The Charlotte News from Charlotte, North Carolina • 27

Innocent Pay RONALD GREEN Sports Editor msort basketball program lies in smoking ruins today Most of what has been put together for the past five years is gone The drive from awful mediocrity to national prominence The soaring pride The attractiveness that could lure top quality players to what had for so long been a team that have two blue chips to rub together Tates Locke the coach who had built it with iron fists is gone He quit last March in a storm of controversy Skip Wise an All-ACC guard as a freshman last season has dropped out and turned pro And now the big bomb has fallen The national governing body also restricted Clemson to two basketball grants-in-aid instead of the usual six in recruiting for 1976-77 and to three for 197778 The experience of other schools caught with their morals down indicates that the effect of the NCAA sanctions will cripple Clemson basketball for the three-year probationary period and longer gram in which he even hope to compete for the national championship until a senior or even have a crack at the National Invitation Tournament The NCAA has effectively punished the school Unfortunately the wages of sin must be paid largely by those who had nothing to do with the transgressions sit si jji THE NCAA REPORT does not mention Locke by name It refers only to former head basketball Locke now an assistant coach of the Buffalo Braves of the National Basketball Association says he comment on the actions until he has seen the specific charges The list of violations for which Clemson was penalized is staggering financial aid and extra benefits to student-athletes shortcomings in institutional control ethical conduct recruiting tryouts entertainment pre-college enrollment expenses transportation out-ofseason basketball practice and a questionable practice related to the certification of compliance with NCAA regulations -Not Much Right heavy All that lofty language means the NCAA find much right about the This is a bitter blow to the school to its and to Foster Before Locke came to Clemson with a from no less a giant than Adolph Rupp had won only 18 games in a three-year period He went furiously about the job of changing His fourth season produced the first eight years Last season after a slow brought seven losses in the first 15 games the won nine of their last 13 and were packing 10600 seats learning what it was Effectively Punished The game will go on Tree Rollins and Stan Rome and some other good players are still there And Locke has been replaced by a tireless man of fiery determination Bill Foster But the limit on the number of scholarships to be handed out for the next two years will work an extreme hardshop on Foster and his staff They afford to make a mistake but going to take a miracle of sorts to get a top-notch player to go into a pro THE NATIONAL Collegiate Athletic Association announced Monday night it was placing Clemson on three years probation prohibiting the Tigers from playing in post-season games or appearing on television in any game under NCAA control is that situation following recommendation the Tigers that winner in start that Tigers Littlejohn like to win in the best college basketball conference in the country BUT IT Locke was getting hate mail and Continued on Page 2C Col 1 REDS CELEBRATE Cincinnati players (below) rush onto field in jubilation after defeating Pittsburgh last night (AP Photo The Charlotte News i liV a 3 f'v 1 -J yf 8 1975 i 'k 7 ftW -a -in iVr i I 3 A Wmlm IKX 4 -4 A Jv mm Sw Wednesday October Boston Yaz Crush A's Title Hopes OAKLAND Red Sox inspired by the play of 36-year-old Carl Yastrzemski fly the American League pennant today after destroying the Oakland dream of four straight titles Series Schedule in Scoreboard 4C a very strange admitted the volatile owner Charles Finley you win them Boston with a 5-3 victory last night swept the best-of-five playoffs in three straight and now returns home to open the World Series Saturday against the National Cincinnati Reds won during the season on defense and that defense won it for us in this declared Yastrzemski whose fielding gem in the eighth inning was the turning point of the final game Yaz made a diving stop of a drive by Reggie Jackson and held him to a single instead of a double or a triple One run did score on the play but Sal Bando was stopped at third and the next batter Joe Rudi hit into an inning-ending double play Sharing in the credit was relief pitcher Dick Drago who threw a fast sinker that Rudi hit on the ground FINLEY HAD TO watch the game on television in New York because business commitments kept him there Monday and yesterday But he had faithfully promised to be on hand for game No 4 another dream that disappeared In the three games Boston outhit the 31-19 and five of the Oakland starters Campy Campancris Billy North Billy Williams Gene Tenace and Phil Garner get a hit all series just outplayed admitted losing Manager Alvin Dark who piloted the to the World Series crown in 1974 after Dick Williams left the helm after winning in 1972 and 1973 they made the plays when they needed them They out-pitched us and outhit Bando added won the big games all year and did it again in this series The turning point was play in the Southpaw pitcher Ken Holtzman tried to go on two days rest after his own defense let him down in Continued on Page 4C Col 4 BOB MYERS Cincy An Elusive Series Win PITTSBURGH Iff) The Cincinnati Reds left here with the National League title a yearning for their first World Series victory since 1940 and a mighty compliment from A1 Oliver of the Pittsburgh Pirates Related Story on Page 2C go all the way They definitely have the best team seen since been in major League playoffs The Reds swept the series in three games even though rookie John Candelaria pitched superbly last night matching a playoff record with 14 strikeouts is the happiest day of my said Manager Sparky Anderson whose club opens the World Series Saturday in Boston against the American League-winning Red Sox The Reds dealt Pittsburgh its final defeat about a half hour after the Red Sox swept Oakland in the AL playoff ready to play in Fenway said Pete Rose who provided the key spark in the title-clincher It was Rose who belted a two-run homer that helped chase Candelaria in the eighth and gave Cincinnati a 3-2 lead Then alter the Pirates pulled to a 3-3 tie with a run in their frantic ninth Rose helped the Reds deliver their two-run knockout punch in the 10th NEVER thought it would end in insisted Anderson always thought it would go five games just like I said at the For a while it looked like the 21-year-old Candelaria would give the Pirates the reprieve they needed after two convincing losses in Cincinnati was revved up and ready to said Joe Morgan of the Reds was probably the greatest performance by a lefty against us all said Rose Candelaria started with a flourish striking out the first four batters he faced Dave Concepcion stroked a solo homer over the left field wall in the second but that was the lone Continued on Page 4C Col 4 5 3: NICHOLSON i FINE winning pitcher Rick Wise left pours champagne over battery-mate Carlton Fisk after canning Oakland (AP Photo) Checkers By DALE COWING News Staff Writer If Gaye Cooley had his druthers the Southern Hockey League season would start in two or three more weeks instead of Friday just not sharp at all complained the Charlotte goalie after the Checkers whipped the Greensboro Generals 4-0 in the final exhibition game last night at the coliseum a very slow starter every year and right now not steady on my feet I find myself stumbling not sharp and not challenging the opposing players the way I he added training camp was the worst ever had and I think we should have at least five of six exhibition games instead of just Nonetheless Cooley and netmind-ing partner Brian Cousineau looked extremely sharp against the Generals stopping a total of 30 shots in the second straight exhibition victory over Greensboro Charlotte won 6-4 in Greensboro last Friday in the only other pre-season contest for either club Charlotte begins defense of its league championship Friday night at 8 when it hosts Roanoke here but before then Coach Pat Kelly must trim some four players from Continued on Page 2C Col 1 Track Needs Howard SSI ffWTr LEONARD 1 It is sad news and casts a dark shadow on stock car racing that Richard Howard is thinking of resigning as president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway Within the next two or three months before the annual meeting of stockholders in January the portly leader of the successful rise from rocks to riches over the past 13 years will make his decision There is no real assurance he will leave Neither is Were that he will remain 1 am among the first to hope that the man who has made Charlotte one of the prosperous tracks in the country and its events some of the most attractive to fans will not quit or have to If he does leave office hopefully to remain actively connected with the sport I will understand Howard believes the handwriting is on the wall although no one has actually put it there He feels that since Bruton Smith chairman of the board has gained 1 itilM mulriiisri umnoYAL EZZZ3 B-'WPTgYgf ppp mm SPECIALISTS controlling interest there no longer will be a place for him He further believes that the hiring of A Wheeler Jr as director of development to map out the future is an additional threat to his position He feels Wheeler is being groomed to run the speedway under Smith And Howard knows the bad blood that ran between him and Smith during power struggles these past two years is far from pure although harmony has prevailed during the past few months One thing is very clear now though that before Obsession BRUTON SMITH WILL regain control of the corpo-Continued on Page 4C Col 1 N-I0-B.