the Dodgers retained a 10-game lead over Cincinnati in the Na tional League West. Reds 14, Astros 4 Johnny Bench drove in five runs with two homers and Joe Morgan had a three-run blast, powering unbeaten Gary Nolan and Cincinnati over Houston. Bench, who entered th game with a .227 batting average, slammed his 10th and 11th homers of the season to take over the team lead with 37 runs batted in. Expos 7, Cardinals 5 Montreal’s Sam Mejias Cool comfort 'Bjyi without wasting xjtpr energy. : LENNOX® central ; air conditioning. Complete Heating & Air Conditioning Systems. Electronic Air Cleaners and Humidifiers. Propane Tanks and Gas See Us For Free Estimates SPALDING GAS, INC. 415 W. Solomon St. - Phone 225-8488 Philadelphia 76ers. “We had a whole lot of fun,’’ grinned Blazer team captain Bill Walton, who was named the series’ Most Valuable Player after he scored 20 points, grabbed 23 rebounds and blocked eight shots in the victo ry. “I feel good all over.” When the buzzer sounded, Walton, who suffered through two injury-plagued seasons and considerable criticism before did not spare the dramatics in his return engagement either, entering the game with the bases loaded and none out in the Twins’ sixth. Campbell got out of the jam after allowing just one run, which Rod Carew drove in with a sacrifice fly on a 3-0 pitch. Over-all, he pitched four innings of two-hit relief in recording his ninth save of the season. Campbell’s heroics gave Reg gie Cleveland his fourth victory slugged a pinch-hit home run to lead off the seventh inning and break a 5-5 tie. Mejias, acquired by the Expos from St. Louis last November, hit his first major league homer pinchhitting for pitcher Don Stanhouse. Stanhouse got the victory in relief of Santo Alcala. Giants 10, Braves 9 Bill Madlock smashed a two run double and Derrel Thomas hit a pair of sacrifice flies as San Francisco took an early seven-run lead and held on to beat Atlanta. The Giants hammered out an 8-1 lead in the first three in nings. But Atlanta jumped into contention with a five-run rally in the seventh, featuring a grand-slam homer by rookie Barry Bonnell, his first homer in the major leagues. Mets 6-3, Phillies 5-2 John Milner scored the win ning run in the 10th inning on a bases-loaded wild pitch by re liever Tom Underwood to give New York its first-game victory over Philadelphia. Dave Kingman’s three-run homer in the fourth inning en abled the Mets to defeat the Phillies in the second game and record their first doubleheader sweep this season. Pirates 5, Cubs 4 Bill Robinson and Willie Star gell drove in two runs each to lead Pittsburgh over Chicago in a game that included three rain delays totaling nearly four hours. The game, which began be fore a Jacket Day crowd of 51, 580 and ended about six hours later before a few thousand soaked fans, moved Pittsburgh, within one-half game of first place Chicago in the National League East. The victory went to Pirate rookie Odell Jones, who made his first major league start and got relief help from Kent Te kulve and Rich Gossage. leading his team to this cham pionship, ripped the No. 32 jer sey from his back and hurled it into the crowd. The Blazers had dropped the first two games of the best-of seven championship series, then won four in a row to win the title. Sunday’s contest was the only game that was close. Portland led by as many as 15 points, but the Sixers repeat edly challenged the Blazers. in seven decisions. George Scott drove in the Red Sox’ first run with a single in the sixth. It was his 1,700th career hit. Elsewhere in the American League, the Kansas City edged Jim Palmer and Baltimore 4-3, Seattle beat Cleveland 6-1, the New York Yankees slugged six home runs in defeating Chicago 8-6, Toronto’s Jerry Garvin earned his seventh victory of the season in besting Vida Blue and Oakland 7-3, Texas nipped Milwaukee 7-6 and California took Detroit 5-1. Royals 4, Orioles 3 Designated hitter Pete La- Cock’s two-run homer in the fourth inning gave Kansas City its victory over Baltimore. For the second straight time, Palm er, 7-5, was unable to become the winningest pitcher in Ori oles’ history. He is tied at 181 victories with Dave McNally. Palmer blamed himself for the loss. Mariners 6, Indians 1 Ruppert Jones’ 10th home run of the season and John Mon tague’s first complete game of his major league career high lighted Seattle’s triumph. The victory snapped a four-game Mariners’ losing streak and made Montague, 5-3, the club’s first five-game winner. Yankees 8, White Sox 6 The Yankees’ long ball on- . i Sports World k An AP Sports Analysis By WILL GRIMSLEY AP Special Correspondent Hot potato ST. LOUIS (AP) — Moments after news broke that the Pittsburgh-Cleveland Nets of World Team Tennis had signed Renee Richards, the phone began ringing its head off in the WTT headquarters here. “They are still ringing. I have hardly had time to breathe,’’ said Earl “Butch” Buchholtz, new com missioner of the revolutionary court circuit which aims at putting tennis on a franchise community level with football, basketball and hockey. This is the first hot potato he’s handled since he took over the reins at the start of the season. It’s hot enough to bum your fingers. “I got scared at first,” said Buchholtz, a 36-year-old former Davis Cup player, already well established in the business as proprietor of two classy clubs and conductor of widespread coaching camps. “I was afraid that whatever action I took would be mis interpreted. If we refused to accept her, we could be ac cused of bias and short-sightedness. If we took her in, people might say we are trying to promote WTT through burlesque. “So I told Joe Zingale (owner of the Cleveland- Pittsburgh franchise) that if Renee passed the Inter national Olympic Committee chromosome test I would okay it. If she can play at Wimbledon, she should be permitted to play WTT.” Miss Richards, who as eye-specialist Richard Raskind was a ranking Eastern player in the men’s 35-and-over tournaments before undergoing a sex change, took the IOC test over the weekend. The result can be expected momentarily. “I spoke to Chris Evert about it,” Buchholtz said. “Chris agreed if she passes the test there should be no problem, no boycott. I also talked to Betty Stove, the president of the Women’s Tennis Association. She agreed with Chris. “People from all over the country have been calling to find out what the status is. The various team owners have shown a lot of interest and anxiety.” The Women’s Tennis Association has been adamant in barring Renee from its major tour, the Virginia Slims. The tall transsexual, however, has played in the satellite Lionel Cup events, pairing with Billie Jean King in doubles. Renee entered the Italian and French Championships as well as Wimbledon this year. She reportedly did not pass prescribed tests in Rome and Paris, and did not play. Renee passed an Olympic-type test earlier this year in Little Rock, Ark. She refused some subsequent tests, con tending they constituted personal harassment. It’s surprising that Renee Richards should be such a problem. Now 42 years of age, never a top-ranked player, a repeated loser, she poses no real threat to Chris’ throne. Only ridiculous boycotts can keep the issue alive. They nearly caught them at the finish. Joe Bryant’s two free throws with 51 seconds left sliced the Portland lead to 108-105. Port land’s Maurice Lucas sank one of two free throws with 27 sec onds to make it a four-point game. George McGinnis, whose shooting touch returned for the final game, sank a 20-footer to slice the lead to 109-107 with 18 slaught started with Thurman Munson’s solo blast in the open ing inning, his ninth homer of the year. Carlos May and Reg gie Jackson hit two-run home runs and Graig Nettles, Bucky Dent and George Zeber added solo shots. Zeber’s homer was his first in the major leagues. Dick Tidrow, 5-2, gained the victory for New York and Spar ky Lyle pitched three innings in registering his 11th save. Steve Stone, 6-4, had a five-game win ning streak snapped. Blue Jays 7, A’s 3 Toronto rookie Garvin, 7-3, bested Blue, 3-7, with four in nings of sparkling shutout relief from Jerry Johnson. Otto Velez slammed two home runs and Doug Ault hit a three-run shot in support of Garvin. Rangers 7, Brewers 6 Tom Grieve’s homer and two RBI and the one-hit relief pitch ing of Adrian Devine helped the Rangers beat Milwaukee. The Brewers got home runs from Cecil Cooper, Sal Bando and Charlie Moore. Angels 5, Tigers 1 Frank Tanana became the major league’s first nine-game winner with a strong eight-hit ter as California moved into a virtual tie for third place with Texas in the AL West. The vic tory also moved the Angels one game over .500. seconds to go. Then McGinnis tied up Portland’s Bob Gross and controlled the subsequent jump ball. The Sixers got three shots in the final eight seconds, but none found its target. The first was by Julius Erving, who led all scorers with 40 points, but his 18-footer bounced off the rim. Lloyd Free grabbed the rebound, but his shot was blocked by Walton. McGinnis grabbed the ball and fired from 12 feet, but the shot was short. Walton tipped the rebound to Portland’s John ny Davis and the game was over. The crowd of 12,951 swamped the court in what looked like a scene from a Cecil B. DeMille epic, and the immediate post game hysteria was tame com pared with the celebration that followed downtown. A parade through downtown was planned for noon today. “Thp sun was shining in Port land. I thought that was a good omen,” said exhausted Phila delphia Coach Gene Shue. “It was a tough game.” The tenseness of the game evaporated in the euphoria of the post-game Portland dress ing room, where guard Dave Twardzik jokingly dumped beer down the shorts of Walton and Lionel Hollins as they were being interviewed on television. Champagne flowed freely and so did compliments. “I’m a very good friend of everybody on this team,” Gross said. “I can say anything I want to any of them. You can’t say that about very many teams.” “They play team ball, unself ish ball. They are the embodi ment of the best in professional basketball,” said champagne drenched team owner Larry Weinberg. “These guys have played great all season,” said the usu ally reserved Walton. The big Portland center normally avoids post-game interviews, but he talked at length after the game. “In my opinion,” he said, “they (the Sixers) lost because they played a better team. I don’t mean to take anything away from them. They’re a fine team. I just think they ran into a better one. “This was one of the best games I’ve ever played in,” Walton said. “A lot of guys played well and it was ex- Weiskopf regains putting to win $50,000 in Kemper CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Experience was the key to his victory in the Kemper Open Golf Tournament, Tom Weis kopf said. A regained putting touch brought him through the multiple-man scramble. But wife Jeanne deserves a large part of the credit, too. “I was really down after my disappointing, discouraging fin ish in the Memorial Tourna ment in my home town,” Weis kopf said Sunday after a final round 70 had broken a two-year victory drought. “I just wanted to get away from tournament golf for ’ a while. I hadn’t won in two years. I was playing bad. It wasn’t any fun. I was confused and angry. I didn’t know what to do. “I just wanted to get away for a while and not play and try to get things worked out. “My wife told me I was like a rookie trying to win his first one. She told me I had to stick with it. She said I was the only one who could make it happen, yout NeigHßor DICK HYATT 523 East Taylor St. Phone 227-2168 iSee him for all your family insurance needs. STATE FARM | Good Noighbor, Stoto Fono li Thom ( Stat. P»<.n Insurance Companies Hom. Offices: Bloomington, Illinois citing.” Walton won a new car from Sport Magazine when a panel of writers selected him MVP. Blazer Coach Jack Ramsay couldn’t argue with the choice. “I’ve never coached a better player. I’ve never coached a better competitor. I’ve never coached a better person than Bill Walton," said Ramsay. While Erving grabbed his usual place in the spotlight by sinking 17 of 29 field goal tries from a variety of angles, Gross — the man who was guarding him — hit 12 of 16 field goal attempts and grabbed five timely offensive rebounds. Gross wound up with 24 points, tops for the Blazers, and he said after the game that Er ving relaxed on defense and be came tired because he played nearly the entire game. “I really don’t think he was concentrating on me on de fense,” Gross said, “and there’s no way he can run up and down the court with me for 48 minutes and not get tired.” In the final game, it was the play of Portand’s guards — particularly Hollins — and the team’s rugged superiority on the backboards that made the difference. Hollins scored 20 points, in cluding several key baskets in the final quarter. Portland out rebounded the Sixers, 59-47. Still, Philadelphia needed just one basket at the end to send the game into overtime. “We almost did it,” said McGinnis, who hit 12 of 23 field goal attempts, scored 28 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. “We fought back. It was a great ball game, a great finish, the best game of the series.” But, he added, “We would have liked to see the guards get more involved.” Philadelphia guard Doug Col lins, the team’s second-leading scorer through the playoffs, hit just 3-of-9 from the field for six points. Lloyd Free, who came off the bench to replace Collins, was 0-for-6 from the field. When NBA Commissioner Lawrence O’Brien presented the championship trophy, Ram say had the entire Portland team come into the interview room to accept it. “This is the finest team I’ve ever coached,” Ramsay said. “They are the finest people I’ve ever coached. If we hadn’t won it, I’d have felt the same way.” and I couldn’t make it happen if I wasn’t playing. “So I went on to Atlanta.” He shot a nine-birdie 65 in the VACATION SPECIALS TOYOTA OF GRIFFIN Regular 4 Cylinder Engine Tune-Up Vacation Special $19.95 Includes: Replace Spark Plugs, Ignition Points & Condenser, Set Timing, Adjust Carburetor, "Set Up” On Sun Infra-Red Engine Analysis Machine (Any Additional Parts or Service Extra). Call Service Mgr. Kerry Sampler For An Appointment Air Filters Reg. s>>9s Vacation Special $3.65 Special prices good thru June at TOYOTA OF GRIFFIN, INC. 1301 W. Taylor St. 228-0090 Service & Parts Dept. Open 7:45 A.M. - 6:00 P.M. Mon.-Fri. (Toyota’s Only) Reg . Air Conditioner Service Charge & Evaluate System Vacation Special $12.95 Check For Leaks . Page 7 Griffin Daily News Monday, June 6,1977 ■ 1 W > | A 1 ■■via PORTLAND — Trail Blazers’ Bill Walton goes high in the air as be pulls down a rebound during Sunday’s NBA Championship game with Philadelphia in Portland. Other Trail Blazer is Johnny Davis (16). (AP) last round at Atlanta and, only after that round, decided to play in the Kemper. That decision — and his critical play on the par- five holes — led to a 277 total, 11 under par, his third victory in the Kemper and $50,000 from the total purse of $250,000.
