September 22, 1969 | Volume 31, Issue 13

Watch the Mustangs and their exciting passer play catch. They'll amaze you, thrill you and maybe even win. But not last week

As the gun ended the 1969 Super Bowl, Larry Grantham, the New York Jets' linebacker, went into a spasm. Or was it a free-form dance? He quivered and leaped, sprinted and stopped dead, pirouetted,...

BASKETBALL—The American Basketball Association continued its raids on the NBA, picking off DAVE BING and four referees, and signing LUCIOUS JACKSON (page 30). Bing, the NBA's leading scorer two...

27—Gerry Cranham28—Herb Scharfman29—Heinz Kluetmeier, Herb Scharfman30—right, Heinz Kluetmeier31—Wayne Wilson from Leviton-Atlanta, Tony Triolo72—Neil Leifer84—top, PIP Photo86—Jim...

Karl Kinsel, 12, of Cotulla, Texas, won the Youth Rodeo Association steer-riding championship in Laredo and also clinched the state junior ribbon in calf roping. The 4'11", 82-pounder, a rodeo...

AMERICAN LEAGUE

It was about time. After 19 seasons and a record 985 appearances, 46-year-old knuckleball Pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm packed his bags in California last week and headed home to Georgia. After all,...

UNBALANCED SCALESirs:Thank you for calling attention to the plight of Gary Freeman, Oregon State University basketball player (SCORECARD, Sept. 15). Freeman hoped to play professional basketball...

•Harry Walker, Houston Astros manager, insisting that he would not trade his wife for Elizabeth Taylor: "Miss Taylor is a beautiful woman, sure. But how do I know she won't nag me? Can she cook?...

'Met Brutality' a placard read in Pittsburgh, and the transformation of the New Yorkers was complete. Winning 10 in a row, they routed the Pirates and left the stumbling Cubs weeping far behind

The NFL kicks off with a showdown between the champion Colts and their arch-rivals, the Rams. Tex Maule reports on how a hale Johnny U. fares against the Foursome.

The 51st year of the given Sunday is upon us (1969 marks the 50th anniversary of the NFL). As usual it is bedecked in its autumnal regalia of sere clichés, and the stereotype is once more heard in...

NFL

The best (New York) is better, and the second best (Houston) is more better, but the Oilers still aren't in a class with the Jets, of whom the classiest are W. White Shoes and Mathews Snell.

Kansas City, Oakland and San Diego are like three lobsters in a trap—only one can survive. If the Chiefs avoid the injuries which devastated them last year, they'll be that one.

Love, hate and talent contribute to making a football team, but talent contributes most, and with the Colts, Rams and 49er's the Coastal has all kinds of talent. Pity the Falcons.

The Cardinals are coming, tra la, tra la—in football. Big on running backs and helped by a little safety and a quarterback with a better head than arm, St. Louis is out to depose Cleveland.

Defense is still ahead of offense in the Black and Blue Division, and when they've sorted out the fallen bodies, the team with the least weak offense should be on top. Yes, Green Bay.

By almost every measuring device, the Dallas Cowboys are a shoo-in to win the division. The only question is: are they still waiting for the arrival of that streetcar named desire?

For a long time SPORTS ILLUSTRATED has been making predictions on games, pennant races, tournaments, playoffs and such, a precarious and—fortunately—often successful exercise that has our writers...

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Kyle Rote Jr. is 5'11", 180 and does the 40 in 4.7. Although only a sophomore, he would probably have been the starting defensive halfback at Oklahoma State this fall—but Kyle Jr. isn't at...

With the death of Helen Sobel—I could never get used to calling her Mrs. Stanley Smith—I have lost my favorite partner, and the world has lost the greatest woman bridge player who ever lived. But...

Both Douglass Wallop's Baseball: An Informal History (W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., New York City, $5.95) and Malcolm D. Whitman's Tennis: Origins and Mysteries (Singing Tree Press, Detroit, $10)...