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About Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1977)
Page 10 — Griffin Daily News Friday, July 29,1977 Falcons 9 bonus baby pressing Gotschalk GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Len Gotschalk is a 28-year-old, six-year veteran of the Atlanta Falcons who started last season at right tackle for the National Football League club. Like most other veterans, Gotschalk’s spring camp atti tude reflects his self-confidence ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ SPORTS ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ Wood takes lead in junior golf COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Willie Wood of Lake Charles, La., held the lead going into to day’s two rounds of match play in the 30th U.S. Golf Association Junior Amateur cham pionships. The 16-year-old Wood deci sioned Rick Cramer, of Ft. Col lins, Colo., and Brian Pidgeon of Des Moines, lowa, in Thursday action at the Ohio State Scarlet Course. Wood led 63 other competitors into the first day of match play after shooting a four-under par 68 in Wednesday’s qualifying round. Today’s two rounds of match competition will reduce the field to four for Saturday’s final two rounds. Wood, a 5-5, 120-pound junior at Barbe High School in Charles, went one-up over Atkinson doesn’t plan to change style of play By BILL MARTIN Associated Press Writer SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) - .George Atkinson, who says he’s aggressive but not criminal, doesn’t plan to change his style of play just because he lost his slander suit against Chuck Noll and the Pittsburgh Steelers. “I’ll go on being an aggres sive player, the type of player I’ve always been,” the veteran defensive back says. ‘That’s how I’ve lasted 10 years in this league, by being aggressive.” Atkinson was the loser in the two-week trial of his $2 million SH W 927 South HUI Street V 228-9300 Joan Montgomery 228-1059 — Robert Weeks - 228-2954 June Weeks - 228-2948 — Mickey Clark - 227-7972 NORTHSIPE HOMES 1902 SQ. FT. - includes partial basement with playroom. 4th bedroom or office. Immaculate. $38,900 * * 3WHwI Sth? rt Y £ji IN T ED I 1,181(16 & out- 3 bedrooms, 1H baths. Den. SeUer to replace carpet $2*7,900 PERFECT “FIRST HOME” - 3 bedrooms. Carpeted. Central heat & air. Fenced yard. $25,900 WE AIM TO PLEASE as an experienced player and the ever-present doubts instilled by a profession where perform ance is the only yardstick for success. But this season, Gotschalk is being pressed by the highest paid rookie lineman in Falcons history, Warren Bryant, the Cramer by shooting two over par in the Thursday morning round. He decisioned Pidgeon 5- 3 in the afternoon round, going three over par. Corey Pavin, of Oxnard, Ca lif., the World Junior champion who led after the first qualifying round, won his 20-hole afternoon round by sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to go 1-up over John Perles of Bloomfield Hills, Calif. Charles Dickinson Jr. of Mod esto, Calif., played the spoiler role for defending champion Madden Hatcher 111 of Colum bus, Ga. Dickinson finished six-over par in the afternoon round, but it was enough to top Hatcher 3-2 and cancel Hatcher’s bid to become the tourney’s first re peat winner. slander suit when a federal court jury returned a verdict for the Steelers and Noll, their coach since 1969. Atkinson filed suit after Noll linked him to a “criminal ele ment” in professional football and said Atkinson tried to maim Steeler receiver Lynn Swann when he clobbered him with a forearm during an Oakland- Pittsburgh game last Sep tember. After the trial, Steelers attor ney James Martin Maclnnis said the verdict might give At kinson “an indication of how he University of Kentucky stand out who was the Falcons’ first round draft pick this year. At 6-feet-6 inches and 278 pounds, Bryant was given a $700,000 contract without ever having played a second of pro fessional football. But Gotschalk is not resent ful. “Pro football is a short-lived career and I don’t blame any player who gets what the mar ket allows,” he said. “More power to him.” And, although he and Bryant play the same position, Got schalk says he doesn’t feel he’s fighting for his job. “If I didn’t think I was one of the best five offensive linemen in camp, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. The speculation at camp is that instead of being cut, traded or benched, Gotschalk will be moved to right guard to make way for the Falcons’ bonus baby. “If I play right guard, I will have played every offensive line position except center and tight end,” he observed. “If I’m with the Falcons on opening day, I intend to be starting.” Gotschalk, who calls Bryant “the best rookie offensive line man I’ve seen during my years as a Falcon,” is not overawed by the rookie’s salary. Recently, during calisthenics, as Bryant was stretching and groaning with the rest of the team, Gotschalk called out: “Don’t stretch too far Warren. All that change might fall out of your pocket.” should play. It may in the end make him a better and more glorious player.” “I don’t think the court case had anything to do with making me a better player,” Atkinson said at the Raiders training camp here. “I think I’m a good player now and most people around the league will agree with that.” Although some comments from the Steelers indicated they felt the verdict should be con strued as a repudiation of ex cessive violence in football, Atkinson said that is not some thing that can be decided in court. “I don’t see how the case could have much bearing on violence in pro football,” he said. “The trial was merely me suing Noll for a statement he made and it had nothing to do with violence. “Football is a contact sport and as long as there is contact it’s going to be a rough, tough game. Any reduction in violence would have to come from within the league and from rule changes.” Atkinson, although obviously disappointed at losing his case, doesn’t dwell on it. There isn’t time as the Raiders prepare to defend their Super Bowl cham pionship. “That’s all over. I went through the normal procedures for a suit, I lost it and that’s behind me,” he said. “I’m con centrating now on getting ready for the season and trying to help the team.” I Sports transactions By The Associated Press Football National Football Conference CINCINNATI BENGALS - Traded Bob Brown, defensive tackle, to the Oakland Raiders for the waiver price of SIOO. CLEVELAND BROWNS - Released Mark Van Horn, guard, and Tom Burkett, ofen sive tackle. GREEN BAY PACKERS - Released Joe Parker, punter. MINNESOTA VIKINGS - Announced the retirement of Bob Berry, quarterback. OAKLAND RAIDERS — Re claimed Cedric Brown, safety. Baseball National League NEW YORK METS - Sent Jackson Todd, pitcher, to Tide water of the International League. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS - Reactivated John Denny, pitch er. ▼wi tv ' z B 0 Ik Flying Rosie BOSTON — Los Angeles Strings’ Rosie Casals leaps across court in an effort to return to Martina Navratilova of the Boston Lobsters Thursday night in Boston. Navratilova won the singles match 8-2. (AP) Bears, Jets to kick off NFL exhibition season By GEORGE STRODE AP Sports Writer CANTON, Ohio (AP) - Quar terback Richard Todd replaces his boyhood hero this season as the New York Jets try to climb back into National Football League contention. “Joe Namath always had been my idol since the eighth grade,” said Todd, who takes his first step as full-time suc cessor to Namath Saturday when he starts for the Jets against the Chicago Bears in the year’s first exhiiton, the Pro Football Hall of Fame game. Before the exhibitxon, Bart Starr, Forrest Gregg, Gale Sa yers, Bill Willis and Frank Gif ford will be inducted into the shrine. They represent the larg est class since 1971 and bring the hall’s immortals to 93. “I’m no Namath,” said Todd. “Joe is the greatest quarter back that ever played the game. I’ve got to do it my own way.” Todd alternated with Namath in the Jets’ 3-11 season last year. Namath, who became a free agent, signed with the Los > wl GREENVILLE, S. C. — Steve Bartkowski, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, practices his throwing at the team’s pre-season training camp in Greenville. Bar tkowski says the “‘internal strains” that left the 1976 team in turmoil are gone. (AP) ‘lnternal strains’ gone: Bartkowski GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Steve Bartkowski says the “in ternal strains” that left the 1976 Atlanta Falcons with a 4-10 record are gone and most of the credit goes to the new coaching staff. “It’s been a total about-face from the end of last year,” said the Falcons quarterback who has been plagued by serious in juries during his first two Na tional Football League seasons. “There’s a good atmosphere here now.” Most of the credit goes to a new coaching staff headed by former Los Angeles Rams* as sistant Leeman Bennett, he said. Angeles Rams in the off-season. Walt Michaels, the Jets’ new coach, is making no predictions this fall. “I will have the team ready to play, but I’m making no promises on a winning sea son,” he said. The Bears, in the mind of Coach Jack Pardee, already are a bona fide challenger and should challenge the Minnesota Vikings in the National Football Conference’s Central Division. “Our team has come to a point where we can make a real run at the Vikings,” said Pardee, 7-7 in his second Chi cago season last year. Pardee will start Bob Avellini at quarterback against the Jets. He figures to use Mike Phipps, obtained from Cleveland, as Avellini’s alternate. At other NFL training camps, veteran quarterback Bob Berry of the Minnesota Vikings retired after 12 seasons in the league. Star running back Del Wil liams admitted to some uneasy feelings about his unsigned status with the San Francisco 49ers. “I just go out and try to play but always in the back of “The coaching staff really has direction,” said Burt kowski, who missed three games his rookie year with an elbow injury and sat out nine last year with a knee injury that required surgery. “It’s the best organization since I’ve been here, and I know that hasn’t been very long, but some of the veterans are saying the same thing,” he said. Bartkowski foresees better days for the team under the Bennett regime, but, he adds, “I’m realistic, too. I don’t think we are going to be world beat ers.” my mind is ‘What if I get hurt?’ Then what happens?”’ Williams, the fourth-year pro from Kansas who gained 1,203 yards last year, wouldn’t say just what the problems were in settling on a contract. But he clearly expects more than he’s been offered to date. > Pittsburgh’s All-Pro line backer Jack Lambert wants a raise or another team, accord ing to his agent, Bucky Woy. The agent said if college draftees Tony Dorsett and Ricky Bell are worth $1 million, then the man who can stop them, Lambert, deserves more. The Cincinnati Bengals have traded 13-year veteran Bob Brown to the Oakland Raiders for the waiver price of SIOO. Brown, who started at defensive tackle for the Bengals the past two years, had failed to report to camp. The Raiders announced that reserve safety Charles Phillips underwent a hernia operation and would be sidelined for sev eral weeks. The team also said safety Cedric Brown, whom it had obtained from Tampa Bay in 1976, had been reclaimed by the Buccaneers. Atlanta Falcons running back Bubba Bean underwent knee surgery at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta and will be lost to the team indefinitely, club officials said. Stye GDxfnrh . SBk 9 to 6:00 P.M. jeans *7” SHOES $ 9" SLACKS 2For $ 19 95 Dress Shirts $ 3" MS* Sportcoats $ 19 95 « T Spalding Square Open 10:00 A.M. Crew Neck Shirts 3 49 I CUANCE Il° On Brnk Golf Shirts 7” Suits 39” 1 — Boys' Jeans sixes s to m 7" Boys' Shirts Sizes Bto 16 3 4 ’ Cards 9 Urrea tames Braves ST. LOUIS (AP) — John Ur rea can thank a bird dog south of the border for his early ar rival in the major leagues. The hard-throwing rookie spun a five-hitter Thursday night and St. Louis Cardinals Manager Vem Rapp afterward described the setting for his discovery. “I had some earlier reports on him from a friend of mine who scouts in Mexico during the winter,” said Rapp following Urrea’s 3-0 taming of the Atlanta Braves. “I had firsthand information on him before I went to spring training,” added Rapp. “He eventually kind of made some eyes pop, because he did some things.” What Urrea, a native Califor nian, did until a week ago was fortify a St. Louis bullpen which Sports World By FRED ROTHENBERG * ✓ AP Sports Writer Jenner still running One year after the 1976 Olympics, Bruce Jenner is still running. But he isn’t jumping or pole vaulting or doing any of the other things that made him the world’s greatest athlete. “I’m running around like a crazy person,” said Jenner, the Olympic decathlon gold medalist at Montreal who is selectively turning his gold medal into a gold mine with endorsements, speeches and, potentially, the wide world of Hollywood. “This new life is awfully demanding.” The amazing thing about Jenner is that he’s gone cold turkey. July 30,1976, the day he won the decathlon gold medal, was his last athletic competition. He may look back, but he won’t go back. “I’m not doing much athletically,” said Jenner in a recent phone conversation. “I just haven’t had the time. I can’t get into a consistent program. It’s tough to keep an exercise program going when I’m jumping from city to city. I do play some tennis and ride my motorcycle." And he says, after scaling the mountain, coming down wasn’t hard at all. “I had no feelings like my life was over after the Games,” said Jenner. “I had accomplished everything I wanted to do in track and field. I wasn't going to go through it again for four years. It was fun climbing to the top; the second time around, it’s not the same thrill. “I don’t feel a lack in my life. Why should there be? “I was able to walk away from it and not feel any re grets. I don’t have to prove anything to anybody or to my self. After I reached my goal, I said ‘that’s enough.’ I wanted to try other things. Now I’m into new fields like sportscasting and acting.” Jenner had a screen test for the role, appropriately, of Superman in the new big budget film. He said the producers liked his style, but said he tested too young and they weren’t going to gamble a multi-million dollar pic ture on a rookie actor. But even if he had gotten the Superman role — or any other — it is unlikely Jenner will ever perform as well as he did one year ago. lacked right-handers when the season opened. But following a spectacular start in April, lapses in his form led to a propensity for yielding home runs and left him with a 2- 3 record after working in 28 Cards games. Urrea first started last week in a game against the Houston Astros, surrendering eight hits in 7 2-3 innings and leaving without a decision. Thursday night, the tall right hander overpowered 12 Atlanta batters before surrendering a hit and later extracted himself from a jam with the aid of a call by catcher Dave Rader. “I think it was actually Dave’s out-thinking him, be cause we were going in on him all night,” said Urrea.
