Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 69

i I tho rrO Today's tcbisisn hlshllghts; Sunday, Juna 3, 1IT33 baSSbail paga Qy 1:30 p.m. USFL Football: Michigan at Chicago SCOREBOARD 5 rip Standings i 0 2:30 p.m. PGA Golf: Memphis Classic INSIDE OF SPORTS 10 and stats, Page 4H. 2:30 p.m. Wimbledon Tennis OUTDOORS ii I I Sports Phone, 1-976-1313 zfh 4:45 p.m.

National Sports Festival caii with iporu newt: 222-6660 LJLJ ri(g LJ DETROIT FREE PRESS walloo Orioles. (1 Downey ove into le ior i 1 Festival creates bandwagon for state's unknown athletes COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. From Kathy Arendsen's fastballs to Craig Payne's uppercuts, from the roller skates of Robb Dunn, Tim McGuire and Denise McLeod to the equestrian know-how of Marie Monda Zdunic, the fifth National Sports Festival is a showcase of Michigan athletes the unappreciated athletes, the ones who don't make a million bucks or get groupie mail or hear their names on television day by day. Most have been training and straining for years, rehearsing for the 1984 Olympics. Some will go to Yugoslavia next February to play hockey or swing from parallel bars.

Some will go to Los Angeles next summer to run in the sun. Some will become Peggy Flemings or Sugar Ray Leonards. Some finally will receive the attention they deserve or crave. Some will not. A woman representing a rhythmic gymnastics group called the Free Press to say the athletes were about to leave for Colorado.

Could the newspaper send a reporter to cover their sendof The newspaper said it was sorry, but it couldn't. "Sure," the woman said, "but when we win you'll be the first ones to Jump on our bandwagon." And she slammed down the phone. Little glory 9 but lots of Hope The will to win and the need for recognition are essential to the Olympic ideal. There is no money, at least above the table, and little glory except for leap years. Furthermore, it's been seven years since U.S.

athletes have had a chance to compete in the summer Olympic Games. Those who blistered their feet jogging By BRIAN BRAGG Free Press Sports Writer BALTIMORE Chet Lemon did in the Orioles and Jim Palmer with two home runs Saturday night, and the Tigers coasted to another victory in their first big showdown series of the year, 9-3. The result moves Detroit into a three-way tie with Baltimore and Toronto which lost late Saturday to Seattle atop the AL East. Lemon's two home runs Nos. 10 and 11 this season for the centerfielder accounted for five RBIs.

That gives him three home runs and eight RBIs in the Tigers' two triumphs here. Detroit won, 9-0, Friday. With their ninth victory in 13 games and 22d in 30, the Tigers moved nine games over .500 (39-30) for the first time this year. "Let's face it, we're playing pretty darn good baseball right now," said manager Sparky Anderson. "About as good as you can play.

Let's hope it continues." THE TIGERS didn't have to wait long for their first payoff on last week's bullpen-boosting deal with the Cardinals. Doug Bair, a Tiger for four days, picked up his first American League victory since 1977 by bailing Dave Rozema out of a fifth-inning mess and then pitching two more scoreless innings. "If he pitches like he did tonight," said catcher Lance Parrish, "it will be a benefit. We've been looking for a guy to slam the door in the middle innings, and he could really help." Aurelio Lopez got no save, but he mowed down the Orioles in order in the final two innings. He lowered his ERA to 1.33 in 61 innings.

Bair, 1-1 with St. Louis before joining the Tigers following a Tuesday night trade, last won In the AL for Oakland in 1977. He entered the game with two out and the Tigers clinging to a 4-3 lead with the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base. Bair struck out John Lowenstein, and that was the Birds' last chirp. AS LOPEZ was warming up during the AP Photo Chet Lemon (right) gets a hand from Larry Herndon after his first home run off Jim Palmer in the second inning.

Lemon connected again in the eighth inning, and he totaled five RBIs. the same pitch he put over the wall in the up hillsides or lifted barbells until their biceps howled were out of luck in 1980 because a pack of Russian soldiers paid an unexpected visit to Afghanistan. Head coach Carter kept the American athletes from competing in the Moscow Olympics. There has been talk that Eastern European nations or Soviet sympathizers might boycott the '84 Games to get even, but William Simon, the U.S. Olympic Committee president and former U.S.

Secretary of the Treasury, promised here Saturday that would not happen. second inning. See TIGERS, Page 6H that they're not going to give me anything good to hit," said Lemon. "But then I thought, 'Wait a minute, just see where the pitch is and hit it hard someplace, just drive "You can't start thinking with Jim Palmer, because he's been around too much, and he's too smart a pitcher for that." Palmer wasn't very smart, though, to give Lemon another fastball over the plate eighth, Lemon followed hits by Parrish and Glenn Wilson with his second homer of the night, giving the Tigers a four-run bulge and dooming Palmer (2-2). Baltimore manager Joe Altobclii said he kept Palmer in the game to face Lemon because "I just envisioned him hitting into a ground-ball double play." His vision was off by about 300 feet.

"The natural thing to think in that spot is Pink-slipped by Seattle The Mariners fired manager Rene Lachemann and released pitcher baylord Perry and High land Park native Todd Lruz. Details, 6H. At an international committee gathering in Bonn, he said, "It was agreed upon unanimously that everyone will be attending." That is provided, of course, Afghanistan does not invade Russia or Grand Rapids or someplace. Simon is eagerly awaiting the '84 Games because: "I think we've finally got a home court advantage, so to speak. It's the first time in 52 years New hydro hero Hanauer has become the spokesman for his spoil Ml I L.

3fc Today; Spirit of Detroit Th race: Sunday's hydroplane races, billed as the Stroh's Thunderfest, form one of the nation's premier sports happenings in terms of attendance. Police crowd estimates have ranged from 400,000 to 600,000 the past three years. The view: Grandstand seating for 10,000 is available at four locations; tickets are $10 on race day. Tickets are available at the Dodge Pit ticket office. The Pit is located on Marquette near the Rooslertail.

The box office opens at 7 a.m., and there will be a long line. The view from grandstand seats Is excellent hydroplanes in full flight come within 20 yards of the shore by the Waterworks Park stands. Most spectators find free vantage points, with Belle Isle near the Detroit Yacht Club the best. Parking: Space Is available at the Uniroyal plant on East Jefferson and at Gabriel Richard Park. The cost at both sites is $10 a car.

Private entrepreneurs near the race site soli parking some even try to sell public parking spaces on the street. Free parking is available for the price of a long walk. The schedule: a.m., unlimited testing; a.m., Grand Prix testing; noon, unlimited heat 1A; 12:30 p.m., unlimited heat 1B; 1, Grand Prix heat 1:20, Grand Prix heat 1:45, unlimited heat 2A; 2:15, unlimited heat 2B; 2:45, Grand Prix heat 3:10, unlimited semi-feature race; 3:40, Grand Prix championship; 4:10, unlimited championship heat; 4:40, awards presentation. Bob Hope we've hosted the summer games. I think it's safe to say that this may be the last time this will happen in my lifetime." To celebrate, the National Sports Festival is fairly dripping with patriotism.

Many events are being held on the pine-lined grounds of the U.S. Air Force Academy, a sprawling landscape of nature surrounded by quiet roads with names like Black Forest and Garden of the Gods. Of the thousands of competitors at this huge Olympic audition, all are Americans, whether they are of Asian or African or European extraction. In this setting, under these conditions, there is a sense of national enthusiasm more obvious than under any other circumstances short of war. "USA" is more than a decal on warmup suits here.

They even brought in Bob "This Is a Great Country, By WYLIE GERDES Free Press Stelt Writer On the Detroit River one year ago, the Bill Muncey-Dean Chenoweth era of hydroplane racing ended. Within a few heartbeats the time it took the Atlas Van Lines to pass Miss Budweiser in front of the cheap seats in the Belle Isle backstretch Chip Hanauer became Mr. Hydroplane Racing. Muncey had died the previous fall in an unlikely race near Acapulco. Chenoweth was winding down a brilliant career.

In hindsight, Miss Bud's Gold Cup loss in Detroit was probably the beginning of the end. He died in a qualification run in Washington late last season. Hanauer's victory could not have been more dramatic. It was the Gold Cup, the chance to join the sport's immortals; it came in Muncey's hometown, before the sport's largest crowd, and before its most knowledgeable fans. And perhaps most importantly, it came in true Muncey style one great unforgettable heart-stopping leap to the inside of Miss Bud.

In the glow of his dream-come-true, Hanauer said the Atlas was "a little high" during the move. Almost everybody else would say the hydroplane, as much a creature of the air as of the water, was flying as it passed Miss Bud. Those magic moments never will fade, Hanauer said this week as he and the Atlas crew struggled to get the boat running right for Sunday's finals. "It'll always be there. It was that big a thing for me." HANAUER SAID the aftermath of the Gold Cup victory was an ecstatic blur.

"I wanted to stay out there as long as I could and wave at the people," he said. "You know, here's the RenCen and here's Detroit. I wanted to just keep going round and round." See RACES, Page 6H -4 X. It Isn't It?" Hope, America's cheerleader, to show the way. At Falcon Stadium Friday night, with an orange sun dribbling off the rim of Pike's Peak behind him, Bob i in in Hanauer BLITZ HOST PANTIIERS Big game is minus hype Tanner upsets Wilander By TOMMY GEORGE Free Press Sports Writer CHICAGO There will not be 65,077 boisterous fans overflowing stately Soldier Field Sunday.

Only about 25,000 loyalists are expected. Ehrmann White Hope was watched by a spirited crowd that had formed one of the longest traffic jams in history an hour before. Hope sucked in some Colorado air as he thought about the Olympics coming up in LA. "I'm not used to this," he exaggerated lovingly. "I've never seen air that you didn't have to chew." She carried a torch for Michigan Arendsen, 6-foot-2 and from Holland, is a softball pitcher.

She got up to set fire to the Festival torch, with a 5-foot-3 male gymnast at her side. She lighted the way for the Michigan procession here, although Carol Fox (from Westland) and partner Richard Dalley already had claimed a gold medal in figure-skating dance competition held prior to the pageantry. Renee Roca of Allen Park and Dona Adair of Trenton were a close second. The state's successful athletes are here to polish their skills, not to show off. Livonia's Payne was last year's NSF heavyweight boxing champ and Brighton's Zdunic took a silver medal in equestrian dressage, and they'll be trying to do as well or better.

Dunn (ML Clemens), McGuire (Flint) and McLeod (Farmington) are national champions, and along with Michigan acquaintances Charles Jackson, James Collins, Dawn Thomas, Scott Thomas, Renee Stone and Lori O'Neill, they are here to prove that you don't have to wear Walkman headphones and chew California air to look cool when you're roller skating. "I used to be a hard athlete like some of you," said Bob Hope. "Hard arms, hard legs, hard heart. But that's behind me now." He patted his rear end, to show how hard It was. That reminded us of the woman who called about rhythmic gymnastics, as the National Sports Festival bandwagon pulled away.

jew1 There hasn been the buildup or tales of heroism that went with the Chicago Bears-Detroit Lions rivalry of old. But the 12:30 p.m. matchup (1:30 Detroit time) between the Michigan Panthers and Chicago Blitz even without the hype of a more estab- A scouting report The Blitz (11-5 overall) are 6-1 at Soldier Field and 6-0 In rematch games. The Blitz defense has allowed an average of 62.2 yards rushing the past four games. Ex-Lions Joe Ehrmann and Stan While lead the defense, Ehrmann with a team-high 16 sacks for the season and White with 67 unassisted tackles.

The Blitz offense is averaging 330.1 yards a game 173.9 rushing and 156.1 passing. The deep threat is wide receiver Trumaine Johnion, who leads the USFL with 71 catches for 1,139 yards. Ex-Ohio Stater Tim Spencer has rushed for 1,110 yards; he Is coming off a 132-yard effort against Birmingham. players and Michigan's Sunday. You'll see the type (of) play that comes in any longstanding rivalry." Each team has plenty of incentive.

Chicago (11-5) leads the Central Division and a victory would clinch the division title. The Panthers (10-6) can tie for the division lead with a triumph and claim the title at home next week with a victory over the Arizona Wranglers in the regular-season finale. Chicago and Michigan have followed similar paths. The Panthers, after a 1-4 start, won nine of 11 games, including a 17-12 victory over the Blitz at the Silverdome April 17. Chicago trudged to a 4-3 start, but has won seven of its last nine.

The Blitz toppled the Birmingham Stallions last week, 29-14, paced by receiver Trumaine Johnson's three touchdowns. "Michigan is a team similar to Birmlng ham, but better," Allen said. "They have quicker offensive backs, better wide receivers and a good tight end in (Mike) Cobb. They've Improved their passing game. "We think we're a better team now than we were then (when they lost to the Panthers).

Our offensive line is playing better it's maturing coming off the ball better. We're moving the ball on the ground the backs are running hard. The defense Is playing the run better and our special teams are playing better." Dallas Morning News WIMBLEDON, England Wimbledon closed the door on its first week Saturday with a gentle shove, leaving outside a storm of controversy that's still winding down. No illnesses were unveiled. No umpires were lambasted.

No tears were shed. No oddsmakers were shot. Only Johan Kriek made a stew Saturday, over kidney beans and liver. Declaring Wimbledon's food "the worst, by far, of any tournaments," No. 1 1 seed Kriek blamed his loss to Robert Van't Hof on his weakened condition.

The only safe substance to eat, he said, was yogurt. One of the day's few interesting matches was Roscoe Tanner's four-set victory over Mats Wilander, the No. 5 seed. Tanner, who lost three times to Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon, said it helped him to picture Borg, not Wilander, on the other side of the net. Tanner came back from 5-2 in the first set but lost in a tiebreaker.

He then took the next three sets for a 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 victory. See WIMBLEDCty Page 8H Stanley Hshed league is one of the best the USFL has to offer. The game will be televised by ABC, Channel 7 in Detroit. And you can bet as Panther coach Jim Stanley believes that this possible Central Division title match will feature gutsy performances and the sparkling plays of "big-time" football. "WE'RE NOT an old enough league to have such a big rivalry, but Sunday's game might help get to that," Stanley said.

Blitz head coach George Allen added, "With so much on the line and so much at stake, I don't think a historical rivalry is an issue here. You watch the enthusiasm of our Rslah 2nd who? The 1983 NBA draft is Tuesday, with 7-fooH center ALLEN'S ANALYSIS could be labeled modest. His Blitz are 6-1 at Soldier Field and 6-0 in rematch games. See BLITZ, Page 8H Ralph Sampson sure No. 1 pick.

Utherwitt not a bumper crop of college seniors. Stories on Page 10ti. i i.