American Express presents Do You Know Me?
A look at the lives and careers of famous athletes.
This week's American Express sports personality had one of the longest careers in pro boxing.
This featherweight won the world championship in 1942 and defended it for six years.
The Will of the Wist won 230 of 242 bouts.
We'll tell you who he is after this word from American Express.
Do you know me?
Who cares?
That of course is Garfield. He's fat.
Who figures?
Ill-mannered and to think I created him.
But sometimes when I travel without the tubby tabby, people don't know my name, so I carry the American Express card.
And wherever I go, folks treat me like a fat cat.
Fat chance.
To apply for the card, look for an application and take one.
The American Express card. Don't leave home without it.
Do you know this week's American Express sports personality?
After winning the world featherweight title, he did not lose a title defense until he met Sandy Sadler in 1948.
He and Sadler would trade the title several times before Sadler took it away from him for good in 1951.
Still, his ring record stands as one of the most outstanding ever posted.
We're talking about Willie Pepp, this week's American Express sports personality.
Coming up, Duke has an appointment with Louisville and Dallas on Monday night as the Blue Devils ground the Jayhawks of Kansas.
In hockey, the playoffs scramble continues.
Two teams in the thick of the confusion, Pittsburgh and Montreal, tangle.
And the Philadelphia 76ers are hoping Moses will be back in time to lead them through the promised plan of the NBA playoffs.
All this and more ahead on the ESPN Sports Center.
Hello everyone, I'm Alan Massingale along with Chris Berman and Boomer.
We had so much fun with the LSU Tigers, hated to see them and Dale Brown out, but it was time, wasn't it?
They ran into a team that was just too strong and just too deep, and that's why they're not going to do the championship game.
They had no reason to hang their head, that is for sure, Alan.
There is no team in college basketball that can reel off a dozen points faster than Louisville.
And it was that patented Cardinal run that spelled victory in the first NCAA hoop semifinal game in Dallas today.
Down 8 to LSU at the half, Louisville rolled off a 17-1 spurt midway through the second half that finally turned Cinderella's carriage back into a pumpkin.
Dale Brown and LSU came out looking for yet another big time upset, and early on it was the Tigers defense that looked great.
Ricky Blanton forced the turnover, John Williams scored on the hoop, Williams had 12 points in the first half.
Louisville would never lead in the first half, they would tie it seven times, but when they did, shots like this, one from Derek Taylor put the Bayou Bengals back on top.
LSU closed out the half with an 11-3 run.
Anthony Wilson heated up from the outside, 44-36 LSU at the half, and Denny Crumb already knows what kind of fiery speech he's going to deliver at halftime.
Early second half, his charges listen.
The miss by Herbert Crook, Pervis Ellison there to tap it in, cut the LSU lead to four.
But Don Redden, who had 22 points to lead LSU, was there from the outside.
Dale Brown says, way to go, thumbs up.
A bit later though, Milt Wagner will miss, Billy Thompson there for the slam, and here comes Louisville.
Time at 54, Thompson, triple team, no problem, puts it up and in anyway, 56-54, less than 13 minutes to go in the game, Louisville's first lead, they would never trail after that.
Milt Wagner started heating up from the outside, Cardinals increased their lead, Thompson, 10 of 11 from the floor, hits the jumper in the paint here.
Dale Brown sees it slipping away, under four minutes to go, Tony Kimbrough to Jeff Hall, he put it in.
Louisville would beat LSU 88-77, Denny Crum and Dale Brown congratulate each other on an outstanding game, but it's Denny Crum that is moving on to the final game for the second time in the 80s.
Remember he won it in 1980 as Louisville defeated UCLA, they'll have that chance again as Louisville with an 11 point win after it was all over.
A nice run for LSU, Louisville just, as we said, they roll off those points, Alan, and they're tough to stop at that point.
We kept waiting on that spurt, and it finally came.
Certainly, it always does.
And speaking of spurts, Dick Vitale will probably have a few things to say about this, he's with Bob Lee out in Dallas.
Good evening gentlemen, it was a patented spurt with a calling card dunked by the cards, and the doctors had dunked, didn't do much of that today, but they got it done in Dick Vitale in the first half.
LSU got every questionable ball, every second, third chance rebound, they out-hustled the cards in the first half.
I thought it was phenomenal shooting early by Dale Brown's basketball team, they just played brilliant early.
And John Williams dominated early in the game, but in the second half Louisville played vintage Louisville basketball.
The great legs, the bounce off the floor, and I thought fatigue set in, and I thought Billy Thompson really played like a superstar.
He kept them in the game early, and then they had the typical Louisville run where they just blew it away.
John Wooden's style, the 2-2-1 press, the great spurt, and the great athletes.
But for the first 20 minutes it looked for a little bit like we might have another scenario unfolding, another miracle, the Final Four, because surprisingly LSU led by 8 points at halftime.
Well it felt a little weird being up 8 points. We're usually 1 or 2 points behind, but Coach Brown gave us a few minutes to let off some steam, and Louisville's got a great basketball team,
and he just said that we gotta just go out and keep doing the things that got us there, and play tough, aggressive defense, and keep them off the glass,
and it just so happened that we did knock down the shots that we were hitting in the first half, and they had position on the defensive glass and got their fast break going.
You started to fall into place early in the second half. Did you know as soon as that run of points began that it was feeling different?
Yeah, it was definitely feeling different. We were spirited, and we were playing with intensity on the whole court, and that's how we usually play, and I was glad to see us playing like that.
Yeah, you know, once we got the momentum on our side, I knew that we was going to have a good chance of winning the game, because it's something that we didn't have in the first half.
We really saw two different ball games, didn't we?
We sure did. You know, the first half, I thought we really did the things that we wanted to do. We wanted to control the tempo, we wanted to play good defense,
and the second half, we just got out of our rhythm, we took bad shots, and we didn't really play the good D, and that was the difference.
And joining us live at the Final Four Louisville head coach, Denny Crum, just before we saw a look at those highlights, you wanted to know if you won on TV, you were checking them out rather closely.
I got it. You can be too careful. You got to watch the replay.
And we saw in the second half, you put it together there.
We played real well the second half. I thought the defense was the big difference. We put a lot more pressure on them, and we scored a lot of baskets off our transition, which we didn't get in the first half, primarily because of the defense.
We held them to 35% shooting, which means we got more rebounds, and consequently got the ball out and could run our break a lot better.
To change the subject, Denny, from this win, we'll go look ahead a little bit at Duke coming up on Monday night. Duke today with the tenacious defense.
A lot of people walking out of the arena are talking Danny Manning overrated. Danny Manning's a great player. The kid, Allery, just did a tremendous job defensively.
Are you concerned about their man-to-man pressure? Their guards play such tough defense as well.
Well, I think their whole team plays excellent defense. I think they're probably the best defensive team we'll have faced all year.
We've played some good ones, but I don't think we've played any plays any better than they do. And not just their guards. Their inside defense is strong.
If you look at the number of times teams go to the free throw line on them, it's hard to get it in there, and you just don't get much on the inside.
And of course, that's where you beat teams, and if you can't get it in there, you don't go to that foul line very often.
I think your 2-2-1 pressure can bother their guards with Amica and Dawkins and get you into a running game. I thought today you made a good point here.
Your transition game off your defense broke that game open.
Well, we've got to try to do that, but I mean, if there's anybody in the country that's got two super guards, it's them, and it's harder to press a team like that.
Also, they're senior dominated. They've seen about everything there is to see, and it's hard to press that kind of a team, but we've still got to try. That's how we got here.
Super guards, you've got one in Milt Wagner, fifth year senior who redshirted last year, and as we've alluded to, we'll have a chance right now to take a look at you.
You put the law down to Milt at halftime.
You know, Coach Crum got me a locker room, told me to go out there and play smart. You know, I'm a senior guard. You know, I'm not playing like a senior.
Things like that to motivate me, and I went out there in the second half and did just what he said.
He kind of motivated me a lot in the second half, and I went out there, hit a couple of jumpers at first, got me going, and I think I got the 10 going from then on in.
I started playing great defense and doing the things we had to do to win.
When he had to set out last year, I think it really made him realize a whole lot about basketball.
And number one, I think that he didn't take for granted that he could go out and play all the time because an injury like that could make it your last time even playing basketball.
So he's really thankful that he can come back out on the floor and play.
And I think he's dedicated this whole season to us, his teammates, plus to himself to really play well and try to help us win.
There's one thing about your team, Danny, it's the balance, but the balance centers around milk.
Well, he's a fifth year senior, and any time you have a guy that's with that kind of talent that's been around five years, you expect big things of him.
And I think the senior leadership on our team, as many, especially with the young group that we've got coming in as freshmen that have played a lot for us throughout the year,
that the seniors have been the stabilizing factor, and they're the ones that have really carried us, although I have to admit the younger guys are playing better and better.
Dennis, you want your club play.
I was commenting to some people I was sitting with about the rhythm, and I said, gee, they look so similar to the UCLA teams winning the national championships during the run of Coach Wooden.
What kind of Wooden philosophy is really involved with your club offensively and defensively?
I'm not just talking in terms of philosophy.
Well, it's hard to put your finger on any one thing.
I've always tried to give Coach Wooden the credit for a lot of the success we've had because I learned my basketball from him.
I think it's a combination of all the things that are involved with basketball.
Basketball is a game of conditioning, fundamentals, and team play, and you try to get them in shape, and you get them to play hard and play together, and that's what basketball is.
I don't think there's any way you can say one thing over another is the key, but I do say this, that the system itself has been proven, and it stood the test of time.
Bob, one quick matchup. Who plays Dawkins?
That's a tough one. I guess probably Milt initially.
Well, the system has been proven over time. It's your system at Louisville. You're back in the national championship game.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy weekend, and good luck on Monday evening.
Just a second, we'll talk about Kansas and Duke, a look at the second game played today at Reunion Arena.
All right, gentlemen, thank you very much. Of course, we're going to be doing the old rebound.
We're going to hit the defensive boards, go back out and rebound back to Dallas in just a moment.
Still to come on the...
Outchanging your natural color.