Athletes and Sports Events of the Past Year By JESSE SILVER (Copyright 1967, JTA Inc.) The man who wasn't there was the big sports story of the year. Sandy Koufax retired from base- ball, and the game lost one of its all-time great pitchers. The mag- nificent lefty was probably the most renowned Jewish athlete to have emerged on the American sports scene. Koufax left behind many records, and when his name comes up for consideration, in 1971, he should be a sure thing for the Hall of Fame. Those baseball players who performed during the year in- cluded: Ken Holtzman, Chicago Cubs; Mike Epstein, Washington Senators; Barry Latman, Houston Astros; Larry–Sherry, Houston; Norm Miller, Houston, and Art Shamsky, Cincinnati Reds. Holtzman, a second-year south- paw, spent much of the baseball season fulfilling his National Guard obligation. On • the occasions that he did take the mound, he was first class and gave all indications he was a future 20-game winner. Mike Epstein created much dis- cussion early in the season when he refused to report to the minor leagues. The big slugger, the 1966 League Player of the Year, was traded by Baltimore to the Wash - ington Senators. Major League pitching slowed the big first base- man down, but it still appears he will be a valuable player to the Senators in the years to come. Brightest minor league prospects seemed to be outfielder Richie Scheinblum, Cleveland Indians; pitcher Mickey Abarbanel, Chicago White Sox: and Mark Blomberg. N. Y. Yanks. Blomberg, a high school first baseman, was the first man selected in the free-agent draft. In professional football, quar- terback is the name of the game. The Detroit Lions came up with a new one in Karl Sweeten. Sweetan was called upon after the regular Lion signal caller was injured. lie had a fine rookie season, even though the Lions didn't fare too well. Ron Mix, a standout offensive tackle for the San Diego Chargers for many years, again made the AFL All-Star team, while the Buf- falo Bills had rookie Booth Lusteg do the place kicking. Richie Rich- man did some quarterbacking for Philadelphia of the Continental League. Phil Handler and all-time great Sid Luckman were again assistant ooaches for the Chicago Bears. On the executive side of the pro game, Art Modell, Cleveland Brown owner, was named president of the National Football League, while G. Sydney Halter resigned as com- missioner of the Canadian Football League. Sol Rosen continued as commissioner of the Continental League. Other executives on the pro football front included Sonny Wer- Min, N. Y. Jets; Jerry Wolman, Philadelphia Eagles; Al Davis, Oak- land Raiders; Carroll Rosenbloom. Baltimore Colts; Max Winter, Min nesota Vikings and Eugene Klein and Sam Schulman, San Diego Chargers. On the college football side, sophomore end Glenn Meltzer of Wichita State captured the NCAA pass receiving title with 91 recep- tions. Other standouts included: Mike Blatt, linebacker, Florida State; Al Glaman, tackle, UCLA; Mike Stromberg, end, Temple; Ron Grossman, linebacker, Princeton; Ron Silver, guard, Northwestern; Pete Zeitzoff, end, Princeton; Bruce Weinstein, end, Yale; Neal Wein- stock, fullback, Brown; Al Green- berg, guard, Rutgers; Howie Small, tackle, Rhode Island; Al Pepper, guard, Missouri; Glenn Greenberg, tackle, Yale; Larry Kemelgor, tackle, Rhode Island; Paul Hand- macher, tackle, Georgia; and Brent Kaufman, halfback, Rhode Island. Coach Mary Levy gave William & Mary its first share of the South- ern Conference title in 19 years. Rudy LaRusso of the Los Anglese Lakers and Ron Watts of the BOs- THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS ton Celtics were the only Jewish players in the National Profes- sional Basketball League. Art Hey- man led the Eastern Pro League in scoring. Among the owners in the NBA were Ben Kerner, St. Louis Hawks; Arnold Heft, Baltimore Bullets; Iry Kosloff, Philadelphia 76ers; and Mary Kratter, Boston Celtics, while Red Auerbach was the Celts gen- eral manager. New owners named in the expanded NBA were Bob Brietbard, San Diego, and Eugene Klein and Sam Schulman in Seattle. Adolph Schayes was the supervisor of the NBA officials. A new pro league, the American Basketball League, was formed. Owners announced were Arthur Brown in New York and Gabe Rubin in Pittsburgh. Max Zaslofsky, former NBA great, was named coach of the New York entry. The tallest Jewish basketball player, 7-foot Dave Newmark of Columbia, missed the college season' due to illness. Successful co 11 e g e basketball coaches were Harry Litwack, Tem- ple; Roy Rubin, LIU; Dave Polan- sky, CCNY; Mike Gordon, Adelphi; Hal Blitman, Cheyney State; Sam Cozen, Drexel Tech; and Julie Cohen, Miami-Dade South J.C. - On the international scene Tal Brody, former Illinois All-America, played in Israel for Maccabi-Tel Aviv, while Steve Chubin, Rhode Island, and Ron Green, Vanderbilt, dribbled around in Italy. Alexander Gomelsky was the coach of the winning Russian team at the World Basketball Championships. Israel was almost as successful on the athletic field as on the bat- tlefield. The Israelis enjoyed their greatest international sports tri- umph at the Fifth Asian Games. The 23 members of the Israeli con- tingent collected three gold, five silver and three bronze medals. The gold medals were garnered by Debra Mar c u s and Hannah Shizifi in women's track, and the men's basketball team. The basket- ball squad, led by Tanhum Cohen- Mintz, toured the U.S. just prior to the Asian Games. Texas amateur Marty Fleckman created the big noise in golf when he led the U.S. Open after three rounds. He collapsed in the final round, but still was the low score amateur. Fleckman also competed in England as a member of the U.S. Walker Cup squad. Roger Ginsberg continued as a touring pro, and little Beverly Klass, only 10 years old, caused an uproar when she became the youngest player ever to compete in a major pro golf tourney. She was subsequently barred by the Ladies Professional Golf Asso- ciation because of her age. It is becoming increasingly dif- ficult to keep up with the swim- ming accomplishments of Mark Spitz. The 17-year-old Californian set three individual world records, won five Pan American Games gold medals and captured six in- dividual national titles. He could well become the greatest of all modern swimmers. Richard Schneider won a na- tional indoor title as a member of a Yale relay team, Yvonna Tovis, Avraham Melamed and Gershon Sheffal of Israel won medals in swimming at the Asian Games, while Julio Arango of Colombia won a medal at the Pan-Am Games. • Alfred Hajos-Guttmann, a Hun- garian Olympic champion, and Bill Bachrach, U.S. Olympic coach, were named to the Swimming Hall of Fame. Poland's Irena Kirszenstein con- tinued her outstanding perform- ances on the running track. She won three gold medals at the Euro- pean championships, and tied her own world record in the 200-meter run. Abbie Hoffman of Canada set a women's indoor record in the 880- yard run, and took a bronze medal in the 800 meters at the Pan-Am Games. Best of the U.S. men were Milt Sonsky, javelin; Dick Trichter, dashes; Sam Goldberg, decathlon; Bill Beller, discus; and Eugene Friday, October 6, 1967-13 For Some of the best buys on new Pontiacs Tempests and Comroe, marathon. The English and to a second at the world cham- showed Ray Roseman, mile; Leon pionships. Walters, 440 and 880; and Ian Mor- Mauri Ross was elected to the gan, 440 hurdles, while Italy had Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Flavio Asta, shot and discus, and Sue Hardy was named to the Canada, Mark Arnold, 440 hurdles. women's All-America trapshooting • • • team, and Nehemia Sirkis won a In tennis the foreign contingent shooting for Israel at the Asian continued to lead the way. No. I Games. ranked players in their countries Mark Cohn won gold, silver and were Mike Belkin, Canada; Eleazer bronze gymnastics medals for the Davidman, Israel; Pierre Darmoh, U.S. at the Pan-Am Games, and France; Tom Okker, the Nether- Steve Cohen retained his NCAA lands; and Tova Epstein, Israel. gymnastic title. Ron Barak, USC; Ranked No. 2 were Vicki Berner, Abe Grossfeld, Southern Connecti- Canada; Esme Emanuel, South cut- Art Sherlock, UCLA; and Mike Africa; and Jorgen Ulrich, Den- Jacobson, Navy; all coached gym- mark. Others who were ranked in-_ nastics. dude: Jackie Saul, South Africa; Jim Prigoff retained his national .Abe Segal, South Africa; Monique squash tennis title. Salfati, France; and Torgen Ulrich, Denmark. The best of the Americans were Alan FoxM Schloss, Ron Gold- arilyn man and Aschner. Soccer went big league in the U.S.; and three Israeli players and a referee were involved. David Primo and Shimon Cohen played with Baltimore; and Zeev Zeltser for Los Angeles, where Max Woz- niak was the coach. Menahem Ash- kenazi was the referee. • s Dave Matlin was named presi- dent of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States. Don Spero won the world's sin- gle scull title, and James Fuhrman and Larry Gluckman took gold medals in rowing at the Pan-Am Games. Al Axelrod captured a fencing silver medal in fouls at the Pan- Am. Neal Shapiro was a member of the U.S. equestrian team that com- peted in Europe. Death took 'Barney Ross, Charles Ornstein, Frank Basloe, Harold Labair, Arthur (Young Otto) Sus- kind, George Sheppard, Hans Hal- berstadt and Shalom Zysman. Richard Sofman won a gold medal in wrestling, and Victor Vernik of Argentina took a bronze at the Pan Am Gameg. Harlan Cohen, national women's volleyball coach, led his team to a gold medal at the Pan-Am Games Firebirds ASK FOR SAUL BERCH AT Packer Pontiac 18650 LIVERNOIS 1 block South of 7 UN 3-9300 • George Steinberger and Associates 1967 5728 Best Wishes To The Jewish Community For A Year of Health and Happiness CITRIN OIL COMPANY CITRIN FUEL OIL CORP. DISTRIBUTORS — STANDARD OIL DIVISION OF AMERICAN OIL CO.