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.