Sports74 Gold: Hockey

In the aftermath of a recent event, this section does not get the introduction that had been planned. The point of it was that there's more to hockey in the 1970s than the roughness for which that time in the game's history is remembered.

The Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup in six games against the Boston Bruins. Coach Fred Shero wins the very first Jack Adams Award for his part in bringing this NHL team to the top. Led by team captain Bobby Clarke, the Flyers are the first of the six expansion teams of '67 to win the Cup; eventually, four more of them will.

The Flyers' penalty minute total is by far the most in the NHL: 1,756. Bob Kelly, who scored a goal every 16 games or so in that first Cup-winning season, is credited with winning 14 of his 15 fights. Dave Schultz gets nine minutes for a single incident during a semifinal game when he beat up Brad Park of the home New York Rangers.

Schultz leads the NHL in penalty minutes with a record 348. He'll break that record by accumulating 472 minutes next season.

In the WHA, the Houston Aeros sweep the Chicago Cougars in the Avco Cup final. One of the men driving them to this victory is Gordie Howe, who joined the Aeros along with sons Mark Howe and Marty Howe at the beginning of the season. Gordie, 46 years old by the end of the season, wins the MVP award, adding 31 goals and 69 assists to his huge career totals. Mark is the Rookie of the Year.

The Flyers' Bernie Parent wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs and is one of two goalies to win the Vezina Trophy this year. His record of 47 wins is one that may never be equaled, his mark of 12 shutouts is one reached only six times before in a season of 70 games or longer, and his 1.89 goals-against average is a league best.

With 68 goals and 77 assists, the Bruins' Phil Esposito wins the Art Ross Trophy for the fifth time in a row and the sixth time overall. This is the fifth of six times in a row that he leads the league in goals. The 68-goal mark will remain the second-highest for an NHL season (second to his own personal best) until Mike Bossy does one better in '78-79 and many others eclipse it thereafter.

Phil also wins the Hart Trophy (league MVP as voted by the writers) and the Lester B. Pearson Trophy (MVP as voted by the players). He now has 466 goals and 577 assists for his career.

Tony Esposito, goalie for the Chicago Black Hawks (and Phil's younger brother), gets 10 shutouts and a 2.03 GAA, both runners-up to Parent's marks but far better than the third-best. His performance earns him a share of the Vezina Trophy as the Black Hawks and Flyers each allow exactly 164 goals in 78 games. Incidentally, Chicago is the team Boston beats in the semifinals.

Bobby Orr of the Bruins wins the Norris Trophy (best defenseman) for the seventh of eight times. He leads the league in assists with 90.

The Calder Trophy for best rookie goes to Denis Potvin of the New York Islanders, who has 54 points and 175 penalty minutes.

Another great who makes his Islanders debut this season is Al Arbour, head coach for this season and 12 more to follow.

The first team All-Stars are Parent, Orr, Phil Esposito, Park, Buffalo Sabres left wing Rick Martin, and Bruins right wing Ken Hodge.

The Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play goes for a second time to Bruins captain Johnny Bucyk, who gets only eight penalty minutes in 76 games. This is his second season wearing the C for Boston, the first being 1966-67.

Martin achieves four of the league's 66 hat tricks, all in wins for his Sabres.

In 13 penalty shot situations, five players score, but the only one of those five whose team goes on to win is Juha Widing, whose Los Angeles Kings defeat the Atlanta Flames.

Gerry Cheevers of the Cleveland Crusaders has a WHA-leading four shutouts. He had a league-best five the previous season.

At the NHL All-Star Game in Chicago, the West Division wins 6-4. Garry Unger of the St. Louis Blues is the MVP. Frank Mahovlich plays in his fifteenth consecutive All-Star Game, and it will be his last before he joins the WHA.

The WHA All-Star Game is held in St. Paul, Minnesota. The East wins 8-4, and the MVP is Mike Walton of the local Minnesota Fighting Saints. Walton leads the league in scoring for the season with 57 goals and 60 assists, which means he earns the W.D. "Bill" Hunter Trophy. His goals total also paces the WHA.

Sabres defenseman Tim Horton, who had helped the Toronto Maple Leafs to four Stanley Cup championships in the sixties, dies in a single-car crash Feb. 21 at the age of 44. The car in question was his signing bonus for joining Buffalo prior to the season, and the drive there from Toronto after a game against the Leafs the night before -- a 4-2 Sabres loss in which he was among the three stars -- is cut short in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. His funeral on the 25th attracts a huge crowd, aided by the fact that no NHL games are scheduled that day.

Montreal Canadiens captain Henri Richard reaches 1,000 points Dec. 10, 1973, in a game against the Sabres.

After an All-NHL First Team, GAA-leading, Vezina-winning, Stanley Cup-winning '72-73, Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden does not play this season. Because he feels his team is being too tight, he is working as a law clerk in Toronto for a weekly salary of $134 Canadian.

Dryden also provides color commentary for local coverage of the WHA's Toronto Toros, who have just moved from Ottawa. They draw 4,291 fans a game to Varsity Arena.

In late November 1973, the struggling New York Golden Blades become the Jersey Knights, going from Madison Square Garden to the much smaller Cherry Hill Arena. One of the team's players, Andre Lacroix, a former Flyer now playing on the other side of the Delaware River, leads the WHA in assists with 111.

Among the 1974 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees is Dickie Moore, one of the stars of the '50s Canadiens. Also among them is Soviet coach Anatoly Tarasov, the first Soviet in the Hall.

This is Borje Salming's first season in the NHL. This Swedish defenseman, who is making his debut with the Maple Leafs, will establish that a European can indeed make it in this league. Also entering the NHL are future Hall of Famers Bob Gainey, Lanny McDonald, and Potvin.

Charles Finley, owner of baseball's Oakland A's, no longer owns the NHL's California Golden Seals after the season, when the league buys the Seals back.

Alex Delvecchio (24 years in the NHL), Dean Prentice (22), and Gump Worsley (21) all retire. Gordie Howe's record of 25 seasons in the NHL is safe, and his 26th will be '79-80.

In the American Hockey League, the Hershey Bears, a Pittsburgh Penguins affiliate, are the champions. Twenty-year-old Rick Middleton of the runner-up Providence Reds (a Rangers farm club) is named the AHL's rookie of the year. In eight years' time, he will score 51 goals for the Bruins. The MVP of the AHL is 38-year-old Art Stratton of the Rochester Americans, a former NHL player.

In the Central Hockey League, the Dallas Black Hawks (a Chicago affiliate) are the champions. The Central League MVP is 25-year-old Chico Resch of the Fort Worth Wings. The Islanders call the netminder up during the season. The CHL rookie of the year, 28-year-old Claire Alexander of the Oklahoma City Blazers, has played his first full season of pro hockey after being a senior amateur for six years, and in '74-75, he will make his NHL debut with the Blazers' parent club, the Maple Leafs.

Herb Brooks wins his first NCAA title as Minnesota coach. Brad Shelstad, the Gophers' goalie, is Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

The Soviet Union wins its thirteenth IIHF championship. This is the Soviets' second of three in a row immediately following Czechoslovakia snapping the Russians' long streak in '72. Vladislav Tretyak is named best goaltender of the tournament for the first of four times, and this season he also wins his first of five MVP awards for the top Soviet league.

In junior hockey, the Regina Pats of the WCHL win the Memorial Cup by defeating the Quebec Remparts (QMJHL) 7-4. The other participants are the OHA's St. Catharines Black Hawks.

Future Hall of Famers in the Western Canada Hockey League: Bernie Federko is starting a three-year run with the Saskatoon Blades, and Doug Wilson is making his juniors debut for the Winnipeg Clubs.

Thirteen-year-old Wayne Gretzky is already recognized as the next big thing in hockey, and he's getting some media coverage, including an appearance on CBC radio's This Country in the Morning March 25. He says he doesn't see himself making a million dollars someday.

As we draw closer to the golden jubilee, expect a sporting jamboree. Chess, bowling, lacrosse, fishing, and motorcycle jumps are some of the topics in the next entry, to be posted Dec. 29.

EDIT 6/28/26 7:20 a.m.: Second reference to Potvin is now not given bold text or first name.

Less Than 1,001 Jersey Nights

The following contains a mix of first-hand and second-hand speculation.

Depending on the source, either November or December marks the 50th anniversary of what some may consider the first big-time hockey team in the state of New Jersey. They didn't play there for long.

In the fall of 1973, the New York Golden Blades, who had once hoped to play in the Nassau Coliseum before the Islanders blocked their hopes of doing so, were still enduring a sub-optimal run at Madison Square Garden. The team suffered from mismanagement to the point that, for the second time, the World Hockey Association took over its New York franchise.

Going by the figure of 24 games as the Golden Blades, this team became the Jersey Knights for its Dec. 5 road game against the Houston Aeros, then started playing at the arena in Cherry Hill, in the part of the Garden State near Philadelphia, the next day. The first of 26 home games was a 3-2 win over the Cleveland Crusaders.

Andre Lacroix, brought in over the summer of '73, was a star for the Blades and Knights, leading the league in assists for the season and being placed between Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe on the all-WHA starting line at the end of it all. Future Hall of Famer Harry Howell, in his early forties, was a player-coach.

The Knights finished last in the East with a record of 32-42-4, and unlike the fifth-place Quebec Nordiques, they didn't even come close to making the playoffs.

Their 4-2 loss to the Crusaders on the last day of March turned out to be the last game in New Jersey, and the team once valued as the one that would establish a foothold for the WHA in New York relocated to San Diego. The Mariners won their first four home games in October 1974.

Full post on hockey coming next Friday.

Sports74 Gold: NFL 1973

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]

[EDIT 1/3/2024: Small adjustments to the first entry, plus a late addition]

Fifty years ago, the playoffs went into January at a time of 14-game seasons and only one wild card. These days, the champion team isn't decided until a month later.

The Miami Dolphins defend their title by beating the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 at Super Bowl VIII. Larry Csonka runs for 145 yards on 33 carries and scores both Miami touchdowns. As was the case last time, the Dolphins never lose the lead, and the other team's only score is in the fourth quarter.

With a record-setting 2,003 rushing yards (including 250 in the first game of the season Sept. 16), O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills is the consensus MVP of the NFL. Simpson's mark is 140 yards better than Jim Brown's 1963 record, and each man was playing in a 14-game season. The record will last until 1984, by which time there will be 16 games in a season.

LATE ADDITION 1-3-24, 6:19-20 p.m.: Alan Page, the Vikings' All-Pro tackle, is named best defensive player in a Newspaper Enterprise Association poll. He won that award and the AP's version in 1971, but for '73, the AP instead chooses Dolphins safety Dick Anderson.

The AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and the league's Rookie of the Year as selected by Pro Football Weekly is the Vikings' Chuck Foreman, who goes 801 yards on 182 carries and gets 362 yards on 37 receptions.

The UPI Coach of the Year for the NFC is Chuck Knox, who brings the Los Angeles Rams from 6-7-1 to 12-2 in his first year with the team. For the AFC, it's John Ralston of the Denver Broncos, a second-year coach who brings his team from 5-9 to 7-5-2.

Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys is the leader in quarterback rating for the year of its introduction with 94.6. The Vikings' Fran Tarkenton is second with 93.2. Roman Gabriel of the Philadelphia Eagles -- who leads the NFL with 3,219 passing yards and ties with Staubach for the passing touchdowns lead -- is fifth with 86.3.

Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler has an .862 completion percentage in a game against the Baltimore Colts, breaking the single-game record .857 Sammy Baugh set in '45.

Staubach's .626 completion percentage for the season is, and will be, his personal best.

The receptions leader is Harold Carmichael of the Eagles with 67 for 1,116 yards.

Offensive guards launching Hall of Fame careers this year: John Hannah of the New England Patriots and Joe DeLamielleure of the Bills. Wide receivers doing the same: Cliff Branch of the Raiders and Drew Pearson of the Cowboys.

Johnny Unitas, quarterback for the San Diego Chargers this season only, wraps up his great career. His 471 passing yards give him a total of 40,239. Unitas' final completion is a seven-yard pass, his only one of a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Meanwhile on the Chargers, new quarterback and future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts makes his debut.

New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath misses eight games, seven in a row due to a separated shoulder. In the 1974 offseason, a commercial for Beautymist Panty Hose with him modeling said wares is broadcast on television.

Ray Guy of the Raiders punts 3,127 yards in 69 attempts to begin his career as the century's best punter.

Don Maynard, a former Jets receiver now with the St. Louis Cardinals and playing his final season, makes an 18-yard reception Sept. 16 at Veterans Stadium. This is the 663rd catch for him, and his total is brought to 11,834 yards. Both are records at this point. He makes no receptions in his only other game.

Paul Warfield of the Dolphins scores four touchdowns in the final game of the regular season Dec. 15. He gets six passes for 103 yards at home against the Detroit Lions. His 11 TDs this season are among 29 receptions.

John Brodie finishes his career with 31,548 passing yards and 214 passing touchdowns. For now, he can be considered the second-best quarterback the San Francisco 49ers have ever had, with Y.A. Tittle being the first.

Fred Dryer forces two safeties for the Rams in a game against the Green Bay Packers Oct. 21.

Besides Unitas and Maynard, other retiring players who will make it to the Hall of Fame one day are Bob Brown, Dick Butkus, Gene Hickerson, and Leroy Kelly. This is also Weeb Ewbank's last year coaching.

Extensive renovations of Yankee Stadium begin, and progress on the new stadium in New Jersey hasn't gotten far past the groundbreaking, so the New York Giants play part of this season and all of the next at the Yale Bowl. Their final game in the Bronx is a 23-23 tie with the Eagles Sept. 23, and their first New Haven home game of the regular season is a 16-14 loss to the Packers Oct. 7.

Rich Stadium, home of the Bills, opens Aug. 17 to a crowd of 80,020. The Bills lose the preseason game to the Washington Redskins 37-21 at this new stadium just outside of Buffalo.

George Burman, Redskin center, claims a third of his team is on amphetamines.

At the Pro Bowl in Kansas City, Mo., Garo Yepremian of the Dolphins kicks five field goals for all of the AFC's 15 points. The NFC scores the game's only touchdown, but the blue conference comes up two points short.

This is the first season in which first-down markers have rubber caps at the bottom instead of metal points. Some call this the Bubba Smith Rule after the Colts defensive end who was injured by getting caught in the chains at a 1972 preseason game in Tampa and missed the subsequent season because of it.

Pete Gent's North Dallas Forty is published. The novel is a fictionalized, autobiographical account of being an NFL player.

Starting this 1973 season, there are no blackouts for games that sell out 72 hours before kickoff. Although there are 63 percent more no-shows in '73 than in '72, it reportedly isn't as bad for the NFL as Commissioner Pete Rozelle will continue to say it is.

Two days after a post-season owners' meeting in Florida Feb. 25 in which Rozelle announces a four-year deal worth $60 million a year with the networks, the commissioner gets a ten-year extension on his contract and is given power to arbitrate.

For Super Bowl VIII, the least expensive ticket at Rice Stadium is $15. It will set someone back at least $20 to be at Tulane Stadium for Super Bowl IX.

Stevens Wright, whose wife works for NFL Properties, designs a new logo for the Bills, one whose stripe is what some see as a potent suggestion of the bison's movement. The team will begin to use it in 1974.

Hockey entry, including some minor-league material, coming Dec. 8

Dedicated to the memory of Steven H. Miles, 1960-2023; "I'm gonna be like you, Dad"

Sports74 Gold: College Football '73

[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]

[EDIT 12/31/2023: Changing title]

[EDIT 2/9/2024: Changing title again]

Every three weeks, I will post a newly expanded version of the retrospective from 2013-14. This is the first in an 18-part series, featuring not just the greatest hits, but the greatest misses. What follows is a generous sampling of the season that ended with the bowl games of 1973 and '74.

Notre Dame defeats Alabama 24-23 in the Sugar Bowl. The AP declares the 11-0 Fighting Irish champions, but the coaches' poll sticks with the 11-1 Crimson Tide.

Penn State defeats LSU 16-9 in the Orange Bowl. Nittany Lions halfback John Cappelletti wins the Heisman Trophy as well as its less prestigious parallel, the Maxwell Award. The consensus All-American running back has 1,522 yards on 286 rushes and 17 rushing touchdowns.

Ohio State wins the Rose Bowl 42-21 against USC. The Buckeyes actually tie for the Big Ten championship with archrival Michigan, but a 6-4 vote among the conference schools' athletic directors determines Ohio State will play in Pasadena. Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler says "petty jealousies were involved."

Buckeyes offensive tackle John Hicks wins the Outland Trophy for best interior lineman and the Lombardi Award for best overall lineman. Hicks is also the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

Alabama's Bear Bryant is named Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association. The FWAA gives Johnny Majors of Pittsburgh that honor, as the Panthers improved from 1-10 in '72 to 6-5-1, including a Fiesta Bowl loss to Arizona State, in '73.

Tom Osborne coaches Nebraska for the first of what will prove to be 25 years (finishing the initial campaign with a 19-3 Cotton Bowl win against Texas). The Cornhuskers go 9-2-1, as they had the year before, having slipped from going undefeated in '70 and '71.

Barry Switzer begins his 17 years as Oklahoma head coach. Steve Davis begins a three-season, 32-1-1 run as Sooners QB.

This is the first season as Pitt head coach for Majors and the first of four years on the Panthers for running back Tony Dorsett, both of whom will help the team win a national title in 1976.

The consensus All-American quarterback is Dave Jaynes of Kansas with 196 completions for 2,349 yards and 14 touchdowns. His marks in the Big 8 (172 completions, 2,131 yards, 13 touchdowns) are tops in the conference.

The passing leader and total offense leader is Jesse Freitas of San Diego State (Pacific Coast Athletic Association, 9-1-1) with 227 completions in 11 games. He throws for 2,293 yards and 21 touchdowns, and his total offense is 2,901 yards.

Mark Kellar of independent, 6-5 Northern Illinois is the leading rusher in the University Division with 1,719 yards in 11 games. In second and third place for that stat are Dorsett (1,670) and Cappelletti (1,591).

Jay Miller of 5-6 Western Athletic Conference member Brigham Young University gets 22 catches in a game Nov. 3 against New Mexico. This is a record that will stand until 1994. Miller is the receptions leader for the season with 100 in 11 games. He has 1,181 yards and 8 TDs.

During the Texas-Texas A&M game Nov. 22, Aggies center Ricky Seeker isn't on the field when he's needed with seconds to go before halftime. Seeker expected the team to try a field goal and use a different center for that, but he was wrong. Texas leads 21-7 at halftime and wins 42-13.

Florida State goes 0-11, with its players having been subjected to "The Room" prior to spring practice. Head coach Larry Jones would have players do drills and fight as they bent to avoid chicken wire just four feet above the floor. Twenty-eight players quit the team, and at the end of it all, FSU is on probation and Jones is no longer the head coach.

This is the University of Kentucky's first year at Commonwealth Stadium.

In the College Division (as opposed to the University Division), the first-ever Division II champions are the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech. The first-ever Division III champions are the Tigers of Wittenberg University.

In the Senior Bowl, a postseason all-star game, Lynn Swann of USC (Pac-8 leader with 37 receptions) catches the winning touchdown pass for the North. The Pittsburgh Steelers will pick the consensus All-American in the first round of the '74 draft.

From passer rating to pantyhose commercials, the NFL in 1973 is coming Nov. 17.

Coming to Your Town

In three weeks begins an expanded version of this sports retrospective, full of winners and losers, milestones and useless stats, spectacular worldwide events and obscure championships.

Sports74 is about to go gold.

Here's a compilation to start your quest for musical accompaniment, nine timeless rock tracks that just happen to have been some of the hit records of the year on which we're focused. It's not in stores or from K-Tel, only on this unlisted playlist.

Preliminary Schedule

10/27/23   Coll. Football '73

11/17/23   NFL '73

12/08/23   Hockey '73-74

12/29/23   Miscellaneous

01/19/24   Pro Basket. '73-74

02/09/24   Coll. Basket. '73-74

03/01/24   American League

03/22/24   National League

04/12/24   Baseball Misc.

05/03/24   Track, Horses, Autos

05/24/24   Golf, Tennis, Boxing

06/14/24   Soccer

07/05/24   WFL and CFL

07/26/24   International

08/16/24   Coll. Football '74

09/06/24   NFL '74

09/27/24   Hockey '74-75

10/18/24   Basketball '74-75

11/08/24   Bibliography

EDIT 11:41 p.m.: Made to better fit a mobile phone screen.

EDIT 12-25-24, 6:42-3 a.m.: Introduced "music" label.