The Atlanta Inquirer

LOOKING AT SPORTS
By JOSEPH E. DANIELS

Things that happened in '61, some good, some bad. Washington defeats Minnesota in Rose Bowl. Boston Celtics puts heat on all comers in pro basketball. Ohio State and Cincinnati meet in the N.C.A.A. Basketball finals, and Cincinnati Bobcats are victorious. Mack (The Knife) Jones wins berth with the Milwaukee Braves. Charley Daniels of the College Park Indians joins the Kokomo Dodgers of Kokomo, Indiana, which is a chain of the Los Angeles Dodgers and batted .302, leading his team in that department. Silas Jamison, a local boy who prepped at Washington High, also had a good year in pro baseball. Don Celendron of the Pittsburgh Pirates chain also stood out with the Columbus Jets.

In Track, Wilma Rudolph came through and was named the outstanding woman track star of the year. Ralph Boston also contributed much to track, having jumped farther than any other man alive. Frank Budd of Villanova College ran the 100 yards faster than anyone else and received many acclamations.

John F. Kennedy took over as president of the United States and has put forth an effort to start the physical fitness program off by securing the service of men like Bud Wilkinson, coach of Oklahoma Sooners and other well-known coaches to make America a better country, physically, to live in. The Peace Corps also was a brain child of John F. Kennedy and is now to take shape all over the world. Robert Kennedy was selected as Attorney General of the United States. Martin Luther King was elected a director of the Inquirer. John Wesley Dobbs, well-known Georgian, died, also Joseph E. Daniel, Jr., son of your sports editor.

Grambling won the N.A.I.A. Basketball Tournament at Morehouse College. My hat's off to Coach William James Nicks of Prairie View, who to me is the greatest coach in America today.

Floyd Patterson, knocking out Johansson at Miami. Also McNeeley of Boston ditto to Sonny Liston for his quick work of the heavyweight championship of Germany.

All-in-all, this has been a year long to remember. Never in the history of sports has there been the like of Bill Russell of Boston's Celtics, Chamberlain of the Philly Warriors, Baylor of the Los Angeles Lakers, Oscar Robertson of the Cincinnati Royals, Mays and Cepeda of the San Francisco Giants, Roberto Clemente the batting champion of the National League, Frank Robinson of Cincinnati, the most valuable player, Jim Brown, Bobby Mitchell of the Cleveland Browns, Lenny Moore of the Baltimore Colts and Daddy Lisccomb of the Pittsburgh Steelers. All these men really put on a show for the fans.