Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • Page 13

A mazing Orantes Stuns Tennis World FOREST HILLS, N.Y.(AP)- The usually staid center court at the West Side Tennis Club took on the atmosphere of a bull ring. Manuel Orantes, the 26-year- old left-hander from Barcelona, was the master, making defending champion Jimmy Connors see red in the ring. "Vamos, maestro," hundreds of a i a i fans shouted. "Manuela, Manuela. "Orantes, Orantes, Orantes.

Ole, ole, ole." The cheers rang true. Orantes taunted Connors by playing to his two-fisted backhand, kept him at bay on the baseline, then brought him in with drop shots and set him up for the kill. The 64, 6-3, 6-3 victory in the U.S. Open Championships Sun- Missouri To Face Alabama KANSAS CITY (AP) Missouri kicks the lid off the Big Eight Conference football season tonight against second- ranked Alabama at Birmingham, and is a 19-point underdog. The game will be televised nationally.

Coach Al Onofrio of Missouri regards the 1975 Crimson Tide as possibly "one of Bear Bryant's best teams" Onofrio particularly has respect for the Tide quarterback, Richard Todd, describing him as perhaps the best quarterback a has ever coached "including Joe Namath." The rest of the Big Eight clubs launch their seasons Saturday. Five teams play at home in the afternoon. Defending national champion Oklahoma is host to Oregon, and seventh- ranked Nebraska entertains Louisiana State Colorado faces California, Oklahoma State meets Wichita State, and Kansas collides with Washington State. Two night games send Iowa State to 14th-ranked UCLA and Kansas State to Tulsa. Missouri, unranked but excited over its prospects this season, doesn't plan to play dead for the Tide despite Alabama's 7 rating.

The Tigers have a fine runner in Tony Galbreath and an outstanding quarterback in Steve Pisarkiewicz. have a quicker defense than we've had in a number of" years," says Onofrio, "and we have our biggest offensive line ever Against Alabama, you have to be prepared to play against the wishbone and also against the broken backfield Bryant has said Missouri "scares me to death Burn right, I'm worried This is one of the toughest openers we've ever faced." Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer says the Sooners will be a good offensive team but doesn't know whether "we're worthy of being the No. 1 team. We have to go play and see." "I don't know about Oregon," Switzer adds. Coach Bill Mallory of Colorado figures California "will be a tough opener.

They throw the ball well. One of the keys to our success this season is getting the defense to improve. I want 11 guys hitting all the time." Oklahoma State has three players competing for the quarterback post, and Coach Jim Stanley describes all of them as winners. Charlie Weatherbie, last year's quarterback, may get the nod against Wichita State but Stanley is quick to note that "whoever starts against Wichita State won't necessarily be our regular quarterback." Kansas, likewise, has its quarterback situation up in the air. The race is between Scott McMichael, who started last season, and Nolan Cromwell, converted by new Coach Bud Moore from safety.

"I don't know who will start i game a a i Washington State," Moore says. "We could have two starting quarterbacks this season." day ended Connors' chances of retaining the title and reigning with his former fiancee, Chris Evert, who won the women's crown on Saturday. Orantes' victory came less than 18 hours after his "miracle match" with Guillermo Vilas of Argentina. In that under-the- lights semifinal, the third-seeded Orantes came from far behind and beat the second-seeded Vilas 1-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4. "I was so excited," Orantes said Sunday of his comeback from death's door against Vilas.

He felt that momentum carried him through Sunday's final. During the match against Connors, which lasted less than two hours, chants kept coming from high up in the stands, which were packed with a record crowd of 15,669. They came from a group of Mexicans who had come to cheep Raul Ramirez, the No. 11 seed who went out in the round of 16. They stayed to back Orantes.

"I don't know how many there were," Orantes said. "If I had to count them by the noise they made, there were thousands." In his first official act as champion, Orantes rushed to his wife, Virginia, and smothered her with kisses. "She was more excited than he said. "She always stays calm, but after last night she was more tired than After Saturday night's match, which lasted 3 hours, 45 minutes, Orantes and his wife went to dinner and did not return to the hotel until 2 a.m., only to have problems with the bath tub, which required a plumber's touch. But both were fit by match time on Sunday: Orantes killing Connors on the court, his wife biting her nails on the sidelines.

Everyone thought Connors, who won here last year on grass, had the decisive edge. He is known as a demon on any surface and had a lot more rest. The 23-year-old Connors advanced to the final Saturday afternoon with a. 7-5, 7-5, 7-5 triumph over Sweden's Bjorn Borg, the No. 5 seed, breaking him in the 12th game of each set.

He then sat on the sidelines and cheered Chris to her 6-2 triumph over Evonne Goolagong of Australia. He was long gone, as was about three- quarters of the crowd, when UPI TELEPHOTO Tom Watson holds the trophy he won by capturing the World Series of Golf. High-Caliber Field Outplayed by Watson AKRON, Ohio (AP) Tom Watson, an intelligent and usually highly articulate young man, seemed almost at a loss for words. "It's a great feeling to have," he said, then paused. "It's very hard to put into words, to describe just what it means.

"I can tell you this. It means a very great deal, it gives you a very good feeling inside, to know that you've won when you're facing players the caliber of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf and Lou Graham." Of those major title-holders, only Nicklaus was a threat to Watson in Sunday's final round of the World Series of Golf and his bid fizzled and failed in a series of frustrations that had the usually self-contamned Nicklaus, scowling, muttering and, at least once, angrily tossing his club. Watson, one of the game's brightest young stars, held him off with a solid, last-round 71 and won by two strokes in the last World Series to be played under it's exclusive, four-man format. "I think the change will be good," the red-haired, 25-year- old Watson said. "It's great to have just the four winners of the major titles, but I think it will be even better to have the others in the tournament, the foreign players, the amateur champions, the point leaders, the double winners." The tournament which, for the last 14 years, brought together only the holders of the major titles, will expand its format to include some 28-30 players next season.

Watson, as the defending World Series of Golf champion, is the first qualifier. He won this one by a relatively comfortable two strokes with a 140 total, matching par on the tough, Firestone Country Club course. Nicklaus, the Masters and PGA title-holder and a heavy pretournament favorite, birdied the last two holes for a 70 and was second at 142 East Ready For O. Gross Lincoln East will try to bounce back from a 6-6 tie against North Platte last Thursday night with a Monday night home football game against Omaha Gross. A scheduling mixup, in which East had contracted to play both North Platte and Gross on the same night, caused the a schedule.

Kickoff at Seacrest Field is 7:30 p.m. East, bidding for a fourth state championship in the last five years, was the Sunday Journal and Star's No. 1 choice in the preseason Class A ratings. Weiskopf. the Canadian national champion, and Graham, the S.

Open king, never really got in the chase for the $50,000 first prize Weiskopf had a closing 70 and a 145 total. Graham was 71-147. Nicklaus, who now has won this title four tunes and been second in six others, collected 515,000. Weiskopf won $7 500 and Graham got $5,000. Watson, now a three-time winner this season, opened the final round with a three-stroke lead and maintained the margin most of the mild, sunny day.

He led by two when they reached the 13th tee and the start of a string of four holes that, Nicklaus said, ''were the whole tournament Nicklaus drove into the rough on the 13th and bogeyed. That made the margin three again. On the next- two holes Jack had 15- foot birdie putts and missed them both. On each hole Watson had to get it up and down from a bunker. And he did it, sinking putts of 12 and 5 feet "I made the clutch putts, the two putts that won it," he said.

Nicklaus agreed. "I was looking at a two stroke swing on both holes and it didn't happen." Nicklaus then bogeyed the 16th, the 625-yard ''Monster" hole. He put his third over the green in deep rough, came out weakly and, when Watson made par, Nicklaus trailed by four strokes. Orantes began his unbelievable comeback under the lights, taking the last three sets and the marathon from Vilas The match revived tennis- weary fans nearly to the frenzy of soccer stadiums when Orantes, down two sets to one and trailing 0-5 in the fourth, evened the score by 'winning the last seven games of the fourth set, fighting off five match points. At 10:35 p.m., he threw up his racket in victory after breaking Vilas in the ninth game of the last set and holding service.

"It's a shame, isn't it, that they didn't stay," Orantes said afterwards of the people who left early. It was. Although his duel with Connors was exciting because he was fighting for the title, the battle with Vilas was by far the most thrilling of the 12 days of tennis at Forest Hills. It also was a change of pace from the Evert-Goolagong baseline duel that gave Chris her first S. Open crown, her 84th straight match on clay and her 18th tournament triumph on the surface without a loss.

Miss Evert, at 20, now has won every major title except the Australian Open, which she says she probably will never win because she doesn't want to travel Down Under during the Christmas holidays. U.S. Open Winners Men's singles--Manuel Orantes Ssa'n def Jimmy Connors, USA, 63 63 Men's doubles--J'mmy Connors, USA and Hie Nastase, Romania, oef Tom Okker, The Netherlands, and Riessen, USA, 6-4, 7-6 Women's singles--Chris Evert, USA, def Goolagong Cawley, Aus tralia 57, 6-4 6-2 Women's doubles Margaret Australia and Virginia Wade B' 'an, def Billy Jean King, USA, and Rosemary Casals USA 75 2-6 7-6 Mixed doubles--Rosemary Casais, USA and Dick Stockton USA de- Billy Jean King USA, and Fred StoUe Australia 63, 6 7, 6 3 Junior boys--Howard Schoenfield USA de' Christopher Lewis NewZea'and 6-J 63 Junior girls Natasha USSR def Greer Slevens South Ainca 6 7. 6-2, 6-2 Sports Briefs Football An injury to MacArthur Lane's knee, which will keep him out of action for three to five weeks, will allow ex-Nebraska gridder Jeff Kinney to start for the Kansas City Chiefs at fullback in their opening game. Ex-Nebraska gridder Johnny Rodgers returned a punt 60 yards for a Montreal Alouette touchdown to help lift the club to a 23-20 Canadian Football League victory over Toronto.

Golf Hubert Green has won the Southern Open with a final day 64 for a 16-under-par total of 264. Carol Mann has won her fourth 1975 LPGA tournament by capturing the Dallas Open. Other Sports TELEPHOTQ Manuel Orantes raises his arms in victory after stunning Jimmy Connors in the finals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in three straight sets. ers By United Press International The way the national football league pre-season is going, there could be an star miury team put together before the regular season begins The long list of players out for extended periods with injuries received another big name Sunday when quanerback Jim Plunkett of the New England Patriots suffered a shoulder separation Flunkett, A as injured when defensive end Bacon fell on him as ne was attempting to a pass rush.

is expected to be out four to SB. weeks. Plunkett joins well-known players like Dick Anderson: Nick Buoniconti and Bill SianfiU of Miami: Archie Manning of New Orleans. Claude Humphrey of Atlanta, Larry Brown of Washington, Thorn Darden of Cleveland, Robert James and Tony Greene of Buffalo. David Knight of the New York Jets.

Jim Carter of Green Bay, Macarthur Lane of Kansas Citv innmlii Jnurnal Monday, Sept 8. 1975 13 and teammates Julius Adams and Tom Neville who are expected to miss pan or all of the 1975 season with iniunes i i came through the second period of Sunday 31-24 victory the San Diego Chargers "It was a rollout right and I never saw the man. 1 said Plunkett. "They don't know yet what they're going to do Plunkett could have a pin placed in the shoulder and miss most of the season or allow the injury to heal and return in "about six weeks. according to coacn Chuck Fairbanks There is little help on the bench and the Patriots could be Larry Moore of Dayton, Ohio, has won the 250-mile Governor's Cup stock car auto race in Milwaukee.

Pittsburgh's Art Howe has the dubious distinction of being the first major leaguer to hit into a triple play in 1975. Pirate Dave Parker led off the play with a double followed by Richie Zisk's walk. Howe then looped the ball into shallow left field where Montreal shortstop Tim Foli grabbed it, fired to second baseman Pete Mackanin, doubling off Parker. Mackanin then threw to first, catching Zisk off base for the third out. Minnesota Fighting Saints' spokesman Wayne Belisle says its 99 per cent sure Bobby Orr will remain with the NHL Boston Bruins rather than jumping to his WHA club.

Czechoslovakian tennis player Martina Navratilova has asked for political asylum in the United States. Navratilova says leave Czechoslovakia because the country is stifling her chances to become the world's top female nettist. CINCINNATI (UPI) "This is crazy," shouted champagne- drenched Cincinnati Reds pitcher Fred Norman. "This is early September." It was not only crazy, it was a record. The champagne-partying Reds set a record Sunday for earliest clinching of a title in National League history.

Cincinnati's 8-4 win over San Francisco, coupled with Atlanta's 5-4 victory over Los Angeles, guaranteed the Reds the National League Western Division championship a day earlier than the old Brooklyn Dodgers wrapped up the pennant on Sept. 8. 1955. The Reds have 20 more games to play and nearly a month to wait before hosting the first game of the National League playoffs Oct. 4.

Although it's been evident for several weeks Cincinnati was going to handily win the division, the Reds delayed their plane trip to San Diego Sunday night to throw a clubhouse celebration. After whipping the Giants to trim the "magic number' for clinching the title to one game, players patiently sat around their lockers for 90 minutes until word came that the Dodgers had lost to the Braves. Then out came 48 bottles of champagne. Reds President Bob Howsarn wandered into the clubhouse and pitcher Clay Carroll promptly poured a bottle of the sparkly over his head. Champagne-drenched Manager Sparky Anderson, who didn't figure there would be that much celebrating because of the commanding lead his team held much of the summer, said, "We've been celebrating all year.

"This is the best Reds team ever managed," said Anderson, who has been at the helm since 1970. "It's the best in every department: speed, defense, power and pitching." Anderson said he intends to keep playing his regulars most of the remaining 20 games. looking for a quarterback today. Plunkert's backups are second- year man Neil Graff and rookie Steve Grogan fte haven made up our minds yet and I don't know v-hen we will. Fairbanks said It not ven encouraging to a key people like Julius 'Broiten Toei Planmt Neville and others out especially at this time of the season when we en en begun to play While Fairoanks ponae ed a replacement, he had to be gratified me plav of former York Giant Leon McQiiay.

who scored three touchdowns in a 7 22 span. McQuay started with a 101-yard kickoff return to- open the third quarter. About four minutes later, he ran five yards for a TD and capped the effort with a 56-yard run that gave the Pats a 28-17 lead In other NFL games Sunday, the Jets outlasted Washington 35-31. San Francisco crushed Denver 44-10 and Cleveland downed the Giants 24-20 On Saturday, Buffalo edged Atlanta 16-14, Miami whipped Chicago 21-10. Cincinnati beat Detroit 22,14.

Kansas City crushed Green Bay 31-3, St." Louis shaded Minnesota 13-6. Los Angeles Dlastea Philadelphia 35-0 and Pittsburgh npped New Orleans 24-13 Baltimore is at Houston tonight. The Jets got a big scare in the third period of their win over Washington when Joe Namath. playing for the first time in a month, hobbled to the sidelines after being belted to the ground. Namath's knee braces were quickly removed and it was discovered that the millionaire quarterback was only suffering from cramps.

While he was playing, Namath looked like the man who threw for over 4,000 yards in a season a few years back as he riddled the veteran Redskin defense Reserve quarterback Brian Sipe hit 15-of-18 passes to rally Cleveland past the previously unbeaten Giants. Norm Snead, named San Francisco's No. 1 quarterback earlier in the week, threw two TD passes to Bob Hayes to spark the rout of Denver. On Saturday, Charlie Babb Returned an interception 54 yards for a score to spark Miami over Chicago and Cincinnati marked coach Paul Brown's 67th birthday by rocking Detroit as rookie halfback Stan Fntti and Wallace, Collier Happy With 1-2 Fair Finish By Ken Hambleton Joe Wallace and Ferris Collier were both happy with their one- two finish in the 50-lap International Motor Contest Assn. (MCA) race at the Nebraska State Fair Sunday afternoon.

But the two drivers had widely varied reasons for being satisfied. Wallace, who took the lead from Collier on the 20th lap, ted Collier for the final 30 laps, without making a mistake or having to work very hard at all. Collier, in the meantime, smacked the wall headon during one of the three attempts to start the feature race and was also involved in two other accident! during the heat races, and one in the consolation race. Pointing with a badly swollen wrist, Collier noted that the frame on his car was bent and the body received severe damage. "This car hadn't been touched all year," the Lampe, Mo.

driver said. "I didn't even know if I should run in the feature but I did and the car ran fairly well." "The only problem was that I couldn't hold the car tow in the turns and couldn't hold off Wallace," Collier said. Wallace said that due to track conditions on the one-half mile dirt oval the only place to pass waioo the iartte. "He (Collier) I was getting on the accelerator too hard on the turns and slipping high. And it allowed me to pass him.

I just eased by him and had no trouble after that. Wallace and Collier had no challengers for the top two spots as both of them lapped almost every other car on the track. Em Freithem, who challenged for the early lead with Collier, finished third about one-quarter lap ahead of Dave Chase and Kent Tucker. Tucker won the consolation race finishing in front of Randy Sterner, Dick Jensen and Lin- colnite Joe Wade. Kent Tucker ended the long auto racing weekend with a win in the 25-lap season finale Sunday night at Midwest Speedway.

who won the Midwest point Championship and season efcmpionships, vaulted to third place behind Don Styskal and Jay Sterns on the third lap and waited while the two battled for the lead. Styskal, who led from the start, pulled away on the first a Sterns i challenged for the command. Sterns passed Styskal on the sixth lap but a spin caused restart and Styskal regained the lead. Sterns then tried to pass in the'second turn but caught Styakal'i Dumper sending him spinning and causing another restart. Two laps later, Tucker roared by Sterns when the Lincoln driver slid high on the fourth turn.

On the 15th lap Tucker scooted past Styskal on the back straight and held on to win. "I was just going to wait them (Styskal and Sterns) and let them battle each other," said Tucker, who won eight features at Midwest this year. "I didn't want to charge in and get into trouble with them." "I knew that with those guys running that hard at each other, eventually one or both of them would go high on the turns," Joe Wallace State Fair Champ Tucker added. "And it worked weU." quarterback Aadvson threw TD passes to jPaJunfc with Dave Green's thrac ield goals. Ken Avery galloped 36 yards with an interception to cap a 21- pomt first quarter and lift Kansas City past Green Bay and Jim Otis ran four yards for a TD and Jim Bakken kicked two field goals to lead St Louis over Minnesota.

John Leypoldt's three field goals carried Buffalo past Atlanta and Franco Harris scored on runs of four and nine yards to lead super bowl champion Pittsburgh over New Means. James Harris sparked a three touchdown burst in the second quarter and scored twice to lead Los Angeles over Philadelphia, spoiling the return of ex-Ram quarterback Roman Gabriel, who was sacked five times before being replaced in the w- cond half..