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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1981)
Page 12 Portland Observer, December 17, 1981 Trailblazer Action to Father Time. Those close to Ali say he has tak en far too many punches since he began boxing as a scrawny 12-year- old in L o u isv ille, nearly 30 years ago. We agree tor like others we can easily recognize the tell-tale symp toms. First we saw the loss o f elasti city. W ith the loss o f elasticity comes the steady decline o f resilien cy, the ability to bounce back, to re cover from illness, injury or trauma. In Ali we first recognized his inabil ity to snap his head back as he once did to avoid punches. A fter age 30 we saw this once-great warrior, who could no longer avoid punches a la his earlier days, now using the rope- a-dope. This style absorbed a bar rage o f punches. Last F rid ay night the fight that should not have been, took place on a small tropical island. Nassau was the scene and it was there a legend fell. But the saddest thing was not his fall, but that network television in the States would not touch a fight by the most recognized athlete in the w orld. So it was in obscurity that the greatest heavyweight that ever lived went out. A li had nothing to prove against young T re v o r Ber- bick, a Tighter that the champ would have crushed in his heyday, for this Black superman had shown the world on so many occasions that in the ring none could stand ta lle r, none could move easier, and none could throw those beautiful combi nations in m achine-gun fashion. Muhammad A li destroyed all those that came before him except one. A nd that one proved to be the toughest opponent at all. That one he tried so hard to beat, but he. like so many others before him, all fell This was the beginning o f brain damage. M uham m ad still denies that he has suffered brain damage but again symptoms don’t lie. The pu n ch -drun k Syndrom e is much evident in A li: the ro llin g walking on your heels g ait, th ic k ened brow , thickened nose, cau li flow er ears, stum bling m u ttering speech, inability to think quickly. Ali certainly doesn’t possess all but anyone observing him can easily rec ognize one pattern and that’s all it takes. The brain was not meant to take such punishment as one would incur through 15 rounds in a hard fight. M in o r concussions result in the brain h erm orrhaging and these small bleeding spots cause the dam age. It ’s there in A li. But let’s forget the bad, for this man provided us w ith fa r too m any good, positive memories for us to dwell on the bad. L e t’ s hope that this once-proud champion will retire and relish in the glory that he has won over so many years. A li was and is the p eo p le’ s cham p. A n d fo r those o f us that were fortunate to live during the Ali era. we were also fortunate enough to be a part o f history. Muhammad A li. the Black S u p erm an , is the greatest boxer this w o rld has known. The University o f Oregon W o m en ’ s basketball team w ill set its sights on the Giusti Tournam ent in P o rtla n d ’ s M e m o ria l C o liseu m , when the Third annual Giusti tour nament u nfurls. The Lady Ducks are c u rren tly the n a tio n ’ s 16th- ranked team and is 3-1 on the season. This year’s tournam ent features four Northwest schools— O regon, Oregon State. P o rtla n d State and W ashington S ta te — and fo u r top teams from other parts o f the coun try — Tennessee, O h io S tate, C a li fornia and LSU. Tennessee, runner-up to Louisi ana Tech in the A IA W final four in Eugene last March, was ranked sec ond in national pre-season polls, bu, has had problem s in e arly season games, losing recently to C olorado (78-60), the team which nipped Ore gon, 69-68 on the final o f the Cal In vitatio nal. The Lady Vols. ranked 10th this week, are 2-4 for the sea son. The Ducks have a 2-0 record against LSU, both games played last year in the Queens Classic and at M ac C o u rt. LS U guards Joyce W alker and Jackie W h ite dazzled the crowd last year and 5-8 W alker is back this season, averaging 23 points a game. C heri G rah am , the T ig ers’ 6-4 Parade A ll-A m e ric a n , freshman center, is averaging 12.1 points and 8.5 boards. ’ ’ LSU has one o f the best guards in the nation, as we found out last year.’ ’ said U O coach Elwin Heiny. ■’ They're a more balanced team this year w ith G ra h am at center. They’ve got a lot o l talent and will be looking fo r revenge fo r last year’s losses to us.” The Ducks w ill open play W ed nesday night, December 12th. Oregon was second in the Giusti Tournam ent last year, losing in a heartbreaker. 68-67, ,o Old Dom in io n . then the defending A IA W champion. Gluatl Tournament Schedule Jose Slaughter, 6-5 senior guard, was the catalyst and go, plenty o f help from 5-10 point guard M oby O liver. O liver ran the Pilot attack like a man possessed. He was con stan tly disru ptin g the O SU game plan by m aking tim ely steals and hitting deadly baskets. The Pilots were to be denied on this nigh, as they shot over .600 for the firs, half and a steady .582 in the second. O SU trailed throughout the first h alf, climbed to a three-point lead briefly during the second, only to be turned back by Slaughter and his Pi lots. P o rtla n d now has beaten U S C and OSU back to back. Both PA C - 10 teams were considered preseason picks to challenge U C L A fo r the conference crown. H o w ev er, i f the teams should meet in the upcom ing F ar Wes, Classic expect the Beavers, with the emergence o f ex-Benson star A .C . Green, to win handily. Portland should fare well in the W C A C race. Friday. Dec. 18— 12 noon: Loser game 5 vs. Loser game 6 (fo r 7,n A 8th places); 2 pm: W in ner game 5 vs. W inner game 6 (fo r 4th A 6th); 6 :3 0 pm: Loser game 7 vs. Loser game 8 ( fo r 3rd A 5th ); 8 :3 0 pm: Championship Game, W inner o f 7 vs. 8 (fo r 1st and 2nd). Past Champions— 1979: Univer sity o f Texas (R u n n eru p U C L A ); 1980: Old Dominion (Runnerup O r egon). Welcome back. Billy Rayl Kevin Kunnert: Is he ready to play? MEADOWS A.C. ignites Beavers A .C . is defined by Webster as an alternating current, an electric cur rent tha, reverses its direction regu la rly and c o n tin u a lly and A .C . Green is certainly doing plenty o f that for Coach Ralph M ille r’ s O re gon State Beavers. The 6-8 freshman out o f Benson High School received his firs, start ing role agains Pep p erd in e last S atu rd ay and responded w ith a career high 17 points and 10 re bounds. The classy fo r w a r d ’ s game was flawless and earned him a standing ovation when he left the floor after putting in 38 strong minutes. Green came to OSU as one o f the state's most heralded players. A m ong last y e a r’ s honors were: player o f the year, all-state, all-dis tric t. a ll-m e tro and was chosen M V P in the Dapper Dan classic, an all-star game for the nation's best prep stars held in P ittsb u rg h . P A ------5 -1 1 as a ninth grader, A .C . averaged 26.0 points as a 6-8 senior forward. A .C . comes to play every nigh,. His stellar performances in O S U ’ s firs, three games have earned him a starting spot on the Beavers. A .C . chose O S U over W ashing ton State and the Beavers will surely reap a p ro fit over the next fou r years. Green could easily become an all-American by his junior year. Cuban boxers capture World Cup medals A news blackout denied U.S. box Iraq. Donald H u ll, o f the U .S, who ers Louis Howard, Johnny and Carl heads the International Association Williams, and Johnny Keys their de o f Am ateur Boxing, said, “ There served Boxing W orld Cup honors. are African boxing federations that Howard took 4th in the 67 kilogram lack the economic resources to send class; Johnny W illiams was secohd anybody. From now on we will have in 81 kilograms; Carl Williams took to consider the likelihood o f a single firs, at 91 kilograms and Keys was team from tha, continent.” second at over 91 kilograms. Addition teams represented South Perhaps the silence was because Am erica, Oceana and C anada, the “ North A m erica’ ’ was represented host. by seven Cubans and five U.S. C iti Team scores were: N orth A m eri zens, each selected in recent compe ca, 41; USSR, 36; B ulgaria, 12; tition in Shreveport. O r could it be Canada, 10; South A m erica, 10; because the Cubans outfought all Asia I (South Korea), 8; Asia I I , 5; competitors, winning 20 o f ‘ ‘North Oceana, 2; Africa I, I ; A frica I I , 0. A m erica’ s” 41 points. A ll seven o f Four Cubans won the gold. Jose the Cuban competitors won medals. Gomez, 75 kg, gold medal winner at So it was left to the foreign press the 1980 Olympics and star a ttrac to let us know the results. tion at the 1980 W o rld Tourney in The Cuban press objected to the Belgrad, defeated Yuri Torbeck o f “ erroneous standards" which the USSR. placed the athletes o f the two coun Angel Herrera, 57 kg., won over tries in a misnamed “ North Am eri Victor Rybakov o f the USSR. The ca” team. “ Is it logical tha, Cuba, tireless slugger has the distinction o f the world and Olym pic champion, being the only Cuban to have won be made to participate in the elimin Olym pic titles in two divisions— 57 ation for this even,? Is it logical tha, kg. in Montreal in 1976 and 60 kg in the United States, another country Moscow in 1980. with proven power in this sport, be Adolpho Hurta, 57 kg., winner o f included in the confrontation as the Silver M edal in M oscow, de well?” feated Samson Skhachatrain o f the In Europe, the two top countries USSR. sent teams to the event: the USSR O m ar Santiesteban, 51 kg., won and Bulgaria. The Bulgarians, with over Petar Lessov o f Bulgaria. only two gold medal winners, sent A Silver M edal was won by A r an 11-man team. European cham mando M artin ez, 71 kg., who won pions such as super-heavyweight the Gold in Moscow. D em iani o f Italy and flyweight Bronze medal winners were Hipo- Richard N owakowski o f the G er lito Romos, 48 kg., and Luis E. man Democratic Republic were un Delis, 54 kg. able to participate. The second Boxing W o rld Cup Asia and A frica were given the was held in M o n tre al, November right to field two teams each, but 11th to 18th. Average attendance due to economic problems A frica was 400-500, reaching 4,0004 for the sent only 6 men. Asia I was South finals. The Cubans did not partici Korean, and Asia I I Phillipines and pate in the first W orld Cup, held in I ■ 'w — Wednesday. Dec. Z<5 (Is , round) (1980-81 Records in Parenthesis)— 12 noon: Tennessee (25-6) vs. Wash ington State (1 2 -1 6 ); 2 pm: O h io State (17-15) vs. Portland State (7- 17); 6:30 pm: O regon State (22 -6 ) vs. C a lifo rn ia (2 3 -1 3 ); 8:30 pm: Oregon (25-7) vs. LSU (17-15). Thursday. Dec. 17— 12 noon: Loser Tennessee/W S U U vs. Loser O h io S ta te /P S U ; 2 pm: Loser O S U /C a l vs. Loser O re g o n /L S U ; 6:30 pm: W inner Tennessee/W SU vs. W inner O hio S ta te /P S U (Semi finals); 8:30 pm: W inner O S U /C a l vs. W in n e r O re g o n /L S U (S e m i finals). Are the Pilots for real? T w o out o f three “ a in ’ t ” bad. The University o f Portland Pilots o f the W C A C pulled a big upset o f the P A C -lO ’s Oregon State Beavers last week and by doing so showed once again that Coach Jack Avina’s Pilots can play with anyone. 1 -’ F j New Y ork C ity in 1979. T h at con test drew only 300, with 2207 for the finals. This does not say much for public interest in amateur boxing. Sports are im portant in Cuba where the C onstitution guarantees all citizens the right to participate in sports and physical education and gives the government the duty to provide the broadest opportunities. The main purpose o f mass p artici pation bystudents and adults is to have people practice sports system atically to benefit their health and physical capacity and to prevent the illnesses and disorders that result from a sedentary life. Physical education training is provided to all studetns, from first grade through the university. Schools for Physical Education Teachers are being established to en sure that every student w ill be taught by a (rained teacher and those with special talents w ill re ceive the best in coaching. M a jo r sports complexes are being estab lished— at least one in each province — where participation is open and free and where all sporting events are free to the public. This attention to sport and physi cal training has paid o f f at the Olympics and other m ajor sport events. C uba, with a population o f nine m illio n , took fo u rth place at the Moscow Olympics. Cuba en tered 21 o f the 22 events, winning 20 medals, including 7 in boxing. GTO champs move up by Timothy Holstein David Cowart and Kenper M iller of the Red Lobster-sponsored racing team, champion and runner-up in the G T O C ategory o f the In tern a tional M o to r Sports Association's 1981 Camel G T racing season, will move up to compete for the newly created North American endurance d rivers’ cham pionship during the 1982 I M S A /C A M E L G T racing season. The decision was made when the pair o f stockbrokers/teammates un veiled th e ir plans to cam paign a B M W M l-p o w e re d M arc h (82 G ) under the Red Lobster banner during 1982. The G T Protogype (G T P ) entry is lo w er, lig h ter and aerodynamically more refined than M arch E n g in e erin g ’ s B M W M l Coupe based p ro to typ e driven by David Hobbs on the 1981 IM S A G T circuit, according to the m anufac turer. Led by Robin Herd, the March de sign team retained top aerodynami- cist M a x Sardou fo r its 82G p ro gram. The 82G M arch G T P design is being touted as the most aerody namically clean sports car ever built. Cowart and M iller will campaign the first and perhaps only B M W March (82G) on the IM S A /C A M E L G T circuit during 1982. T h ey ’ ll be participating in only the circuit’s en durance events in 1982, going for the North American endurance driv ers’ championship for sponsor Red Lobster Inns o f Am erica, In c., the nation’s largest fam ily seafood res taurant system. Bob Groaa: Will he atay or will he go? Jeff Lamp: Will he make It? This coupon is good for one Free General Admission to Portland Meadows Sunday only. Pick up yo u r fre e copy o f th e P o rtlen d O bserver fo r racing results. PORTLAND MEADOWS __22P2_NortJi jic h m e e r R oad P o rtlan d , O regon 97217
