The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 51

FURMAN Die' Faces or mm Sports Editor crowd we've ever had there," said Hamrick. "I've been in the auto racing promotion business for 12 years, and, quite frankly, this isado-or-die situation. If we don't show a profit in this race, it is all over for AIR. "This is the chance for Atlanta area people to really prove that they want big time auto racing here. I think, too, See SUCCESS, Page 6-C of reckoning has arrived for Atlanta's contribution to NAS-CAR's super speedway circuit.

Friday, Judge Sidney O. Smith of the United States District Court for the North District of Georgia signed the final document officially placing AIR under Chapter 10 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act. The order freezes the debts of the track and insures the running of the Atlanta 500. Track President Jack Black, General Manager Walter Nix, Senior Vice-President Paul Jones and Secretary Lloyd Smith have placed an amount between $175,000 and $200,000 in escrow to cover purse and operating expenses for the race. Judge Smith appointed attorney R.

Neal Batson as trustee of the order. Batson has experience with Chapter 10 reorganization of a corporation. "WE NEED the biggest By RON HUDSPETH A one and a half-mile strip of asphalt that leads nowhere? Some 40,000 seats with no fans? A luxurious press box with no sports writers? A pretty, grassy infield with no spectators sitting on car hoods eating fried chicken and sipping beer? i It all spells what may very well happen to Atlanta International Raceway if the April 4 Atlanta 500 stock car race is not a success. Hal Hamrick, once general manager of the local speedway and now handling promotion fo rte upcoming spring race, put it simply and bluntly Saturday. "If the fans don't turnout for this one," said Hamrick, "it is the end of major league auto racing in Atlanta and the end of AIR." NO AIR official has ever been that pointed, but the day Life in a Basement The whistle blew and the ball flew up for a tipoff between two tall, skeletal creatures clothed for basketball exercises.

Walt Wesley got the tip. Bob Lewis got the ball, fed it beautifully ft mmmmmm etlanfa journal THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION PAGES SOUTH'S BEST SECTION SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 1971 through a needle's eye to John Warren, who blew past a Portland guard, who reconsidered a defensive gesture, then courteously stepped aside to watch in amazement. Warren drove in and sank a layup and the Cleveland Cavaliers had scored two points for the Portland Trail Blazers. Since the convening of the Cavaliers, a hodge-podge of expansion draftees, NBA rejects and well-mannered rookies, a young export of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been living through a recurring series of such bizarre incidents. In his worst trials and harassments, Job had I ON THE INSIDE life under the whip by comparison, i "The telephone rang the other i morning," Bill Fitch said.

"It was BISHER WALKER CUP 2-C MORE DRAFT 3-C RACING LOG 4-C Yunkus Held To 14 Points In 4th Loss 1 I i a radio station calling. The overnight scores showed that we had beaten Buffalo, 117-79, and this announcer wanted to confirm it." On another occasion, the Cavaliers flew one airline and their baggage was placed aboard another by mistake. Their baggage beat them home. In Buffalo, their warmup pants were stolen before a game. On another occasion, they were locked out of their own dressing room.

"Things got so bad at times that when I'd call the team together before a game, I felt like we ought to take a vote to see if we were going to play." Does It Tick? Bill Fitch is the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, currently recognized as the worst team in professional basketball. The title isn't official, but quite real, as supported by some dreary facts: They tied the all-time record for defeats in a row for a launching franchise. Denver Nuggets set it at 15 straight in 1949. After 27 games, they had won one (1). After 35 games, they finally won their first from a non-expansion team, the Philadelphia 76ers.

They had losing streaks of 15, 12 and seven games. By the time they had a chance to have their grand opening before a home audience in Cleveland Arena, they had a record of 0-and-7. Their plague gained such attention that there are 11 Cleveland Cavalier Fan Clubs around the country founded on a premise of sympathy similar to the Ray Oyler Fan Clubs, devoted to the baseball leagues' worst hitter. Conditions reached such a frightful state that if anybody sent them a cake, they wouldn't cut it. They'd have it examined first.

"People keep telling me that defeat makes you a better man," Fitch said. "If that's so, I want you to take a look at the cleanest bunch of basketball players on earth." Snake-Charmer with a Deaf Cobra Consider, in the case of Bill Fitch, the utter despair of it all by reviewing some of his past. When he broke in as a baseball coach, he had Bob Gibson for a pitcher at Creighton University. When he coached basketball at Coe College, his alma mater, North Dakota State, Bowling Green and Minnesota, he was always a winner 187 to 111. "It must be tough on a guy so used to winning," I said.

"It's tough on a guy used to losing," Bill Fitch said. "It sometimes makes you feel like a Hindu snake-charmer with a deaf cobra." After all those seasons in the leaky-gym circuit, Fitch had been graduated to the Big Ten. The big-time had looked him up. Yet, after only two seasons at Minnesota, he threw it overboard and took the bait that Nick Mileti, an old friend and admirer, of fered in Cleveland. Mileti is a mighty man in construction, a seer, a doer and a total advocate of the onward-and-upward philosophy.

He had become entranced with the many interesting facets of Fitch when Fitch coached at Bowling Green. Fitch is tall. Some basketball coaches aren't. He's substantially constructed, well-proportioned and has a ready smile that might have been copied off an old Sonny Tufts movie handbill. CARBONDALE, Ill-Georgia Tech's invasion of this basketball citadel and Rich Yonkus' homecoming had one thing in common here Saturday afternoon.

They were both disasters. Tech's disaster was a sound 89-69 licking at the hands of Southern Illinois University's Salukis. Yunkus' was a 14-point game. And the two, of course, were directly related. Yunkus, the Yellow Jackets' all-time superstar, is a native of Benton, 30 miles to the northeast, and his anticipated "homecom'ng" had saturated sports pages in these parts for days- But the big fellow suffered through perhaps his worst game as a collegian.

THE JACKETS started out impressively with a press which forced the Salukis into several turnovers, and Tech grabbed a 14-6 lead on a short jumper by Yunkus at the 12:55 point. But from there, it was all downhill for the Jackets. With a crowd of 9,400 cheering them on, the Salukis caught up, 14-14 at 10:35 on a basket by Greg Starrick, who wound up the game's top scorer with 25 points. From then until half time, the game was a nip-and-tucker which saw the lead change hands 11 times, the score tied six times and neither team ever leading by more than three points. THE SALUKIS USED a See SOUTHERN, Page 2-C MmoNG Mr Mm Lis.

i w7t tmi xlj: ntrz i iL A Ik a mT staff Photo Joe McTyre (L-R) KANSAS STATE'S CLARENCE SCOTT, MIAMI COACH DON SHULA, ARIZONA STATE'S J. D. HILL AT 100 PER CENT WRONG JAMBOREE Scott, Native of Decatur, Was Number One Pick of Cleveland Browns; Hill, First Choice of Buffalo; Story Below FALCONS AWAIT VERDICT Draft Choices Always A Gamble FO FT Reb PF IP. I iu i.1 6 3 14 Georgia 3U 4-4 Murphy Thompson Yunkus Thome Saniovlo Wilson HoKgle Small H.vdcr Taylor Totals 51 3-4 0-0 1 a 2-3 (II His sense of humor matches the good nature in his face, and through such a natural device has managed to survive the worst of it. A Three-Course Season "Oh yes," he said over breakfast at the Marriott Hotel, "the worst is over.

Nothing could ever be this bad again. 1 "Here's what I tell the team: I tell them we have divided the Season into three college seasons. For the first we were 1- 26. The second we were 6-21. On the third leg, we're 2- 1.

"How's that for progress," he said, quite happy with his nifty rationalization. But he could have been at Minnesota enjoying the fruits of a bountiful two-year preparation, content In the lap of collegiate splendor. "I could," he said. "But, coaching anywhere is hazard- See FURMAN BISHER, Page 8-C 26-71 17-26 31 23 if Southern Illinnli (Ml 'rasueia 7-16 ZJ 13 Powlpa 1.A 5 .111 mysterious drafts. You might say that the Falcons selected 18 Mr.

Xs from throughout the nation and some of them were recognized. The identities of the players make little difference. If they produce next fall, they will be recognized. If they don't, the Falcons will be recognized. It's that basic.

The big question on Peach-tree over the weekend was, "Who's Joe Profit?" That goes along with the Coach Norm Van Brocklin and his Atlanta Falcon staff took off Saturday and rested after two days of decision. They selected 18 players in the annual NFL draft Thursday and Friday and the decisions made on those two days will determine what Atlanta fans see on the field next fall. IT WAS another one of those By ALTHOMY As in Russian roulette, when you never know if the bullet is in the cylinder, the pro football draft depends on the odds. Players are measured, characterized, analyzed and then selected. From that moment on, the matter is in the hands of the players and that scientific intangible pure ol' luck.

And don't leave out coaching. He was the No. 1 draft choice out of Northeast Louisiana, a running back said to bear resemblance to the great Gale Sayers. There had been reports he was a bit shy on pass receiving and blocking, but Van Brocklin and personnel director Tom Braatz insisted that he more than compensates for these deficien- See 'MR. X'S', Page 4-C 4 10-20 5-5 4-4 f2-13 I 25 20 'I 3 Brooks Starrick Garrett Hawthorne Portugal Crews Marker Hcssick ttf So 'o 0-1 0-0 0 fLA A ft 1 0-2 2-2 3 0 2 31.44 97-al i.

la as loiais score dv Halves: f.forria Tech 37 Jua Southern Illinois Officials: Fahnestock. Blondl: Norm Van Brocklln 100 PER CENT WRONG JAMBOREE Decatur Native Scott Back As Browns' Top Choice HiikH-v III iifti cv ill PSdhs By DARRELL SIMMONS Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer ATHENS, played the perfect host in too rnanyways Saturday night against a basketball team that hadn won on the road in a year and a half, and as a result tlorida broke its traveling losing streak with an 88-79 win. oupnomore wmg man Tony By RICHARD HYATT "Scottie," J.D. Hill cried across the crowded room, over here, I've been waiting for yau all You're just the man I've been wanting for you all night. You're just the man I've been wanting to see." Hill, wide receiver from Arizona State, was on hand Saturday night to accept the 100 Per Cent Wrong Club's College Offensive Football Player of the Year award.

He was one of many well-known athletes here at the Marriott to receive honors at the 36th annual Jamboree. But, who was WELL "Scottic" happened to be Clarence Scott. That name may not a knowing smile from many but he was also at the banquet to be honored. For the uninformed legions, Scott was the No. 1 draft choice of the Cleveland Browns and the first defensive back chosen in the NFL draft.

He played college football at Kansas State after coming out of Decatur's Trinity High School. Scott, the club's Defensive Player of the Year, didn't attract the attention of tily attired Hill, but he's used to it. "People here may not know too much about me but maybe they will in the next few years," Scott said. "It really doesn't bother me anymore, I understand the situation." SCOTT came out of Trinity, now a victim of consolidation, in the shadow of Jack Pitts, a quarterback known for his ability to throw with either hand. Pitts went on to Michigan State where a shoulder Injury ended his career.

But it was his old high school teammate Scott said he owed a pat on the back. "SCHOOLS ALL OVER were looking at Pitts. He was quite a football player. He was a great passer and I happened to be on the other end of a lot of his passes. That's how Kan-See DECATUR'S Page 9-C da's Tommy Bartlett liked a better second-half from his squad as primary in his win.

"We ran in the first half and got them into the kind of game we wanted them in but didnt capitalize on it," said Rose-, mond. "We could have been ahead by 10 points or so, but we just had some mental mistakes that hurt too much, both teams played like 10th place' teams in the first half. It was. a better ball game in the sec-See GEORGIA, Page 4-C Miller's 32 points on the best night of his young career was individually most prominent in the result in Florida's favor. GEORGIA SOPHOMORE Ronnie Hogue's 31 points, in his best night ever, too, kept it from being worse for the Bulldogs.

Georgia coach Ken Rose-mond felt his team's "mental mistakes" contributed heavily to the outcome, while Flori Staff Photo Blllv Dauina FLORIDA'S TONY MILLER (L), GEORGIA'S CATHEN WESTBROOK FLOORED Bulldogs Floored, Too, by Miller's Big 22-Point Winning Performance.