Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1964
University Daily Kansan Page 9
Olympics Finish Second to Clay in 1964
By Russ Corbitt
"I am the greatest!"
Shouting his own praises to the world, Cassius Clay had the last laugh on many critics who branded him as a boisterous brag-gart. The talkative Clay won a technical knockout victory over "Big Bear" Sonny Liston, thus earning for himself boxing's heavyweight championship in 1964's top sports story.
Clay's victory was awarded the No.1 position last week in the voting for the top sports stories of the year, conducted in a class in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information.
Second-place honors went to a team that usually finishes second—in the Olympic Games. But this year the American team dominated the gold medal competition at Tokyo, besting "Russia's best," 36-30. But the Soviets again won the overall medal race, collecting 96 to the United States' 90. The voting was for the Games as a whole, which has a crack at being the top story only once every four years.
A TRANSACTION which may revolutionize "America's favorite sport"—the purchase of 80 per cent of the New York Yankee franchise by Columbia Broadcasting system for $11.2 million—was the
No. 3 story. Television viewers probably can expect to see the Yankees even more next season and in the years to come.
Close behind in fourth place was another top baseball story. The St. Louis Cardinals won eight straight games in the National League stretch to vault into first place in the league standings. The Redbirds clinched their first pennant since 1946 on the last day of the season, and then went on to defeat the Yankees in seven games in the World Series.
Only a few votes separated the next four stories, but they were far behind the ton four.
NO. 5 WAS related to the year's second best story, but was a top newsmaker in its own right. A former KU track star, now a U.S. Marine lieutenant, was an unknown contender in the 10,000 meter run at the Olympic Games. But slender Billy Mills made his presence internationally known by becoming the first American to ever win the Olympic race, breaking the existing record en route to the Games' biggest unset.
"America's favorite sport" scored again to capture the sixth spot. The day after the World Series ended, Johnny Keane of the world-champion Cardinals announced his resignation. That afternoon, the Yankee manager, Yogi Berra, was fired. Following
up the widely publicized changes, Keane was hired to direct the Yankees next season, and Berra accepted the managerial position vacated by his former field leader, Casey Stengel, with the Mets.
Missing No. 6 and No. 8 each by only one vote out of approximately 200 was the year's seventh best story, and one close to home. Jim Ryun of Wichita, only 17 years old, ran the fastest mile ever turned in by a high school student. Ryun clocked 3:59 in the Compton (Calif.) Relays, but took eighth place as seven college runners finished ahead of him, all breaking the once-coveted four-minute mile.
Position No. 8 went to the only basketball story to break into the top ten this year. The scrappy little UCLA team that visited Kansas last season for the Sunflower Doubleheader went on to rack up 30 consecutive victories and become the first undefeated national champions since Ohio State in 1961—and the Bruins from California were not even ranked in the top 20 in the pre-season polls. UCLA then defeated Duke, 88-83, in the NCAA finals, recording the highest NCAA final score in history.
Baseball—or a reasonable facsimile thereof—again scored for No. 9 in the form of Kansas City Athletics owner Charles Finley.
Betas, ROWB Win Hill Titles
Beta Theta Pi won its seventh consecutive "A" Hill Championship in intramural touch football Monday by rolling over the Laws, 35-0.
The passing of John Pat Atkinson again paced the Betas to the title, as the Topeka senior threw for all but two of the game's points. Parker Young picked up the other two on a safety,
Bill Geiger, who has been one of Atkinson's favorite targets for the last three years, led the scoring by snaring two touchdown passes and another for an extra point. Young, John Crowell and Mike Vineyard were on the receiving ends of the other three Atkinson touchdown throws. Crowell and Guy Dresser each caught an extra point pass.
BUT THE Beta B's, winner of the "B" Hill Championship for the last five years, didn't fare quite so well yesterday. ROWB upended the dending champs by a 20-13 score.
Gene Shofner led the ROWB team to the Hill title with seven
Nads, Laws, UNCLE Win
UNCLE defeated Stephenson, 65-36, in one of yesterday's "A" intramural basketball's lopsided scores. Shanks was the UNCLE high man with 12, and McFarland and Harold Kackley backed him up with 10 each. John Gill was Stephenson's high man, match Shanks' 12.
The Laws trounced the 69ers, doubling the score to win 64-32. Holland led the Law scoring with 15 points. Steve Wickcliff hit 13 and Mike Berkley brought in 12. Gene Barnhart and Bill Bretz of the 69ers hit eight each.
The Nads rolled over JRP's Hoophangers, 50-37. Bob Kritzer added 17 to the Nad score while Jerry Poore contributed 14. Hoophanger John Garber hit 12 and teammate Joe Sullivan got 10.
AFROTC FLEW to easy victory over Battenfeld in "B" action, 33-14. Greg Wilder gave the fly-boys 12 and Tim Buchanan, AFROTC's ace quarterback earlier this year, proved his versatility as he totaled 10 points. Larry Spreer hit six for Battenfeld, all from the charity stripe. Chuck Turpen and Jerry Neisbaum added four points apiece and finished up the scoring for Battenfeld.
The Grodies downed the Bohongers, 31-21. Kruse highpointed for the winners with 10, while Porter Guttery put in nine. Bob Williamson. Bohonger, led his team with nine.
points. Bill Cowgill and Watson accounted for the other two ROWB touchdowns, and John Deakins picked up the extra point. Charles Kraemer and Randall Viot each tallied a touchdown for the Betas, and George Benson scored the lone extra point.
ROWB advanced to the Hill playoff by defeating Navy, 19-0, for the Independent "B" title Monday. Watson was the high scorer in that game with seven points. Shofner and Gillan picked up the other two touchdowns.
The Bets won the Fraternity "B" title Monday by downing Beta Theta Pi No. 2, 22-6. Viot led the way for the winners with a pair of touchdowns, Fred Littoo tallied seven points, followed by Ralph Wentz with two and Bob Misk with one.
Tom Payne scored the only touchdown for the losers.
THE FOOTBALL playoffs were delayed several weeks because of snow and Thanksgiving vacation. Competition has now been completed in the first sequence of the fall intramural program.
Chip Wood and Mike Sollenberger won the tennis doubles title, and Bill Terry won the singles championship.
Bill Bliss and Mike Mankin were the champs in handball doubles, and the singles title went to Jim Coleman.
The horseshoes doubles championship was won by Tom Foster and Bill Kitch, and the singles title by Justin Hill.
Ludy Harmon was the badminton champion.
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Controversial Charlie was denied permission by the American League to move his team to Louisville, Ky., and continued ranting and raving throughout the year about one thing or another.
A B P D E Z H Q K M
Rounding out the top ten was a Big Eight Conference story. Bud Wilkinson, one of the winningest coaches in college football, resigned as head coach at the University of Oklahoma, and a week later quit as the school's athletic director. Gomer Jones was named the new coach for the Sooners, as Wilkinson attempted to transfer his winning ways to the field of politics.
Bud was defeated in his bid for U.S. Senator, but watch for him to get in the winning column in some field in 1965. He just isn't accustomed to losing.
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