Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 18

flj 222-G720 flTlfO Pa psshs at Wamlch Fails: OH IN (JU Sportslina HCo'l ia vfra," on PGA pj Ml jj I rv so fired a 62 Thursday to set a course oDDcrcT For the sports scores mW record in the Buick-Goodwrench Open in LJ DETROIT FREE press and Grand Blanc. Details are on page 2. ThussJay, Sept. 13, 1370 COMICS SPORTS PEOPLE 2 HORSE RACING 8 SCOREBOARD 9 11-13 1 It's Peters principally Wolverines get tuned up for big Irish hit parade or rest of season By BRIAN BRAGG Free Press Sports Writer Rookie Rick Peters is likely to be in the Tigers lineup much more often than he might expect during the last days of the 1979 baseball By MICK McCABE Free Press Sports Writer ANN ARBOR Already Mike Trgovac is preparing himself for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. "They're the hardest hitting team we play," said Trgovac, U-M's junior middle guard.

"I'll just have to be ready to be sore Saturday night." Trgovac remembers quite well how he felt a year ago after the University of Michigan beat Notre Dame, 28-14, after trailing 14-7 at the half. "We were messing up in the first half," he recalled, "we were dropping passes, missing tackles and making mistakes. We were hitting too hard. We were trying so hard that we weren't wrapping our arms around the ball carriers and they were bouncing off each other. "Then, I remember It perfectly, Ron Simpkins got us together and told us to settle down.

Beating Notre Dame was an season. For one thing, manager Sparky Anderson likes what he has seen of the 23-year-old switch-hitting Californian For another, it looks like the Tiger manager won't have to worry about observing the unwritten baseball law which Yastrzemski all-time 1 BOSTON (AP) Here where Carl i f- Yastritmskl of the Boston Red Sox I stands on the all-time statistic lists in me I Games Ptaved fJ "I It 5.h, 47 behinrJBrooKs Robinson 1 a I 10,411, th, 13 behind Honus Wagner I A Hilt fj-V 15th, 1 behind Roberto Clemente 4 1,635, 24th, 5 Rvan i i i Doubl" aJa A 543, 10th, 11 behind Charlie Gehnnser i jf Home Runs lX 404, Uth, 3 behind Duke Snider a Runs Batted In A. 3 1,605, Uth, 4 behind Goose Goslin 0 1 Total Bases 12th, 3 behind Honus Wagner Extra Base Hits i i A jpS'V 1,023, 12th, 48 behind Mel Ott Bases on Balls v9? 1,631, 5th, 77 behind Mel Olt I a 7 ha I i lift sa 4 trA '4 1 i i i vi requires him to use his No. 1 lineup against contending teams in the stretch drive. By the time the Tigers get around to playing Baltimore and Boston the last two weeks vj joe of the season, there won't be any contenders in the AL East race.

The Birds have it locked up already, for all practical purposes, even though there is still a mathematical chance indescribable feeling. There's just something about Notre Dame that you always want to beat them. "Right now it's the biggest game, but when we play Michigan State that will be the biggest." TRGOVAC WAS THE defensive champion of the week last week when the Wolverines smashed Northwestern. He knows things will be different this Saturday when U-M takes on the Fighting Irish (3:20 p.m. starting time) and their star running back Vagas Ferguson.

"They're probably quicker on (artificial) turf, but they didn't move badly last year," Trgovac said. "I don't think they're as quick as our defense. That Huffman (Tim Huffman) Is a good player, I played a lot against him last year. "Ferguson doesn't go down easily, that's how you can tell a good runner. He's quick and gets to the line fast.

He won't go down with an arm tackle. Sometimes he'll fall for an extra two or three yards. "I'll have to be at the hole quicker and have great pursuit. If eight guys hit him every time he won't get to the line as fast. But Ferguson is a great competitor." Unlike the last few years when the Wolverines featured an explosive offense, this year's edition of the U-M squad will have to rely more on its defense.

"The offense has always been good to us in the past," Trgovac said. "Maybe they're not going to be as dominant in the beginning of the year as they have been, but I don't think we're going to be in any bind. "Our offense wants to prove to everybody they can do good. Now is the real test for them. I played in an all-star (high school) game with B.J.

(Dickey, U-M quarterback). He wasn't even supposed to be in it, he was an alternate, and he was the most valuable player. I think he's a great bajl player." Trgovac is the only Michigan player to be voted the team's most outstanding freshman one year and the squad's most outstanding sophomore the next. IT IS KIND OF IRONIC considering that he wasn't serious about attending U-M when he first started thinking about colleges. "When I was young I was a die-hard Ohio State fan," recalled Trgovac, a native of Austintown, Ohio.

"I went to the Michigan-Ohio State game as a senior when Michigan beat them 22-0 at Ohio State. "I thought that was unbelievable. I was really impressed the way they played together that day. I went to the game as Ohio State's guest, but I wound up standing on the sidelines with the Michigan players. "Woody Hayes didn't like it when I said I was coming here.

He called me up and said he was going to fly in and come to my house. He told me not to make any decision until he got there. But I said my decision was made. John Arbeznik did a lot to recruit me here." "It was kind of easy really," laughed Arbeznik, a senior offensive guard, "I just told him the evils of Woody Hayes." Arbeznik was injured early in last Saturday's game, but he says he'll be ready for Notre Dame, a team he would love to beat again. "I'M FROM CLEVELAND and that's a big Notre Dame See U-M, Page6D for someone to catch them.

Peters, who can play both infield and outfield, impressed his manager on at least two counts in his first major league start Tuesday night, PETERS showed a very poised batting style His stance and swing indicated a good recognition of the strike zone not surprising in view of the fact that he hit .324 in American Association play this season. He also showed good range in the field when he switched from designated hitter to see ond base in the late innings. Peters got his first big i Pete Gent: Pro football's conscientious objector In a profession in which athletes "play with pain" and don't complain, Pete Gent wrote a book about where it hurt in body and in mind and why. His novel, "North Dallas Forty," was a conscientious objector's opinion of professional football and how the businessmen who run it allegedly abuse their employes. The story is now a popular motion picture and those who call it "an accurate portrayal" might be pleased to know the National Football League Players' Association wants the author to lecture at a seminar when the union meets next February in Las Vegas.

"The movie is a way to explain to younger players how they are exploited and turned against each other," Gent said by telephone from his home near Wimberley, Tex. "The players I have talked to generally say 'Yeah, that's the way it The movie was a metaphor for the business You can't do physical violence and not have it affect you off the field. It's not a safe game." The book and film are based in part on Gent's experiences as a pass receiver for the Dallas Cowboys from 1964 to 1968. Before that, he was a basketball player for Michigan State University, where he also took some journalism classes. Prior to that, he was chosen by the Free Press for the Class All-State basketball team when he was a forward for Bangor High, state champs of 1960.

Gent didn't play football in colkse but the Cowboys drafted him anyway because Gent had "good hands." Perhaps his best-remembered reception came on the ultimate post pattern he ran in a game against the New York Giants in 1967. Catching a thrown ball for a touchdown on his way into the end zone, Gent didn't see the goal post until after he collided with it in full stride. (Back then, the structure was still on the goal line.) The collision made a great piece of film for NFL highlights. Gent held onto the ball, but his career was already slipping. "As a player, I cracked my vertebrae, I broke my short ribs off my spine; I broke my leg, I dislocated my ankle," he said.

"One of my legs is an inch and a half shorter than the other." league hit in the opening in AP Photo nlng of Tuesday night's rout of the Indians, and it was good for two runs batted in. Ump Dave Phillips stopped the Pardon me? game and retrieved the ball for Peters, who was a sev Massachusetts Governor Edward King exercises leniency to Boston slugger Carl Yastrzemski who failed for the second straight night to become the 1 5th man to attain 3,000 hits Tuesday. The caucus toolc place in the Red Sox locker room after the game. See PETERS, Page5D Pistons expect Greg Kelser to sign before training camp his secretary confirmed, "he will be in Detroit Thursday with Greg." Once Kelser's differences with the club are resolved, the Pistons will have eight players capable of playing forward, but that number no longer includes Earl Evans, who averaged 17.9 points a game playing that Colleges lease players So when he walks, he drags it. Gent's nose has been broken "about a dozen times." All 10 fingers have been either dislocated or broken.

When he writes, Gent finds it uncomfortable to sit in a chair, so he prefers to lie down or stand up. He has a three-year-old son, Carter. He doesn't By CHARLIE VINCENT Free Press Sports Writer Greg Reiser's agent, Erwin Weiner, conceded Wednesday that he should fly out to Detroit to see just what Piston legal counsel Oscar Feldman has in mind for his client; the club's traffic jam at forward was eased by one; and the Pistons two-day camp for rookies and free agents came to an end, sending most of them back into the streets to seek gainful employment. Weiner and Feldman reached an understanding of sorts on the telephone Wednesday, but the Pistons' negotiator admitted: "You never know for sure that you've got a deal until it's in writing and it's signed. "But we've sufficiently resolved our differences that I fully expect Greg to be present when the veterans report Thursday night or when they hold press day Friday morning." Weiner wasn't available for comment, but position for Nevada-Las Vegas last season.

VITALE Wednesday informed the 6-foot-8 Evans that he is, henceforth, a guard. "There aren't a lot of players his size that have that kind of versatility," said Vitale. "But I believe he can be a super, super guard. It will take time, I told him not to expect it to happen overnight, but I believe he can be our big guard in time." Evans played guard during his freshman season at Southern California, before transferring to UNLV. See KELSER, Page 5D want him to play football.

"Part of the game's attraction is to see who can endure the pain and the beating," said Gent, 37. Those problems are remedied with large doses of pain-killing drugs, "North Dallas 40" alleges. "In the years I played, the experiments performed on us taught them which, drugs to use," he said. "To the teams, you are just equipment." Nevertheless, Gent feels pro football deals more honestly with its players than the college game. "At least in pro football, I know the rich guy owns me, pays me and is Pete Gent FP Marathon entries running ahead of '78 will begin at 9 a.m.

Oct. 14 in Jackson Park, Windsor. It will proceed along Ouelette, through the one-mile Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, then east on Jefferson and Lakeshore. In Grosse Pointe Farms, runners will turn onto Kerby, then west on Kercheval. Upon reaching Chalmers, the runners will then return to Jefferson and head west for the final stretch to the Belle Isle bridge.

This year's race route includes about four miles in Windsor, an Increase from the approximately one-mile Windsor stretch In the 1978 race. This was done to give the people of Windsor a larger portion of the race than they had last year. "The race is unique among marathons for two reasons," said Kozloff. "First, it is one of only two marathons that cross an International border. Second, it is the only marathon whose route includes a mile-long underground tunnel." As was done last year, traffic will be barred briefly from the tunnel to allow runners to sprint from Canada to the U.S.

Good weather permitting, the first runner should cross the finish line in about two hours and 15 minutes. Aid stations will be set up throughout the route. Further, each particpant's individual running time will be recorded by a battery of sophisticated equipment being set up on Belle Isle by the Burroughs Corp. Running columnist Keith Dickinson traces the roots of the Free Press International Marathon on Page 4D. uses me like a race horse," he said.

"But in college, you're being leased like a rent-a-car. The doctors try to squeeze everything out of you, give you enough cortisone to push you through the last season. "Also, you've got that double, little mind-(game), about 'They're here to get an education and, gee, we wouldn't do "You know, if an athlete gets illegally recruited, his coach moves to another school and the player is suspended. It doesn't take you very long to realize you have no rights in college. And we still present college football as the way we build our young men.

"If we're not careful, pretty soon the world's going to be populated with people like Pete Rozelle. There needs to be a giant reassessment of the role of the NCAA." "77 DETROIT, USA 8 NFL is 'Byzantine' By TOM HENNESSY Free Press Sports Editor Across the U.S. and in pockets of Europe and Asia, runners are moving into their last, month of training for the Free Press International Marathon. Although only in its second year, the big Oct. 14 race already is recognized as one of the premier events on the U.S.

marathon circuit. About 2,000 runners have registered for the marathon and hundreds more are expected to enter before the Sept. 28 deadline for submitting applications. An application blank appears in today's Free Press on page 6A. The grueling race of 26 miles and 385 yards will begin in Windsor and wind through Detroit and three of the Grosse Pointes before ending at the Belle Isle Casino.

THE SUNDAY MORNING marathon will cap a weekend program of running. On Saturday, Oct. 13, there will be a race (6.2 miles) in Windsor sponsored by the Windsor Road Runners. And on the day of the marathon, a One-mile "fun run" will be held on Belle Isle. "It's probably going to be the biggest racing weekend in Michigan running history," says Dr.

Edward Kozloff, race director for the Free Press marathon and president of the Motor City Striders. "The course for the race is in the final measuring stages and Is being submitted for certification by the Amateur Athletic Union," Kozloff said Tuesday. The race itself already has AAU sanction. The business of measuring the course is a complicated procedure which, in this instance, involves the use of two bicycles. The bicycles are driven repeatedly over a measured mile on Belle Isle.

Then, when it is determined that their speedometers are flawless, the bicycles are used to measure the route of the race. After completing the route, the bikes are again checked on the measured mile course. The entire measuring procedure involves about 40 hours of bicycling. THE MARATHON, as indicated in the accompanying map, But Gent won't hold his breath waiting for it. Meantime, he's published a second book "Texas Celebrity Turkey Trot" and he's working on a third.

"Turkey Trot" is about a former defensive back whose world falls apart when he is cut from the team. Gent's current work again will combine themes of Texas and violence, but without the football. It's about ranchers who kill golden eagles who kill their goats and sheep. His current Texas town, near Austin, has a population of about 800. Gent watches the Cowboys "just a little" on TV and discusses the games with the men in the town square.

Is lw an iconoclast? Gent doesn't like the term. "I'm not at odds with society," he said. "But I have difficulty dealing with large organizations which discipline to the lowest common denominator." Football, he feels, is a good example. "It's Byzantine. I couldn't put myself through the mind games anymore.

The coach says 'Run head on into a brick wall, I'd say 'Give me a good reason why. And if you can't, I'm goingto go take my yhrysw Kercheval LgggttUfttiKil XS Servlce Drive I 1 1 riGroate Jf 1 JSBSSajWfyanrt -MWay Belle lPISs ''cr ukf Si aair CANADA Route of thd Free Press International Marathon on Oct. 14 is shown in black,.