The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 49

BIG 3RD QUARTER PAYS OFF 7T awks Explode Past Boston OUTLAR TT Sports Editor fc The Survival 500 When Neal Batson received a law degree from Vanderbilt he didn't anticipate a professional pit stop as operator of an lanta will be playing New York and Milwaukee at home and Chicago on the road. Atlanta, whose record now reads 23-39, again got outstanding scoring balance with six men scoring 14 or more points. Walt Bellamy, a real bellringer of late, enjoyed what almost amounted to a night off as he played just 33 minutes but still manufactured 18 points. Walt Hazzard had 15. The Hawks resembled their old selves in the middle two periods when they belabored Boston 6943.

It may be signifi- See HAWKS, Page 3-D auii laueway. its sixth triumph in the last eight starts and narrowed the gap in the race with Cincinnati for a playoff berth to Vk games. Hudson drew the toughest defensive assignment for the second straight night and held the 29-point averaging John Havlicek to 23 points. Havli-cek missed 15 of his 23 field goal tries. Super Lou, who like Maravich was 9 of 20 from the field, also had five of the team's 14 steals.

Four of them came in that explosive third quarter and represented half of the team's thefts in the 12 minutes when the Hawks blew Boston apart, 37-21. Also figuring heavily in that decisive third period was reserve center Jim Davis, who took advantage of foul-handicapped Dave Cowens for six of his 14 points. Davis posted Cowens low and worked him over ferociously before Celtic coach Tom Heinsohn switched Don Nelson on the Hawk. The victory put considerable pressure on Cincinnati which Thursday begins playing six games in six nights on the west coast. Over that same stretch, At seconds ever played by Atlanta, leaving 5,724 fans almost limp with ecstasy.

In that short span the Hawks stole the ball five times from Boston, with 20-point scoring Lou Hudson making the other two thefts, and outscored the Celtics 15-2 to change a 76-73 squeaker into a 91-75 beginning of a rout. Bridges, the 6-6, 240-pound team captain, had vowed before the game that "If we beat Boston, we make the playoffs." And the burly backboard bomber was not about to let the Celtics make him eat his words. Bridges climbed the glass at Alexander Memorial Coliseum for a season-high 27 rebounds, just one short of the most ever captured at the Georgia Tech gym and just one off the nine-year veteran's career high. Nine of his rebounds came off the offensive boards as he kept the ball alive especially in the second 24 minutes when he had 12 of his 15 points and 16 of his rebounds. There were other sparkling Hawk efforts as the team posted its fourth straight win, By GEORGE CUNNINGHAM Electrifying performances by Pete Maravich and Bill Bridges along with an sive three-minute spurt in the third period carried playoff-i sniffing Atlanta to a 114-102 rout of Boston here Wednesday night.

In unquestionably his finest professional game, the rookie Maravich drilled in 28 points, captured 11 rebounds, stole the ball three times and had a seaon-low four turnovers. All his steals and six of his points came in the last three minutes of the third quarter. It was as exciting as any 180 an avid football and basketball fan but he wasn a sports car enthusiast. He has never attended an Indy 500, a Daytona 500, and he's managed to miss Darlington, Rockingham and Charlotte. On occasions when it didn't rain, he joined spectators at Atlanta International Raceway.

When Batson attended the last race at AIR, he never dreamed that he'd be producing the next one. Batson had read the track was having problems, but other than bad weather and traffic jams, he was unfamiliar with details. Well, last January AIR arrived at the destination in which i WX OUTLAK 49ers Sign Mike Cavan By WAYNE MINSHEW University of Georgia quarterback Mike Cavan, best remembered for his sophomore year when he guided the Bulldogs to a Southeastern Conference football championship, signed a pro contract with the San Francisco 49ers Wednesday. THE CONSTITUTION It Cavan, who was scouted and signed as a free agent by 49er scout John Michelosen, will get a shot at quarterback for the West Coast NFL team which won the Western Division title of the National Football Conference this past season behind veteran passer John Brodie. Florida's Steve Spurrier was Brodie's backup man.

The 22-year-old Cavan, who had his ups and downs at Georgia following his sensational sophomore season, is elated at the chance to make it in the pros. "This gives me a shot," said the Thomaston native and a graduate of Robert E. Lee High School who was passed over in the pros' college draft. "And you can't ever tell I might get cut the first day, but I might make it, too. "I know one thing, though.

I'm going to give it everything Xf v'" xv Mmfi annum -ww-ial i A Feb. 11, 1971 1-D Page it had been traveling for years bankruptcy. The Atlanta 500, scheduled April 4, was oddson not to be run. The track is inundated with a million dollar mortgage and $400,000 in assorted debts. Federal Judge Sidney Smith chief of U.

S. District North, took a look at the track's dead-end financial status. He decided to give AIR one more chance to turn in the right direction. Under Chapter 10 of the bankruptcy procedure, AIR is being permitted to stage the Atlanta 500. Judge Smith named Federal Judges Homer Drake, David Kahn and Claude Hughes as referees for AIR.

They then appointed 29-year-old Neal Batson as trustee for AIR. Judges Have their Eyes on the Race Thus, for the first time in some time, one man is in charge of the track. Batson is the generalissimo for the 500. He hopes to turn a profit on the race, so the track may avert bankruptcy, and eventually return a profit to stockholders. Judge Smith signed papers providing legal clearance for the race at 2:15 on January 28.

Batson vividly remembers the hour, because he rushed from the Judge's chambers to the hospital where son John Hayes Batson was born at 8 p.m. Batson hasn't spent much time with his new heir. "Promoting a race is a new experience for me," he said Wednesday, pausing between calls to Daytona and other racing sites. "I really don't know much about it, but I'm learning. I'm averaging at least 18 hours a day on this job." It occurred that Batson has much in common with most of the operators who have steered AIR to the brink of bankruptcy.

Brief research reveals that most officials over the years were not authorities on racing. Track superintendent Alf Knight and his wife know racing, but they've been surrounded by citizens who didn't. "I would say," said attorney Batson, "that lack of direction has been a major flaw at the track. Various means of raising revenue were ignored. "And, of course, the track has had unbelievable bad luck weatherwise.

AIR holds the world record for rain on scheduled race days." A Rare Treat for the Stockholders Indeed, AIR does. If various presidents and general managers had had more sporting blood, the track would be declaring dividends instead of operating under Chapter 10. Rain insurance is so high that they rarely bought it. If rain insurance had been purchased on every scheduled race, Lloyds of London would be broke. Is attorney Batson willing to take a gamble on rain insurance? "We're weighing the possibility," he said, "but the cost is prohibitive.

As you know the track can't afford it." Batson smiled and recalled that he has been assured AIR will be blessed with excellent weather April 4. A racing buff who keeps track of such things informs him that the Farmer's Almanac forecasts a clear day on that date. In the past the Almanac accurately predicted rain, source says. For a promoter who isn't supposed to know what he's doing, Batson is off to a running start. He says most of the drivers racing at Daytona this weekend will be competing in the Atlanta 500.

"Five businessmen have borrowed $175,000 to finance the race," informed Batson. "I'm optimistic about the race." Only a bankruptcy expert would be optimistic about AIR, but attorney Batson has called a meeting of stockholders Feb. 21 at Sports Arena to inform them of progress made. Off past performance AIR stockholders didn't expect to attend another meeting. But they'd never heard of a promoter named Batson.

I've got." Michelosen first contacted Cavan. "I mailed them the Cavan shortly alter the aran contract today. and asked the Georgia senior if he would be interested in signing with San Francisco. "He called again Sunday and I agreed to sign," said Staff Photo Billy Dowm HAWKS' PISTOL PETE MARAVICH (44) GETS EYEFUL OF HENRY FINKEL FINGERS But Atlanta Rookie Star Beats Celtic Center to Ball in NBA Game Action BUT IT'S NEWS TO FALCON AIDE I lilt Gilmer Draws Cardina erest "I'd like to stay on the taxi squad, anything," he continued. "I just want to play pro ball.

It would be great to learn under Brodie, too." Asked to comment on his career at Georgia, Cavan said, "There's not much to say after the first year, but I enjoyed everything over here all the coaches, everything. "I'm just sorry we didn't win more, that things didn't go the way they did that first year." Cavan led the championship 1968 squad to an 8-1-2 record, the only loss coming to Arkansas (16-2) in the Sugar Bowl. He completed 116 of 207 passes (56 per cent) that season for 1,619 yards and nine touchdowns and was everybody's SEC Sophomore of the Year. Winner's firing came as a surprise to the pro football world after he guided the Cardinals to an 8-5-1 record last season, and the most surprised person of all reportedly was Winner. Cardinals owners Charles W.

"Stormy" and William V. "Bill" Bidwell informed Winner, Jan. 6, that he would not return. Winner said, "It isn't often that a coach gets to take over a football team that the Cardinals are now. Washington, I will take the St.

Louis job." McPeak told sources in St. Louis, "I did not go after the Cardinal job, but I have been interviewed." Meanwhile, it is understood that Falcon head coach Norm Van Brocklin has a rule that if I one of his assistants wants to talk to another team about a job, all he has to do Is clear it with Van Brocklin and talk away. That has not happened with Gilmer and Van Brocklin so far as could be ascertained. Gilmer and current Detroit offensive coach McPeak, who, incidentally, was considered a candidate for the Cardinal job before Winner accepted it five seasons ago. Included are former Falcon assistant and New Orleans head coach Tom Fears, current Cardinal aides Bob "Red" Miller and Dick Voris, and Minnesota Viking defensive coach Bob Holloway.

Fears reportedly told friends that "if I don't get a job with (George) Allen at Gilmer, a former Detroit head coach, being named to the Cardinal head job emanated from St. Louis Wednesday afternoon. The Falcon aide and former Washington Redskin head coach Bill McPeak were named as "leading candidates." The Cardinals are expected to name a replacement for deposed Charlie Winner at 3 p.m. either Thursday or Friday afternoon. There are candidates besides Falcon receiver coach By WAYNE MINSHEW Atlanta Falcons assistant Harry Gilmer is being prominently mentioned as the next head coach of the St.

Louis Cardinals, but the former University of Alabama star said Wednesday it's news to him. "I haven't talked to anybody in St. Louis," said Gilmer, reached at his Atlanta home. That was it from Gilmer, short and to the point and, seemingly, as far as he is concerned, dropped forever. Reports of the possibility of Jackets Sign Two Floridiaus Fleckman 66 Here's top fasliion for real outdoor sports: Knox imitation caracul lamb Leads Arnie Beach, to grant-in-aids.

McLeod was All-Conference while McGann, son of a former Notre Dame basketball captain and coach, was All-Region, All-Conference and All-State. Georgia Tech announced Wednesday the signing of guard Bill Leod, a 6-1, 218-pounder from Orlando, and tackle Ed McGann, 6-2 220 pounds from West Palm GOLF On our 18 hole championship course DINE In the beautiful EMERALD ROOM ENJOY Dancing and entertainment at the fabulous PETER TONDEE'S TAVERN to 1 By One Shot PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) Long- troubled Marty Fleckman carved out a six-under par 66 for a one-stroke lead over Arnold Palmer in the first round Wednesday of the five-day 90-hole Bob Hope Desert Classic golf tournament. "It's probably the best round of my career," the darkly handsome 26-year-old from Port Arthur, Tex. said after his effort at LaQuinta, one of four desert courses being used in this marathon which carries a $140,000 total purse.

Palmer had a 67, also at LaQuinta, and was tied with four others for second place. Italian rookie Roberto Bernardini and three relatively unknown regulars on the tour Bill Brask, Joe Carr and Larry Wood all played Indian Wells in 67. Former PGA champion Ray Floyd, Ted Hayes and George Hixon, followed at 68. Hayes played Tamarisk, Floyd at LaQuinta and Hixon at Indian Wells. The best score at Bermuda Dunes, the fourth course, was a 69 by several players.

Masters champion Billy Casper had a 71 while 1970's leading money winner, Lee Trevino, and Tom Shaw, the only double winner of this year, matched 72s, all at LaQuinta. National Senior's champ Julius Boros had a 71 at Bermuda Dunes. Under the unusual format for this event, the 136 pros all play one round on each of the four courses, shifting three-man amateur 2 NIGHTS 3 DAYS INCLUDES: SipitUceaniditliai IriikfiiU Olnnir Uolimltid Olf trial fitt CtckUII "1" it elut hoan OlimiSninnihlBlolllill Be warmly handsome in this dressy, tasteful imi' tation Caracul lamb fur hat. Warm, lightweight fur and hidden ear flaps for cold weather comfort. In black.

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