Sports74 Gold: Hockey Early in '74-75

This retrospective, which mainly covers what happened in the '74 calendar year, is the penultimate entry in Sports74 Gold. How time flies.

After leaving Canada with a win, a loss, and two ties, the Soviet Union's national team defeats a team of WHA all-stars in three out of four games in Moscow; the other game is a tie. The squad that represents Canada includes all three Howes (of the Houston Aeros), Winnipeg Jets player-coach Bobby Hull, and '72 Summit Series hero Paul Henderson (a new arrival on the Toronto Toros). Hull scores nine points against the Soviets and Gordie Howe gets seven.

On the way to Moscow, the WHA stars defeat Finland in Helsinki and Sweden in Gothenburg. On the way home, they lose to Czechoslovakia in Prague.

In the NHL, this season is the debut of the Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals. With this expansion, the league is realigned into the Wales Conference and the Campbell Conference, each of which has two divisions.

An advertisement for the Capitals that first season contains these words: "For as little as $4 a ticket, the least you'll feel is reasonably disappointed."

Franchises in Denver and Seattle are planned for the NHL in 1976-77, but for several reasons, neither one will materialize.

The Northlands Coliseum opens, and it will be the home of the WHA's (later NHL's) Edmonton Oilers for over 40 years.

The New England Whalers play games in West Springfield, Mass. -- where they had played their '74 playoff games -- for the season up to and including Jan. 4, 1975. They play their first game at the Hartford Civic Center on Jan. 11, 1975. Except for some time in the late '70s, the Whalers will keep calling Hartford home until 1997.

The WHA's third season is the first for which plus-minus figures are available. The best in that figure is Bobby Hull with 55. The worst, with negative 63, is defenseman Paul Curtis of the team that starts the season as the Michigan Stags and finishes as the Baltimore Blades.

Ken Dryden is back on the Montreal Canadiens. After a year of absence, he has the third-best GAA in the NHL (2.69). He led the league in '72-73 with 2.26.

Speaking of the Habs, they begin a streak of 23 road games without a loss Nov. 27.

Guy Lafleur of Montreal has his breakout season with 53 goals and 66 assists.

Gordie Howe's 99 points bring him to 2,008 combined for NHL and WHA games.

Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins scores his 500th goal Dec. 22 in his 803rd career game, played at the Boston Garden against the Detroit Red Wings. He is the sixth player in league history to reach the 500 mark.

Esposito and Bobby Orr play what proves to be their last season together and Orr's last season before his premature decline.

Also in Boston, Don Cherry is brought in to start a six-year run as head coach.

The playoffs that follow this NHL season will be different from how they had been in the last four years. From 1971 to 1974, East and West teams met in the semifinals. Now, the four division winners get byes and the second- and third-place teams play in the preliminaries, with matchups determined by points regardless of division or even conference.

In the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, the Buffalo Sabres use their eleventh-round pick on made-up Japanese player Taro Tsujimoto. Among the real players drafted this year are two future Hall of Famers, both New York Islanders selections: Clark Gillies of the WCHL's Regina Pats and Bryan Trottier of the Western Canada League's Swift Current Broncos (who play in Lethbridge, Alberta, for 12 years starting in the coming season).

The Toronto Maple Leafs draft the Broncos' Dave "Tiger" Williams, who had 854 penalty minutes in 204 games with Swift Current, but also 108 goals and 133 assists. In '74-75, he has 202 penalty minutes in 39 games with the Central League's Oklahoma City Blazers and 187 in 42 games with the Leafs.

With the first pick, the Capitals select Greg Joly of the Pats. The second pick belongs to the Scouts, and they choose Wilf Paiement of the OHA's St. Catharines Black Hawks.

In the WHA, the Minnesota Fighting Saints acquire the players who will be made famous in the 1977 movie Slap Shot. They select Dave Hanson of the Midwest Junior Hockey League's St. Paul Vulcans in the '74 draft. From the USHL's Marquette Iron Rangers, the Saints draft two of the Carlson brothers (Jack Carlson and Steve Carlson) and sign the third, Jeff Carlson.

All told, there are eight different drafts for the two leagues in 1974. To wit:

·     In addition to the aforementioned, the NHL amateur draft involves the California Golden Seals selecting Joly's teammate Rick Hampton with the third overall pick.

·     The WHA amateur draft brings Real Cloutier of the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts to the Quebec Nordiques.

·     A secret amateur draft results in Cam Connor of the WCHL's Flin Flon Bombers going to the Phoenix Roadrunners.

·     That new franchise is one of two teams with picks to make in the WHA expansion draft; the Indianapolis Racers get Bob Fitchner from the Oilers.

·     The NHL also has an expansion draft, whose most important picks might be Seals left winger Gary Croteau for the Scouts and Pittsburgh Penguins blueliner Yvon Labre for the Capitals.

·     The expansion teams also take part in an interleague draft, each one choosing a player from the Hershey Bears of the American League. The Caps take Jim Hrycuik (who scores the team's very first goal Oct. 9), and the Scouts pick Hugh Harvey.

·     In the reverse draft, the AHL's Nova Scotia Voyageurs get Al Hangsleben back from their parent club, the Canadiens, but he plays the season with the Whalers and their NAHL affiliate, the Cape Codders.

·     Finally, there's the NHL's intraleague draft, in which the New York Rangers claim Walt McKechnie of the Golden Seals as compensation for losing Seals pick Jeff Neilson, only to immediately send McKechnie to the Bruins in what appears to be a pre-arranged, three-team trade.

Soviet defenseman Vyacheslav Fetisov plays a single game this season that begins a distinguished 15-year run with CSKA Moscow.

The finale for Sports74 Gold involves front office problems, free throw problems, and a moment that caused problems for some fans in Vermont. Pro and college roundball will round out the series Oct. 18.

[EDITS 4:58-5:03 a.m: Making it look better on mobile devices.]

[EDIT 5:21-23 a.m.: Moving the entire post to a new URL. The title was wrong as originally posted at 4:28.]

[EDIT 5:24-25 a.m.: Taking out an extra space before potentially going back to bed.]

[EDITS 1:29-34 p.m.: It didn't turn out right, just copying and pasting. Back to the original post. But I'll be changing the title.]

Sports74 Gold: NFL 1974

The mid-'70s may have been an era of labor strife, but not enough to interfere with a lot of gridiron action.

Super Bowl IX is the Pittsburgh Steelers' first Super Bowl victory; the AFC champs defeat the NFC champion Minnesota Vikings 16-6. Franco Harris is the game's MVP with 158 yards on 34 rushes, including the first touchdown.

The game gets a rating of 42.3 and a share of 78. An estimated 29.44 million households watch the game on NBC television Jan. 12, 1975.

It is the first Super Bowl in which a safety is made. Fran Tarkenton is sacked in the second quarter to give the Steelers the first points of the game.

These playoffs are the third in a row in which the Steelers and Oakland Raiders meet and the first of three consecutive playoff years in which the two teams play for the AFC championship.

What will be remembered as the game of the season is the Dec. 21 divisional playoff contest between the Raiders and the Miami Dolphins. The fourth-quarter play that wins the game for Oakland is a catch that running back Clarence Davis makes despite the Dolphin coverage that will go down in history as "The Sea of Hands."

The MVP according to the AP (and in the players' vote for the Jim Thorpe Trophy) is Raiders QB Ken Stabler, who leads the league with 26 touchdown passes.

The UPI Coach of the Year for the NFC is second-year St. Louis Cardinals coach Don Coryell, who improved his team from a 4-9-1 record to a 10-6 record. For the AFC, it's Sid Gillman, who led the Houston Oilers from a 1-13 record that even his skills couldn't prevent to a 7-7 record in his coaching swan song.

Los Angeles Rams DT Merlin Olsen, a 13-year veteran, wins the Bert Bell Trophy for MVP, presented by the Maxwell Club of Philadelphia.

The AP names Steelers DT Joe Greene Defensive Player of the Year and gives teammate Jack Lambert, a linebacker, the honor of Defensive Rookie of the Year.

San Diego Chargers running back Don Woods wins awards from UPI as AFC Rookie of the Year, from the AP as Offensive Rookie of the Year, and from the Newspaper Enterprise Association as overall Rookie of the Year. Woods has 1,162 rushing yards, second-best in the NFL, and 10 touchdowns for rushing and receiving combined. UPI's NFC Rookie of the Year is New York Giants offensive guard John Hicks.

Chuck Foreman of the Vikings is the NFC Player of the Year according to The Sporting News. He has 777 yards on 199 rushes, 586 yards on 53 receptions, and a league-best 15 touchdowns combined on runs and catches.

UPI's NFC Player of the Year is Jim Hart, the Cardinal QB. The undisputed all-NFC signal caller, he leads two game-winning drives, and he passes for 2,411 yards and 20 touchdowns, but he also throws eight interceptions, or a league-high 2.1 percent of his pass attempts.

Washington Redskins quarterback and five-time Pro Bowler Sonny Jurgensen plays his last season and leads the NFC in passer rating with 94.5. His final TD is in the Skins' regular-season finale against the Bears, and he goes 6 for 12 with three interceptions in Washington's playoff loss to the Rams.

The leading rusher in the AFC -- and the league -- is the Denver Broncos' Otis Armstrong with 1,407 yards. In the two years before and the two years after, that is Buffalo Bills back O.J. Simpson's honor.

Besides Armstrong, Harris, Simpson, and Woods, Larry McCutcheon of the Rams is also a thousand-yard rusher, the NFC's only one.

This time, Ken Anderson of the Cincinnati Bengals is the leader in quarterback rating with a mark of 95.7, which is 1.2 better than Stabler's.

The Baltimore Colts' Lydell Mitchell rushes a record 40 times Oct. 20 in a 35-20 Colts win at Shea Stadium against the New York Jets. Mitchell has 72 receptions this year, a record for a running back thus far and the leading figure for any player in the season.

Emmitt Thomas of the Kansas City Chiefs is the first since 1964 to get 12 interceptions in a season. By the way, those INT's go for 214 yards.

An NFL franchise for Tampa is awarded April 24, and Seattle joins that city June 5. The latter could have been the Seattle Kings, whose ownership group felt it was guaranteed the franchise and promoted it greatly, but the $16 million fee and the labor dispute are factors leading the group to concede to Seattle Professional Football, a more local group of owners, which gets the franchise Dec. 5.

A six-week NFLPA strike precludes the Chicago College All-Star Game -- an event in which the Dolphins as reigning champs would have played college all-stars, one that will only be held twice more -- but no regular-season games are canceled or delayed. The point of contention is free agency, and the slogan is "no freedom, no football." The union gets back to work before the season starts.

This dispute will be settled by a federal ruling Dec. 20 that by one contemporary account puts "the game's structure in doubt," ultimately ushering in free agency. District Court judge William T. Sweigert rules in the Joe Kapp case that a team signing someone who has played out his option is not obligated to compensate the team losing that player, striking down a rule (named for Commissioner Pete Rozelle) that had been in standard contracts.

This is the first season in which games outside of the playoffs can go to sudden-death overtime. This might be prompted by the use of overtime in the WFL.

Among other rule changes possibly influenced by the WFL's rules: the moving of the goalposts to behind the end zone, kickoffs from the 35-yard line, and a new rule for missed field goals.

The Giants play at the Yale Bowl again this year. They will play at Shea Stadium, also home of the Jets, in 1975.

With the first pick in the '74 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys get Ed "Too Tall" Jones, a 6-foot-9 Tennessee State defensive end.

Throughout the season, the Dolphins maintain their home winning streak, which started in 1971, and extend it to 27 games. That's where the streak will be left when they lose their first regular-season home game in '75.

On Oct. 13, Dennis Morgan of the Cowboys returns a Cardinals punt for a 98-yard touchdown. He is the third player to do so for that many yards, and no one will go longer until 1994.

Mack Herron of the New England Patriots breaks Gale Sayers's single-season record of 2,440 all-purpose yards in a season by accumulating 824 running, 474 receiving, and 1,146 returning. The new record, four better than Sayers', will last one year.

Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw only plays eight regular-season games. He is, however, the starter for all three playoff games, and as such he is credited with the fourth-quarter comeback and game-winning drive against the Raiders. His time to shine, though, will be '75.

With 2,598 passing yards, Tarkenton gets ahead of Y.A. Tittle (33,070) on the all-time list. His 35,846 career yards are at this time second only to the figure put up by Johnny Unitas.

Cowboys QB Roger Staubach's .528 completion percentage is, and will be, his personal worst for a season of 200 attempts or more.

Jets QB Joe Namath has 20 touchdown passes, a high level he hadn't reached since 1967. Also, 22 of his passes are intercepted.

Harris, a third-year player who was the consensus Rookie of the Year in '72, has 1,006 yards on 208 carries. He scores five rushing touchdowns in the regular season and six in the playoffs.

After four games with the Chiefs, future Hall of Fame DT Curley Culp is traded to the Oilers.

Norm Van Brocklin's time as Falcons sideline general, which is in its seventh year, comes to an end Nov. 5.

Ron Smith of the Raiders finishes a ten-year career with 6,922 yards returning 275 kickoffs. Billy Johnson of the Oilers begins a fifteen-year career of returning 282 punts for 3,317 yards.

Raiders kicker George Blanda, who reaches the age of 47 early in the season, plays his next-to-last year and wins the Man of the Year Award.

Far from being Man of the Year is Conrad Dobler, Cardinals offensive guard, who wears a cast on his left arm that he uses to strike opponents. This is in addition to the kicking and biting that opponents have come to expect after two seasons.

Speaking of meanness: In one of the Steelers' two meetings with the Bengals, Pat Matson, Cincinnati offensive guard, tries to limp off the field, but Greene approaches him and urges him to stay on the gridiron.

During the strike and a soccer-style kicker fad, Sal Casola is drafted by the Bills and gets cut. He lands a spot on the Chiefs, but he decides the NFL's not for him and gets his brother to assume his identity. John Casola looks different, as Bills head coach Lou Saban notices Aug. 12, and Saban tells his opponent, Hank Stram, about it before the preseason game. Saban's amused and Stram isn't. The Chiefs' head coach has to wait until the half to end this short non-career.

In his third year as Colts owner and with a reputation for being meddlesome, Robert Irsay (during the Sept. 29 game against the Philadelphia Eagles) tells Howard Schnellenberger that quarterback Bert Jones should be put in. The coach doesn't comply, so Irsay fires him.

At halftime of the Nov. 17 game in Miami, Simpson encourages his fellow Bills to play a more physical game to hinder the Dolphins later on in the division race. On the second play, he taunts linebacker Nick Buoniconti and winds up having to limp off the field. With Simpson ineffective for the rest of the game, Buffalo loses 35-28.

In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Lance Rentzel and Fred Dryer, members of the NFC runner-up Rams, pose as reporters, complete with old-time clothing, and try to be funny. "Do you think the zone defense is here to stay," Rentzel asks Steelers head coach Chuck Noll, "and if not, where'd it go?"

Besides Lambert and Swann, other future Hall of Famers making their debut this year are Raiders TE Dave Casper, Steelers WR John Stallworth, Steelers center Mike Webster, and Steelers defensive back Donnie Shell.

Besides Jurgensen, other retiring players this year include future Hall of Famers Bobby Bell, Deacon Jones, Bob Lilly, Jim Otto, and Dave Robinson. Coaching for his final year is another man to be enshrined at Canton, Sid Gillman.

One of the latest Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees is tackle and place-kicker Lou Groza. Another is defensive halfback and cornerback "Night Train" Lane. The rest of the class consists of two-way back Tony Canadeo and linebacker Bill George.

Roy Blount's About Three Bricks Shy of a Load, a.k.a. About Three Bricks Shy... and the Load Filled Up, is published. This is an acclaimed book about the '73 Steelers.

Former cornerback and current blaxploitation star Fred Williamson has a short-lived gig joining Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football. Former Detroit Lions DT Alex Karras replaces Williamson on the program early in the season.

The NFL is reportedly intent on organizing a six-team league in Europe starting in 1975. That will come to pass in 1995.

Jack Kent Cooke becomes the majority stockholder of the Redskins after the last of deceased founder George Preston Marshall's stock is retired.

After her breast-cancer surgery in late September, the Redskins present first lady Betty Ford with a football.

The Raiders' Bubba Smith, in his second year away from the Colts organization, sues for the incident in Tampa two years before that led to him missing a full season (see NFL '73 entry). Official Ed Marion and the NFL are on the other side of a $2.5-million lawsuit, as is local man Robert Lastra, who had been hired to hold the first-down marker. One version of the story is that Smith hit the marker and Lastra didn't let go.

Ed Meadows, who as a Chicago Bears defensive tackle in 1956 was infamous for a late hit on Bobby Layne of the Lions, one that ignited an already hot discussion about football violence, shoots and ends it all Oct. 22. He was 42, and he had played for four teams over six years.

Don McCafferty, the Lions' head coach, dies of a heart attack July 28.

Does it feel a bit drafty? A selection of hockey events from the '74-75 season is coming Sept. 27.

[EDIT 5:59-6:02 a.m.: A couple of sources seem to differ with the account of Schnellenberger's firing. I am removing a few details that Football Hall of SHAME may have embellished.]

[EDIT 9-8, 11:32-33 p.m.: Changed font size.]

[EDITS 9-9, 9:28-9:50 a.m.: The Super Bowl was on NBC that time, not CBS. Also, made some adjustments.]

Little Post About Little League

For the first time in 15 years, a team from Taiwan made it to the championship game of the Little League World Series, and it was from the same organization. The young residents of Taoyuan were close to ending a drought of over a quarter-century, but things went the Americans' way, and Florida's even longer wait for a world champion is at an end. Congratulations to Lake Mary.

Fifty years ago, the Republic of China, still recognized as such at the time, sent a team to Williamsport that became the Little League World Series championship squad for the fifth year out of six. Over the five days of the tournament, the team representing Kaohsiung played all-star sides from New Haven, Conn.; from Tallmadge, Ohio; and from Red Bluff, Calif. The Far East champions always scored in double digits and only allowed one run over the three games.

As for Florida, the Pinellas Park National Blue team of 1974 was eliminated in the Southern region after losing by one run in the semifinals. In years before and after, Belmont Heights of Tampa was the state champion, but that league's players weren't even in the state championship tournament in between.

[EDIT 9/22 11:24 p.m.: Pesky punctuation.]

Sports74 Gold: College Football '74

Another season of pigskin fast approaches, so let's focus our attention on the one that took place half a century ago.

The winning team at the Rose Bowl is Southern California, which defeats Ohio State 18-17. The UPI coaches' poll, the FWAA, and the National Football Foundation all decide the Trojans are the No. 1 team in the country, but the AP ranks USC second and gives the national title to 11-0 Oklahoma, whose Big 8 champion team is on probation and prevented from playing in bowls.

The Sooners are undefeated for a second year in a row. In fact, this will become a 28-game winning streak and 37-game unbeaten streak that ends in 1975. Head coach Barry Switzer wins his first national championship.

Once again, Michigan and Ohio State are tied for the Big Ten crown. The athletic directors, for a second season in succession, choose the Buckeyes to face the Pacific-8 champions on New Year's Day. This time it's a 5-4 vote, with Michigan State's A.D. being a faithless elector and voting for his school. From next season on, there will be a different way of deciding which Big Ten team plays in the Rose Bowl.

Notre Dame ekes out a 13-11 victory in the Orange Bowl over SEC champion Alabama, sending head coach Ara Parseghian off as a winner and knocking the Crimson Tide out of the No. 1 spot in the coaches' poll.

The Sugar Bowl, played on New Year's Eve, is a 13-10 victory for Nebraska against Florida.

In a big Nov. 30 game against rival Notre Dame, USC is down 24-6 at halftime but makes it an incredible 55-24 victory, shutting out the Fighting Irish in the second half.

Ohio State halfback Archie Griffin wins the Heisman Trophy, and he will win that award again the next year. On 256 carries, he has 1,695 yards and 12 touchdowns.

The Maxwell Award goes to Steve Joachim, quarterback for independent, 8-2 Temple. Joachim has 1,950 passing yards and 20 TDs; he has a 150.1 rating. His 2,227 yards of total offense in 10 games are a University Division (Division I) best for the year.

Defensive tackle Randy White, playing for ACC champion Maryland, wins the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award. The Dallas Cowboys will make this unanimous All-American the second overall pick in '75.

The writers and coaches agree: third-year Baylor coach Grant Teaff is Coach of the Year. The Bears improve from a 2-9 season in '73 to an 8-4 season, Southwest Conference title, and subsequent Cotton Bowl appearance (lost 41-20 to Penn State) for '74.

Steve Bartkowski of 7-3-1 Pac-8 member California is the leading passer in terms of completions, going 182 for 325. He throws for 2,580 yards and 12 touchdowns. The consensus All-American will be the first player picked in the '75 NFL Draft and join the Atlanta Falcons.

Future pro star Walter Payton plays his last season at Jackson State. His totals are 3,600 yards in 598 attempts, and he has scored 63 TDs. Payton is the leading rusher in the Senior Bowl with 77 yards. In '75, he will be the fourth player picked overall in the NFL Draft and start a great career with the Chicago Bears.

Texas loses the Gator Bowl to Auburn two days short of a year after the Longhorns lost the Cotton Bowl to Nebraska. In both games, U.T. only manages a field goal.

Heisman runner-up Anthony Davis of USC sets a record for kickoff return average with a mark of 35.1 yards per return over three seasons. Davis is a consensus All-American running back (along with Griffin and Oklahoma's Joe Washington) whose 301 rushing attempts in '74 go for 1,421 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Also from USC, Charles Phillips attains a single-season high with 302 yards on interceptions.

Talking about interceptions, John Provost finishes his three years playing at Holy Cross (5-5-1 indie in '74) with 27 of them. This mark is second only to the standard set by Al Brosky of Illinois two decades past (29 from '50 to '52).

Louie Giammona of independent, 8-3 Utah State is the season's University Division rushing leader with 1,534 yards on 329 carries. He is also the all-purpose yards leader with 1,984.

Dwight McDonald of San Diego State (Pacific Coast Athletic Association, 8-2-1) is the receiving leader with 86 catches in 11 games. He gets 1,157 yards and 7 TDs.

Chris Kupec, the N.C. State quarterback, sets a record with his .693 completion percentage (minimum 150 attempts).

The Senior Bowl, Jan. 11, 1975, is a 17-17 tie between North and South. The Blue defeats the Gray 29-24 in the Dec. 17 Blue-Gray Classic, and the East wins the Dec. 28 Shrine Game 16-14 against the West.

Colorado State seems to win its Oct. 5 game against fellow WAC member BYU 34-33. However, the tying TD is followed by fans getting on the field and disrupting the game, and the Rams get a penalty. The extra point goes wide, but referee Jack Moyers can't find the ball to hold up for the end-of-game signal, so he holds up his hands without the ball. The scoreboard says CSU wins, but the conference officials' supervisor tells celebrating players that it's a 33-all tie.

In the College Division, Central Michigan wins the Division-II Camellia Bowl 54-14 over Delaware, and Central College (Iowa) defeats Ithaca 10-8 at the Division-III Stagg Bowl.

In a time of financial difficulty, the University of Vermont ends its football program, and reportedly some hard-up programs long for the days when players stayed in the game on both offense and defense.

Chris Sizemore finishes at Bridgewater College with 32.7 rushes per game over three years, a record for Division III.

The winners of the NAIA championship games are Texas A&I, defeating Henderson State (Arkansas) 34-23, and Texas Lutheran, with a 42-0 shutout against Missouri Valley.

Macalester College (St. Paul, Minn.) embarks on a 50-game losing streak. This run of failure for the Scots will span the second half of the decade, lasting until the 1980 season.

Former Michigan center Gerald Ford becomes U.S. President on Aug. 9.

Amateur hour is done, and the game gets all too business-like, from players on the picket lines to an overbearing owner. The NFL in 1974 is coming Sept. 6.

[EDIT 10:02 a.m. EDT: Small but important Davis change]

[EDIT 10:03 a.m. EDT: Correcting inconsistent font]

[EDITS 8/20 2:04-2:22 p.m.: A few small things that might make this look a little better on mobile devices]

Sports74 Gold: International Sports

As the Olympics in Paris begin now, let's take a look at sports around the world 50 years ago.

Dorothy Hamill of Riverside, Conn., wins her first of three U.S. figure skating championships. She finishes second at worlds to 17-year-old East German Christine Errath.

Another East German, Jan Hoffmann, wins the men's world title. The U.S. men's champion, for the second of what will be three times, is Gordon McKellen of Lake Placid, N.Y.

Melissa Militano (Skating Club of New York) and new partner Johnny Johns (Detroit Skating Club) win their first of two U.S. titles in pairs figure skating. Militano had won a title with her brother (Mark Militano) the previous year.

At the world figure skating championships, Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaytsev win their second of six pairs titles together; this is the sixth of ten for Rodnina. At those same championships, fellow Soviets Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov win their fifth consecutive ice-dancing crown.

In speed skating, Soviet Tatyana Averina sets a women's world record in the 1500 meters. In the women's sprint race world championships, Leah Poulos of Northbrook, Ill., is the overall winner.

Eddy Merckx of Belgium wins the Tour de France for the fifth time, tying the record held by French cyclist Jacques Anquetil. He finishes the 4098-kilometer route (about 2,546 miles) in 116 hours 16 minutes 58 seconds. Merkcx has also won five Tours of Italy and a Tour of Spain, giving him a total of eleven victories among those three events, a record not equaled. Merckx has worn the yellow jersey for a record 111 days, also not equaled.

Merckx wins the Tour of Italy for the fifth time this year and joins a club whose membership otherwise consists of only Italians Alfredo Binda and Alfredo Coppi.

Merckx is also the third three-time winner of the UCI Road World Championship (held in Montreal this year), the other two being Binda and Belgian Rik van Steenbergen.

In rugby, Ireland has sole possession of the Five Nations championship for the first time since 1951. All five nations tied for the championship in '73.

Romania wins the men's team handball world championship for the fourth time, a record no one else will reach until 1999.

In Mexico City, Poland wins the men's volleyball world championship, defeating the Soviet Union in the final, while reigning Olympic champion Japan finishes third. In Guadalajara, Japan's women defeat those of the Soviet Union, also reigning Olympic champions, for the world title.

France wins its seventh freshwater fishing championship.

Toshimitsu Ogata, going by the ring name Kitanoumi, reaches the highest rank in sumo at the age of 21 years and 61 days. For decades, he is the youngest yokozuna.

With Ted Hood as skipper, Courageous defeats the Australian yacht Southern Cross 4-0 for the America's Cup. That boat will win the Cup again in 1977 with Ted Turner as skipper. In '74, the two Teds compete in the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit, with Hood's Robin Too II being the champion yacht of Florida and the Bahamas and Turner's Lightnin' being second-best.

In an International Olympic Committee meeting, Lake Placid is named the host of the 1980 Winter Games and Moscow host of the 1980 summer games. It's also decided that the best skiers and skaters will spend two weeks of 1976 not in Denver, but in Innsbruck, Austria.

Mexico City is named to take over as host of the 1975 Pan American Games, Sao Paulo having withdrawn.

At the world gymnastics championships, the all-around winners are Japanese Shigeru Kasamatsu (also the winner for floor exercise and vault) and Soviet Lyudmila Turischeva (also the winner for floor exercise and balance beam). Between Olympic triumphs, Soviet Olga Korbut wins the vault at the world championships.

In international swimming, some men's world records and almost all women's are broken in August. Tim Shaw of Long Beach, Calif., is the one who beats three of the men's, and fellow Californian Shirley Babashoff of Mission Viejo is solely responsible for two of the women's. Many distaff records are set by the masculine swimmers from East Germany, whom physicians think might be on steroids.

At the quadrennial world championships of alpine skiing at St. Moritz, Switzerland, Gustavo Thoeni of Italy wins the men's slalom and giant slalom. He reaches nine events won in his Alpine Skiing World Cup career, which is a record at the time. Fellow Italian Piero Gros wins the 1973-74 Alpine World Cup title, which Thoeni won in the three seasons before and will win in '75.

Swede Ingemar Stenmark wins his first of what will be 86 slalom and giant slalom races, and Austrian Franz Klammer wins his first of what will be 25 World Cup downhill races.

The women's Alpine World Cup winner for the fourth of five times in a row is Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell (previously Annemarie Proell). The downhill gold medalist at St. Moritz, she also wins her eleventh consecutive downhill race in January. Finishing fourth in downhill is Cindy Nelson of Lutsen, Minn., the downhill winner at the International SDS ladies' ski races.

In professional skiing, Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy is unable to defend his championship because of stomach trouble. Austrian Hugo Nindl wins the title, with fourth place belonging to Hank Kashiwa of Bellingham, Wash., and fifth to Spider Sabich of Snowmass, Colo.

In cricket, Australia wins three matches against New Zealand and loses one, with two draws between the Antipodean countries.

England sweeps the year's cricket matches against India but ties in all three of its matches with Pakistan. The team wins one and loses one against the West Indies, with three ties.

In bullfighting, Spain's leading matador is Pedro Gutierrez, "Nino de la Capea," with 84 bullfights, 112 ears, and 15 tails. Ruling the Mexico City bullring is Curro Rivera, with 12 kills in six bullfights, but no ears or tails.

Two of the world motorcycling championships are won on Yamaha bikes: by Sweden's Kent Anderson in 100cc and by Italy's Giacomo Agostini in 350cc. Agostini equals his 500cc streak by winning his seventh consecutive 350cc world championship. Walter Villa, a fellow Italian, wins his first of three straight 250cc crowns.

East Germany wins all but two of the competitions at the quadrennial world rowing championships, with the Soviet Union taking pairs with coxswain and the United States eights with coxswain.

In the two English universities' annual regatta, Oxford defeats Cambridge by 5 1/2 lengths.

Among the best shooters in the country and the world are Lanny Bassham of Dallas (or Fort Worth, depending on the source), Margaret T. Murdock of Topeka, Kan., and Carter, Mont.'s own Maj. Lones Wigger (yes, that was his name).

Bud Somerville and his fellow residents of Superior, Wis., win the world curling title. The Canadian entry loses in the semifinals.

Superior also wins its fourth national curling championship under Somerville. The skip has won three times in the '60s and will win again in 1981.

In fencing, Italian Aldo Montano wins the individual saber at worlds in Grenoble, France, with Paul Apostol of New York making the semifinals. Viktor Romankov wins at least one of the Soviets' four titles at Grenoble, as individual foil champion.

In weightlifting, the heavyweight champion of the world for the fifth time in a row is Soviet Vasily Alekseyev, with 407 3/4 pounds in the snatch and 529 in the clean and jerk. He sets records for each within the calendar year: 413 for the snatch, 536 3/4 for the clean and jerk.

One of the four Americans who makes the top eight in any weight class at the world Greco-Roman wrestling championships is Koroly Kancser of Lincoln, Neb., who finishes sixth in the 105 1/2-pound class.

In chess, Viktor Korchnoi begins to seek asylum. He's been censured by the Soviet Chess Federation for saying bad things about Anatoly Karpov.

Italian contract bridge players will in time be suspected of having cheated last year and this year (Italy wins the world championship in 1974).

Twenty-six countries compete in the Stoke Mandeville International Games, where the U.S.'s wheelchair athletes win 103 medals and Great Britain's 91.

There are winners and losers. From a famous university blowing a big rivalry game to an obscure school that never expects to win, the college football season of '74 is headed your way Aug. 16.

Sports74 Gold: The WFL (and CFL)

I like how golden anniversaries are the same weekday as the event being celebrated. This coming Wednesday is the semicentennial of the first Wednesday kickoffs of the World Football League's only full year of play.

WORLD FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The WFL is formed for the 1974 season with twelve teams. The regular season is 20 games from July to November, and there are no preseason exhibition games in this first season. In "World Bowl I," held Dec. 5 at Legion Field, the Birmingham Americans win 22-21 against the visiting Florida Blazers. Thanks in part to a blown call negating a touchdown by Blazers running back Tommy Reamon, the Americans win, but their uniforms are seized after the game.

Notably, the Americans owe $237,000 in back taxes and haven't paid players in over a month going into the title game. Three days before the scheduled tilt against the Blazers, Birmingham players walk off the field wanting their pay, but they're back to practice the next day. Owner Bill Putnam vows that the Americans will get rings for victory. Coach Jack Gotta personally pays for his team's meal before the championship game.

Florida's players haven't seen checks for 14 weeks, coaches host them at their homes for dinner once in a while, and head coach Jack Pardee is once on the receiving end of suspicion about his $20 bill being funny money.

In this league, touchdowns are worth seven points, and the PAT, or "action point," has to be run or passed. Also, regular-season games as well as playoff games can go to overtime.

The three MVPs of the WFL are Reamon, Southern California Sun quarterback Tony Adams, and Memphis Southmen running back J.J. Jennings. Only Reamon will play in the NFL. All three split the $10,000 cash with which they are presented at halftime of the World Bowl, brought there by armed guards.

During the season, the New York Stars become the Charlotte Hornets, and the Houston Texans become the Shreveport Steamer. The Detroit Wheels (1-13) and Jacksonville Sharks (3-11) cease to play after 14 games out of a scheduled 20, although the Wheels will be back in '75.

The Southmen are originally to be the Toronto Northmen, but the Canadian government rejects that idea just by mulling a Canadian Football Act that would prevent non-CFL teams from being placed in that country.

In one draft, teams select players from college, while another involves NFL and CFL players. Sixteen NFL players and a CFL player jump from their leagues to the WFL in the first season.

The Texans select Lynn Swann with the 24th pick in the college draft. Of course, he doesn't sign.

Among the NFL players picked in the pro draft who would never play in the WFL: Oakland Raiders QB Ken Stabler, New York Jets QB Joe Namath, San Diego Chargers QB Dan Fouts, Los Angeles Rams DE Jack Youngblood, Raiders DB Jack Tatum, Pittsburgh Steelers DT Joe Greene, and Minnesota Vikings OT Ron Yary.

The second overall pick is Miami Dolphins FB Larry Csonka, whom the Southmen will sign the next season. The Northmen, as they are still known, also draft teammates HB Jim Kiick and WR Paul Warfield to contracts, combined for nearly $3.9 million of what is said to be guaranteed money over three years.

Stabler, who signs to play in the WFL once his option is played out, sues to have his WFL contract ruled void because of late payments. He wins.

To help him catch the ball, Rick Eber of the Steamer uses thumbtacks. "Those WFL refs were something else," he will later recount. "I'd catch a ball and give it back to them with scratches all over it and they never suspected a thing." Using the tacks, Eber scores two touchdowns in a game against the Philadelphia Bell, whose head coach has to be the one to show the none-too-bright officials what's going on. Eber will say he wasn't the only one to use tacks.

The Bell has high attendance figures for its first two games, but it soon comes to light that many of those tickets are given away, not sold. Hawaiians players have trouble in paradise when they're released and can't afford to fly back to the mainland. The Wheels have no programs or game film. The Steamer's visiting opponents leave hotel bills unpaid. Maybe three out of ten players get their entire salaries. Teams lose $10 million in total.

The man behind this league and the ex-commissioner by year's end is Gary L. Davidson, who was also one of the fathers of the ABA and the WHA. The WFL will not survive an entire 1975 season, so the rule of threes does not quite apply here. Or does it?

MEANWHILE, IN CANADA...

Future NFL coach Marv Levy is coach of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes. He wins the Grey Cup for the first time in 1974, as his Alouettes defeat the Edmonton Eskimos 20-7 in Vancouver.

Johnnie Rodgers of the Alouettes is the highest-paid player with a record contract, but the running back finishes second in MVP voting to Eskimos QB Tom Wilkinson. Rodgers will sign with the Chargers in 1976.

East German swimmers, Soviet weightlifters, England playing cricket overseas, Spain's best bullfighter, and a prestigious event in France: Sports74 Gold spans the globe July 26.

Sports74 Gold: Soccer

What luck. This section is scheduled to be posted at the beginning of the 2024 European championship tournament. Also, #DankeFranz.

West Germany, the home team in the World Cup, wins the final at Munich 2-1, playing against Holland and its new "Total Football" style. Gerd Mueller's 43rd-minute goal is the winner in that game. The West Germans are the first recipients of the new World Cup trophy.

West Germany loses its first-round group match against East Germany 1-0, though both teams would have qualified for the second round win, lose, or draw. In that round, East Germany draws once and loses twice in a difficult group. The West German team, on the other hand, wins all the matches in its group and qualifies for the final.

The leading scorer in the World Cup is Grzegorz Lato of Poland with nine goals. Mueller, with four goals in the finals, reaches 14 in his World Cup career and 68 in 62 international matches. With two more in '74, Jairzinho of Brazil has nine in his World Cup career.

After Italy is knocked out in the first round, hundreds of the players' countrymen attack them as they exit the grounds.

This is the lowest-scoring World Cup until 1986, with 2.55 goals per match.

The tournament generates $20 million in profits.

Johan Cruyff, the Dutch legend, is named European player of the year, receiving the Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball") from France Football. He's also the winner of the World Cup MVP award. 

Cruyff helps Barcelona win the Spanish league championship, as does Dutch national manager Rinus Michels.

Sometime this year, Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff concedes a goal in an international match for the first time since September of 1972. The streak of 1,142 minutes is a record for internationals.

This is star defender and West German captain Franz Beckenbauer's last World Cup, but he will continue playing for Bayern Munich for a couple of years and for the national team until 1977. Beckenbauer finishes a close second to Cruyff in the voting for the France Football Ballon d'Or, and no one else is even in the neighborhood.

Bayern Munich wins the European Champions' Cup, becoming the first German club to do so. In the final, held May 15 at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, and attended by 65,000, Bayern draws with Atletico Madrid 1-1, with both goals scored in extra time. The replay two days later, with only 20,000 on hand, is a 4-0 victory, in which Mueller scores a pair and Uli Hoeness the other two goals.

Feyenoord, which is also the '73-74 Dutch league champion, wins the UEFA Cup (at the time, a tournament for clubs that didn't win a league title or a national cup in '72-73) by defeating England's Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 in a two-leg final.

At the European Cup-winners' Cup, East Germany's Magdeburg bests Italy's A.C. Milan 2-0. Normally, Cup-winners' Cup winners play Champions Cup winners in the Super Cup, but being from different sides of a divided nation and not agreeing on dates, Bayern and Magdeburg end up not having that date.

In 1973, Milan had set a record by selling Pierino Prati to Roma for $1,036,665.

Zaire wins the African Cup of Nations. The final against Zambia is a 2-2 tie, but the Leopards win the replay 2-0.

The Zaire-Zambia match is held in Cairo soon after a disaster at local club Zamalek's stadium kills 49. There is no league or cup championship awarded that year in Egypt.

Alf Ramsey finishes his 11-year career as manager of England's national team with a record of 69 wins, 27 draws, and 17 losses, including a World Cup title in '66. The English team having failed to qualify for this year's World Cup, it is announced this spring that he will be let go.

Leeds United wins the Football League in England, while last year's league champion club, Liverpool, wins the F.A. Cup. In Italy, Lazio wins Serie A. In West Germany, Bayern wins its third consecutive Bundesliga title.

The Scottish league and cup winner is Celtic, but Dundee United defeats the Bhoys 1-0 for the league cup.

It takes three games, but Independiente, an Argentine club, wins the Copa Libertadores (South American club championship) for the third of four consecutive years. The Reds score three goals to Sao Paulo's two in the first two matches, but both had won a leg, and their aggregate points are equal, so a playoff is forced for Oct. 19 in Santiago, Chile.

Like many other European Cup winners of the '70s, Bayern Munich elects not to play the Intercontinental Cup against Independiente. Runner-up Atletico Madrid will play the South American champions in March and April of '75.

The championship of Brazil goes to Vasco da Gama. The Boca Juniors top the table in Argentina.

In his last season with Santos, his home club, Pele scores 10 goals in 27 league match appearances, making his club total 643 tallies in 656 matches. He puts 14 in the net over 49 exhibition games, making his total including friendlies 1,087 goals in 1,120 matches.

Cruz Azul wins its third Mexican Primera Division championship in a row. America defeats that club in the Copa Mexico final. Both teams are located in Mexico City, although Cruz Azul moved there from a short drive outside a few years before.

In the NASL, the Los Angeles Aztecs defeat the Miami Toros in the championship game after a 3-3 match goes to a shootout. The league's leading scorer is Paul Child of the San Jose Earthquakes with 15 goals and 6 assists (36 points). The league MVP is Peter Silvester of the Baltimore Comets. The best goalkeeper, with only 16 goals allowed over 1,800 minutes, is Barry Watling of the Seattle Sounders.

This is the first season for eight NASL clubs, including the Aztecs, the Earthquakes, the Sounders, and the Vancouver Whitecaps. The league experiences a net gain (no pun intended) of six teams.

Attendance in the NASL averages 7,825 per game, an increase of almost a quarter over 1973. The New York Cosmos draws 4,700 a match in 1974, but that figure will more than quadruple next year.

In New York on June 2, Greek American, the home team, defeats Croatian of Chicago 2-0 to win the U.S. Open Cup.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum hosts a friendly tournament in August, one that features two Mexican clubs, a European squad, and a South American team. Brazilian championship runner-up Cruzeiro defeats Cruz Azul 3-2 for third place, while Portuguese league and cup runner-up Benfica beats America with the same score for the championship.

In the NCAA championship, Howard defeats St. Louis 2-1 after four overtime periods to topple the college dynasty.

Besides being a new member of the U.N. this year, Bangladesh is also now affiliated with FIFA. Liechtenstein also joins FIFA this year, but that country will not join the U.N. until 1990.

Some people's idea of "world football" is different from others'. In this case, it involves delinquent payments, dumb officials, and disastrous results. The 50th anniversary of the WFL's first games will be marked July 5.

EDIT June 15, 12:11 a.m. EDT: Font size increased.

EDIT June 15, 7:38-7:45 p.m.: A few revisions and re-wordings.

Sports74 Gold: Boxing, Tennis, and Golf

Three more sports have legends to be made and stories to be told.

BOXING

Muhammad Ali (216 1/2 pounds, 32 years old) is once again world heavyweight champion after knocking out George Foreman (220 pounds, 26 years old) in the eighth round at Kinshasa, Zaire, in the early morning local time Oct. 30. Ali, a 4-to-1 underdog, uses the "rope-a-dope" strategy, wherein he lies on the ropes and takes blows, bringing Foreman to keep punching and get tired. He wins the championship and $5 million. The "Rumble in the Jungle" is Don King's first big promotion, and it's the Fight of the Year as selected by The Ring magazine, which names Ali Fighter of the Year.

Before all that, Foreman (224 3/4 pounds, 25 years old) defends his title March 26 at Caracas, Venezuela, with a two-round TKO against Ken Norton (212 1/4 pounds, 30 years old).

Ali's second match against Joe Frazier, Jan. 28 in New York, ends in 12 rounds with Ali winning by unanimous decision.

The AP and UPI both name Ali Male Athlete of the Year. Sports Illustrated names him Sportsman of the Year, and he also wins the Hickok Belt (a pro sports award given annually from 1950 to 1976). The Sporting News, however, chooses baseball stolen bases king Lou Brock.

Roberto Duran is in the process of setting a lightweight title defenses record. Among his 12 from 1972 to 1979 are an eleventh-round knockout delivered to Esteban de Jesus March 16 and a first-round kayo on Masataka Takayama Dec. 21.

Carlos Monzon is in the middle of a record-setting run of 14 title defenses as a middleweight (1970-1977) as he defeats welterweight champion Jose Napoles in the sixth round Feb. 9 and knocks out Tony Mundine in the seventh round Oct. 4. Monzon's wife had shot him in '73.

The middleweight title is actually disputed; Monzon is recognized by the WBA, Rodrigo Valdez by the WBC. Also disputed is Duran's lightweight title; Guts Ishimatsu is the WBC's lightweight champ after an April 11 victory over Rodolfo Gonzalez.

Besides Ali and Napoles (who has held his title since 1971), junior middleweight champion Oscar Albarado is the only undisputed titleholder at the end of the year, having gained both belts from Koichi Wajima in a June 4 bout.

Among bantamweights, Soo-hwan Hong defeats Arnold Taylor for the WBA title in a July 3 fight, the win being the result of a unanimous decision after 15 rounds. Hong defends that championship Dec. 28 against Fernando Cabanela and wins by a split decision (the Japanese and Korean judges rule in his favor, the Philippine judge in Cabanela's).

The WBA featherweight title changes hands several times. Ernesto Marcel retires after he wins his Feb. 16 fight in a unanimous decision over Alexis Arguello. Ruben Olivares knocks out Zensuke Utagawa for the belt July 9 but goes down for the count against Arguello Nov. 23. This is the first of three weight classes in which Arguello will be a champion.

In amateur boxing, Leon Spinks wins the AAU championship in the 178-pound class, and his brother, Michael Spinks, wins the Golden Gloves in the 156-pound class. Ray Leonard is the AAU and Golden Gloves winner in the 139.

TENNIS

The best of the men is Jimmy Connors, who has won three of the four majors. This is one of ten times so far that one man has won three or more Grand Slam singles titles. As a participant in the 16-team league known as World Team Tennis, Connors is locked out of the French Open and other tournaments on the European continent.

The French Open champion is 18-year-old Bjorn Borg, with his first of six titles at Roland Garros and his first of eleven Grand Slam titles.

Chris Evert wins the French Open and the title at Wimbledon, and these are the first of what will be 18 Grand Slam singles titles. At one point winning 56 consecutive matches and setting a record that will stand for a decade, Evert is the AP Female Athlete of the Year.

Evonne Goolagong wins the Australian Open, while Billie Jean King, with a narrow victory over Goolagong, adds a fourth U.S. Open title.

Connors and Evert winning their respective titles at Wimbledon is noteworthy because the two are engaged at the time, although the planned November wedding does not come to fruition.

Connors is the annual men's No. 1 for the first of five times. His first time as the weekly No. 1 is July 29, and he will stay there for 160 weeks straight. The last time Ilie Nastase is in the top spot is the week of June 2 (40 weeks total), while John Newcombe's eight-week reign starts June 9 and ends when Connors takes over.

In the women's rankings, King is the women's No. 1 for the last of five times.

The power couple sits atop the money leaderboard. At the end of the year, Connors just beats out Guillermo Vilas and Newcombe with $281,309. Evert sets a record by winning $261,460.

India refuses to play South Africa at the Davis Cup final. The international team trophy is ultimately won by default.

Australia wins the Federation Cup, the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, by defeating the United States in the final.

Vilas defeats Nastase at the final of the Tennis Masters Cup. Goolagong beats Evert at the WTA Championship.

Newcombe now has three singles titles and six doubles titles at Wimbledon. The doubles championship with Tony Roche this year is the fifth and last for the pair. By 1976, Newcombe and Roche will have a record 16 titles in Grand Slam doubles competition.

Goolagong and Peggy Michel win women's doubles in Australia and England, Evert and Olga Morozova in France, King and Rosemary Casals in the U.S.

While Evert's star is rising, another star is born. Martina Navratilova wins her first singles title in Orlando, and she also gets her first taste of Grand Slam glory in French Open mixed doubles, which she and Ivan Molina of Colombia win.

At the Italian Open, Borg wins the men's singles competition, while Evert defeats Navratilova in the women's singles final.

In World Team Tennis, the championship goes to the Denver Racquets, who win the final over the Philadelphia Freedoms. The season MVP is Philadelphia's King, winner of four Virginia Slims events over the year. The playoff MVP is Denver's Andrew Pattison, who in 1974 wins International Championship Tennis events in Monte Carlo and Johannesburg.

The collegiate champion team is Stanford, whose own John Whitlinger is the individual champ.

This is the U.S. Open's last year on grass; there will be clay at Forest Hills in '75 and a hard court at Flushing Meadows in '78.

GOLF

For one year, Johnny Miller, who wins the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, is the top golfer in America instead of Jack Nicklaus. He is the money leader with over $350,000, interrupting what would have been a six-year streak for Nicklaus. Miller also interrupts what would have been a five-year streak of PGA Tour Player of the Year awards for Nicklaus.

Miller's victories include the Crosby at Pebble Beach, the Heritage Classic at Harbour Town, the Westchester Classic at Westchester C.C., and the World Open at Pinehurst.

Gary Player wins the Masters (which he had also won in 1961) and the Open Championship, the latter at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

Hale Irwin wins the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. This is his first major victory.

Lee Trevino wins the PGA Championship at Tanglewood. He also finishes the season with his fourth and last Vardon Trophy for best scoring average.

Nicklaus finishes one stroke behind Trevino at the PGA Championship, an event the Golden Bear had won in '73. Although he doesn't win a major, he has a busy year. Nicklaus finishes first at the Hawaiian Open, wins the inaugural Tournament Players Championship, is in the first class for the World Golf Hall of Fame, gets Golf My Way published, and opens Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Sam Snead, 61, takes third place at the PGA Championship.

Bobby Nichols wins the Canadian Open.

Peter Oosterhuis, who finishes second to Player by four strokes at the Open, is the money leader on the European Tour, with the French Open and Italian Open as two of his wins. However, his loss in a playoff at Pensacola Country Club makes a major headline.

By winning the Monsanto Open at Pensacola, Lee Elder becomes the first African-American to gain automatic invitation to the Masters.

Deane Beman is the first PGA Tour commissioner.

Jerry Pate wins the U.S. Amateur. He will finish at the top of the leaderboard when the '76 U.S. Open is held.

Future professional Curtis Strange of Wake Forest wins the NCAA individual title and the Western Amateur.

Trevor Homer wins the Amateur Championship of the U.K. for the second time in three years.

JoAnne Carner is the LPGA Tour money leader with a record total of $87,094 and the winner of the Vare Trophy (female counterpart to the Vardon Trophy). Sandra Haynie, however, wins the U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA Championship. After a playoff with Haynie and Jane Blalock, it is Jo Ann Prentice who wins the Dinah Shore tournament.

In women's amateur golf, Cynthia Hill is the U.S. champion, and the American team defends the Curtis Cup by defeating the British team 13-5.

Nancy Lopez wins the U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur tournament.

The PGA Hall of Fame (whose last new inductees will be honored in 1982) adds to its ranks Julius Boros and Cary Middlecoff.

On Sept. 25 at the U.S. National Seniors Open Championship in Las Vegas, 64-year-old Mike Austin sets a record by driving a ball 515 yards. The 35-mph tailwind helps.

These are all good sports, but for some around the world, there's only one true sport. A wide variety of soccer stuff, starting with the biggest event of all, is the subject of the next installment, coming June 14.

[EDITS 7:07-7:22 a.m. EDT: A few edits so fewer last words are dangling on their own lines on mobile view.]

Sports74 Gold: Racing

By foot, by horse, and by car, the pursuit of "faster" is the topic this time around. Well, except for a few events that involve "higher" and "stronger."

TRACK AND FIELD

At the Bislett Games in Oslo, Rick Wohlhuter runs 1000 meters in 2 minutes and 13.9 seconds, a world record for now and what will prove to be an enduring U.S. record for this event that isn't run often. He also sets a world record for 880 yards. Wohlhuter wins the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award for best amateur athlete.

Wohlhuter's accolades also include wins in the 800 meters at the Russian-American outdoor meet in Durham, N.C., and at the AAU outdoor championships; in the half mile at the Millrose Games in New York; in the 1000 yards at the AAU indoor championships and at the Maple Leaf Indoor Games in Toronto; and in the mile at the U.S. Track and Field Federation outdoor championships.

Jim Bolding should not be ignored. He runs the 440-yard hurdles in a record 48.7 seconds.

Brendon Foster of Great Britain also makes the record books with a time of 7 minutes 35.2 seconds in the 3000 meters.

In Knoxville, Ivory Crockett sets a world record in the hundred-yard dash May 11 with an even nine seconds. In New York on Feb. 22, he finishes third in the sixty-yard dash at the AAU indoor championships.

The winner of the AAU indoor 60 is future Oakland A's "baseball player" Herb Washington, who also wins at the Maple Leaf Indoor Games. Washington runs the fifty-yard dash in 5.1 seconds to take first place at the Millrose Games.

At the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, Filbert Bayi of Tanzania sets a new 1500 meters mark of 3 minutes 32.2 seconds.

After winning the steeplechase and 5000 meters at Christchurch, Kenya's Ben Jipcho turns professional and becomes the year's money leader in pro track.

Among the track and field stars of the '70s having good years athletics-wise is Dwight Stones, AAU outdoor high jump winner and world record holder starting in '73.

Neil Cusack of Ireland wins the Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hours 13 minutes 39 seconds. Miki Gorman is the third women's champion with the first time under three hours for a woman, 2 hours 47 minutes 11 seconds.

In walking, West German Gerhard Weidner sets a record for 20 miles, ambling that distance in 2 hours 20 minutes 38.6 seconds. His countryman Bernd Kannenberg establishes new marks for two hours (16 miles 1270 yards) and for 30 kilometers (2:12:58.0). These standards join Weidner's best times the previous year for 30 miles and for 50 kilometers.

East German Reinhard Theimer throws a hammer 251 feet 3 inches on July 4, beating the world record -- held by West German Walter Schmidt since 1971 -- by 8 inches. Soviet Aleksey Spiridonov breaks this new record Sept. 11 by 2 1/4 inches.

Tony Waldrop of UNC runs a world indoor record mile in 3 minutes 55 seconds, one of seven indoor mile runs under four minutes for him. He ties for the seventh-fastest mile in history outdoors by finishing in 3:53.2, and another time he barely beats four minutes. In his next outdoor race, Waldrop is denied his tenth consecutive performance of the sort.

An American indoor shot-put record that endures into the mid-'80s is that of George Woods, whose distance is 72 feet 2 3/4 inches at Inglewood on Feb. 8. This year Woods wins the shot put at the San Francisco Examiner Games and at the Millrose Games.

As coach of the U.S. Olympic track team, Leroy Walker of North Carolina Central stands alongside baseball's Frank Robinson in the category of upcoming firsts.

The Track and Field Hall of Fame is founded. Its first class includes Babe Didrikson, Ray Ewry, Rafer Johnson, Bob Mathias, Al Oerter, Jesse Owens, and Wilma Rudolph.

Polish track star Irena Szewinska sets a women's world record June 13 at Potsdam, East Germany, by running 200 meters in 22 seconds. Nine days later in Warsaw, she also becomes a women's record holder in the 400 meters with a time of 49.9 seconds. UPI institutes Athlete of the Year awards, and Szewinska is the women's winner.

At the AAU indoor championships, last year's long jump champion, Randy Williams, sprains his ankle in the ill-kept pit. Carmen Brown, out in front in the women's sprint medley, trips over a crossbar from the pole vault. A different vaulting attempt is ruined when a starter's pistol is fired not far away.

HORSE RACING

After finishing fifth at the Kentucky Derby, Little Current, with Jacinto Vasquez as jockey, wins the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. The horse is soon retired after an injury.

Cannonade, with Miguel Rivera as jockey, wins the Derby, which has an all-time record crowd of 163,628 and an all-time high field of 23 horses the year after Secretariat's historic run. Cannonade shows at the other two Triple Crown races.

The money leader among horses is a three-year-old filly named Chris Evert. Unlike her tennis-playing namesake, she doesn't win any major events. She does win five out of her eight races, and she easily defeats Miss Musket in a match race at Hollywood Park.

Although Laffit Pincay Jr. rides neither of the Triple Crown winners, he is the money leader for a fifth consecutive year and the Eclipse Award winner for Jockey of the Year. Although Pancho Martin trains neither of the Triple Crown winners, he is the money leader among trainers.

In the Eclipse Awards, the Horse of the Year for the first of three times is a four-year-old named Forego, who is also the Best Sprinter. The Two-year-old Male of the Year is the undefeated Foolish Pleasure, who will win the '75 Kentucky Derby. The top two-year-old filly, despite a broken leg in September, is Ruffian. Little Current and Chris Evert win their respective awards for three-year-olds.

Dahlia is not one to overlook. The Man o' War Stakes race at Belmont Park (which she wins) represents $71,700 of the French four-year-old filly's career winnings, a total in excess of $1.2 million. Five years before there is an award for best turf female, she wins the Eclipse for best turf horse.

At Delaware Park on July 28, the ten horses Charles Lamb of the Baltimore News-American had predicted to be the winners all finish first.

At Gulfstream on Feb. 26, El Macho runs the shortest distance, three furlongs, in the fastest time to date, 32 1/5 seconds.

On the Atlantic City Race Track on Aug. 26, Basic Witness, a favorite at the Longport Handicap, gets his tail stuck in the back of the starting gate. Those who bet on him get their money back.

Having been afraid of horses in the past, Chris McCarron begins his horse racing career Jan. 24. He has enough wins by Dec. 7 to break a record of 515 wins by a jockey in a year, set in '73 by Sandy Hawley. In the Laurel Park race that puts him over the top, he finally wins a race his brother (Gregg McCarron) is also in. The younger McCarron ends 1974 with 546 first-place finishes and wins the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey.

In foreign races for three-year-old thoroughbreds, Harry White wins his first of a record four times at the VRC Melbourne Cup and Yves Saint-Martin wins his second of four times at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

In harness racing, Billy Haughton wins the Hambletonian with Christopher T and the Little Brown Jug with Ambro Omaha. Aboard the latter horse, he also wins his fifth Messenger Stakes.

Alert Bret and Handle With Care set mile records for two-year-old pacers, the colt running the Lexington track in one minute 55 4/5 seconds and the filly in 1:54 2/5.

Herve Filion, the first of the North American harness drivers to pass the 5,000-win mark in his career, is the money leader with over $3.4 million. For the sixth time in a row, he is named U.S. Trotting Association Driver of the Year.

Delmonica Hanover is the repeat winner of the Roosevelt International at Westbury, N.Y. (a richer race than the Hambletonian). She is the second mare to be named U.S. Trotting Association Horse of the Year. The trotter is also the money leader with over $252,000.

In quarter horse racing, two-year-old filly Easy Date wins the All-American Futurity, a 440-yard race at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. She also wins The Kindergarten at Los Alamitos.

A horse named Gran Kan is voted steeplechase champion in the Eclipse Awards.

Secretariat, Damascus (1966 Preakness and Belmont winner), and Dark Mirage (1968 New York Filly Triple Crown winner) are the new equine members of the National Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

MOTORSPORTS

Richard Petty, driving a '74 Dodge sponsored by STP, wins the Daytona 500 for the fifth time. The race is 450 miles this year as a statement in response to the energy crisis. Petty goes on to win the Winston Cup for the fifth time as well, earning $432,019 along the way. The Talladega 500 and the Dixie 500 in Atlanta are two more of his conquests.

This year's total of 59 lead changes is a record for the Daytona 500, unbroken until 2011. In total, Petty leads 74 laps. Donnie Allison leads 41, but on Lap 190, his left front tire is damaged, and his No. 88 DiGard Racing Chevrolet finishes sixth.

Cale Yarborough wins the Southern 500 in Darlington and finishes second in the year-end standings. He and Petty each get the checkered flag for ten of the thirty Winston Cup races. Among Yarborough's victories are the Atlanta 500 and the season-opening Winston Western 500 at Riverside.

Third-place David Pearson wins both the Winston 500 (Talladega) and the World 600 (Charlotte) from the pole, and although he runs only 19 races, he finishes in the top five for 15 of them, winning seven overall. Those victories also include Charlotte's National 500 and Daytona's Firecracker 400.

The only others to see victory lane in the Winston Cup are fourth-place Bobby Allison -- who wins from the pole at the Richmond 500 and also finishes first at the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario -- and Canadian newcomer Earl Ross, whose victory is at Martinsville's Old Dominion 500.

Ray Elder is the champion of the NASCAR Winston West Series, being the winner at Corona, Westwood, Cajon, Ascot Park, and Altamont, with 15 more top-five finishes. Jack Ingram is, for the third time in a row, on top of the Late Model Sportsman Division.

At the Indianapolis 500, whose purse is over a million dollars, Johnny Rutherford wins, having started in the twenty-fifth position. He has three other victories this year, including the big-money Schafer 500 at Pocono.

Only thirteen of the 33 cars are still running at the end of the Indy 500, but hardly anyone is so much as injured, which is considered notable at the time. A.J. Foyt gets the pole at the big race and leads 70 laps but does not finish, while future pole-sitter Pancho Carter (who finishes 7th) is named the 500's Rookie of the Year.

Rutherford is also the top money earner in the USAC Championship Car Series, with $382,925, but his point total is second-best.

Bobby Unser, with four victories (including the lucrative California 500 at Ontario) and twelve top-five finishes in total (including second at the Indy 500), wins his second USAC national driving championship and the third for the Unser family.

Mario Andretti, three-time Champ Car Series champion in the '60s, is the USAC Dirt Champion and winner of three out of five races. He also gets three wins in the Formula 5000 series, a USAC-sanctioned road course circuit in which the Englishman Brian Redman is the champion. Andretti is running at the finish in three of his eleven Champ Car Series races, including the Phoenix 150, where he finishes third. In Formula One, he takes seventh place at the Canadian Grand Prix but is disqualified during the United States Grand Prix.

McLaren-Ford's Emerson Fittipaldi, winner of the Brazilian, Belgian, and Canadian Grand Prix races, wins his second Formula One championship. This year is his first with McLaren.

At the Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Niki Lauda gets the first of what will be 25 career Formula 1 victories.

Carlos Reutemann wins the U.S. Grand Prix Oct. 6 at Watkins Glen, where Fittipaldi clinches the world driving championship. Reutemann also wins the South African and Austrian Grand Prix races.

Ronnie Peterson wins the Monaco, French, and Italian Grands Prix.

Bob Gladden wins his first of what will be ten NHRA Pro Stock titles.

Henri Pescarolo and Gerard Larrousse, who together had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in '73, repeat as champions by going around the track -- almost 8 1/2 miles in length -- 338 times in their Matra-Simca. The 24 Hours of Daytona event is not held for the same reason that the Daytona 500 goes through a tithe.

From the Rumble in the Jungle to the Golden Gloves, Jimmy and Chris to Martina, the Golden Bear to the ladies of the links -- three categories come together May 24.