BASEBALL—In Tokyo, HENRY AARON defeated Sadaharu Oh 10—9 in a home-run-hitting contest, and learned that he had been dealt by the Atlanta Braves to the Milwaukee Brewers (page 84).
PRO BASKETBALL—NBA: Boston picked itself up in the Atlantic Division and dusted off Cleveland and Philadelphia before beating Atlanta 126-125. In that game General Manager Red Auerbach subbed for ailing Coach Tom Heinsohn and drew two technicals and an automatic ejection. Washington suffered its first loss, 95-92 to Houston, but held onto the Central Division lead with three other victories. Rick Barry pumped in 30 points as Golden State crushed Buffalo 130-101 and added 45 in the Warriors' 99—88 win over Seattle. The Warriors extended their Pacific Division lead by dumping Milwaukee 99-90. Except for neophyte New Orleans (0-8), the Bucks (1-7) had the worst record in the league. New York nipped Atlanta, but in that game lost Walt Frazier for a week to a freak eye injury. Portland stopped Seattle and Buffalo, with Sidney Wicks contributing 27 points and 11 rebounds against the Braves. Kansas City- Omaha needed 30 points from Nate Archibald to beat Milwaukee 99-97, and Seattle got 40 from Spencer Haywood in a 117-97 win over Los Angeles. The Lakers won three other games, as did Houston. Detroit won two and lost two to stay close to the top in the Midwest.
ABA: The Spirits of St. Louis soared over San Diego 130-106, making up a little for an earlier, heartbreaking 110-109 loss to the Q's in which Spirit Center Marvin Barnes had 48 points and 30 rebounds. The Spirits lost too, 138-106 to Denver, which also netted New York and took two from Memphis to strengthen its lead in the West. Kentucky topped the Q's and walloped Virginia, while New York, two games behind the Colonels in the East, defeated St. Louis and Utah before losing to Indiana. Utah overcame San Diego and San Antonio, but the Spurs came back to beat Virginia.
BOXING—MUHAMMAD ALI regained the world heavyweight championship, knocking out George Foreman in Kinshasa, Za�re (page 22).
PRO FOOTBALL—NFL: With the score tied 14-14 and four seconds left, Efren Herrera kicked a 20-yard field goal to give Dallas a 17-14 victory over St. Louis, ending the Cardinals' winning streak at seven. Even so, St. Louis (7-1) had a two-game lead in the NFC East over the Washington Redskins, who rallied in the second half to down Green Bay 17-6. Buffalo took over the AFC East lead with a 29-28 win over New England (page 76), while Minnesota and Pittsburgh maintained their division leads. The Vikings held Chicago to 53 yards rushing; Fran Tarkenton threw two touchdowns in the 17-0 win. The Steelers also scored a shutout, blanking Philadelphia 27—0 as they held the Eagles to 66 yards on the ground. Dan Pastorini threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Ken Burrough to boost Houston over the New York Jets 27-22, and Ken Anderson passed for three touchdowns as Cincinnati defeated Baltimore 24-14. Detroit held off a late New Orleans attack to win 19-14. Don Nottingham scored three touchdowns for Miami as the Dolphins battered Atlanta 42-7, and Ken Stabler engineered a 28-17 Oakland win against Denver, throwing four touchdown passes. San Diego edged Cleveland 36-35, and the New York Giants stopped Kansas City on the one-yard line as the clock ran out to win 33-27.
WFL: Memphis defeated the Hawaiians to clinch the Central Division, and Birmingham also posted a victory to secure a playoff spot. The Americans held off a fourth-quarter rally by the Blazers to win 26-18, while the Southmen edged the Hawaiians 33-31. Memphis Quarterback John Huarte threw three touchdown passes. Southern California stung Charlotte 34-25 on the passing strength of Tony Adams, who completed 13 of 24 for 234 yards. The loss kept the Hornets two games behind Florida in the East. Portland shut out Shreveport 14-0 to pull out of the West cellar, and Philadelphia, with Jim Corcoran hitting on 20 of 34 passes for 349 yards, defeated Chicago 37-31.
GOLF—HUBERT GREEN and MAC McLENDON combined to win the $250,000 National Team Championship by one stroke over Sam Snead and his nephew J. C, and Bert Yancey and Ed Sneed, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
In Perth, GARY PLAYER won the Australian Open for the seventh time.
U.S. Amateur Champion JERRY PATE tied Brazil's Jaime Gonzalez for medal honors and the U.S. won its fourth straight men's world team amateur championship at La Romana, Dominican Republic.
HARNESS RACING—Billy Haughton drove ARMBRO OMAHA ($5.40) to a 1�-length victory over Tarport Low in the $151,043 Messenger Stakes, last leg of pacing's triple crown, at Roosevelt Raceway. The winning time was 1:59[3/5] for the mile.