The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 15

jEiiMni-itoiwunjiiii niwin 1 DLISS MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1983 .) SIMS) mm J' 1 1 AU-UT series often heated The Auburn-Tennessee rivalry is one of the best in the Southeast. But it was almost the series that wasn't. From 1940 to 1955. Auburn and Tennessee didn't play. The teams were scheduled to renew their series in 1956, but then-Tennessee athletic director Bob Neyland tried to unschedule the game and the series up until a month before the 1956 game was to be played.

It seems Neyland wasn't athletic director when the game was scheduled and tried to kill it when he came into power because he thought Tennessee had nothing to gain by playing Auburn. The Tigers claimed, on the other hand, that Neyland was afraid to play them. In the previous games the teams had played, a pair of highly ranked Tennessee teams had to score in the fourth quarter in both 1938 and 1939 to beat mediocre Auburn teams 7-0 each year. Steeped In controversy Since the series resumed, Auburn has won 15, lost 11 and tied 2. It has been a series steeped in controversy.

Auburn lost that first game in the renewal of the series 35-7 in 1956, but won the next year. 7-0 in Knox-ville on the way to the national title. Auburn won again in 1958, 13-0, on national television. Ron Oester's sacrifice fly scored Gary Redus in the ninth inning to give the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves and a split of their double-header The Associated Press reported. The Braves won the first game 9-1 behind the five-hit pitching of Craig McMurtry and the power hitting of Chris Chambliss and Dale Murphy.

The split left the Braves 3'i games behind Los Angeles in the National League West race, pending the Dodgers' West Coast game against Houston. Redus led off the ninth of the nightcap with a double off reliever Steve Bedrosian, 9-9. After Dave Concepcion struck out. Dan Driessen and Paul Householder walked to load the bases, setting the stage for Oester's fly to left. Tom Hume, 3-5, pitched two scoreless innings for the victory.

The Braves jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second. Chambliss and Rafael Ramirez singled and Atlanta starter Phil Niekro grounded a two-run single with two outs. Cincinnati got its first run in the fourth when Oester doubled, but the Braves made it 3-1 in the fifth when Brett Butler singled and scored on Glenn Hubbard's fifth consecutive hit. a double. The Reds tied the game in the eighth against reliever Terry Forster on a walk to Driessen, a double by Householder and a two-run single by Dann Bilardello.

1 4 i Ik-. -AP wirtptaMo Umpire Ted Hendry is knocked off his feet by sliding Dave Winfield who was out on a throw by Jim Rice, was shaken up but stayed in garpe Chan eir ffinds greener -pastures BASEBALL Lucas. 5-8. took over and Bergman hit a 1-1 pitch over the screen in right center. CUBS 7, PIRATES 6 Jody Davis' sacrifice fly and Larry Bowa's infield single drove in the tying and winning runs in the seventh inning and lifted the Chicago Cubs over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It marked Pittsburgh's 10th straight loss in Chicago, including eight this season. CARDS 9, METS 3 John Stuper pitched a five-hitter and drove in two runs with two singles, leading St. Louis to a victory over the New York Mets to stop the Cardinals' seven-game losing streak. ORIOLES 6-7, TIGERS 0-3 John Lowenstein blasted a grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning and Joe Nolan followed with another home run, capping a six-run outburst and rallying the Baltimore Oriole a victory over the Detroit Tigers and a sweep of their double-header. The sweep increased Baltimore's lead over second-place Detroit to 81 games in the AL East.

The Orioles' magic number is now three. WHITE SOX 2-7, TWINS 1-6 Scott Fletcher doubled home Tom Paciorek from second base with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Chicago White Sox a win over the Minnesota Twins and a sweep of their twi-night double-header. In the opener, Harold Baines See CHICAGO'S, page 6B teams," Thornton says. "He had a lot of years where they didn't even give up a point. We've always been pretty close and I was dead set to come here until my friend broke his ankle.

As it turned out. four of us off my high school team went to Florida Jenkins cleared the way and Chandler transferred to Alabama. He sat out last season, as mandated by NCAA rules, and spent his time helping the scout team prepare Paul See CHANDLER, page 5B hosts Eufaula Friday By MIKE TANKERSLEY Advertiser Sports Writer No playoff berth will be at stake when Jeff Davis plays Eufaula Friday night in Cramton Bowl. That won't diminish the importance of the game for either team. Both teams are unbeaten and both are ranked high in both state and national polls.

Eufaula, 3-0, sits atop the Alabama Sports Writers 3A poll and is ranked 14th nationally by USA Today. Jeff Davis, 3-0, is ranked second in the state 4A poll behind Enterprise (USA Today's No. 6 team) and is an honorable mention in the USA Today top 25. Vols coach Charles Lee says Eufaula deserves its high ranking and should be considered the favorite when the two teams kick off at 7:30 Friday night. "Considering who they've played and who we've played and their national ranking, I would think they'd be favored," Lee said.

"We're not as good a football team as we were in past years, and I don't know if we can be. I can't find any weaknesses in their team, and I sincerely believe they're a better team than we are. We just have a bigger enrollment." Lee certainly has reason to be See VOLS, page 5B By PHILLIP MARSHALL Advertiser Sports Columnist TUSCALOOSA Thornton Chandler's mother didn't want him at home when he was supposed to be getting a college education. And he didn't want to be at Florida Chandler So the 6- 3 1 ennesse game The Auburn players held Tennessee's vaunted single-wing attack to no first downs and -30 yards total offense that day. The Auburn players were so determined to beat Tennessee that day that when an official called for a TV timeout.

Auburn refused to stop play. "We came here to beat Tennes see. center Jackie Burkett was quoted as saying, "and no dad blamed TV commercial is going to stop us!" In 1973, then-Tennessee coach Bill Battle started punting on first down in a driving rain storm figur ing if the ball was to be fumbled in the rainy weather, he wanted Auburn then trailing to be the one to do the fumbling. Tennessee went on to win, 21-0. After the game, Auburn coach "Shug" Jordan did not go to mid-field for the customary handshake.

When he was criticized for it, Jordan responded that Battle had not shaken his hand before the game and welcomed him to Neyland Stadium. Also that year, Jordan accused Tennessee's mascot Smokey of having nipped at his heels when he came on the field. The next year, when Tennessee made its first-ever trip to Auburn, the first thing Jordan did when Tennessee took the field was seek out Battle, shake his hand and welcome him to Auburn. Auburn won, 21-0 this time. In the late 1970s, controversy arose over where the game Auburn hosted would be played.

Auburn insisted on playing at Auburn, while Tennessee wanted to play the game in Birmingham. Finally, after the Birmingham-Knoxville contract was fulfilled, Tennessee consented to a home-and-home situation and agreed to come to Auburn. Oranges avenged Tennessee opened that series at Auburn in 1980 by blasting the Tigers, 42-0, in a game that helped speed Doug Barfield's dismissal as head coach. The Auburn Team of the Decade was honored that day, which proved to be one of the darkest in Auburn history. The game was marred when Auburn students, ignoring pleas from Barfield, bombarded the Tennessee players with oranges.

Tiger Notes: Saturday's game will match the SEC's top two defensive teams. Tennessee allows 203 total yards a game and Auburn allows 245 per game. In total offense, Auburn ranks ninth and Tennessee eighth Auburn's schedule ranks as the fifth toughest in the country this season, according to the NCAA. Auburn's opponents had a combined 68-42-2 record last year and seven went to bowl games last year. The NCAA says UCLA has the toughest schedule, South Carolina the second toughest, Florida the third toughest and Penn State the fourth most difficult.

Stanford is sixth, Florida State Washington State eighth, Georgia Tech ninth and Ala- bama tenth. Other SEC teams listed are Georgia (11th), Kentucky (12th), Tennessee (14th), Mississippi State (tie 17th), Mississippi (26th). GIANTS 5, PADRES 4 Dave Bergman, a late-inning defensive replacement, belted a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, lifting the San Francisco Giants over San Diego. Bergman connected for his sixth homer of the season following a two-out single by Chili Davis off Floyd Chiffer. Padres relief ace Gary back, but I still wasn't happy.

"Nothing bad happened or anything. I just wasn't happy with the program or the facilities or the way things were done. I thought I would be better off somewhere else. I wanted to play at a bigger school." Convinced that her son was serious, Mrs. Chandler put in a call to Northport.

Her father, Louie Jenkins, was for years the ultra-successful coach at Tuscaloosa County Training School. "He had several unbeaten AP wlrepkoM vital tor Auburn Chandler, who played high school football in Jacksonville, was all set to sign with Alabama in 1981. But a close friend broke an ankle and the big schools backed off. Chandler said no to the Tide and went with his pal to Florida By the time his freshman season was over, he was unhappy and looking for greener pastures. "After the fall semester, I decided to stay home with my mother," he said.

"She didn't want me to do that. She convinced me to go Rig repair 3 foot-6, 240- pounder decided to see about playing tight end for the University of Alabama. For Ray Perkins, it was an unexpected blessing to walk in and find right under his nose the prototype tight end for his pro-style offense. Perkins, said in the spring Chandler could be one of the best tight ends he'd ever been around and awarded him a scholarship. Chandler has done nothing to prove his coach wrong, catching four passes for 91 yards in two games.

games, said he'd like to play Texas again somewhere down the road. VI wish there was some way to schedule them twice in the same year," said Carr. a 6-foot-2, 214-pound junior from Birmingham who will probably have to wait until the opener in Austin next September to get another shot at Texas; "I'm not saying we'd beat them if we played them again, but I think we'd give people a better idea of how good a team we have. Texas is super, but we played poorly." Carr said it wasn't a case of taking the Longhorns lightly. "We knew it was a tough game and we made good preparation for it," said Carr.

"It's frustrating that we didn't play better, but I can't tell you why we didn't." Carr, though he made All-SEC last year, was overshadowed in preseason publicity by Auburn's defensive line. But Carr is getting his share of ink now. He was the Southeastern Player of the Week on defense following the Southern Mississippi game, where he led the team in tackles with 15. He tied defensive tackle Doug Smith for most tackles again last week, but says he's not worried about honors. "As far as I'm concerned, the publicity should go to the defensive linemen," said Carr.

"They make it possible for me to get in on a lot of See CARR, page 5B By RON BLISS Advertiser Sports Editor AUBURN Auburn linebacker Gregg Carr says if he had to choose a game for the Tigers to lose, he'd rather it be last weekend's non-con ference game against Texas than this Satur-day's conference opener against Tennessee. That makes this week's game in Neyland Stadium the bigger of Carr the two in Carr's mind. And he says the rest of the Auburn team feels that way, too. "It's bigger simply because it's a conference game," said Carr this week. "Winning it will help us reach our goals.

We're very much a goal-oriented team and we have to do well this week. We need a victory to put us back on track. We know it won't be easy, but we know we have to win it to do what we hope to do this season." What Auburn hopes to do is win the Southeastern Conference title and earn a bid to the Sugar Bowl. By doing that, Carr figures, the Tigers still have a shot at the national title. Carr, who leads Auburn in tackles with 19 solos and 11 assists in two 5 1 Liberty crewmen Tom Rich (top) and Bob Campbell work on the mast prior to the start of Wednesday's race.

The repairs were completed in time, but Liberty lost its race. Details, page 7B..