Tucson Daily Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • Page 54

PAGE 54 A I I I THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1976 Ken Stabler Oakland quarterback Stabler is No. 1 passer By Thf Associated Press Ken Stabler, who quarterbacked the Oakland Raiders to the best record in the National Football League this season, wound up as the best passer in the league, NFL statistics showed today. "The Snake," as the left- handed seven-year veteran is known, completed 66.7 per cent of his passes, averaging 9.41 yards per toss. Twenty- seven of them went for touchdowns, including an 88-yard bomb to Cliff Branch. All of those figures led the league.

Based on the NFL's rating system involving the percentage of completions, average yards gained, touchdown percentage (he had one for every 9.3 passes) and interception percentage (5.8 per cent of his passes were picked off), Stabler finished with a rating of 103.7. The only other quarterback to finish above the 100 mark was Baltimore's Bert Jones, at 102.6. Jones led the NFL in passing yardage with Stabler, at 2,737, was fourth, behind Fran Tarkenton of Minnesota and Jim Hart of St. Louis. Jones was second to Stabler in touchdown passes With 24.

Mike Livingston of Kansas City was 10th over-all in passing fifth in the American Football. Conference but his favorite target, running back MacArthur Lane, wound up as the league's top receiver with 66 catches. Bob Chandler of Buffalo was second with 61. Roger Carr of Baltimore beat out Branch by one yard for the top yardage by a receiver 1,112 to 1,111. The only other receiver over 1,000 yards was San Diego's Charlie Joiner at 1,056.

The top scorer in the league was Baltimore placekicker Toni Linhart with 109 points, hitting 20 of 27 field goals and all but one of his 50 extra point attempts. Among non- kickers, Chuck Foreman of Minnesota and Franco Harris of Pittsburgh, each with 14 touchdowns for 84 points, tied for top honors. Buffalo's O.J. Simpson won the rushing title for the fourth time in five years, with 1,503 yards, well ahead of Walter Payton's 1,390 for Chicago. Simpson also exceeded his own record of 250 yards in a game with a 273-yard performance on Thanksgiving Day al Detroit.

In all, 12 rushers gained 1,000 yards or more. For the second time in league history, two of them were on one team. Harris, with 1,128, and Rocky Bleier, with 1,036, did it for Pittsburgh. NFL Individual Leaders Leading Simpson. Butt Pavton.

Chi. Williams. 5 Mitchell, Batt L.A. Foreman. Minn Harris, pin Thomas.

Wash. BfMer. Pin. van Eechen. Oak Armstrong, Den.

G. Prultl. Clev Ave. an.yard* gain 290 31) la 289 778 789 254 220 ZU 1703 1JOO ny, 11SS 1128 1101 1016 1017 lone loco Leading Receivers i.2 J.5 4 4 0 4 3 3 9 4.3 4.7 4 3 I 4 8 l-ane, C. Chandler, Butl Mitchell, BalT Pearson, DaN Foreman, Minn Sea.

r.aibreafh, N.o Casoer, Oak. ftashaa, Minn Harris. SI. L. Rec Yds.

Gain 66 696 104 824 13.5 555 KA 567 705 420 691 7B7 Leading Pasters 94 13.9 103 13.1 7.8 110 127 15,0 1O Slabler.ok. Ball. Ferosn, aft. 151 Harris, LA. 158 Landrv, Det.

291 Tkntn, Mnn. 452 Hart, St. L. 3B Slau6ch.DII.il9 Grlese. Mia.

277 Lnostn, K.C IB alt. com. yds Ml 194 2737 207 3104 74 1086 91 IAB Tii 218 208 163 189 2191 7946 7715 7097 2682 idi 77 It 9 6 17 17 ia 14 10 3 1 A.g. Bain 9,41 7.19 9.74 7.H 7.19 7.59 7J6 7.71 7.93 Leading Punters Leading Punleri no. yds.

Avg. Oatcmnn Burr. 86 3679 42.8 James, All. 101 4253 42.1 Wilson, K.C. 65 2729 4 2 0 Guv.

Oak. 67 7785 41.6 Jennings, N.Y.G. 74 3054 41.3 Leading Punl Returners no. yds. avg.

Jpchurch, 536 13,7 Brown. Wash. 4 646 135 Havnes, N.E. 45 UK 13 5 Fuller, S.O. 33 O6 Brumon.

K.C. 31 M7 Ltctflng Klckolt Returners no. yds. avg. 17 559 32.9 78,7 Pnllllpl, N.E.

14 397 78,4 Pcrrln. Den. 14 391 27.9 Williams. C. 25 688 27.5 1 Karris, Bryant, L.A.

nllll Alhambra coach battling back from mishap Hti A TDifirir-T-r CAROL TRICKETT PHOENIX (AP) Coleen Roth put her arms around her husband, John, a solidly built man with a love for horses and baseball. Slowly she helped liim stand up from his wheel chair, his leg strengthened by a special brace. He put his arms around her and they turned so he could sit in an easy chair. "Comfortable?" she asked. She repeated it several times before he said, with effort, "Comfortable," his face lifeless, eyes downcast and hands limp.

On March 24, Roth, the Alhambra High School head baseball coach, knelt to fix a Dudley Olympia pitching machine that had jammed, its arm half cocked. Always safety-conscious, he unplugged the machine first, realizing it could hurt a baseball 100 miles per hour. But something went wrong, and that arm came crashing into his skull. He got to his feet, unaware of the heavy bleeding inside his skull, and directed junior varsity coach Marv Nevins to take him to a doctor. "We went to the hospital expecting to take him home with a Band-aid on his head," Mrs.

Roth said, "but when we got there, the doctor told us he might not live." The arm hit Roth's head with the force of a sledgehammer, said Roth's doctor, a Phoenix neurosurgeon who asked not to be identified for professional reasons. "He was dead when he got to the hospital emergency room," the doctor said, because a blood clot was pushing Roth's brain to the center. Roth, 46, arrived in time for his life to be saved only through a series of fortunate coincidences. Keith Nixon, Alhambra athletic director, said Roth would have been taken to Maryvale Samaritan Hospital if school officials had called an ambulance. Instead, Nevins, at Roth's request, took him to the Arizona Health Plan, a clinic across from Good Samaritan Hospital.

In the Good Samaritan operating rooms, the neurosurgeon and his team were prepared for another surgery and were able to operate on Roth within minutes when it counted. Roth lived through brain surgery and two battles with pneumonia. After six months in the hospital, he went home, his fight for a normal life just beginning. Mrs. Roth, 44, a slender woman with searching blue eyes, believes her husband will get well.

Otherwise, "I can't believe God would have gone to such extraordinary measures to save him. Everything had to work just so. think there's all that much progress until you look back," she continued. "He couldn't chew, he couldn't talk, he couldn't move" right after the operation. "We've really come a long way from where we were but it's not far enough." Roth, his mind sharp but not in full control of his limbs and his tongue, often sits in his favorite easy chair, watching other coaches and athletes on television.

With pride in her voice, Mrs. Roth explains the pictures, trophies and awards that decorate one wall. The 1973 and 1975 Alhambra baseball teams were second in the state, she says, and horsemanship trophies, won by their daughters, Linda, 22, and Susan, 19, both college students, finish out the display. Joking, Mrs. Roth points out a "Mother of the Year" trophy, her only contribution to the display, and everyone lauehs including her husband.

Bufhis laughter turns quickly to tears because, as she later explains, "He cries when he laughs because crying and laughing are so close physiologically, he can't separate them yet." Encouraging him to repeat after her helps him battle what speech therapists call aphasia, "just the inability to find a word," Mrs. Roth explains. Together they read an article written by a person suffering from aphasia. "John said that's just how you feel like you're all )ocked-up." His mind is sharp as ever, she said, and "that's the horror of it all." He likes to go places, and has developed, through intense therapy, enough muscle control to make their frequent travels to football games and church relatively easy. "But it's just such hell to see someone who was so active be so immobilized.

He never sat still. He ran two miles a day. He hunted and he rode and he fished," she said, fighting the tears she tries not to let him see. How much Roth can recover, "Only God knows," Mrs. Roth said, and doctors and therapists agree, saying it's amazing he's even able to speak.

One thing Mrs. Roth does know, however, is who, or what, she blames, and she's filed a lawsuit, now tangled in legal delays, against the manufacturer of Dudley Olympia machines. Charles Gilbert, president of Dudley Sports in New York, admitted other accidents had occurred but said, "If people take precautions, it's okay." Meanwhile, Mrs. Roth takes it "a day at a time," trying to find encouragement in each small improvement. "Twenty-three years the past few months have been the only bad ones I wonder if it is bad to love someone so much," she wrote on their anniversary in September.

Encouragement from friends and strangers continues to pour in; she receives word of benefits and donations in her husband's name. She says she doesn't want people to feel sorry for them because there are worse things that could have happened. But, she admits, "It ain't easy." Old Scrooge likes the' BUDGET MINDED TIRE BUYS from 4-ply polyester cord Deluxe aslowas 19 95 A78-13 Blackwall. Plus $1.74 F.E.T. and old tire.

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