T esday, January 27, 1970 'THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Seven
thle cf evilC
______ __ d~icipe
__ Bill Cusumano_
Green basketball
in the pros
Professional football drafts college athletes today and if the
past is any indication a lot, of guys are going to be worth a lot
more in the upcoming months. Being a high draftee means get-
ting a fat contract.
The same thing happens every year and all of us would
be jocks wish we had stuck to football. Or we at least wish
we had become business managers so we could pull in that
cool 10 per cent.
But this time around I'm not even going to give football a
second.thought. Instead I'm in pain for not staying with basket-
ball because that's where the big coin is. If only I could have
been a superstar I could be pulling in those six figures.
Today basketball players are in the same beautiful position
that football players had before the NFL-AFL merger. The ABA
needs top flight talent to draw crowds and stay in business and
they are willing to pay for it.
THE ABA is no two bit operatioin like the defunct
ABL was. The owners have bread and want to be big time.
They came within inches of getting Lew Alcindor last year
and don't plan to make the same mistake this time around.
They will be bidding in the stratosphere and forcing the
S NBA to keep pace.
It's a perfect strategy, one in which the ABA can't lose. If
the NBA does not want to get involved in a bidding war the rebel
league will pick up many star players. On the other hand, even
if, the NBA wins a price fight the cost of doing it may force the
owners' to seriously consider merger. As long as the ABA can
stay in existence while forcing the NBA to cough up monstrous
salaries, the pressure for merger is bound to increase.
The established NBA has tended to look down upon the
young league and insist that it will never last. But lately rumors
of merger have gotten stronger and if the owners haven't begun
to totally accept the ABA they had better start. Certain events
over the last two years have helped to put the ABA on a much
firmer fooing than the NBA ever imagined it would attain.
First they won therbattle of the courts over Rick Barry,
proving conclusively that the raiding of players was legally
possible. Since that time other NBA stars have inked con-
tracts"with the upstarts and the ABA is patiently awaiting
their arrival.
Zelmo Beatty of the Atlanta Hawks sat out this season and
is going to do his stuff next year with the Los Angeles Stars.
Bill Cunningham of the 76ers is headed for Carolina where he
was a star in his college days and Dave Bing of the Pistons will
return to Washington, scene of !his high school triumphs. The
cstatus of another 76er, Luke Jackson, is in limbo since he signed
contracts with both leagues..
The jumping of these stars does not bode well for the NBA.
A precedent has been set and other established players, such
as John Havlicek of the Boston Celtics, have used it as a lever
to pull more money out of their present clubs. The ABA has
even waved the lure of owning a franchise under Wilt Chamber-
lain's very wealthy nose.
Obviously wllat the ABA is trying to do is build itself upon
superstars. By stealing the NBA's top athletes they hit the
senior circuit in its most vulnerable area. Very few teams by
themselves can draw good crowds, the Pistons being a prime
example. Either a super winner like the Knicks is needed, or a
star of the caliber of Oscar Robertson or Jerry West. People like
Barry and Cunninghan can provide such a catalyst and the
NBA knows it.
To prove the last point a person only has to look at the
court cases. Fights have resulted over Jackson, and Barry
and action has been threatened on Bing and Cunningham.
But was anything done when players like Paul Long .and
Tommy Kron switched leagues? Probably most people don't
even know that they did at one point in their careers.
What should scare the NBA even more is that the ABA has
survived while waiting for the stars and has even developed some
of its own. The league gave a good indication of the strength
that it has developed when it lost its first star, Connie Hawkins,
to the NBA and kept right on going! Several franchises already
are in position to operate in the black.
Indiana and Carolina have proved to be very strong, taking
advantage of two of the nation's basketball hotbeds. Should these
franchises obtain Rick Mount and Pete Maravich, two college
superstars with local appeal, they could equal the gate of almost
any team in the NBA outside of New York.
Other ABA franchises are not in the position of Indiana
and Carolina but several are building up and others have
enough money to keep fighting. -Denver is developing a
strong local following and now have a legitimate superstar
in Spencer Haywood.
Haywood, of course, was stolen straight out 6f college but
the ABA Chas also grabbed some young stars that the NBA
wanted. Last year Miami signed Larry Cannon, the Chicago
Bulls' top draft choice, and dealt a strong blow to the NBA.
The senior league found out that the money war was in earnest.
This season should be even more fun. The ABA is becoming
fairly stable and can devote efforts to signing stars. They sold
their All-Star game to CBS and it is not unlikely that they could
get a full season TV contract if they garner some of this year's
glamour prospects. New commissioner Jack Dolph formerly ran
the show at CBS Sports and he just might have some influence
in that area.
It is fairly well established that the ABA has already drafted
and that they parcelled players out along geographic lines.
Rumor has it that Carolina has the rights to Maravich, Indiana
to Mount, the New York Nets to Bob Lanier and so on. Just a
few signatures from players of their caliber and the new league
will be cooking. It will undoubtedly be here to stay at that point
and could very easily force a merger.
But the real winners are the athletes. Contracts in six
figures should be easy to come by for the top players and
even the lesser lights have a strong bargaining position.
Former Vice-President Nixon might have to move in to stop
the resulting inflation..
So you see why I wish I had been a basketball superstar. Oh
well, I guess there are other ways to make money.. Hey Rudy,
do need a good manager? I'll only take 5 per cent.
Ron Johnson
traded
to
N.Y.
LOSE TWO:
Gophers too much
for weakened Icers
Warfield
goes
to Dolphins
By Tie Associated Press
Former Michigan halfback Ron Johnson was traded
yesterday by the Cleveland Browns to the New York Giants.
The Browns sent Johnson, their first choice in last year's
college football draft, defensive tackle Jim Kanicki, and
linebacker Wayne Meylan to the Giants in exchange for
flanker Homer Jones.
In a separate deal, the Browns sent split end Paul War-
field to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for the Dolphins
top draft pick.
Miami has third choice in the pro football draft today
behind the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears. The
Browns plan to use the choice
for a top college quarterback
to back up Bill Nelson. The
Browns are expected to pick
Mike Phipps of Purdue.
Johnson, 22, broke into the
Browns' starting lineup after end-
ing a long preseason holdout and'
played regularly in the backfield
with Leroy Kelly. He lost the
starting assignment to Bo Scott,
ex-Ohio State and Canadian foot-
ball star, in the next to last game
of the season.
While at Michigan, Johnson
broke Tom Harmon's rushing rec-
ord. With the Browns, he ran for
472 yards, an average of 3.4 yards
per carry, and scored seven times.
Johnson also caught 24 passes for
164 yards.;
"Johnsori should help us in the
backfield;" commented Giants'
Coach Alex Webster, "especially
in view of the fact that Tucker
Fredrickson and Junior Coffey
have knee problems.
"I hate to lose a player of Homer
Jones' ability," Webster continued,
"but we saw an opportunity to
strengthen our club at three po-
sitions."
Webster said that with Kanicki
taking care of the Giants' press-
ing needs for a defensive lineman,
he can now use his number one
draft pick to take the best player
available.
Kanicki, a former Michigan
State star and the Browns second
draft choice in 1963, missed most
of last season with a broken leg.
He was a first string player for
six of his seven years on the
Browns.
Warfield, 27, an Ohio State
star, was-drafted by the Browns
in 1964. He caught 215 passes for
44 touchdowns and 4,346 yards, an
average of 20.2 yards per catch,
while with the Browns.
Browns' Coach Blanton Colliery
has been quoted as saying: "Paul
runs the best, most precise, most
detailed patterns of anyone T
know,"
"Warfield is one of the top re-
ceivers in .pro football," Dolphin
Coach George Wilson said in
Miami. "He gives us the outside
speed that we need."
"Paul has played so well for us
and is such a high type person
that I hate like the devil to con-
sider any trade involving him,"
said Browns owner Arthur Modell.
"However, it was the overwhelm-
ing consensus of all of our com-
bined thinking that we had need
for backup protection behind
quarterback Bill Nelson."
In a prepared statement last
night, Warfield said: "It comes as
a great surprise to me to learn
NIGHT EDITOR:
ERIC SIEGEL
Miami Dolphins. However, I sup-
pose this is one of the risks that a
professional athlete takes. This
move will mean severing the won-
derful relationships that I have
had with my teammates, coaches,
the Cleveland Browns' manage-
ment and the Cleveland fans.
"The trade also presents a num-
ber of difficult economic problems
in connection with the various
business involvements that both
my wife and I have here in Cleve-
land."
Warfield said he hoped "that
there will be a satisfactory solu-
tion to the problems raised."
"Frankly, I look forward to
playing with the Miami Dolphins
and hope that I can be a valuable
addition to their team," Warfield
added.
In another deal completed yes-
terday, place - kicking specialist
Bruce Gosset was traded by the
Los Angeles Rams to the San
Francisco 49'ers for defensive back
Kermit Alexander and a second
round draft choice.
By JOEL GREER
"They played their guts out,"
viewed a depressed Coach Ren-
frew after a series that nearly
destroyed all chances for a Michi-
gan regular-season WCHA cham-
pionship. The double loss dropped'
the Wolverines to a 7-7 league
record and are four games behind
the league leading Minnesota
Gophers (11-3).
The icers ventured up to the cold
country hoping to gain some
ground on the Gophers. However,
the flu bug struck early in the
week and practice was unusually
ineffective. Michigan boarded the
plane minus the services of Michael
Jarry, a fine freshman defense-
man, who was too ill to make the
trip.
Traveling with only four de-
fensemen, added pressure was,
placed on Jerry Lefebvre to fill in
for the ailing Jarry. Lefebvre play-,
ed admirably but the weakness on;
the club all week showed as i3hys-
ically four defensemen were not
enough.;
FRIDAY NIGHT'S battle feat-;
ured everything you like to see at;
a hockey game and everything you
don't. There intermediate moments
of hard skating but most of the
time both teams played slow-mo-
tion hockey.'
With the breaks Michigan had;
they were destined to win, but the
way they played, they deserved to
lose. Fate finally caught up with
them and they fell to a back
checking Minnesota squad 8-6.
Late in the second period, to the,
amazement of* the 5,065 rowdy
partisans a brawl broke out along
the Minnesota bench. It started
when Bernie Gagnon and super-,
freshman Mike Antonovich, who1
scored ahat-trick, crashed heavily
into the boards. Immediately sticks
raised and punches flurried. Out
of the maze of players Brian Slack
and Tom Marra began swinging
their sticks at the crowd. It seem-
ed to bel one irate fan who kept'
taunting the Wolverines and the
sticks came again. "He emptied a
Iwine glass in my face," mused an
angry Slack after the game.
FINALLY ORDER was restored
and the referee tried to assess
penalties. Bernie Gagnon was first
to enter the box while other play-
ers simply milled around.
After several anxious moments
the battle stopped and many row-
dy fans escorted out by Minnea-
polis' finest.
It was an eerie sight as the
vicious fans began pelting the
Michigan speedster with all sorts
of debris. Paper cups, programs
and popcorn all were directed at
theenraged Gagnon. Gagnon sat
there and took it as the fans con-
tinued their assault. He .finally
exploded and he rose flailing his
stick at anyone he could see. Both
benches emptied and the police,
officials and players from both
teams were involved.
EVEN THOUGH the Wolverines
came out of the first period with
a 1-0 lead it took them until the
seven minute mark to get their
first shot on goal.
Minnesota converted two nice
passing plays midway through the
second period to go out in front.
Bart Buetow got the first while
Antonovich was credited with the
second.
Minnesota controlled the play
throughout the period until Shaw
scored on a 70-foot shot that fool-
ed the Gopher goalie Murray Mc-
Lachlan. Minnesota went back in
a shell and the Wolverines added
two more to finish the period lead-
ing 4-2.
MICHIGAN'S defense complete-
ly collapsed in the final stanza as
Minnesota tallied six time to win
it going away.
Saturday's game saw Michigan
gain a 3-0 lead in the first period
before completely falling apart as
the Gophers went on to win, 6-3.
'We were just tired," explained
Shaw after the game.
Probably the key of ;the whole
series was the Inability of the
Michigan forwards to back check.
They were consistantly caught up
the ice and the Michigan defense
could not handle the onrushing
Gophers.
WELCOME
STUDENTS!
Let us style your hair to fit
Your persona lity.. .
* 8 BARBERS, no waiting
" OPEN 6 DAYS
The Dascola Barbers
Arborland-Campus
Maple Villaqe
-Associated Press
How high is high?
Michigan's freshman polevaulter Larry Wolfe clears the bar
at 15 feet in the U.S. Track and Field Federation midwest
meet Saturday in Colombus, Ohio. Wolfe took a third in the
event, as two other Wolverines, sprinter Gene Brown and
high-jumper John Mann, copped firsts. Brown's time of
6 seconds flat in the 60 yard dash was just a tenth of a
second off the world record while Mann cleared 6-8 in the
high jump.
KENTUCKY STILL SECOND
UCLA bolsters No1. 1 ranking
By The Associated Press
UCLA received a scare last
week but still managed to in-
crease its hold on the No. 1
ranking yesterday in The Asso-
ciated Press major-college basket-
ball poll.
The unbeaten Bruins barely beat
upstart UC-Santa Barbara 89-80
Friday night before rolling to their
14th straight triumph, a 115-77
thrashing of Wyoming and were
rewarded with 29 first place bal-
lots and 634 points in the nation-
wide balloting by sportscasters and
sports writers.
Kentucky, 14-0, retained its No.
2 ranking but picked up only three
firsts and 568 votes. The Wildcats,
who whipped Louisiana State Sa-
turday 109-96, had received four
first place votes last week.
St. Bonaventure, unbeaten in
12 games, swapped places w i t h
12-1 South Carolina on the
strength of two impressive victor-
ies last week. The Gamecocks, idle
last week, drew 442 points w h 11 e
the Bonnies advanced to third with
464.
New Mexico State, 16-1, and
Jacksonville, 13-0, remained in the
Nos. 5 and 6 spots and N o r t h
Carolina, 12-3, held ninth place.
Houston's loss to St. Mary's,
Tex., dropped the Cougars record
to 12-2 and pushed them f r o m
seventh last week to No. 12. Mar-
quette, 13-1, replaced Houston,
moving up from eighth while
North Carolina State, 13-1, edged
up two notches from No. 10.
Illinois, 12-2, idle last w e e k,
was the only new comer to 'the
Top 10,' just making it ahead of
No. 11 Davidson, after being 12th
last week.
Following Davidson, 13-2, w e r e
Houston, Ohio U., Penn., South-
ern Califoria, Drake, Columbia,
Florida State, Kansas State and
Iowa.
Additions to the Top 20 were
Drake, Columbia and Florida
State, replacing Duke, 16th last
week, Louisville, 18th and No.
20 Notre Dame.
The Top Twenty, with first-place
votes in parentheses, season record and
total points. Points awarded for first
15 places based on 20-18-16-14-12-10-9-8-
7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
1. UCLA (29) 14-0 634
2. Kentucky (3) 14-0 568
3. St. Bonaventure 12-0 464
4. South Carolina 12-1 442
5. New Mexico State 16-1 343
6. Jacksonville 13-0 328
7. Marquette 13-1 283
8. North Carolina State 13-1 205
9. North Carolina 12-3 186
10. Illinois 12-2 148
11. Davidson 13-2 14'7
12. Houston 12-2 93
13. Ohio U, 12-2 89
14. Penn 14-i 85
15. Southern Calif. 10--3 65
16. Drake . 13-4 45
17. Columbia 13-2 19
18. Florida State 14--2 18
19. Kansas State 12-3 17
20. Iowa $-4 11
Other teams receiving votes in al-
phabetical order: Baylor, Duke, Du-
quesne, Georgia, Georgetown, D.C.,
Louisville, Niagara, Notre Dame, Ohio
State Oklahoma Santa Clara, Tennes-
see, Texas-ElPaso, Utih State, Villanova,
Western Kentucky, Wyoming.
$101 per month
FREE Service and Delivery '
-NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED-
CALL:
Nejac TV R entals
662-5671
SERVING BIG 10 SCHOOLS SINCE 1961
that I have been traded to
the
.
, NBA Standings
NBA'
Eastern Division
W L Pct.
New York 41 it
Milwaukee 36 17
Baltimore 32 21
Philadelphia 29 24
Ci cinnati 24 29
Boston 20 30
Detroit 20 33
Western Division
Atlanta 30 22
Los Angeles 26 24
Chicago 25 28
San Francisco 22 29
Phoenix 23 31
San Diego 18 31
Seattle 18 34'
.788
.682
.604
.549
.453
,400
.377
.577
.520
.472
.431
.426
.367
.346
GB
5%
9%f,
12%f
17% |
20
2111|
3
5%1
10
12
This Week in Sports
FRIDAY
WRESTLING--Illinois at Events Bldg., 4 p.m.
SATURDAY
BASKETBALL-at Purdue
WRESTLING-Ohio State at Events Bldg., 2 p.m.
GYMNASTICS-Minnesota at Events Bldg. (after wrestling)
SWIMMING-Michigan State at Matt Mann Pool, 7:30 p.m.
TRACK-Michigan Relays
i
4
Sales SPrvicc
Repntals
Yesterday's Results u r u
Atlanta at San Francisco, inc.
Cincinnati vs. Chicago at Kansas
City, inc. .' FOR FAST, ECONOMICAL
Philadelphia 122, Milwaukee 103 TYPEWRITER SERVICE
Todlay's Games TYERTRrE~C
Boston at New York
San Diego at Los Angeles BY EXPERTS, CALL
SCORES
Last Night'i Results A DB SNESM C NE n
NHL AbpBUSINESS 11 HN~ nC
No games scheduled. M
Today's Games 3022 Packard * Ann Arbor, Michigan
No games scheduled.
cOyLL1EGE Telephone: 313 971-5700
Kentucky 86, Alabama 71 _________________________________
South Carolina 97, Clemson 76
LSU 71, Tennessee 59 '""
Ge orgia 79, Mississippi State 76 '(l r i
io State 74, Ga. Tech 71j
: : : , :. .t . r.. . . . . . . : . ..... .....r..., r..... . . . . . . . . t ': . . . . . . x .. . . ... .
1 Famous Brand-Permanent Press
SLACKS
Reg. to $14.0O $~82ar10
Divisions of Hughes Aircraft Company
will be conducting interviews on campus:
am
i