Sports Snapshots: February 17, 1961

The Boston Celtics avenged a loss to the Philadelphia Warriors just one night before with a high-scoring, see-saw 133-128 road triumph. Boston’s Eastern Division edge grew back to 7 ½ games over Philadelphia. Bill Russell (video) registered 28 points, Tom Heinsohn 26, and Bob Cousy (pic) 20, overcoming Paul Arizin's sizzling 49-point effort for the Warriors.
The Syracuse Nationals narrowly defeated the Detroit Pistons, 115-113, dropping them to third-place in the Western Division behind the surging Los Angeles Lakers, who defeated Detroit the previous night on the strength of Elgin Baylor’s 57 point explosion.

North Carolina’s 1-2 punch of Doug Moe and York Larese combined for 56 points, leading the Tar Heels to a 92-68 revenge victory over South Carolina and into first place in the rugged Atlantic Coast Conference.
Meanwhile, Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats held off a furious late rally by visiting John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins, 77-76.
Ohio State, led by super center Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek, remains atop the national scene and have won 24 straight over a two-year period.

[some things similar in 1961, others certainly different, evidenced by occupational pursuits of the best beyond the ballpark];
Major league baseball MVP Dick Groat of the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates, in North Carolina as a sales rep for Jessop Steel Company, said “I have been working for this company in the off season for three years now, and I hope to stay with this outfit following my baseball days. Right now, I’m just learning the business. I work out of the Pittsburgh sales office, and I always come through North Carolina on the way to spring training.”
Groat downplayed his own personal success, deflecting the praise toward his team, adding, “We had good help going down the stretch. Wilmer (Vinegar Bend) Mizell, Clem Labine, and Rocky Nelson gave us some valuable performances. There’s a real closeness of the Pittsburgh club…”

Replacing Casey Stengel as New York Yankees’ skipper, Ralph Houk has elected to make a splash before managing his first game. He has a new demo-record sure to create some ruckus with his estimations in it that “baseball is the most difficult of all games, because more tough situations arise…and they occur more rapidly than they do in any other sports.” The pinstriper then adds, “I think the mark of a true athlete is whether or not he can play baseball.”

In Palm Beach, FL, Ingemar Johannson sparred another session in prepartion for his third bout (video) with Floyd Patterson. Annoyed by the continued speculation, the power-punching Swede doesn’t believe he was doped prior to the last clash with Patterson that cost him the crown. Noting he ate a steak at a New York hotel the night before, he nonetheless stated, “Yes, it is true that I lost 5 ½ pounds between that night and the weigh-in. I will admit that is unusual, but at no time was I ill.”

Second-year Cal coach Marv Levy’s smooth-talking tactics have opposing coaches, like Jim Owens of Washington and John McKay of Southern Cal, concerned. Not that there’s been any recruiting rule bending, just that the Golden Bears’ head man has a Dale Carnegie-like approach with the parents, and it’s creating further competition for the top prepsters. Levy, a Phi Beta Kappa, perhaps only half-joked, “There are a lot of good students in this (Long Beach) area, and we hope to get both of them.”