The possibility of war between the United States and the Soviet Union remains, as it has been since World War II, the greatest threat to American well‐being, according to a new book published by the Brookings Institution. It says the United States can and should seek agreements with the Soviet Union, especially on arms controls, but adds that the possibilities of conflict will continue. “The U.S.S.R. will remain a totalitarian, heavily armed state, determined to continue to dominate Eastern Europe and to extend its influence in the world, whatever we may do.” it says. The book, which asserts that the United States must pick and choose among the domestic programs it can afford, is titled, “Setting National Priorities.” It is edited by Henry Owen and Charles L. Schultze, both of Brookings, an independent research organization founded 1927.
Electronic warfare, a sophisticated and expensive complex of technological weaponry, is rapidly becoming a major military preoccupation of the defense establishments of the United States, the Soviet Union and the North Atlantic Alliance. The advantage in the use of electronic warfare lies with the side that is best able to deceive or suppress high technology weapons systems such as air‐to-surface missiles. “We will throw an electronic blanket over their air defenses that will allow our aircraft to attack without danger from anything more than lucky shots,” said Colonel James L. McKenna. He directs an Air Force program at the Wright‐Patterson Base in Ohio where the EF‐111A is being developed into an electronic warfare escort plane for tactical strike missions. The Warsaw Pact’s achievement during the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 exemplified the defensive use of electronic warfare. The Soviet Air Force scattered a vast amount of aluminum foil or chaff along the frontier and the movement of Soviet ground and airborne units into Czechoslovakia went almost completely undetected by NATO’s electronic scanners. Electronic warfare is a highly secret field. But some estimates of investments in it have become available recently from authoritative sources. One is that the United States, the Soviet Union and Western European states will spend about $1 billion this year on procurement of equipment for electronic warfare and approximately as much on research, development, testing and evaluation of new systems. According to an authoritative European source, the United States will spend $780 million for procurement and $339.1 million for research and associated programs.
Investigators listened to flight recorder tapes from two planes involved in the worst air collision in aviation history for a clue to the cause of the crash. The tapes were recorded by the black boxes recovered from the British Trident and Yugoslav DC-9 jets that collided near Zagreb, Yugoslavia, Friday morning, killing all 176 persons aboard. Judges interrogated five air traffic controllers today to determine whether human or technical error caused the world’s worst midair collision, which killed 176 persons.
Subtle changes are taking place in France’s rigidly nationalistic nuclear export policy, with signs emerging that Paris is beginning to come round to the view that stricter safeguards may be necessary. Despite continued American pressure, France has refused to suspend its sale of nuclear reprocessing facilities to Pakistan. But sources here familiar with French nuclear policy — French officials, diplomats and other experts — see the conflict being muted by these other developments:
• Newly expressed interest by France in seeing the establishment of regional reprocessing centers with multinational safeguards;
• Indications that France is more willing to press for tougher policing powers of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, the body charged with checking nuclear proliferation.
• Establishment in Paris last week of high‐level Government committee to review the export of nuclear technology.
• The distinctly less strident pronouncements here on the nuclear question, following the visit to Paris last Tuesday of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. This is in contrast to the accusatory tone taken by former Prime Minister Jacques Chirac last month when he said the United States had no business meddling in an affair that concerned only Pakistan and France.
Mr. Kissinger had warned Pakistan that it risked a cutoff of all American economic and military aid if the $150 million contract for the reprocessing plant, signed last March, went through. There had been hints that Washington might retaliate against France by cutting off supplies of enriched uranium, on which France and most other Western countries still depend for nuclear power needs. The hard line taken by the Ford Administration and the Democratic challenger, Jimmy Carter, on the nuclear proliferation question may account for some of the rethinking by France, although the tough talk by Mr. Kissinger has also caused resentment here.
Dissident French Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, suspended by Pope Paul VI for refusing to accept reforms decreed by the second Vatican Council, wrote to the Pope apologizing for “the suffering I may have caused him as a result of the position that I adopted,” a churchman revealed in Vatican City.
Thirty-one more tremors shook the earthquake-devastated area of northeastern Italy after two strong shocks killed one man and injured 40 late Saturday. Police in Udine, Italy, said most of the injured suffered cuts and bruises as they ran out of their houses during the tremors, the strongest recorded since the quake four months ago in which almost 1,000 people died.
Baton-wielding riot police broke up a demonstration in Tarragona, Spain, by about 1,000 people at the end of a 10-week “freedom march” demanding home rule for the Catalonian portion of the country, political amnesty and democracy. In the mountain village of Montblanch, where marchers had been turned away by police roadblocks, a youth was injured by a rubber bullet fired by police. The march was organized by Pax Christi, an international peace movement, and local groups opposing the central government.
Syria is reported to have warned that unless progress is made soon to end the Lebanese civil war by diplomatic means, will “exercise its military option” here. According to sources close to the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the warning was made at a six-hour meeting last night between Air Vice Marshal Naji Jamil, the Syrian Deputy Defense Minister and air force commander, and Abu Iyad, the second in command in the guerrilla movement. The two met behind closed doors. at a villa in the Lebanese mountain resort of Sofar 13 miles east of here in what was the highest‐level Syrian‐Palestinian meeting since Syrian forces entered Lebanon at the beginning of June. Nothing has been disclosed officially about the outcome of the talks, but they are believed to have revolved mainly around the question of how to carry out an agreement the two sides concluded in Damascus on July 29 for bringing the 17‐month‐old Lebanese crisis to a solution. Disagreement on the composition’ of a truce commission has held up application of the accord.
Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization have held “surprisingly successful” reconciliation talks in a first step toward a roundtable peace conference in Lebanon, sources close to the talks said in Beirut. Sources said the secret talks on the front lines of Syria’s army in the mountain town of Sofar, brought together PLO second in command Abu Iyad and Syrian Deputy Defense Minister Colonel Naji Jamil. Syria warned that unless progress was made to resolve the civil war in Lebanon, it might he forced to use its “military option.” The warning was reported given to the deputy head of the Palestinian guerrilla movement in Lebanon by Syria’s Deputy Defense Minister at a meeting in Lebanon.
Politicians and diplomats in China’s Southeast Asian neighbors are assessing with considerable concern the likely consequences of the death of Mao Zedong and the process of choosing his successor. The process, which has been going on for some time, has accelerated since the emergence this year of Hua Kuo‐feng, now the Prime Minister, as a major power in China. The concern — particularly since the pullout of the last American combat troops earlier this year — is whether Mao’s successor will align China with the Soviet Union, which in recent years has been in competition with China throughout the area. For instance, if the emergence of younger pro‐Soviet faction in China were to end Chinese‐Soviet competition, “that would mean trouble for us,” said the Thai Prime Minister, Seni Pramoj, within hours after learning of Chairman Mao’s death. And it was a feeling echoed throughout Southeast Asia.
Most Chinese leaders have gathered in Peking for the funeral of Mao Zedong. It is the largest gathering of party and army leaders since the last party Congress in 1973. Analysts believe that the gathering may be used to fill some of the vacancies in top posts. The leaders gathered at a memorial service for Mao in the Great Hall of the People in Peking, the opening of a week of official mourning that will end with a mass rally Saturday. The mourners were led by Prime Minister Hua Kuo‐feng, who, with the others, bowed three times before the body of the late Chairman as he lay in the Great Hall of the People. The television broadcast, which was transmitted by satellite to Hong Kong tonight, showed Chairman Mao’s body surrounded by flowers and partly covered with a red flag. His widow, Chiang Ching, stood a few yards away, her head covered with black scarf. Some mourners wept uncontrollably.
A Japanese fishing boat with six persons on board was captured by a Soviet patrol boat off eastern Hokkaido, Japan’s northern major island, the coast guard reported. It happened only a few hours before Japanese Foreign Minister Kiichi Miyazawa boarded a Japanese patrol boat for a close look at four small northern islands occupied by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
Mitchell Sharp, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s senior minister, announced his resignation, apparently in the advent of a planned cabinet shuffle. Sharp, 65, said he had advised Trudeau last July 15 that he would not stand for reelection to Parliament in the next election and stressed that he had no policy differences with the government. Sharp has served as president of the Privy Council and is a former external affairs minister.
The normally peaceful little democracy of Costa Rica is suddenly suffering from symptoms of political unrest. Over the last two months there has been an outbreak of troubles familiar to many less stable Latin American countries: allegations of subversion and plotted coups, a wave of bombings and violent clashes between police and strikers.
Nine police officers and two civilians were killed in the explosion of a car bomb that destroyed a passing bus that was transporting policemen in Argentina in the city of Rosario, and by machine gun fire directed from a second passing vehicle against those who had survived the explosion. Another 50 people were injured. The two civilians, a husband and wife, had been in a car driving behind the bus. The Montoneros terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack. The blast occurred after a soccer game as the police apparently were returning from the stadium to their headquarters in Rosario.
Godefroid Munongo, who had formerly served as the Interior Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and governor of the Katanga Province, was enthroned by the Nyamwezi people as the ceremonial King Msiri V.
The Viking 2 lander was directed by scientists today to begin its search for chemical evidence of life on Mars by reaching out for soil samples on the rocky surface of the Plain of Utopia. But the scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here will not know until early tomorrow whether the lander succeeded. Viking 2’s telescoping arm was to place a handful of Martian soil into three biology experiments aboard the lander. Tomorrow, the lander is to get another scoopful of dirt for the fourth miniature laboratory, the one that tests for the presence of organic materials, which are critical for the search for life.
Testiness surfaced as Senator Dole once again denied that he took unreported campaign money from the Gulf Oil Company in 1970 and 1973. The Republican vice-presidential candidate’s apparent annoyance came as he was persistently questioned about the allegation while on television. He insisted that he had not taken any money and that none of his assistants had taken the money, adding that if there was to be a trial he would rather it was not in the newspapers.
Voting by computer, telephone registration with voter identification provided by voiceprint, and instantaneous election results may all he a part of the election process within 10 years. These possibilities and others were discussed at a meeting sponsored by the Federal Election Commission and the Bureau of Standards, along with ways to make an electronic polling place foolproof for both voters and candidates.
The five hijackers of a T.W.A. jet were flown back to New York City to face federal charges of air piracy, and likely murder or conspiracy charges in New York in the death of a police bomb squad officer. The five, four men and a woman, surrendered in Paris after being told by the French they could surrender and be expelled, or face execution if they made further threats against the hostages. The bombs the hijackers said they were carrying were found to be fakes and they carried no other weapons.
Passengers aboard the hijacked jet lived in constant fear of being killed during their 30-hour ordeal, according to a Roman Catholic Bishop who was one of them. The Bishop, the Right Rev. Edward O’Rourke, said he led the passengers in prayer and engaged in a dialogue with the hijackers, attempting to persuade them that what they were doing was wrong.
Worshipers at a Croatian church collected money for the family of the police officer killed early Saturday by the hijackers’ bomb, but most generally approved of the hijacking. The leadership of the Croatian National Congress, a group that seeks independence for Croatia by political means, deplored the use of violence, but said it could understand it happening for the cause.
Ronald Reagan is faced with a problem not often met by unsuccessful national candidates — what to do with an estimated $1.2 million in unspent campaign funds. A spokesman for the Federal Election Commission said that a portion of the surplus must be returned to the government as unspent matching funds. The rest, the spokesman said, could be converted to personal income as long as taxes are paid.
Capital spending will be raised by 33 percent by the Chrysler Corporation next year, the company’s chairman said. The chairman, John Riccardo, said the company would spend about $600 million, with more than half going for tools and the development of new products. General Motors and the Ford Motor Company had both announced earlier that they would also increase capital spending.
Yields from new corporate bonds have declined to the lowest levels in two and a half years, and some analysts predict that they will continue to decline for several more months. The decline is seen as an unusual development, since rates normally begin to rise shortly after the economy does. However, the yields are below the rates for March-April 1975, when the recession ended and the recovery began.
President Leonard Woodcock of the United Auto Workers said he was “very pessimistic” that the union and Ford Motor Co. could reach an agreement on a three-year contract before a strike deadline. If there is no settlement by midnight Tuesday, the UAW will call 170,000 Ford workers in 22 states off the job and force a crippling shutdown of the nation’s second largest auto maker. Woodcock said the two sides remained far apart on all major issues despite a full weekend of negotiations in Detroit. Ford’s latest offer, up 6 cents an hour from the first offer, provides an average 582 cents an hour over three years. Ford said the average worker now made $6.88 in base wages and had fringe benefits estimated at $4 an hour.
If a swine flu epidemic occurs this winter, it could be as bad or worse than the 1968-1969 outbreak of Hong Kong flu, said Dr. Theodore Cooper, assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Cooper, in an interview in the U.S. News & World Report magazine, said there was no reason to think it would be as bad as the 1918–1919 flu epidemic that killed 500,000 Americans. In the 1968-1969 outbreak there were 33,000 deaths above what normally would be expected from influenza in any given year, he said. The estimated economic cost was $3.8 billion.
Dallas health officials, using flocks of chickens as early warning devices, have found eight areas in the city to be infested with culex mosquitoes, carriers of sleeping sickness. Six confirmed and five suspected cases of St. Louis encephalitis have been treated in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area since the first case was reported last month. No deaths have been reported from the brain inflammation disease. The infested areas were identified using “sentinel” chickens, birds that are bled regularly to see if they have been infected. Chickens suffer no ill effects from the virus, but can harbor it, allowing mosquitoes to transmit it to humans.
A Chicago contracting group bought scores of abandoned houses from the federal government for an average of less than $10,000, made cosmetic repairs and sold them for more than double, said researchers for the Metropolitan Area Housing Alliance. The contractor, Conteco, Inc., and other speculators might have netted millions of dollars in profits from 1974 to May, 1976, by buying the boarded-up homes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Persons now living in homes bought by Conteco said they had had to make major repairs, such as replacing furnaces, after taking possession.
Two leaders of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and three men attending its convention in New Orleans were arrested after a shouting match with law enforcement officials, sheriff’s deputies said. Officers charged David E. Duke, national director of the group, and Dr. James K. Warner, Louisiana grand dragon, with inciting to riot. They were arrested at midnight Saturday near a cross burning ceremony in St. Bernard Parish, outside New Orleans. Duke, 26, said he and the other four were among delegates who became angry when policemen photographed them as they entered the klan meeting at a New Orleans hotel.
The five New York Democrats seeking their party’s nomination to the Senate met for another debate. After listlessly discussing their stands on the issues, bickering broke out toward the end with Representative Bella Abzug and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the two front-runners, most often the targets. Only Ramsey Clark, referring constantly to his position papers, escaped the vituperation. The election, which has attracted little interest, is Tuesday.
“Let the buyer beware,” a long-time policy in land sales in Arizona and New Mexico, may now be a policy of the past in these fast-growing states. The Attorneys General of both, working in cooperation with other states and the federal government, have begun a crackdown on allegedly deceptive land promotions that they say have bilked mostly out-of-state buyers out of billions of dollars.
Giant sponges not previously known to exist are growing on barrels of radioactive waste near the Farallon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the Oakland Tribune reported. The paper said the sponges, three to four feet tall and shaped like vases, were found by Robert S. Dyer, an oceanographer with the U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency. Dyer said some of the barrels had shattered and small amounts of radioactivity had leaked out. But he discounted the idea the giant sponges are a mutant caused by the radiation. “It’s a nice science fiction idea but I would have a hard time justifying it,” the Tribune quote him as saying.
The body of an unidentified female, described in press accounts as “Woodlawn Jane Doe”, was found in the U.S. outside a cemetery near Baltimore, Maryland. Her identity would be a mystery for 45 years until DNA confirmed that she was Margaret Fetterolf, a 16-year-old girl from Alexandria, Virginia, who was reported as missing in the summer of 1975.
The Sunday morning educational children’s TV show “Animals, Animals, Animals” premiered on the U.S. ABC television network. Hosted by comedian Hal Linden, the series ran for six seasons.
U.S. Open Men’s Tennis, Forest Hills, New York: Jimmy Connors wins his second U.S. title, beating Björn Borg of Sweden 6–4, 3–6, 7–6, 6–4.
Major League Baseball:
Luis Tiant (18–11) gave up two homers by George Hendrick but allowed only four other hits while pitching the Boston Red Sox to an 11–3 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Tiant received major batting support from batterymate Carlton Fisk, who drove in three runs with a homer in the second inning, infield out in the third and triple in the fourth.
Designated hitter Minnie Minoso singles for the White Sox against the Angels Sid Monge. At 53, Minoso is believed the oldest ever to collect a hit in the Major Leagues (although he says in his autobiography that he was born in 1925, not 1922 as listed in the record books). But research by historian Bill Carle will reveal that Jim O’Rourke, who hit safely on September 22, 1904 was 54 years and ten-months old. Minnie will make another appearance against Monge on September 30, going 0-for-2. Monge loses today, 2–1, with the victory going to Goose Gossage. Pinch-running in the first game and playing right field in the second game, Ralph Garr helped the White Sox defeat the Angels in a doubleheader, 2–1 and 5–1. The opener was decided in the 10th inning when Jim Spencer walked and Garr, running for him, raced home from first base on a double by Brian Downing. Garr hit two doubles and scored both times in the nightcap. The White Sox broke a 1–1 tie in the fifth inning when Garr hit his first double and Spencer and Jorge Orta rapped consecutive triples. Garr doubled again in the seventh and crossed the plate on a single by Alan Bannister.
The Braves scored an unearned run in the 10th inning and won the first game of a doubleheader, 3–2, before the Dodgers came back behind the shutout pitching of Don Sutton (19–9) to gain a 2–0 victory in the second game. The Braves loaded the bases in the overtime stanza of the opener when Rod Gilbreath was hit by a pitch and Jim Wynn and Willie Montanez walked. Dave May then hit a slow roller to Bill Russell, who dropped the ball before he could attempt to force Gilbreath at the plate. Sutton was a winner for the seventh straight time in the nightcap. The Dodgers scored on a wild pitch in the first inning and on a double by Kevin Pasley, who accounted for his first major league RBI in the fifth.
Winning for the 21st time, Jim Palmer pitched the Orioles to a 3–1 victory over the Brewers. Palmer gave up six hits, but only two after the fourth inning, and retired 15 of the last 17 batters. Reggie Jackson, who hit a homer and single, scored two of the Orioles’ runs. George Scott spoiled Palmer’s bid for a shutout with a circuit clout in the eighth inning.
The Royals, after winning the previous day’s game, 8–6, drubbed the Twins, 16–6, marking the first time that the West Division leaders had posted two victories in succession since August 25–26. The Twins committed six errors. The Royals turned the game into a rout by scoring nine runs after two were out in the sixth inning. Frank White tripled with the bases loaded and Amos Otis and Hal McRae each knocked in two runs with a double.
The Yankees succumbed to the pitching of Mark Fidrych (16–8) and lost the first game of a doubleheader, 6–0, before coming back to beat the Tigers in the second game, 3–1, before a Jacket Day crowd of 52,707. Mickey Stanley drove in two runs for the Tigers with a pair of singles and Ben Oglivie homered with a man on base to support Fidrych in the opener. The shutout was the rookie’s third of the season and the complete game was his 21st. In the nightcap, the Yankees sent Ed Figueroa on the way to his 18th victory by scoring two runs in the first inning on an error, a double by Elliott Maddox and single by Lou Piniella. Tiger center fielder Ron LeFlore suffered a ruptured tendon in his knee trying for Maddox’ drive and will be sidelined for the rest of the year.
The Phillies, winning for only the third time in the last 16 games, clung to their precarious four-length lead over the Pirates in the East Division race by defeating the Cubs, 8–0. Larry Christenson (12–8) and Tug McGraw combined to pitch the shutout. Johnny Oates hit a double and single, scoring two runs and driving in two. Garry Maddox also accounted for two RBIs with a single in the eighth inning when the Phillies wrapped up the victory with four runs to complete their biggest scoring outburst since August 24 when they beat the Braves, 14–3.
The Pirates broke away with three runs in the sixth inning and defeated the Expos, 6–1, for their 15th victory in the last 17 games. Richie Zisk singled and scored on a triple by Dave Parker to break a 1–1 tie. Richie Hebner followed with a single to drive in Parker. The Pirates iced the decision with two more runs in the seventh on doubles by Zisk and Rennie Stennett around a single by Hebner.
A sacrifice fly by Dave Concepcion in the 11th inning brought the Reds a 9–8 victory in the nightcap for a split of a doubleheader with the Giants, who won the opener, 3–1. Jim Barr (13–11) pitched a six-hitter in the first game and beat the Reds for the third time without a loss this season. The Giants settled the issue with two runs in the first inning on a single by Marty Perez, safe bunt by Gary Matthews, a double steal and single by Ken Reitz. The Reds took a 6–1 lead in the second game, but the Giants battled back to tie the score with a two-run double by Jack Clark in the fourth, homer by Gary Thomasson in the fifth and a double by Gary Alexander, triple by Clark and single by Dave Rader in the sixth. However in the 11th, the Reds loaded the bases on singles by Ken Griffey and Bob Bailey and an infield hit by Cesar Geromino. Ed Armbrister forced Griffey at the plate, but Concepcion then came through with his sacrifice fly, scoring Joel Youngblood, who ran for Bailey.
Red Schoendienst gained his 1,000th victory as manager of the Cardinals when pinch-hitter Ted Simmons batted in two runs with a double in the eighth inning to defeat the Mets, 6–5. This is Schoendienst’s 12th season at the helm of the Redbirds. In the eighth, Garry Templeton walked, Lou Brock struck out and Joe Ferguson grounded out, advancing Templeton to second. After the Mets passed Keith Hernandez intentionally, Schoendienst sent up Simmons to bat for Hector Cruz with winning results.
Two-run doubles by Gene Tenace, Claudell Washington and Sal Bando paced the Athletics’ attack in a 9–6 victory over the Rangers. The A’s scored five of their runs in the sixth inning. Bill North, Bert Campaneris and Don Baylor singled to load the bases and Joe Rudi walked to force in North and break a 1–1 tie. Tenace and Washington followed with back-to-back doubles, each driving in two runs. Bando then provided the deciding blow with a two-run double in the seventh.
Cleveland Indians 3, Boston Red Sox 11
California Angels 1, Chicago White Sox 2
California Angels 1, Chicago White Sox 5
Atlanta Braves 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 2
Atlanta Braves 0, Los Angeles Dodgers 2
Baltimore Orioles 3, Milwaukee Brewers 1
Kansas City Royals 16, Minnesota Twins 6
Detroit Tigers 6, New York Yankees 0
Detroit Tigers 1, New York Yankees 3
Chicago Cubs 0, Philadelphia Phillies 8
Montreal Expos 1, Pittsburgh Pirates 6
Cincinnati Reds 1, San Francisco Giants 3
Cincinnati Reds 9, San Francisco Giants 8
New York Mets 5, St. Louis Cardinals 6
Oakland Athletics 9, Texas Rangers 6
NFL Football:
The Oakland Raiders beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31–28. Franco Harris put the Steelers on top 28–14 on a three-yard run with 6:43 left in the game but the Raiders came storming back, scoring three times in the last three minutes to gain revenge following two straight AFC championship game losses to Pittsburgh. Ken Stabler’s second touchdown pass to Dave Casper, finishing off a 76-yard drive, cut the Oakland deficit to seven points with 2:56 remaining. Warren Bankston blocked a Steelers’ punt to set up a tying touchdown run by Stabler with 1:05 left. Seconds later, linebacker Willie Hall intercepted a deflected Terry Bradshaw pass which led to rookie Fred Steinfort’s winning field goal with 18 seconds on the clock.
The Chicago Bears defeated the Detroit Lions, 10–3. Chicago’s Johnny Musso bulled over from the 3-yard Iine following a 58-yard catch by Greg Latta and Bill Knox’s recovery of a fumble on a blocked punt to give the Bears a 7–3 lead in the third quarter. The Bears’ Mike Adamle recovered Detroit’s James Hunter’s fumble of another Chicago punt on the Lions’ 33 which led to a Bob Thomas field goal in the fourth quarter. Herman Weaver booted the NFC’s longest 1976 punt in the game, a 69-yarder.
The St. Louis Cardinals held on to beat the Seattle Seahawks, 30–24. Cardinal safety Mike Sensibaugh intercepted a Jim Zorn pass at the goal line as the game ended, spoiling the Seahawks’ comeback threat in their inaugural game and giving St. Louis its fifth consecutive opening day victory. After St. Louis took a 23–3 lead in the third quarter, Zorn hit wide receiver Sam McCullum with touchdown passes of 15 and 72 yards and scored himself from the eight to produce the final score. Jim Otis ran for 140 yards and Terry Metcalf rushed for 113 for the Cardinals.
The Minnesota Vikings routed the New Orleans Saints, 40–9. Minnesota jumped to a 30-3 halftime lead with the Vikings’ first three touchdowns being set up by Saints’ fumbles and Fred Cox’s 24-yard field goal coming after a partially blocked punt. Fran Tarkenton led the Vikings on a 78-yard march in the closing minutes of the second quarter, capping the drive with a 47-yard pass to rookie Sammy White as time elapsed. Minnesota backs Chuck Foreman and Brent McClanahan each scored twice while Tarkenton helped spoil Hank Stram’s debut as Saints’ coach, completing 15 of 23 passes for 221 yards.
The Washington Redskins edged the New York Giants, 19–17. Billy Kilmer and Mike Thomas combined on a five-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds remaining to spoil the Giants’ chances of ending a 10-game losing streak to the Redskins. Craig Morton threw touchdown passes of 63 yards to Ray Rhodes and 62 yards to Walker Gillette, but also threw four interceptions and was sacked once in the end zone by Ron McDole for a safety. Washington’s winning touchdown was set up by Eddie Brown’s 45-yard punt return to the New York 42. Kilmer passed for 257 yards and two touchdowns.
The Dallas Cowboys downed the Philadelphia Eagles, 27–7. New Philadelphia coach Dick Vermeil’s debut was a disappointment as the Cowboys scored on five of their first six possessions. Dallas’ Roger Staubach passed for 242 yards, completing 19 of 28, including touchdowns to Drew Pearson and Golden Richards. Scott Laidlaw led the Dallas ground attack with 104 yards. Philadelphia’s score came in the fourth quarter when Mike Boryla capped a 90-yard, 11-play drive with a 20-yard scoring pass to running back Tom Sullivan.
The Cincinnati Bengals came back to best the Denver Broncos, 17–7. Trailing 7–3 with 10 minutes left in the game, Cincinnati quarterback Ken Anderson went to the air, throwing touchdown passes of 27 yards to Chip Myers and six yards to Bruce Coslet to give the Bengals their sixth straight home opener victory. Myers, playing with a broken nose, had five catches for 88 yards, two of them coming in the fourth quarter to set up the two Bengals’ scores. Otis Armstrong rushed for 96 yards on 24 carries and scored Denver’s lone touchdown.
The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Green Bay Packers, 26–14. Green Bay safety Johnnie Gray picked off a Jim Plunkett pass on the second scrimmage play of the game and raced 15 yards for a touchdown, but Plunkett came back and threw two touchdown passes and Delvin Williams rushed for 121 yards and two scores in San Francisco’s victory under new coach Monte Clark. Willie McGee was the target of Plunkett’s touchdown aerials, both coming after Packer fumbles.
The San Diego Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 30–16. Quarterback Dan Fouts led San Diego on touchdown drives of 74 and 86 yards in the third quarter to overcome a 16–13 halftime lead by Kansas City and give the Chargers their first opening day victory in five years. Chiefs’ quarterback Mike Livingston completed 20 of 34 passes for 236 yards including first half touchdown passes to tight ends Walter White and Billy Masters, but the Chargers’ defense shut out Kansas City in the second half. Backup running back Sam Scarber bulled over from the two to open San Diego’s third-quarter scoring. Gary Garrison then scored on a 22-yard pass from Fouts and Toni Fritsch closed out the scoring with a 37-yard field goal.
The Baltimore Colts whipped the New England Patriots, 27–13. After falling behind 6-3 to the Patriots, Colts’ quarterback Bert Jones threw two touchdown passes to Glenn Doughty in a 41-second span late in the second quarter. Baltimore safety Jackie Wallace had three interceptions in the game, the second with 32 seconds left in the first half setting up the second Jones-to-Doughty touchdown. Jones completed 17 of 23 passes for 190 yards.
The Los Angeles Rams topped the Atlanta Falcons, 30–14. Atlanta held a 7-6 halftime lead, but Los Angeles scored in three of its first four possessions in the second half to take control of the game. Rams’ rookie quarterback Pat Haden made his NFL debut in relief and his only pass was a 47-yard touchdown to Ron Jessie in the fourth quarter. Lawrence McCutcheon, with 115 yards, and John Cappelletti, with 102, led the Rams’ rushing attack. Monte Jackson intercepted a Steve Bartkowski pass and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown to seal the Rams’ victory, their fifth straight over the Falcons.
The Houston Oilers crushed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20–0. Houston running back Ronnie Coleman rushed for 142 yards and Dan Pastorini completed 17 of 27 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns to give the expansion Buccaneers a rough opening. Oilers safety C. L. Whittington had two interceptions to stifle Buccaneer drives and Skip Butler kicked field goals of 33 and 44 yards.
The Cleveland Browns defeated the New York Jets, 38–17. The Jets took an early 10–0 lead but Browns quarterbacks Mike Phipps and Brian Sipe riddled the New York defense with five touchdown passes to spoil the debut of Jets’ coach Lou Holtz. Phipps led the Browns to 21 points in the second quarter with touchdown passes of 13 and four yards to Reggie Rucker and 23 yards to Paul Warfield. Sipe entered in the third quarter following a shoulder injury to Phipps and threw another TD pass to Rucker of 8 yards and one of 26 to Steve Holden. The Browns’ Thom Darden starred on defense with two interceptions. Greg Pruitt led all rushers with 124 yards.
Pittsburgh Steelers 28, Oakland Raiders 31
Detroit Lions 3, Chicago Bears 10
St. Louis Cardinals 30, Seattle Seahawks 24
Minnesota Vikings 40, New Orleans Saints 9
New York Giants 17, Washington Redskins 19
Philadelphia Eagles 7, Dallas Cowboys 27
Denver Broncos 7, Cincinnati Bengals 17
San Francisco 49ers 26, Green Bay Packers 14
San Diego Chargers 30, Kansas City Chiefs 16
Baltimore Colts 27, New England Patriots 13
Los Angeles Rams 30, Atlanta Falcons 14
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0, Houston Oilers 20
New York Jets 17, Cleveland Browns 38
Born:
Bizzy Bone [Bryon McCane], American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony), in Columbus, Ohio
Tariq Umar Khan, Indian film director known for “The Good Road”; in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Carissa Phelps, American attorney, author and former runaway was the subject of a 2008 documentary, “Carissa”, in 2008; in Fresno, California.
Aleksandr Dolmatov, Russian opposition activist who committed suicide in the Netherlands after being denied political asylum and was sent to a center for deportation; in Russia (d. 2013).
LaVell Boyd, NFL wide receiver (Cincinnati Bengals), in Louisville, Kentucky.
History Diaries 