Sports Snapshots: March 6, 1966

The Philadelphia 76ers vaulted over the reigning champion Boston Celtics and into first place in the Eastern Division with a 113-110 triumph in Boston. Wilt Chamberlain led the Sixers with 32 points. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers expanded their Western Division lead over the Baltimore Bullets to seven game with a 126-105 thrashing. Elgin Baylor, slowed much of the year with an injured right knee, poured in 37 points. The St Louis Hawks, in coming from behind to defeat the New York Knicks, 119-106, have snuck within one game of the Bullets for second place.

As the collegiate cagers prepare for NCAA tourney play tomorrow night, the final UPI standings featured Kentucky (23-1) at the top, Duke (23-3) at #2, Texas Western (23-1) #3, Kansas (21-3) #4, and Loyola (IL) (21-2) at #5. The longtime leader of the Kentucky program, Adolph Rupp (pic), won the UPI Coach of the Year award, doing so with the same group that went just 15-10 the prior year (his worst) and no player taller than 6-5. His Wildcats last won the national title in 1958, but he thinks this team could be a bit better. They’ll potentially face strong competition from the likes of Don Haskins’ Texas Western bunch. Like Kentucky, the Miners were unbeaten until a regular season-ending upset prevented a perfect mark.

The bad news for the New York Mets is they’re coming off the worst record in the majors (50-112) and 47 games out from the first-place Dodgers. The good news is they can only improve. Rookies always breed hope and optimism even in the most dire settings, and a couple of future stars provided a glimpse of sunshine last year, in flamethrowing Tug McGraw and power-hitting Ron Swoboda.

Pitching’s obviously at a premium anytime your team loses 112 games (most of any team since the ’62 Mets), and further hope beyond lefty McGraw (pic) is on the way in the form of strikeout rook Dick Selma. He came up for a preview last September 2 and, a mere nine days later, shut out pennant hopeful Milwaukee (Braves), 1-0. In so doing, he fanned a club record 13 batters. Another youngster providing promise is Bud Harrelson, considered Roy McMillan’s heir apparent at shortstop.

Gay Brewer, who vaulted into first place without firing a shot, won the Pensacola Open by three strokes, finishing 16-under-par for the tourney and collected his biggest payday ($10,000) as a pro. Doug Sanders, ahead by four strokes after two rounds, suddenly was eliminated when he failed to sign his scorecard. Bruce Devlin, starting the final day seven behind Brewer, made a relentless run but couldn’t seal the gap, finishing three strokes back.