Sports Snapshots; February 3, 1962

Jerry West, continuing his recent relentless assault on the nets, poured in 45 points, including the game-winner with eight seconds remaining, as the Los Angeles Lakers stole a victory from the St Louis Hawks, 127-124. Perennial all-star Bob Pettit (39 points) had led the Hawks to a seemingly safe 124-119 home lead with just over a minute to play. But West sank two free throws, Rudy LaRusso (34 points) hit a bucket, and Rod Hundley stole a pass from Lenny Wilkins and fed West for the leading goal. The game’s top scorer then added a couple of insurance free throws to finish his 33-point second half barrage. Los Angeles swelled its Western Division lead over Cincinnati to 10 ½ games, which lost to the New York Knicks, 121-118, despite Oscar Robertson’s 25 points. St Louis, in losing to the Lakers, fell four behind Detroit for third place and a playoff spot after the Pistons defeated the Chicago Packers behind Gene Shue’s 28 points.

Number one ranked Ohio State easily held its position atop the college polls with a 97-61 drubbing of Northwestern. It gave the Buckeyes a stainless 16-0 record and marked their 30th consecutive victory at home. All-America big man Jerry Lucas rang up 24 points in just 27 minutes of action as his team coasted after blowing out to a 15-0 lead. John Havlicek added 14 for the Buckeyes.

Gene Littler, the California Comet, streaked across the course Saturday in firing a four-under par 68 to take a two-stroke lead in the prestigious Palm Springs Classic. Today’s final round will be nationally televised and should show some excitement and tension with Arnold Palmer—three off the pace—being paired with Littler.

A bit of Gene’s thunder was stolen when struggling Dick Mayer found lightning with a $50,000 hole-in-one shot on the second hole at the Classic. “I made it, I made it,” Mayer screamed, flinging his white cap in the air and his 4-iron to the ground. The moment contrasted sharply with his recent years’ difficulties that have led the amiable, generous golfer to drink heavily and suffer health problems. Perhaps a simple but lucrative shot provides the spark to turn his fortunes around. It certainly boosted his emotions and wallet.

Rising star football coach Darrell Royal was appointed athletic director at the University of Texas. He will, of course, keep his head coaching duties as well. Royal took reins of a program suffering from a 1-9 record and in disarray, quickly bringing it to national respectability with several notable first-year stunners in 1957. His program followed that with a breakthrough upset in ’58 of Bud Wilkinson’s otherwise unbeaten Oklahoma Sooners (who, by the way, Darrell happened to shine for as a student-athlete). The Longhorns then tied with Arkansas and TCU for the Southwest Conference crown in 1959, and again garnered a title this past year. Icing on the cake came with a 12-7 Cotton Bowl victory over Johnny Vaught’s powerful Ole Miss and a number three national ranking.

The marine keeps flying; John Uelses continues his vanquishing of the 16-foot pole vault standard by overcoming his one-day record with a 16-ft, ¾ inch effort, thrilling a Boston Garden crowd of 13,417. A mere month ago, the Berlin-born USMC corporal narrowly bested Don Bragg’s world indoor record by clearing 15 feet, 10 ¼ inches. At this rate, “he’ll do 17 feet someday,” gushed his coach, Aubrey Dooley. Uelses was a virtual unknown going into last year’s big winter meets. Now, he’s heavily hounded for autographs and sponsorship deals of all sorts.