Portland Observer, December 1,1962 Page 13
Fight card cancelled
A tra in in g in ju ry to fo rm e r na
tio n a l B ritis h heavyweight cham p
Ishaq Muhammad Hussein— highly
regarded foe for ranking Northwest
heavy L a rry F ra z ie r— has forced
postponement o f the scheduled Dec.
2 boxing program at Seattle’s Para
mount Theater.
The inaugural Thad Spencer Pro
ductions card w ill take place now
shortly after Christmas. As soon as
the best-date-available is confirm ed
by the P aram ount T heater, the
exact date w ill be revealed, probably
early next week.
“ We could have brought in a sub
s titu te ,’ ’ noted prom oter Spencer,
him self a onetim e ranking heavy
weight challenger, “ but we like this
Frazier-Hussein ten-rounder and we
know the fans are going to like the
matchup, too.
“ Hussein suffered the in ju r y
Wednesday while skipping rope. I t ’ s
not terribly serious, in fact i t ’ s kind
o f common—a slightly pulled mus
cle in his lower back. But the physi
cian dow n there [L o s Angeles,
where Hussein now trains under the
supervision o f veteran M orris R olf)
urged us to give him three weeks’
rest. So we w ill.
“ Those fans w ho’ ve already pur
chased tickets are urged to hold on
to them, bccaue they’re going to see
the same card that was advertised
for Thursday flig h t.”
The postponement w orks fo r the
fans in a couple o f other ways, too.
The time differential allows rugged
featherw eight Greg Haugen, w ho
has been campaigning in Alaska, to
make his area pro debut. Haugen,
fro m A u b u rn , is n o t stranger to
amateur boxing customers. In fact,
he holds two amateur wins over un
defeated (16-0) Johnny Bumphus.
More good news: Up-and-coming
Irish Randy M cN urlin, who stopped
undefeated Tony Talley o f C a lifo r
nia in tw o rounds in E v e re tt
November 20th, w ill now be able to
go the f u ll scheduled ten rounds
with H a iti Jimenez o f Sacramento.
M c N u r lin ’ s veteran m anager,
George Chemeres, had considered
showing this action lightweight (14-
3, 9 KOs) in only an exhibition four-
rounder to protect a forehead cut in
curred when T alley butted him in
the first round o f their fight. Chem
eres said the postponem ent is “ a
blessing, ’cause now Seattle fans can
see my fig h te r in a regular b o u t,
w ithout the special headgear I was
going to use to protect that cut while
it heals.”
The th ird ten-rounder pits W B A
No. 5-rated lightheavyw eight c o n
tender Dale G ra n t o f Tacom a
against Veteran King David Sm ith
o f Los Angeles.
Tree sales aid students
Thomas Kennedy; Kittle Robinson, president of Trailblazer Boost
era; Audi* Norris; "Fats" Lever; Sandy Armstrong and Linton
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Townes at racent booster party for Blazer rookies held at Geneva's.
(Photo: Richard Brown)
Lackluster Portland team falters and falls
by Joe White
P o rtla n d T ra ilb la z e r head coach
Jack Ramsay has been sitting back
patiently waiting fo r his young and
inexperienced team to grab hold o f
his concepts and develop in to the
fine team he’s been saying is hiding
somewhere.
Ramsay’ s patience is weWidg'as
th in as the h a ir on his head and
something must be done or the Bla-
zers w ill continue to falter as they
did on the recent four-gam e road
swing.
E xa m in in g the last fo u r games
shows the problems the Blazers are
experiencing.
A n u n ch a ra c te ris tic P o rtla n d
squad surprised the P h ila d e lp h ia
’76crs 106-103 in P hiladelphia last
Tuesday but since then have
dropped three games in a row.
H ow can a team that beats the
76ers then come out and embarrass
themselves in overtim e at D e tro it
and then at W ashington? Boston
out-defensed the Blazers in a 104-95
win but th a t’ s to be expected, the
Celtics arc one o f the league’ s best
teams.
But i f Portland is going to go any
where this season games like those
against the Pistons and Bullets must
be reversed.
W hat should have been a P o r t
land w in F rid a y n ig h t in D e tro it
only serves to point out that the Bla
zers arc missing something and the
season isn’ t getting any younger.
Detroit was playing without Kelly
Tripucka and John Long, both high
scorers for the Pistons and nursing
injuries. W ithout these two Detroit
can forget its fight w ith Milwaukee
fo r the C entral D iv is io n crow n.
That is unless the teams play like the
Blazers did against D e tro it. P o rt
land got into overtime but then they
m ight have well taken an early trip
to the showers. The Pistons buried
the Blazers for a 132-118 win.
In the N ational Basketball Asso
ciation, teams that win and are good
w in the road games against the
weaker teams. Portland has to play
as tough on the road as they should
at home. These arc the highest aver
age paid professional athletes but
a re n ’ t p la yin g w ith any e m o tio n .
L a c k lu s te r e ffo rts are becom ing
commonplace.
P ortland is 8-9 heading in to last
n ig h t’ s game w ith San D iego.
Thursday the team travels to Utah
and both o f these games should be
w ins. I f they are n ’ t, Ramsay w ill
really have to shake things up.
Friday night the Blazers travel to
Los Angeles to take on the Lakers.
Unless an unforeseeable miracle like
the 76er upset occurs, it is likely the
H igh school students are selling
$1 coupons that give the purchasers
$2 o f f the purchase price o f a
Christmas tree at more than 20 par
ticip a tin g tree lots. O f the S1, 50«
goes to the school group, 25« to bo
nuses fo r outstanding student sales-
Blazers w ill lim p out o f L .A . in be
young but they’ re professional ath
wilderment.
letes. Being paid all that money dic
Los Angeles always works its way
tates that these players should be
into top shape and so an early sea
able to adapt to any system and do it
son game like this one may not be as
for an entire season.
im portant to the Lakers as it w ill be
Only seven or eight players on the
for Portland.
team are getting significant minutes
The Blazers do have some talent
on the court. For the others to get
on the b all club. W hether or not
adapted to playing w ith their team
that talent w ill m old in to the team
members they need game playing
Ramsay wants is the only question.
time. Ramsay’ s big problem is how
Ramsay and Stu Inman, director o f
does he give these players time and
player personnel and general mana
get the o u tp u t needed to w in b all
ger o f the club, warned o f the slow
games?
start. Just how slow o f a start w ill
The Blazers are currently located
the team allow itself before produc
ju s t above the league's d o orm at
ing?
teams on the power ladder. Teams
In d iv id u a lly the team has to get
like L .A ., Boston, Seattle and P hil
consistent play and play w ith some
adelphia stand alone on top. The
th in g that separates the w inners
Phoenix Suns, M ilw a u ke e Bucks
fro m the losers— em otion. C alvin
and San A n to n io Spurs are on the
N att and Jim Paxson are the only
next level. P o rtla n d rests below
tw o that are pla yin g consistently
these teams and only time w ill tell i f
good b a sketba ll. W a tching N att
they can achieve the success predict
fight fo r every ball is a joy and see
ed earlier this year.
ing Paxson moving all the time gives
Time w ill start to become a factor
hope.
as the g ro u n d w o rk is la id fo r the
Mychal Thompson is running like
rest o f the season. Should the team
hot and cold water. He said earlier
continue to fla tte n out instead o f
this fall that he wanted to average 28
building upward, a long season w ill
points and 12 rebounds per game
be in the offing.
while winning 50 ball games. Unless
They are s till in the running fo r
he finds his enthusiasm o f the past,
the playoffs and may even make it
none o f those goals w ill be obtained.
to a m ini-series. That w ill be a ll
Questions abound about whether
though unless the players start to
Ramsay’ s system may just not fit
play consistent basketball games for
this young team. The team may be
four quarters.
men, and 25« to Green Flag Promo
tions. Participating schools include;
efferson, Benson, Grant, Madison,
M ilw a u k ie H .S ., H ills b o ro H .S .,
Glenco (H illsboro) and Sandy H.S.
B right green flags w ill id e n tify the
participating tree lots.
Immaculate Heart
Christmas Tree Sale
First th re e w e e k e n d s in D e c e m b e r, 9 a .m .-6 p .m .
and
Immaculate Heart
Christmas Bazaar
S aturdays;
Dec. 4 & 1 1 /1 1 a .m .-4 p .m .
Sundays;
Dec. 5 & 1 2 /10 a .m .-2 p.m.
Location; N.E. Stanton o ff W illiam s A venue
fr l. fry frry fry
S iryfrK
Election
N .A .A .C .P.
Portland Branch
Elect - Elect - Elect
Bernard B. Richardson
President of Ptld. Branch
of the N.A.A.C.P.
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The election w ill be held
Sunday, Dec. 12,1962,4 p.m.
Chrysler strike opposes concessions
(Continued fro m pane I col. J)
tw o-day strategy session to devise
means fo r fighting concessions and
to establish networks o f assistance.
The meeting was not sponsored by a
union, but by a small magazine. L a
bor Notes, which has provided sys
tem atic coverage and support fo r
the movement against concessions.
Besides the Chrysler strike, other
recent anti-concession labor actions
include:
• 12,(XX) workers on strike against
Caterpillar Tractor in the Peoria, I l
linois area, where nearly 30 percent
o f the work force is unemployed.
• Dakota C ity, Nebraska, packing
house w orkers struck Iow a Beef
rather than take concessions, but
were beaten and forced back to
work without a contract.
•E m ployees o f M orse C u ttin g
Tools, a G u lf Western subsidiary in
New Bedford, Massachusetts, won
com m unity support earlier this year
and successfully beat back the par
ent firm , which was determ ined to
reduce wages and eliminate various
fringe benefits.
•Employees o f the Wcstinghouse
A ir Brake Com pany in P ittsburgh
successfully beat back concessions.
•A n d in N o rth K ensingto n,
Rhode Island, 1,600 employees o f
B row n <Si Sharpe, a m achine to o l
o u tfit, have conducted a bitter year
long strike against concessions. This
strike, launched in O ctober, 1981,
continues with the company resort
ing to the use o f strike-breakers and
tear gas against the plants. It has po
larized business-labor relations in
the state along battle lines re m in i
scent o f the 1930s.
The pro-concessions theory is thai
concessions save jobs by low ering
labor costs to improve the financial
health o f companies. Behind this ar
gument is the belief that rising wage
costs are at the ro o t o f business’
economic and financial difficulties.
The anti-concession union mem
bers are beginning to argue that the
rate o f increase o f non-labo r costs
such as energy has risen faster than
labor costs. The growth rate o f unit
labor costs has actually slowed, they
contend, and when viewed as a per
centage o f sales, actually declined
fro m 31.8 percent in 1970 to 29.2
percent in 1980.
In any event, today’ s concessions
have little impact on overall costs,
say the u n io n ists. The SI b illio n
w orth o f concessions, spread over
31 months, which Ford got from the
United A uto Workers w ill have less
than one percent effect on F o rd ’ s
annual costs o f $40 billion or more.
The anti-concession argum ent
holds that pressures on corporations
come less from labor costs and more
from huge debt burdens, which have
been grow ing steadily over the last
20 years.
This trend o f borrow ing, tied to
spiralling interest rates, dram atical
ly worsened the financial picture for
many corporations in recent years.
For example, Ford’ s annual interest
expense m ore than d o uble d fro m
1978 to 1980, rising from $195 m il
lio n to $452 m illio n . For General
M otors, annual interest costs rose
from $368 m illio n in 1979 to $897
m illion in 1981.
This high cost o f debt encourages
plant closings to generate the money
to puy the interest. More money can
be made by d iv e rs ify in g in to new
p ro d u cts lik e chem icals or in s u r
ance, or by go ng abroad, than by
pumping capital into existing opera
tions.
Many workers believe that in this
situation concessions merely begin a
headlong slide towards eventual loss
o f jobs and serious erosion o f what
little bargaining power unions have
le ft. W orkers o f B r a n iff A irlin e s ,
fo r instance, took a 10 percent pay
cut in the spring o f 1981. A year
later, 9 (XX) w orkers were throw n
out o f w ork when the airlin e filed
for bankruptcy.
Workers now are beginning to ar
gue that rather than agree to conces
sions, future bargaining must take
in to account un io n p a rtic ip a tio n
and some measure o f co n tro l over
corporate investment policies. This
trend lik e ly w ill lead to an e ffo r t,
fo r the first time since the Second
W orld W ar, to gain a union say in
the way goods and services are pro
duced.
Vancouver Ave. 1st Baptist Church
3138 N. Vancouver Ave.
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PERSI
PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE, I9S2
Clinic Free
D r. M ichael F reistat o f N o rth
Portland Family C linic w ill provide
free check-ups for infants and c h il
dren to 12 years o f age and blood-
pressure tests fo r persons o f any
age. Hours are 10:00 a.m . to 4:00
p.m . at the c lin ic , 105 N. K illings-
w o rth . No a p p o in tm e n t is neces
sary. Eight a d d itio n a l doctors are
expected to volunteer th e ir assist
ance.
& CAR
TELEPHONES
THE BEEPER PEOPLE.
713 S.W. 12th Street
Call 224-BEEP for a free demonstration.
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