1972 Northern Illinois Huskies football team
The 1972 Northern Illinois Huskies football team represented Northern Illinois University in the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. The Huskies competed in the highest division of football at the time: Division I, also known as the University Division, where they competed among the Independents schools of the league. They were led by head coach Jerry Ippoliti, his second season with the team and the first NIU coach with a winning record in Division I football. They played their home games at Huskie Stadium.


1972 Northwestern Wildcats football team
The 1972 Northwestern Wildcats team represented Northwestern University during the 1972 Big Ten Conference football season. In their ninth and final year under head coach Alex Agase, the Wildcats compiled a 2–9 record (1–8 against Big Ten Conference opponents) and finished in last place in the Big Ten Conference.


1972 Northwestern Wildcats football team
The team's offensive leaders were quarterback Mitch Anderson with 1,335 passing yards, Greg Boykin with 625 rushing yards, and Jim Lash with 667 receiving yards. Five Northwestern player received All-Big Ten honors. They are: (1) tight end Steve Craig (AP-1, UPI-1); (2) split end Jim Lash (UPI-1); (3) defensive back Greg Strunk (AP-2, UPI-2); (4) defensive lineman Jim Anderson (AP-2); and (5) running back Greg Boykin (AP-2).


1972 Norwegian European Communities membership referendum
A referendum on whether Norway should join the European Community was held on 25 September 1972. After a long period of heated debate, the "No" side won with 53.5 per cent of the vote. Prime Minister Trygve Bratteli resigned as a result of the defeat. This was Norway's second attempt at becoming a member, after having been rejected by France in 1962 and again temporarily in 1967, but the first attempt with a referendum on a set of fully negotiated accession terms.


1972 Norwegian European Communities membership referendum
A 1994 referendum on entry into what had become the European Union also resulted in the rejection of membership.


1972 Norwegian Football Cup
Brann won the Norwegian Cup by beating Rosenborg 1–0 on 22 October. The goal scorer for Brann was Jan Erik Osland who scored in the 13th minute. 17 700 spectators watched the game at Ullevål stadion in Oslo. The referee was Kjell Wahlen. This was the third time Brann won the Norwegian Cup.


1972 Norwegian Football Cup
Brann's winning squad: Oddvar Trææn, Helge Karlsen, Rune Pedersen, Ole Kobbeltvedt, Tore Nordtvedt, Frode Larsen (Torgeir Hauge 60), Erling Mikkelsen (Atle Bilsback 75), Arnfinn Espeseth, Roald Jensen, Kjell Øyasæter and Jan Erik Osland.


1972 Norwegian Football Cup
Rosenborg's squad: Øivind Brynte Torp, Erling Meirik, Kåre Rønnes, Bjørn Rime, Øystein Wormdal, Jan Christiansen, Anders Farstad, Tore Lindseth, Harald Sunde, Bjørn Wirkola and Arne Hanssen.


1972 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team
The 1972 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season.


1972 Oakland Athletics season
The 1972 Oakland Athletics season involved the A's winning the American League West with a record of 93 wins and 62 losses. In the playoffs, they defeated the Detroit Tigers in a five-game ALCS, followed by a seven-game World Series, in which they defeated the Cincinnati Reds for their first World Championship since 1930, when the club was in Philadelphia.


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Regular season
In 1972, the A's began wearing solid green or solid gold jerseys, with contrasting white pants, at a time when most other teams wore all-white uniforms at home and all-grey ones on the road. Similar to more colorful amateur softball uniforms, they were considered a radical departure for their time.


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Regular season
Furthermore, in conjunction with a Moustache Day promotion, Finley offered $500 to any player who grew a moustache by Father's Day, at a time when every other team forbade facial hair. When Father's Day arrived, every member of the team collected a bonus.


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Regular season, Changing the nickname
The nickname "A's" has long been used interchangeably with "Athletics", dating to the team's early days when headline writers wanted a way to shorten the name. Starting in 1972, the team nickname was officially "Oakland A's." The Commissioner's Trophy, given out annually to the winner of baseball's World Series, still listed the team's name as the "Oakland Athletics" on the gold-plated pennant representing the Oakland franchise.


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Regular season, Changing the nickname
According to Bill Libby's Book, Charlie O and the Angry A's, owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack, and he wanted the name "Oakland A's" to become just as closely associated with himself. The name also vaguely suggested the name of the old minor league Oakland Oaks, which were alternatively called the "Acorns".


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Postseason, World Series
In 1972, the A's won their first league pennant since 1931 and faced the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. The A's seven-game victory over the heavily favored Reds gave the team its first World Series Championship since 1930.


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Postseason, World Series
Of the four wins against the Reds, three of them occurred in Cincinnati, and all four Series victories were by a single run. Gene Tenace hit four home runs and drove in nine runs to power the A's offense, and was named the series Most Valuable Player.


1972 Oakland Athletics season, Postseason, World Series, Composite Box
1972 World Series (4–3): Oakland Athletics (A.L.) over Cincinnati Reds (N.L.)


1972 Oakland Raiders season
The 1972 Oakland Raiders season was the team's 13th season. The Raiders won the AFC West for the second time in three seasons. They lost in the AFC Division Round to the Pittsburgh Steelers when Franco Harris scored the game-winning touchdown on the Immaculate Reception. The Raiders still dispute that this was an illegal touchdown to this day.


1972 October Revolution Parade
The 1972 October Revolution Parade was held in commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922. Notable attendees were Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Podgorny. The parade's commander was Colonel General Vladimir Govorov, the Commander of Troops of the Moscow Military District, while its presiding officer was Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrei Grechko.


1972 October Revolution Parade, Overview
It was the 100th Soviet military parade to be held on Red Square. The parade's de facto motto was "On Red Square under the Red Banner". Both active personnel and veterans participated in the march, with participants from various republics including Ukrainians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Armenians and Kazakhs. Revolution Day was also celebrated in Leningrad with a military parade on Palace Square, inspected by the commander of the Leningrad Military District, Lieutenant General Ivan Shavrov. Participants received commemorative badges and special thanks Colonel General Govorov and members of the District Military Council.


1972 October Revolution Parade, Overview
The badge is a gilded eight-pointed star with faceted beams, with a circle formed by the ribbon of the Order of Lenin in the center of the star. The silhouette of a modern tank is depicted in the background and in the upper right corner, there is the inscription “100th parade”. On November 3, 2007, graduates of the Kalinin (now Tver) Suvorov Military and Nakhimov Naval Schools who participated in the 100th military parade gathered for the first time on Red Square on the occasion o the parade's 35th anniversary.


1972 October Revolution Parade, Parade Units, Mobile Column
The parade's mobile column exhibited military equipment, prominently including Katyusha rocket launchers.


1972 Ohio Bobcats football team
The 1972 Ohio Bobcats football team was an American football team that represented Ohio University in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. In their 15th season under head coach Bill Hess, the Bobcats compiled a 3–8 record (1–4 against MAC opponents), finished in sixth place, and were outscored by all opponents by a combined total of 321 to 185.


1972 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The 1972 Ohio State Buckeyes football team was an American football team that represented the Ohio State University in the 1972 Big Ten Conference football season. The Buckeyes compiled a 9–2 record, including the 1973 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, where they lost 42–17 to the USC Trojans.


1972 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, North Carolina
Ohio State was the only team to beat the Tar Heels in 1972.


1972 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, North Carolina
Archie Griffin set the school single game rushing record in just his second game.


1972 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Game summaries, Michigan
Ohio State made two goal line stands, one in each half, to hold on to the 14-11 victory. The first came just before halftime as Dennis Franklin fumbled on fourth down at the two. In the fourth quarter, Randy Gradishar stopped Franklin on a sneak from the one. The Buckeyes' fans tore down the goal posts with 13 seconds remaining.


1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team
The 1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. Oklahoma was a member of the Big Eight Conference and played its home games in Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where it has played its home games since 1923. The team posted an 11–1 overall record and were 6–1 in conference, later changed to 8–4 and 3–4. This was Chuck Fairbanks' last season as Sooner head coach; he left for the New England Patriots of the NFL.


1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team
The Sooners' 1972 record is marred by the use of an ineligible player. In self-reporting the violations to the NCAA, Oklahoma voluntarily forfeited eight games. The NCAA later penalized the program by reducing scholarships, TV appearances and bowl appearances. In 2008 a blogger for Washington, DC TV station WJLA stated, "The NCAA claims that according to a now-retired statistician of the era, and a review of its database (which the NCAA admits might not be totally complete) that forfeits were NOT part of the NCAA sanctions levied against the Sooners."


1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team
A commenter stated, "The 1972 forfeits by Oklahoma were sanctioned by The Big Eight. As such Oklahoma's conference record was adjusted, while their overall record was not. In older Oklahoma media guide ... Oklahoma would show their record as 11-1 with a 3-4 conference record (reflecting 3 forfeits, despite the original 7 or 8 forfeited. ...) Also, if you check the media guides of the teams Oklahoma "forfeited" to, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma State, you'll not[e] similar adjustments. Each team didn't change their overall record, but changed their conference record."


1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team
Oklahoma had used players (including Kerry Jackson, the team's first black quarterback) with falsified transcripts and on April 18, 1973, voluntarily forfeited eight games. Eventually, the Big Eight sanctioned the forfeit of three conference victories (Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma State), but Oklahoma now recognizes these as wins and claims the 1972 conference title.


1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team
Oklahoma was led by four All-Americans: Rod Shoate (OU's second three-time All-American), Greg Pruitt, Tom Brahaney and Derland Moore. This was the first season that the Selmon brothers Lucious, Lee Roy and Dewey, all eventual All-Americans, anchored the defensive line. The Sooners played seven ranked opponents (In order, #10 Texas, #9 Colorado, #14 Iowa State, #14 Missouri, #5 Nebraska, #20 Oklahoma State, and #5 Penn State), and four of these opponents finished the season ranked. Oklahoma's only loss on the field was in the fifth game against Colorado. The team concluded its season with a 14–0 victory over Penn State in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Eve.


1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team
Pruitt led the Sooners in rushing with 1024 yards, Dave Robertson led in passing with 1136 yards, and Tinker Owens led in receiving(for the first of four consecutive seasons) with 430 yards. Pruitt led in scoring with 86 points, Shoate in tackles with 145, and Dan Ruster in interceptions with seven.


1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team
The 1972 Sooners twice posted 37 first downs, which was a school record that stood for 16 seasons.


1972 Oklahoma Sooners football team, Postseason, NFL draft
The following players were drafted into the National Football League following the season.


1972 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team
The 1972 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team represented Oklahoma State University in the Big Eight Conference during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. In their first and only season under head coach Dave Smith, the Cowboys compiled a 6–5 record (4–3 against conference opponents), tied for third place in the conference, and outscored opponents by a combined total of 259 to 203.


1972 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team
The team's statistical leaders included George Palmer with 937 rushing yards, Brent Blackman with 572 passing yards, Steve Pettes with 154 receiving yards, and Alton Gerard with 42 points scored.


1972 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team
The team played its home games at Lewis Field in Stillwater, Oklahoma.


1972 Old Dominion 500
The 1972 Old Dominion 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on September 24, 1972, at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia.


1972 Old Dominion 500
The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.


1972 Old Dominion 500, Background
Martinsville Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long. The track's turns are banked at eleven degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at zero degrees. The back stretch also has a zero degree banking.


1972 Old Dominion 500, Race report
Five hundred laps were done on a paved track spanning 0.525 miles (0.845 km) in a time of three hours and forty-five minutes. Richard Petty would defeat Bobby Allison by a time of six seconds in front of 31,000 live audience members; making this race the closest Bobby Allison ever came to winning at Martinsville. Although Cecil Gordon had a competitive finish of 10th place during this event, his lackluster performance during the 1972 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season would eventually cost him a shot at winning the championship.


1972 Old Dominion 500, Race report
Exactly ten minutes from the race along with a flyover by the local military jets were used in the 1973 American film The Last American Hero. While Richard Petty and Bobby Allison got filmed most of the time, a moment involving Ray Hendrick's #2 vehicle crashing on lap 311 was also a notable event during the filming.


1972 Old Dominion 500, Race report
Allison would earn the pole position with a speed of 85.89 miles per hour (138.23 km/h). The average speed of the race, however, would be a mere 69.989 miles per hour (112.636 km/h). Eight cautions slowed the race for 58 laps in the entire race. All thirty-six of the qualifying drivers on the grid were male and born somewhere in the United States of America. Originally, 56 drivers auditioned for this race; including Joe Frasson, who was one of the ones who failed to qualify.


1972 Old Dominion 500, Race report
Bill Shirey would be the unfortunate last-place finisher due to an overheating issue on lap 19. Fred Lorenzen would retire from NASCAR after this race. This was also LeeRoy Yarbrough's last race, never to be heard from again until his death. He ran most of the last two seasons in non-competitive cars yet he was one of the most fearless racers ever.


1972 Old Dominion 500, Race report
Richard Petty would go on to win the championship shortly after this race was over while Bobby Allison would find a new employer named Ralph Moody for the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. The total purse of this racing event was $46,650 ($288,621 when considering inflation); the first-place finisher received $7,350 ($45,474 when considering inflation) while the last-place finisher received $425 ($2,629 when considering inflation).


1972 Old Dominion 500, Race report
Six of NASCAR's most notable crew chiefs were on attendance for this race; including Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, Vic Ballard and Lee Gordon.


1972 Old Dominion 500, Race report, Technological concerns
Improvements in tire and engine technology in the early 1970s had made NASCAR Cup Series vehicles overpowered compared to the limited space that Martinsville Speedway had for breathing space. Further technological advancements by 2013 have caused further concern for driver safety at Martinsville; indicating that the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series may have to use restrictor plates in Martinsville if tire/engine technology keeps its current pace of development.


1972 Ole Miss Rebels baseball team
The 1972 Ole Miss Rebels baseball team represented the University of Mississippi in the 1972 NCAA University Division baseball season. The Rebels played their home games at Swayze Field. The team was coached by Jake Gibbs in his 1st year as head coach at Ole Miss.


1972 Ole Miss Rebels baseball team
The Rebels won the District III Playoff to advance to the College World Series, where they were defeated by the Texas Longhorns.


1972 Ole Miss Rebels football team
The 1972 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. The Rebels were led by second-year head coach Billy Kinard and played their home games at Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi and Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. They competed as members of the Southeastern Conference, finishing tied for seventh with a record of 5–5 (2–5 SEC).


1972 Ole Miss Rebels football team
This was the first of 11 consecutive seasons in which the Rebels did not play in a bowl.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final
The 1972 Olympic men's basketball final was one of the most dramatic events in Olympic history and was the first ever loss for Team USA since the sport began Olympic play at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The United States team had won the previous seven gold medals at the Olympics, and was among the contenders to win another in Munich at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union convincingly won their first eight games of the tournament. The US team put its overall Olympic record at 63–0 and advanced to the final against the USSR.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Background
The United States and Soviet Union sporting rivalry reached its peak during the Cold War. The U.S. men's team was considered a favorite in the run-up to the 1972 Games. Since the first Olympic basketball tournament at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Americans had not lost a single game, winning seven consecutive gold medals in dominating fashion. Their record reached an unprecedented 63–0 before the final game. Since the 1952 tournament the Soviet team challenged the Americans, winning silver in 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964 and bronze in 1968. Outside of the Olympics, the Soviets had already defeated the U.S. team in FIBA World Championship play (at the 1959 world tournament and the 1963 world tournament). However, the Americans never sent their best collegiate players to that tournament.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Background
The Olympics strictly prohibited any involvement of professional athletes at the time. The Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries used that rule to their advantage, listing all their top players as soldiers or workers, which allowed them to breach the amateur rules. Western experts classified these athletes as professionals. On the other hand, leading American players were unable to play in the Olympics as they were officially professional and played in the NBA. That disadvantage had not prevented the Americans from winning the first seven Olympic basketball tournaments without a single defeat.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Background
The confrontation of the Soviet Union and United States on the basketball court was deeply connected to the confrontation on the political front. Many American viewers assumed the 1972 Games were openly anti-American. There were rumors that the Communist party had bribed the officials because they wanted the USSR to win 50 gold medals at these Olympics in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Preparation
The United States team was the youngest in history. American players usually participated in the Olympics once before turning pro, and the U.S. team always had new players every four years. The 1972 team did not have a clear leader. Bill Walton, then a rising star, declined an invitation to participate. Nevertheless, the team was heavily favored, featuring such players as Doug Collins and Tommy Burleson (the tallest player among all teams).


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Preparation
The young American team was confronted by a veteran Soviet team, featuring stars Sergei Belov, Modestas Paulauskas, and Alexander Belov. The players had played together for more than seven years. For Gennadi Volnov it was the fourth Olympic appearance.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Road to the final
The basketball gold medal was the last in contention. The Soviets were clearly ahead in the medal standings, but for political reasons they needed to win 50 golds (having 49 before the final match).


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Road to the final
Both teams reached the final without any trouble. For the U.S. team the hardest game was against Brazil which it won 61–54. Soviets faced some problems against Puerto Rico (100–87) and Cuba in the semifinal (67–61).


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, During the game
The Soviets surprised the Americans early, led by  Sergei Belov. The Soviets kept the Americans 4–8 points behind during the first half. At half-time the score was 26–21.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, During the game
In the second half the Soviets provoked Dwight Jones, the leading scorer of the U.S. team. On the 28th minute during a loose ball scuffle he was assailed by Mikheil Korkia and responded. Both players were ejected. After this, Ivan Dvorny was also disqualified for protesting from the bench. The Soviets benefited from the double ejection, as they deemed Korkia less significant for them than Jones was to the Americans. The next minute Alexander Belov violently injured Jim Brewer during the free-throw, and Brewer was unable to continue playing. The referees failed to properly assess the flagrant foul.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, During the game
With ten minutes left, the Soviets increased their lead to ten points. The Americans began to press, and led by Kevin Joyce were able to cut down Soviets' lead to one with thirty eight seconds left. With seven seconds to play, Doug Collins stole Alexander Belov's cross-court pass at half court and was fouled hard by Zurab Sakandelidze as he drove toward the basket, being knocked down into the basket stanchion. With three seconds remaining on the game clock, Collins was awarded two free throws and sank the first to tie the score at 49.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, During the game
Just as Collins lifted the ball to begin his shooting motion in attempting the second free throw, the horn from the scorer's table sounded, marking the beginning of a chain of events that left the game's final three seconds mired in controversy. Lead referee Renato Righetto turned away from the free throw attempt upon hearing the horn, but failed to stop play. Collins never broke his shooting motion and continued with his second free throw, scoring to put the U.S. ahead by a score of 50–49.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
Immediately following Collins' second free throw, with the ball then being a "live" ball under the rules at the time, Soviet assistant coach Sergei Bashkin charged out of the team's designated bench area to the scorer's table. He asserted that head coach Vladimir Kondrashin had called for a time-out, which should have been awarded prior to the second free throw, but that it had not been granted to them.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
Since a time-out could not legally be called after the second free throw, however, the Soviet players had to immediately inbound the live ball without a pre-planned play for the final three seconds. Alzhan Zharmukhamedov inbounded the ball to Sergei Belov, who began to dribble up the sideline, but the disturbance at the scorer's table led Righetto to stop play just as Belov approached mid-court. The game clock was stopped with one second remaining.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
When play was stopped, the Soviets pressed their argument about the time-out, with Kondrashin and Bashkin claiming that it had been called as soon as Collins was fouled. By the rules at that time, a time-out could be requested either by informing the scorer's table directly, or by pressing the button of an electronic signaling device, which in turn would illuminate a light bulb at the scorer's table to alert the officials there of the coach's desire for a time-out. According to Kondrashin, he requested his time-out by pressing the button.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
Also by the rules at the time, upon calling a time-out prior to free throws, the coach was allowed to choose to have it awarded either before the first free throw or between the two free throws; he said he had chosen to take it between the two free throws. The game's referees, however, were not informed of a Soviet time-out request prior to giving the ball to Collins for the second free throw.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
With regard to the resulting questions of whether he had ever actually made a proper time-out signal, Kondrashin claimed to have later seen a film of the events that he said showed the light bulb illuminating, as well as an official at the scorer's table nodding toward him in apparent recognition of the request. Regarding what happened next and his choice of when to take the requested time-out, Kondrashin said that the officials at the scorer's table "wanted to give me the time-out before the first free throw; of course I refused." However, Hans Tenschert, the game's official scorekeeper, later blamed the Soviet coaches, claiming that they mishandled their signaling device and were therefore late in pressing it.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
The unexplained horn that sounded as Collins was shooting the second free throw may have happened because the scorer's table had recognized the Soviet time-out request at the last moment and was attempting to stop the second free throw to award it. Renato William Jones, the secretary general of FIBA at the time, later asserted that the problem had indeed been a human error at the scorer's table which resulted in the time-out request being relayed too late to the on-court officials. Despite Kondrashin's and Jones' assurances, the Americans have expressed doubt that the time-out was really called. They have also argued that regardless of whether a time-out may have been missed, the ball became live upon Collins' second free throw, and as such, a technical foul should have been assessed against the Soviets because their coach left the designated bench area during live play.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
According to Righetto, after considering the Soviet arguments, the official decision was to deny the time-out. The protest later filed by the United States also mentioned that the game's official score sheet included no indication of a time-out being granted in the last three seconds. Collins has also confirmed that officially, the time-out was not awarded, which meant that Collins' second free throw counted and that neither team was to be allowed to substitute players when play resumed.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
Further indicators that no time-out was officially granted to the Soviets can be found in the existing television footage of the game, which includes shots of the scoreboard, both before the incident and at the game's conclusion, with the scoreboard indicating each time that Soviets had one time-out remaining. During the period between the game's interruption and resumption, the footage also does not include the sound of the scorer's table horn that typically would be used to signal both the start and the end of an officially charged time-out. However, even without being granted an official time-out, the minute-long delay to restore order on the court and determine how to proceed still gave the Soviet coaches time to confer with their players and devise a planned inbounds play.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
Furthermore, although Bashkin's actions had caused the game to be stopped with one second remaining on the clock, the officials decided neither to resume play from that point, nor to assess a technical foul against him for having interrupted the play. They instead wiped out the play altogether, ruling that the entire inbounds sequence would be replayed from the point immediately following the second free throw and that the game clock would thus be reset to three seconds.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
Jones, who had had a contentious relationship with American basketball officials for a number of years, came down from the stands to the court to contribute to the officials' ruling, and he insisted upon a complete replay of the final three seconds. According to Tenschert, Righetto had initially declared that play would resume with just one second remaining, only to be overruled by Jones. Jones later acknowledged that under the Olympic regulations, he had no authority to make rulings about a game in progress, though he maintained that resetting the clock was the correct course of action.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, First inbounds play
Ed Steitz who, over the course of his basketball career, served both as the president of USA Basketball and as a member of FIBA's Technical Committee, claimed that years after the game, Jones privately confided that with the clock reset still leaving only three seconds to play, he had not expected the Soviets would actually be able to score within that time.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Second inbounds play
The players were brought back into position for a second inbounds play. However, instead of Zharmukhamedov returning to throw the inbounds pass, Kondrashin managed to substitute Ivan Edeshko into the game in Zharmukhamedov's place. Kondrashin's plan was to have Edeshko attempt a length-of-the-court pass to center Alexander Belov near the American basket, confident that Belov could catch any pass thrown accurately to him there and feeling that Edeshko was the player most skilled in executing such a pass. The two players had successfully run much the same play for CSKA Moscow team the preceding year to claim the Soviet Championship.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Second inbounds play
Under the Olympic rules, substitutions were not to have been allowed without the granting of the time-out, but the referees resumed the game, failing to notice this issue and also not noticing that clock operator Andre Chopard was still working on getting the game clock set to three seconds. The ball was given to Edeshko to start play, with the scoreboard clock actually showing 50 seconds remaining.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Second inbounds play
Edeshko was defended at the end line by American center Tom McMillen. With his 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) frame, McMillen aggressively challenged Edeshko's inbounds attempt, making it difficult for Edeshko to pass the ball into play. Edeshko ultimately made only a short pass to teammate Modestas Paulauskas standing in the Soviet backcourt. Paulauskas then immediately relayed a pass toward Belov at the other end of the court. But the horn sounded, with the pass barely out of Paulauskas's hand. The pass then missed its mark and was uneventfully tipped off the backboard.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Second inbounds play
The players, the announcers of both television broadcasts, and the majority of the spectators in the arena all interpreted the sound of the horn, combined with the sight of a failed Soviet pass, as the end of the game. People flooded the court and the U.S. team began a joyful celebration of its apparent one-point victory.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Second inbounds play
With Jones still involved in the process, the officials once again ordered the court to be cleared, the players to be brought back into position, the clock to be reset, and the final three seconds be replayed. The public speaker announced, "Please go out. There are another three seconds left." Furious over the decision to deny the U.S. victory and allow the Soviets yet a third inbounds play, the U.S. coaches briefly considered unilaterally declaring the game to be over by pulling their team off the floor.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Second inbounds play
However, head coach "Hank" Iba was concerned that such an action would leave the U.S. vulnerable to a Soviet appeal, which might lead to a ruling that the U.S. had forfeited the game. U.S. assistant coach John Bach reported that Jones threatened him directly with such a forfeiture should the U.S. team not return to the floor. In finally deciding to comply with the officials, Iba reportedly told his coaching staff, "I don't want to lose this game later tonight, sitting on my butt." Some commentators suggest that their decision turned out to cost the Americans the game, and the gold medal, for the Americans were at the time in good terms with the international basketball federation, implying that walking off the court at this point would have guaranteed them the victory.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Third inbounds play
On the third inbound try, McMillen was again assigned to use his height to challenge Edeshko's inbound pass. However, as official Artenik Arabadjian prepared to put the ball into play, he gestured to McMillen. McMillen responded by backing several feet away from Edeshko, which gave Edeshko a clear view and unobstructed path to throw a long pass down the court. McMillen later said that Arabadjian had instructed him to back away from Edeshko.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Third inbounds play
McMillen said that despite the fact that there was no rule which would require him to do so, he decided to comply, fearing that if he did not, Arabadjian might assess a technical foul against him. For his part, Arabadjian has denied that his gesture was intended to instruct McMillen to back away from Edeshko.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Third inbounds play
In any event, McMillen's repositioning left no American defender to challenge Edeshko's pass. Unlike the previous play, where he had been forced to make a short pass into the backcourt, Edeshko now had a clear line to throw the ball the length of the court toward Alexander Belov. Edeshko would later confirm that McMillen's backing away made it easy for him to throw the long pass downcourt. In the Soviet Union, Edeshko's throw would eventually come to be known as "the golden pass".


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Third inbounds play
The images of the play broadcast on American television by the ABC network have led to the question of whether Edeshko might have stepped on the end line—meaning that he should have been called for a violation—as he made his pass.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Controversy, Third inbounds play
As Edeshko's full-court pass came down, Belov, Kevin Joyce and Jim Forbes all leapt for the ball near the basket. Belov caught the ball in the air, and as the three men landed, Joyce's momentum carried him out of bounds, while Forbes came down off-balance and fell to the floor beneath the basket. Belov then gathered himself and made an uncontested layup, scoring the winning points as the horn sounded for the last time. After jubilantly sprinting to the other end of the court, Belov was mobbed by his delirious teammates who dogpiled atop him in celebration. American coaches and players argued with the game officials for several minutes, but to no avail, as the Soviets were declared the victors.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, United States protest
By some accounts, at the end of the game, Righetto refused to sign the official scoring sheet in an act of protest. Herbert Mols, serving as the resident manager of the U.S. team, and U.S. Olympic Basketball Committee chairman MK Summers, filed a detailed protest, which was heard by FIBA's five-member jury of appeal.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, United States protest
Mols and Summers contended that the final three seconds of the 40-minute game were consumed by the two seconds that elapsed on the first inbounds play and the one second that elapsed on the second play, thus marking the legal end of the game at that point and a United States victory by the score of 50–49.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, United States protest
The protest asserted that allowing a third inbounds play with the clock reset to three seconds brought the total elapsed game time to 40 minutes and three seconds, in violation of FIBA rules which specified the length of a game to be 40 minutes. The jury ultimately voted down the protest and awarded the gold medals to the Soviet team. At the ensuing press conference, Mols engaged in an animated argument with the jury's chairman, Ferenc Hepp of Hungary, about the propriety of resetting the clock to three seconds. Tenschert also angrily dissented with the jury's ruling, declaring, "Under FIBA rules, the United States won."


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, United States protest
In announcing the verdict, Hepp steadfastly refused to provide the specifics of the vote count, acknowledging only that the decision was not unanimous. With three of the five jury members, including Hepp, being from Soviet-allied nations, this fueled speculation that the tally had been 3–2 and perhaps based more upon Cold War politics than upon the FIBA rulebook.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, United States protest
This view was further suggested when jury members Rafael Lopez and Claudio Coccia — from US-allied Puerto Rico and Italy, respectively — each reportedly confirmed having voted for the United States, thus indicating that pro-Soviet votes could have come only from Hepp of Hungary, Adam Bagłajewski of Poland, and Andres Keiser of Cuba. Nonetheless, Hepp, the only one who had seen all five votes of the secret ballot, maintained his refusal to divulge the specific votes of any of the panel members, beyond later granting that his own vote was in favor of the Soviets.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, United States protest
Despite this absence of confirmation from Hepp, it has become generally accepted and reported as fact that there indeed was a 3–2 vote that matched the political alliances of the time. Aside from potential political motivations, Mols suggested that panel members feared retribution from Jones were they to have deemed his decision regarding the game clock to be incorrect. In any event, the U.S. players did not accept the jury's verdict, voting unanimously to refuse their silver medals, and the team did not attend the medal ceremony. The silver medals are still kept in a vault in Lausanne, Switzerland.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, United States protest
After the conclusion of the games, the United States Olympic Committee launched another appeal, this time to the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It received the support of Righetto, who was quoted saying the Soviet victory was "completely irregular, and outsides the rules of the game of basketball". Righetto criticized Jones's insistence that the clock be reset to three seconds, and offered that he felt it would have been more fair to have instead resumed play with only the one second on the clock that had been remaining when play was suspended.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, United States protest
Righetto also asserted that the initial confusion was partially attributable to a language barrier, as he, a Brazilian, spoke Portuguese, but those working the scorer's table spoke only German. Also supporting the U.S. appeal was Chopard, who noted that in his 12 years of service as a timekeeper, Jones' order to put elapsed time back onto the clock was unprecedented. The appeal was unsuccessful, however, as in February 1973, the IOC ruled that matter fell under FIBA's jurisdiction.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Aftermath
In the ensuing years, USA Basketball has periodically contacted the 1972 U.S. team members on behalf of the IOC to offer them the opportunity to change their stance and accept the silver medals, possibly being granted an official ceremony awarding them. In 1992, team member Ed Ratleff said that although he did not personally want the medal, his wife felt very strongly about his accepting it and being able to show it to their children.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Aftermath
He said that his vote would be to accept the medal, but that he was casting his vote that way only in deference to her wishes. In a 2012 interview with Todd Jones of The Columbus Dispatch, Ratleff emphasized that the desire to accept the silver medal was his wife's, not his. Since divorced, he affirmed his intention never to accept it. The ten remaining team members each told the magazine that they would vote to refuse the acceptance of silver medals.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Aftermath
With regard to awarding the medals, the IOC has insisted that for such an action, the entire team would need to consent unanimously. Kenny Davis reported that he had gone so far as to have a clause put into his will forbidding his wife, children or descendants from ever accepting the silver medal after his death. In 2012, Davis organized a reunion of the 12 team members—the first time they had all been together since 1972—and reported that after some discussion, the group was unanimous in its rejection of the silver medals. "In basketball, there's one winner," he said. "By the rules of that game, we won." The gathering included a group round-table interview of the players that was documented in the ESPN 30 for 30 short film Silver Reunion.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Aftermath
When the IOC chose to resolve the figure skating scandal at the 2002 Winter Olympics by awarding duplicate gold medals to the original silver medalists, Tom McMillen, who had gone on to become a United States congressman, appealed to the IOC, requesting that the committee revisit its 1972 decision to declare the U.S. team to be the silver medalists of the men's basketball event. The 2002 decision arose because a French judge had been unduly pressured by the Russian officials to inflate the scores of the Russian pair. The American appeal argued that Jones' unauthorized intervention in 1972 brought similar undue pressure upon the officiating crew of that game. According to McMillen, the IOC did not respond to his appeal.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Aftermath
In the Soviet Union, the outcome of the game was heralded and the players celebrated as heroes, with comparatively little attention given to the controversy surrounding the team's victory. When asked about the subject, Soviet team members have indicated that they view their triumph as having been achieved legitimately. Edeshko and Sergei Belov, in particular, have been critical of the Americans for refusing to accept having lost, with Edeshko saying that he regrets that others may feel the Soviets' gold medals were undeserved, but that he harbors no such doubts himself. From his perspective as coach, Kondrashin acknowledged that the controversy did somewhat diminish his enjoyment of the triumph. However, he still cited the victory as the greatest accomplishment of his basketball career.


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Cultural references
The game and its controversies are presented from a Russian point of view as part of the 2017 Russian sport drama film Going Vertical (Russian: Движение вверх, romanized: Dvizhenie vverkh).


1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final, Cultural references
The game is presented from an American point of view in the ESPN documentaries Silver Reunion (2013; part of 30 for 30), and Episode 2 of Basketball: A Love Story (2018).


1972 Olympics Black Power salute
The 1972 Olympics Black Power Salute was a political protest by two U.S. Olympic runners, Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett, during the medal ceremony for the Men's 400 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. This event is sometimes referred to as "The Forgotten Protest." It came four years after the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Before the games
Matthews was a 1968 Olympian who had retired. He was frustrated by problems that included having to pay for his own travel to the U.S. Trials.


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Protest
In the Men's 400 metres, Matthews won gold and Collett won silver.


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Protest
During the medal ceremony, both runners refused to stand at attention for the U.S. national anthem. They subsequently stroked their beards, and twirled their medals as they left the stadium. The German crowd booed both runners for their display.


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Media reaction
The Associated Press described the casual behavior of Matthews and Collett during the playing of the anthem as "disrespectful," and described the event as follows:


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Media reaction
Collett, bare-footed, leaped from the No. 2 tier to the No. 1 stand beside his teammate. They stood sideways to the flag, twirling their medals, with Matthews stroking his chin. Their shoulders slumped, neither stood erect nor looked at the flag. ... As whistles and catcalls continued, Collett raised a clenched fist to the crowd before entering the portal of the dressing room.


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Media reaction
Robert Markus reported in the Chicago Tribune on September 9, 1972:


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Media reaction
[ Matthews] was angry at Coach Bill Bowerman—as most of the U.S. trackmen seem to be—because Bowerman had hinted he would like to remove him from the place he had earned in the 400-meter field. He was angry that he had been forced to train on his own in unsuitable facilities, had to travel 4 or 5 times from N.Y. to the west coast in order to get any kind of competition, and had been put down by some of the press as a drag on America's hopes for a 400-meter sweep.


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Media reaction
Matthews said his and Collett's actions were directed at the U.S. coaching staff, not the flag or the National Anthem. "We were just mad about a lot of things. We didn't think it would blow up like this. We were asked to apologize. I'm not really sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for the way people took it [hoots and whistles from the stands when the anthem finished]. What I tried to get across to the Olympic Committee was if it was pre-meditated I could have done something better than that. It was just something that happened. We didn't realize the implications to the people in the stands."


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Media reaction
In an interview after the medal ceremony with the American Broadcasting Company, Collett said the national anthem meant nothing to him. He explained that he had felt unable to honor the anthem, because of the struggle faced by African Americans at the time: "I couldn't stand there and sing the words because I don't believe they're true. I wish they were. I believe we have the potential to have a beautiful country, but I don't think we do." The pair were banned from future Olympic competition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Media reaction
IOC president Avery Brundage deemed it to be a domestic political statement unfit for the apolitical, international forum the Olympic Games were intended to be. Since John Smith had pulled a hamstring 80 meters into the final while leading and had been ruled unfit to run, the U.S. were now unable to field a team in the 4 × 400 meter relay and were forced to scratch from the event.


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, Media reaction, Athlete statements
I wasn't acting any differently than I usually do, but we were like goldfish in a fishbowl, in front of all those people. If they wanted me to stand at attention, I could've probably done that, but it wouldn't be me, and I was led to believe that the Olympics was for the athlete. We consider ourselves athletes, not politicians, or marching bands. Our athletic competition was over, and we were both happy.


1972 Olympics Black Power salute, After the games
Both runners received a lifelong ban from the IOC. This banning forced the US to scratch from the 4 × 400 meter relay where the Americans would be favored to win. Both runners were eventually elected to the Black Olympian Hall of Fame. This display by the athletes would be overshadowed by the Munich massacre. Collett went on to become a lawyer. In 2011, Matthews was elected to the USATF Hall of Fame.


1972 Omloop Het Volk
The 1972 Omloop Het Volk was the 27th edition of the Omloop Het Volk cycle race and was held on 4 March 1972. The race started and finished in Ghent. The race was won by Frans Verbeeck.


1972 Ontario municipal elections
Municipalities across the Canadian province of Ontario held elections on December 4, 1972, to elect mayors, reeves, councillors, and school trustees. Some municipalities also held votes for utility commissioners.


1972 Ontario municipal elections
The most closely watched contest was in Toronto, where Red Tory candidate David Crombie was elected as mayor.


1972 Open Championship
The 1972 Open Championship was the 101st Open Championship, held 12–15 July at Muirfield Golf Links in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. Lee Trevino won his second straight Claret Jug, the first to successfully defend his title since Arnold Palmer in 1962. Trevino finished one stroke ahead of runner-up Jack Nicklaus, ending his bid for the Grand Slam. Nicklaus had won the first two majors in 1972 and was the odds-on favorite at Muirfield, where he won his first Open in 1966. He also held the PGA Championship title from February 1971; a win at Muirfield and he would become the first to hold all four major titles at once.


1972 Open Championship
Six strokes back at even-par after 54 holes, Nicklaus shot a final round 66 (−5) on Saturday to tie the course record, but played the final three holes at one-over par. Trevino posted his own 66 in the third round and held on with an even-par 71, which included a chip-in for par at 17, to gain the fourth of his six major titles.


1972 Open Championship
It was the third of four times that Nicklaus was a runner-up to Trevino in a major championship.


1972 Open Championship
Trevino's win concluded a stretch where American-born golfers won eight consecutive major championship. This is the fourth-longest stretch in history for American-born golfers after stretches that ended at the 1930 Open Championship, 1947 U.S. Open, and the 1977 PGA Championship.


1972 Open Championship
Thirty years later, Tiger Woods became the first since Nicklaus to win the first two major tournaments of the year. His bid for a Grand Slam in 2002 also ended at Muirfield.


1972 Open Championship, Round summaries, Second round
Amateurs: Foster (+7), Mosey (+8), Revell (+9), Stephen (+9), Campbell (+11), Homer (+11), Gradwell (+13), Elson (+14), Bonallack (+15), Clark (+15), Berry (+19), Gray (+20).


1972 Orange Bowl
The 1972 Orange Bowl was the 38th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Saturday, January 1. The final game of the 1971–72 bowl season, it matched the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Eight Conference and the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Both teams were undefeated; Nebraska, the defending national champion, built a large lead in the first half and won 38–6.


1972 Orange Bowl, Game summary
Six-point favorite Nebraska entered the game on a 31-game unbeaten streak, and scored first on a two-yard touchdown run by Jeff Kinney. Future Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers scored on a 77-yard punt return on the final play of the first quarter, as Nebraska led 14–0. In the second quarter, quarterback Jerry Tagge and Gary Dixon added touchdown runs of one and two yards respectively, as Nebraska led convincingly 28–0 with over eight minutes remaining in the first half. There was no additional scoring before halftime as the Husker defense stifled the Tide's previously potent Wishbone offense with All-American running back Johnny Musso.


1972 Orange Bowl, Game summary
In the third quarter, Bama's Terry Davis scored on a three–yard touchdown run making the score 28–6, eliminating the shutout. Nebraska's Rich Sanger kicked a 21-yard field goal at the end of the third quarter, and a one-yard touchdown run by reserve senior QB Van Brownson made the final score 38–6.


1972 Orange Bowl, Game summary
With top-ranked Nebraska's 32-point victory, the 1972 Orange Bowl was one of the most lopsided meetings of #1 vs #2, specifically in a season-ending bowl game.


1972 Orange Bowl, Final polls
Nebraska (13–0) was first in both major polls and was the consensus national champion, having defeated the next three teams in the final AP Poll released on January 3: Oklahoma, Colorado, and Alabama. The Huskers earned all 55 first-place votes in the AP poll; in the UPI coaches poll released in early December, they received 29 of the 31 first-place votes, with the other two to Alabama.


1972 Oregon State Beavers football team
The 1972 Oregon State Beavers football team represented Oregon State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. In their eighth season under head coach Dee Andros, the Beavers compiled a 2–9 record (1–6 in Pac-8, last), and were outscored 295 to 131. They played four home games on campus at Parker Stadium in Corvallis, with one at Civic Stadium in Portland.


1972 Oregon State Beavers football team
The loss to rival Oregon was Andros' first setback in the Civil War game, and the Ducks' first win over the Beavers in nine years.


1972 Oregon Webfoots football team
The 1972 Oregon Webfoots football team represented the University of Oregon in the Pacific-8 Conference during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. Home games were played in Eugene at Autzen Stadium.


1972 Oregon Webfoots football team
Led by first-year head coach Dick Enright, the Ducks were 4–7 overall (2–5 in Pac-8, tied for sixth), and were outscored 285 to 194. Oregon met five ranked teams and won once. In the Civil War at Parker Stadium in Corvallis, the Ducks broke an eight-game losing streak against Oregon State, beating OSU head coach Dee Andros for the first time in the series. Previously the offensive line coach, Enright was promoted in early February, two weeks after the resignation of Jerry Frei.


1972 Oregon Webfoots football team
Oregon was led on the field by senior quarterback Dan Fouts, a three-year starter who was selected in the third round of the 1973 NFL Draft, 64th overall. He played fifteen seasons in the NFL for the San Diego Chargers and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.


1972 Oregon Webfoots football team, Season summary, Oregon State
Oregon's first win over its in-state rival in nine years.


1972 Oregon Webfoots football team, All-conference
Two Oregon seniors were named to the All-Pac-8 team: quarterback Dan Fouts and wide receiver Greg Specht.


1972 Oregon Webfoots football team, NFL Draft
Three Oregon seniors were selected in the draft; center Chuck Bradley (52nd), tackle Tim Stokes (60th), and quarterback Dan Fouts (64th).


1972 Országos Bajnokság I (men's water polo)
1972 Országos Bajnokság I (men's water polo) was the 66th water polo championship in Hungary. There were ten teams who played two-round match for the title.


1972 Országos Bajnokság I (men's water polo), Final list
* M: Matches W: Win D: Drawn L: Lost G+: Goals earned G-: Goals got P: Point


1972 Ottawa Rough Riders season
The 1972 Ottawa Rough Riders finished the season in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference with an 11–3 record, with all three losses coming at the hands of the 1st place Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The team lost in the Eastern Finals series to those same Tiger-Cats by a total points score of 30–27.


1972 Ottawa municipal election
The city of Ottawa, Canada held municipal elections on December 4, 1972.


1972 Ottawa municipal election
Controller Pierre Benoit is easily elected without significant opposition. Ottawa's city council is divided in two, as this marks the first election where only one alderman is elected from each ward, as opposed to two.


1972 Ottawa municipal election, City council
*Official results published on December 7. A recount held on December 27 indicated Robert had only won by 12 votes.


1972 PGA Championship
The 1972 PGA Championship was the 54th PGA Championship, played August 3–6 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. Gary Player won his second PGA Championship with a total of 281 (+1), two strokes ahead of runners-up Tommy Aaron and Jim Jamieson. It was the sixth of Player's nine major titles, but his first in over four years.


1972 PGA Championship
The PGA Championship returned to the month of August in 1972 after being played in late February in 1971 in Florida.


1972 PGA Championship
Defending champion Jack Nicklaus, winner of the year's Masters and U.S. Open and runner-up in the British Open, finished six strokes back in a tie for thirteenth place. He regained the title the following year.


1972 PGA Championship
It was the fifth major championship held on the South Course, which previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1924, 1937, 1951, and 1961. It later hosted the PGA Championship in 1979 and 2008, the U.S. Open in 1985 and 1996, and the Ryder Cup in 2004.


1972 PGA Tour
The 1972 PGA Tour season was played from January 6 to December 3. The season consisted of 47 official money events. Jack Nicklaus won the most tournaments, seven, and there were five first-time winners. The tournament results and award winners are listed below.


1972 PGA Tour, Tournament results
The following table shows all the official money events for the 1972 season. "Date" is the ending date of the tournament. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on the tour up to and including that event. Majors are shown in bold.


1972 PGA Tour, Rogelio Gonzales suspension
At the Greater New Orleans Open, Tour rookie golfer from Colombia Rogelio Gonzales was disqualified after it was learned he had changed his scorecard earlier in the tournament. In addition to his disqualification, the PGA Tour lifted Gonzales playing privileges.


1972 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
This is a list of the 1972 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates.


1972 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
The event was held at Silverado Country Club, South course, in Napa, California in late October/early November. After three 72-hole regional qualifiers, there were 81 players in the 108-hole final qualifying tournament.


1972 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
Larry Stubblefield and John Adams tied for the lead and Stubblefield won a sudden-death playoff for the top position. 25 players earned their tour card.


1972 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
Joe Inman, who recently graduated from Wake Forest University, participated in his first Q-school. However, he did not successfully graduate onto the PGA Tour.


1972 Pacific Southwest Open
The 1972 Pacific Southwest Open was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the Los Angeles Tennis Center in Los Angeles, California in the United States. The tournament was classified as Grade A and was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. It was the 46th edition of the tournament and ran from September 18 through September 24, 1972. Third-seeded Stan Smith won the singles title.


1972 Pacific Southwest Open, Finals, Doubles
Jimmy Connors /  Pancho Gonzales defeated  Ismail El Shafei /  Brian Fairlie 6–3, 7–6


1972 Pacific Tigers football team
The 1972 Pacific Tigers football team represented the University of the Pacific (UOP) in the 1972 NCAA University Division football season as a member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association.


1972 Pacific Tigers football team
The team was led by head coach Chester Caddas, in his first year, and played home games at Pacific Memorial Stadium in Stockton, California. They finished the season with a record of eight wins and three losses (8–3, 3–1 PCAA). The Tigers outscored their opponents 232–176 for the entire season.


1972 Pacific Tigers football team, Team players in the NFL
No UOP players were selected in the 1973 NFL Draft.


1972 Pacific hurricane season
The 1972 Pacific hurricane season was an ongoing event in tropical cyclone meteorology. There were few notable storms this year. Only one person was killed and storm effects were almost not serious at all. The most notable systems were Hurricane Celeste and Joanne. Celeste was the strongest storm of the season, and caused heavy damage to Johnston Atoll. Hurricane Joanne brought gale-force winds to the Continental United States and caused flooding in Arizona and northern Mexico, which killed one person. The only other system to directly impact land was Hurricane Annette.


1972 Pacific hurricane season
The season began on May 15, 1972, in the east Pacific, and on June 1, 1972, in the central Pacific. It ended on November 30, 1972. These dates conventionally delimit the period of time when tropical cyclones form in the east Pacific Ocean. This season had a below average number of storms. There were twenty tropical cyclones, four of which were in the central Pacific. Of those, four were tropical storms, eight were hurricanes, and four were major hurricanes that reached Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. In the central Pacific, two tropical storms and two tropical depressions formed. One of the depressions and one of the storms crossed the International Date Line to become typhoons in the 1972 Pacific typhoon season.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Timeline
The season began from the formation of the pre-Annette tropical depression on June 1, and ended with Tropical Storm Liza losing its circulation on November 15. This is a span of 167 days. In the eastern north Pacific, one storm formed in May, one each in June and July, six in August, two in September, and one in November. In the central north Pacific, one storm formed in each of September and November. This season is tied with the 1977 and 1996 seasons for fewest tropical storms to form in July. It also shares the record for busiest November in the central Pacific with the 1982 season.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems
Of this season's fourteen named tropical cyclones, twelve formed in the eastern Pacific and two in the central. Both central Pacific tropical cyclones were tropical storms. Of the eastern Pacific systems, four were tropical storms and eight were hurricanes. Of those eight hurricanes, four were major hurricanes because they peaked as Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. Although these totals are below the modern long-term averages of fifteen named storms, nine hurricanes, and four major hurricanes, At the time, 1972 was the central north Pacific's busiest known season.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Annette
On June 1, a tropical disturbance organized into a tropical storm. It slowly moved north and then recurved to the northeast as it accelerated slightly. It intensified into a hurricane on June 4. It remained at that strength for one day. Annette then began weakening. As a tropical storm, Annette made landfall in southeast of Manzanillo on June 7. The next day, it dissipated inland.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Annette
Annette brought several days of rainy weather to parts of Mexico. However, no deaths or damage were attributed to this tropical cyclone.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Depression Two
Tropical Depression Two existed from June 27 to June 28. It paralleled the coast of Mexico without making landfall.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Depression Three
Tropical Depression Three formed on July 4 and dissipated two days later. It moved westward while out to sea and never approached land.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Storm Bonny
Only July 27, fifty days after the dissipation of Tropical Depression Annette, an area of clouds southwest of Manzanillo developed a closed circulation and became a tropical depression. The next day, it strengthened into a tropical storm. Heading generally west northwest, Bonny peaked in intensity on July 28. It weakened after that, and dissipated July 30. Bonny never came near land and caused no known impact.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Celeste
On August 6, a tropical disturbance developed into a tropical storm, skipping the depression stage. It edged south until August 8. At that point, it turned to the west. It would continue in that general direction until it dissipated. Celeste intensified into a hurricane on August 10. It then left the Eastern Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility and entered the central Pacific. Celeste continued intensifying and eventually peaked as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. Celeste's Category 4 winds and central pressure of 940 millibars (940 hPa) made it the most intense cyclone of the season. After that, Celeste steadily weakened. After turning north, it dissipated on August 22 due to wind shear.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Celeste
Celeste harassed several ships during its existence. The most serious incident involved a sailing vessel called the Regina Marina. On August 9, that ship was flooded and had to issue a distress call. It was spotted by a hurricane hunter and was reached and towed to safety by another ship, the Vishea Trith, and later on, the USCGC Mellon. Two people aboard the Regina Marina were treated for injuries. Celeste passed close to Johnston Atoll and was the first recorded hurricane to hit that island.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Celeste
Many buildings on the weather station on the island lost roof tiles, and parts of most buildings were sandblasted by the wind. Celeste brought the highest recorded sustained winds in the station's thirteen years of operation, and the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded at Johnston at the time. A total of 6.21 inches (160 mm) of rain was recorded by a rain gauge; this may be an underestimate due to the gauge's funnel being partly blocked by a lump of coral. Program 437, an anti-satellite weapons system, was destroyed by the hurricane. On Johnston, no casualties were reported due to evacuations of the island's inhabitants. High waves also pounded the Puna, Kau, and South Kona Coasts of the Big Island. An exact estimate of damage is not available.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Celeste
At the time, Celeste was longest-lasting Pacific hurricane with a lifespan of 16.25 days; that record was tied next season by Hurricane Doreen and outrun by Hurricane Fico in 1978. It is the ninth-longest lasting Pacific hurricane, tied with Kenneth (2005) and 1973's Doreen.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Diana
On August 11, a tropical storm formed. It headed to the west northwest and strengthened into a hurricane on August 12. Diana then turned to the northwest, and peaked in intensity on August 1. It then headed west, and crossed into the central Pacific as a Category 1 hurricane. Shortly after crossing the basin boundary on a path directly towards the Hawaiian Islands, Diana weakened into a tropical storm. On August 18, Diana turned to the northwest. It dissipated two days later.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Diana
Diana threatened the Hawaiian Islands enough to warrant the issuance of a tropical storm warning. Although it never made landfall, Diana dumped very heavy rain on the Big Island, though without flooding; the highest total was 10 inches (250 mm) somewhere northeast of Hilo. At Vacationland, surf swept four homes off their foundations, doing extensive damage to one of them. Another home was flooded. Debris was carried inland, and 200 feet (60 m) of private roads were washed away. The cost of damage to the extensively damaged house was $75,000 (1972 USD; $464,021 2021 USD), furnishings excluded.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Estelle
A swirl of thunderstorms near Clipperton Island became a tropical depression on August 15. It moved generally northwest. The depression strengthened into a tropical storm on August 16. Estelle continued to intensify, and became a hurricane on August 19. After peaking the next day, Estelle slowly weakened. It became a tropical storm on August 20 and dissipated two days later. Hurricane Estelle spent its entire life well away from inhabited land, and consequently caused no deaths or damage.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Fernanda
An area of disturbed weather was witnessed well south of mainland Mexico on August 18. The system developed into a tropical storm on August 20. It slowly strengthened, moving generally west-northwest, and became a hurricane on August 22. It continued strengthening, and was briefly a Category 3 major hurricane on 24. Fernanda weakened after that, and it was a tropical storm by the time it crossed 140°W and entered the central Pacific. It remained at a steady intensity until it rapidly weakened when north of Kauai on September 1. A flash flood on Waipio Stream in the Big Island's Kohala Mountains may have been due to Fernanda. Other than that, this tropical cyclone caused no known impact.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Gwen
On August 22, a tropical depression formed from a disturbance. It immediately strengthened into a storm and was named Gwen. Gwen moved generally northwest, paralleling the coast of Mexico, and intensified into a hurricane on August 24. It then spent a few days heading west-northwest before resuming its original course. The hurricane became a major hurricane on August 27. After retaining that intensity for over a day, it rapidly weakened. Gwen became a tropical storm on August 29, weakened into a depression the next day, and dissipated just after that. Hurricane Gwen caused some concern for high surf in California, including a forecast for storm surge, but only the high surf materialized. Hurricane Gwen caused no deaths or damage.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Hyacinth
A circulation south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec organized into a tropical depression on August 28. It moved west for a day and then turned to the west northwest. It intensified into a tropical storm on August 29 and a hurricane the next day. Hyacinth peaked as a Category 3 major hurricane on August 31 through September 1. It then weakened. It also began to recurve to the north and then the northeast. Hyacinth reached its westernmost point on September 4 while a tropical storm. On September 6, it weakened into a tropical depression. It then made landfall north of San Diego, California, as a depression later that day, but it was nearly dissipated.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Hyacinth
Hyacinth caused increased surf along the coast of California, but was otherwise without serious effects. Tropical Depression Hyacinth's landfall was the first in California since 1939.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Storm Iva
South of Salina Cruz, a tropical depression formed on September 14. It paralleled the coast of Mexico until it strengthened into a tropical storm on September 16. Iva spent three days barely moving. On August 19, Iva got caught in the trade winds, headed westwards out to sea, and promptly weakened into a depression. By September 22 it was just a mass of clouds. Iva did not come near land and had no appreciable impact.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Storm June
A northwestward-moving disturbance in the Intertropical Convergence Zone developed into a tropical depression on September 24 and a storm two days later. It never strengthened much, and rapidly weakened on September 28. Tropical Storm June passed southwest of Johnston Island on September 27, but was too feeble to cause damage, only bringing gusty breezes and some rain.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Late September/Early October Tropical Depression
A tropical depression formed September 28 east of the Hawaiian Islands. It headed towards the archipelago and dissipated on the afternoon of October 3. Later that day, its remnants dumped up to 10.5 in (270 mm) of rain on the mountains of the Big Island.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Joanne
A westward-moving area of squalls south of Mexico organized into a tropical depression on September 30. It then strengthened into a tropical storm and was named Joanne. Joanne moved west northwest, and intensified into a hurricane on October 1. It then peaked as a Category 2 hurricane on October 2. Joanne then slowed down and began to recurve, first to the north, and then the north northeast. While accelerating in that direction, Joanne made landfall near Laguna Chapala on the Baja California Peninsula as a tropical storm.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Joanne
Joanne managed to retain a closed circulation and bring tropical storm force winds to Arizona, the first recorded time that had happened. The tropical storm dissipated inland over Sonora on October 7. Joanne is one of only four known Pacific hurricanes to bring gale-force winds to the Continental United States, and was the first since the 1939 California tropical storm.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Joanne
Heavy rainfall was reported throughout Arizona. Over 5 inches (100 mm) was measured at the Mogollon Rim. Heavy rains were recorded elsewhere in the region. The rains caused flooding in the areas of Clifton, Duncan, and Safford. The highest total in Mexico was 9.45 in (240 mm) in San Felipe/Mexicali, while the highest total in the United States was 4.34 in (110 mm) in Sierra Ancha. Joanne also caused heavy surf in California. A young man in Phoenix was electrocuted and killed when he attempted to remove a downed power line from his car.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Depression Thirteen
Tropical Depression Thirteen formed on October 12. It first headed southwest, then west, and performed a cyclonic loop. It headed north before sharply recurving. It dissipated on October 18.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Storm Kathleen
On October 18, a vortex in the Intertropical Convergence Zone was determined to be a tropical storm through the use of satellite pictures. Kathleen was a tropical storm for only eighteen hours before weakening into a tropical depression and recurving to the northeast. The tropical cyclone dissipated on October 19 while out to sea west of Puerto Vallarta. No deaths or damages were reported.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Depression Olga
Just east of the dateline, the northern hemisphere component of a "cyclone twin" formed into a tropical depression October 16. After crossing the dateline, it intensified into Tropical Storm Olga of the 1972 Pacific typhoon season. After passing through the Marshalls as a tropical storm, Olga intensified into a typhoon on October 25. It then swung through part of the Northern Marianas Islands before it was absorbed by a front near Honshū on October 29. As the NMI had already been hit by Typhoon Marie three weeks earlier, little damage was reported.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Ruby
An area of enhanced convection in the ITCZ close to the equator formed into a tropical depression on November 11. It headed north northwest, and intensified into Tropical Storm Ruby on November 13. Ruby then abruptly turned west and crossed the dateline, briefly reaching hurricane status. After becoming a typhoon just after crossing the dateline, the first time that had happened since 1967, Ruby steadily strengthened and eventually peaked as a moderately intense typhoon on November 16 while east of Taongi Atoll.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Hurricane Ruby
It then steadily weakened as it headed west northwest, and wind shear destroyed the cyclone on November 20 when it was east of the Northern Marianas Islands. Ruby caused no deaths or damage. Of note is the fact that on November 17, Ruby had a central pressure of 983 mb (983 hPa), which is high for a 100-knot typhoon.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Storm Liza
A tropical depression formed south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec on November 13. It headed nearly due east and intensified into Tropical Storm Liza on November 14. Liza degenerated into a tropical wave the next day. No deaths or damages were reported. Liza was a tropical storm for less than a day.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Systems, Tropical Depression Sixteen
Tropical Depression Sixteen formed on November 20. It briefly headed north and then turned to the west. It dissipated on November 21.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Storm names
These names were used for storms that formed in the east Pacific Ocean this season. It is the same list used in the 1968 season. No names were retired, so this list was used again in the 1976 season.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Storm names
The central Pacific used names and numbers from the west Pacific's typhoon list. Two names—June and Ruby—were required. Of the eleven hurricane seasons from 1970 to 1981 where central Pacific cyclones were named using the west Pacific list, this is the first and only one to use multiple names.


1972 Pacific hurricane season, Season effects
This is a table of all of the storms in the 1973 Pacific hurricane season. It includes their durations, peak intensities, names, landfall(s), damages, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but are still storm-related. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical or a wave or a low. All damages are in 1972 US dollars.


1972 Pacific typhoon season
The 1972 Pacific typhoon season was an above average season, producing 31 tropical storms, 24 typhoons and 2 intense typhoons. It has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1972, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between June and December. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.


1972 Pacific typhoon season
The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Storms that form east of the date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see 1972 Pacific hurricane season. Tropical Storms formed in the entire west Pacific basin were assigned a name by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Tropical depressions in this basin have the "W" suffix added to their number. Tropical depressions that enter or form in the Philippine area of responsibility are assigned a name by PAGASA (the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. This can often result in the same storm having two names.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems
A total of 36 tropical depressions formed this year in the Western Pacific, of which 30 became tropical storms. Twenty-two storms reached typhoon intensity, of which two reached super typhoon strength.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Kit (Asiang–Biring)
A tropical disturbance generated by an upper tropospheric low in the mid-Pacific trough moved westward through the Caroline Islands, slowly organizing into Tropical Depression 1W on January 5. The depression quickly strengthened, reaching tropical storm status later that day and becoming a typhoon on the 6th as it neared the Philippines. Kit rapidly intensified on the 6th and 7th to a 140 mph (230 km/h) typhoon, the strongest ever in January, but its inflow was cut off to the west, weakening the typhoon as it continued westward.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Kit (Asiang–Biring)
Kit hit the eastern Philippines as a 100 mph (200 km/h) typhoon on January 7, and turned north through the archipelago in response to a break in the subtropical ridge. This brought Kit eastward then southward, where after completing its large loop it dissipated on January 15, just 170 nautical miles (310 km) from its starting location.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Kit (Asiang–Biring)
This unusual, unexpected, and unseasonably strong typhoon killed 204 people and caused nearly $23 million in damage (1972 USD) in the Philippines. The destruction was mostly due to rains and flooding.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Tropical Depression 02W
Tropical Depression 02W was a weak system that existed near the equator, doing a loop then traveling eastwards as a disturbance before dissipating.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Lola
The northern hemisphere part of a "cyclone twin" developed into a tropical depression west of Kwajalein on May 29. It headed west and slowly strengthened. As it turned to the northwest and then the north northeast, it reached its maximum intensity on June 5. It continued heading north northeast, steadily weakened, and went extratropical on June 7.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Lola
Lola passed close enough to some of the islands in Micronesia to cause damage. Two fishermen were reported missing. Wind and waves caused $18 thousand (1972 USD) in damage to Pohnpei and nearby atolls. They also destroyed the fresh water system, causing a shortage of drinking water. On Pingelap and Mokil, sixty houses were destroyed.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Tropical Storm Nina
Tropical Storm Nina formed as a disturbance heading westwards. It briefly became a tropical depression south of Guam, but it weakened back to a disturbance as it turned back eastwards. As it traveled eastwards, it reintensified, becoming a tropical storm late on the 3rd while far east-southeast of Guam. It did not last, though, weakening back to a disturbance on the 4th and dissipating on the 5th.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Tropical Storm Mamie
Tropical Storm Mamie formed as a disturbance over the Philippines. It traveled westwards, becoming a tropical depression over the South China Sea, and then becoming a tropical storm on the 1st. The tropical storm made landfall in Vietnam late on the 3rd. It weakened to a tropical depression over land, and it became non-tropical as it went offshore. The extratropical remnants of Mamie traveled northeastwards along the Chinese coast, finally dissipating over Hokkaido.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Ora (Konsing)
Typhoon Ora, which formed on June 22, crossed the northern Philippines on the 24th and 25th as an 85 mph (137 km/h) typhoon. It weakened over land, but restrengthened in the South China Sea to a 90 mph (140 km/h) typhoon before hitting southern China on June 27. An unusual feature about Ora was while crossing the South China Sea, it never featured a wall cloud, even though it had winds of typhoon strength.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Ora (Konsing)
Ora caused heavy damage to the Manila area in the Philippines. It killed 131 people, including four who died when a ferry in the Bicol region capsized. In Manila Harbor, several ships were blown ashore. All in all, Ora left 385 thousand people homeless and caused $15 million (1972 USD) in damage.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Phyllis
Tropical Storm Phyllis, which formed on July 5, quickly intensified from late on July 9 to early July 11 to a 140 mph (230 km/h) typhoon. The typhoon turned to the northwest, steadily weakening as it approached Japan. Phyllis struck southeastern Japan on July 15 as a tropical storm, and became extratropical that night.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Phyllis
In Japan, Phyllis caused 3 deaths, more than 300 landslides, and flooded more than 6000 homes. Overall damage was moderate.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Rita (Gloring)
The near-equatorial trough spawned four tropical cyclones on July 5, one of which would become Super Typhoon Rita. Having originated over the open Western Pacific, the depression tracked westward, becoming a tropical storm on July 7 and a typhoon the next day. Rita quickly intensified, reaching super typhoon strength on July 10 and a peak of 165 mph (266 km/h) on July 11. The typhoon stalled and weakened over the next two days as it headed to the northeast.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Rita (Gloring)
On the July 15 and July 16, Rita again stalled, weakening down to 75 mph (121 km/h), as Tropical Storm Phyllis swung around its circulation and struck Japan. Rita then turned to the north, where it was able to restrengthen. Typhoon Tess at that time was just located some 800 nm east of Rita. A Fujiwhara interaction took place, forcing Rita executed a large loop from July 21 to July 25. In that loop the Rita caught USS Alamo and USS Juneau as they sought to evade to the south after dropping of US Marines and equipment in Okinawa.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Rita (Gloring)
Both ships weathered the storm but Alamo sustained minor damage in the plunging seas. After looping and passing Okinawa, she continued to the northwest and began to accelerate as she entered a confluent zone created by a trough over Manchuria and a building ridge over the Sea of Japan. She passed by western South Korea, made landfall at Shidao port, Shandong and then weakened into a tropical storm. Rita entered the Gulf of Chihli, hit northeastern China, and dissipated over the Yanshan mountain northwest of Peking, China on the night of July 27.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Rita (Gloring)
Rita's large size and long life caused heavy rains throughout the areas it hit. Rita and Tropical Storm Susan's presence strengthened the southwest monsoon flow over Luzon, where torrential rains occurring between July 17 and July 21 lead to disastrous flooding which killed 214 and with over $150 million in damage. Near Guam, on July 8, the typhoon caused an Air Force Boeing B-52 to crash into the ocean, killing one member of its six-man crew.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Rita (Gloring)
The remaining crew members were rescued by a US Navy nuclear attack submarine which surfaced in the roiling seas and literally fished the men out by using a line attached to a periscope and reeling them in as the boat rolled in the seas. In Taiwan, heavy rains caused landslides, one of which derailed a train, killing three. In Korea, eight people were killed, more fifty small vessels were lost, and more than two hundred buildings were destroyed. In the Ryukyu Islands, three people were killed. Crop damage was heavy, numerous boats were sunk, and several highways were blocked by mudslides.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Rita (Gloring)
Rita killed 229 people, making it this season's deadliest typhoon.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Susan (Edeng)
A disturbance in the ITCZ became a tropical depression on July 5. It headed northwest over the Philippines. It intensified into a tropical storm almost immediately after entering the South China Sea on July 8. It then turned north, and erratically drifted and looped for four days. On July 11, Susan became a typhoon. On July 14, Susan moved close to the Taiwan Strait. It made landfall on the coast of Fujian province, and dissipated inland on July 15.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Susan (Edeng)
Susan caused heavy waves on the western coast of Luzon. Along with Super Typhoon Rita, Susan altered the monsoon winds over the Philippines, which caused flooding that killed 214 people; however, as Rita was primarily responsible for these conditions, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center attributes these deaths to the former system. By itself, Susan killed four people in Taiwan.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Tess
The same near-equatorial trough that developed Rita also developed Typhoon Tess. Tess, having developed on July 7 near the Marshall Islands, tracked westward, reaching typhoon status on July 12. Over the next two days, as Tess turned to the northwest, it rapidly intensified to a 145 mph (233 km/h) typhoon. Steadily weakening as it continued northwestward, Tess bent back to the west in response to the building of a high pressure cell over Japan. The Fujiwhara effect between Tess and Rita brought 75 mph (121 km/h) Typhoon Tess into Japan on July 23. After dissipating over Sea of Japan, Tess continued northward, and merged with a front south of Vladivostok on July 25.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Tess
In Japan, Tess caused strong flooding and strong surf. This killed 29 people, with 20 missing. These casualties were mostly swimmers caught in the surf.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Viola
Typhoon Viola (classified as a tropical storm by the JTWC) spent its entire life far offshore. Its precursor disturbance formed south of Wake Island on the 21st, and it traveled westwards then northwards at around 160 degrees west, before turning back eastwards on the 24th and eventually becoming extratropical on the 26th.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Tropical Storm Winnie (Isang)
Tropical Storm Winnie formed as a disturbance far east of the Philippines. The disturbance did a small loop, then headed northwestwards, intensifying into a tropical storm at midnight on the 30th. It continued, traveling north of the island of Taiwan before making landfall in China on the 1st of August. The storm quickly weakened into a disturbance, which traveled slowly inland before dissipating.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Alice
A tropical disturbance emerged from the ITCZ on July 29 and passed through the Marshalls. It became a tropical depression on July 30 and a tropical storm the next day. It and headed in the direction of Japan. Alice became a typhoon on August 2 and reached its maximum intensity on August 4 while southwest of Marcus. As Alice continued approaching Japan, it steadily weakened. It recurved, brushed Honshu, and went extratropical on August 8. It never made landfall.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Alice
Waves generated by Alice's storm surge caused a river to overflow in Iwaki, which affected three hundred houses. No one was killed.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Betty (Maring)
A tropical depression formed near the Caroline Islands on August 8. It passed through the Marianas Islands after becoming a tropical storm. Betty turned to the west and peaked as a super typhoon on August 15. It turned to more to the west northwest, passed over the southern Ryukyus and just north of Taiwan, and made landfall on the coast China on August 17. It rapidly weakened inland, and dissipated the next day.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Betty (Maring)
Betty had minimal effects in the Ryukyu Islands. In the Philippines, it enhanced monsoon rains. This caused flooding, which killed seven people in Ilocos Sur. Four other people were presumed dead after a light aircraft went missing. In Taiwan, rains were heavy. The resulting floods in Sanchong District stranded 300 thousand people, and washed out roads and railways. More than 220 houses were totally destroyed, with at least another 130 badly damaged. Betty killed eighteen people in Taiwan, and twenty-nine overall. The total cost of damage is unknown.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Cora
A disturbance west of Luzon became a tropical depression on August 22. It headed into the South China Sea and strengthened into a tropical storm. As it approached Hainan, it became only the fourth August tropical cyclone to intensify into a typhoon in the South China Sea since 1945. It made landfall on Hainan on August 28, emerged into the Gulf of Tonkin, and made a second landfall north of Haiphong. Cora had dissipated inland by August 29.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Severe Tropical Storm Doris
Tropical Storm Doris stayed far from land. It formed far north of Wake Island and traveled north, becoming a tropical storm on the 26th, but it became extratropical on the 29th and dissipated shortly thereafter.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Elsie
West of Leyte Gulf, a tropical depression formed on August 30. It intensified into a tropical storm after entering the South China Sea. It strengthened into a typhoon on September 1 and slowed down. It made landfall in northern South Vietnam on September 4. It rapidly weakened inland but kept its identity. It transited the Indochina Peninsula and emerged into the Bay of Bengal on September 7, becoming Tropical Cyclone 24-72 of the 1972 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. Ex-Elsie gradually restrengthened as it crossed the Bay of Bengal. It made landfall on the coast of India on September 10 and rapidly dissipated inland.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Elsie
While crossing Thailand, Elsie caused heavy flooding. No other impact was reported to the JTWC.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Flossie (Nitang)
Typhoon Flossie formed as a disturbance west of Guam late on the 5th of September. The system intensified into a tropical storm just before landfall on Luzon. The cyclone then traveled slowly across the South China Sea, becoming a low-level typhoon before making landfall in Vietnam on the 16th. It weakened to a tropical depression as it crossed Vietnam, but it reintensified after entering the Bay of Bengal as Tropical Cyclone 25-72.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Helen (Paring)
Typhoon Helen was the most destructive tropical cyclone to strike Japan during the 1972 Pacific typhoon season. Originating from a tropical disturbance on September 11 near the Northern Mariana Islands, Helen gradually intensified as it moved northwestward. By September 14, it reached typhoon strength and soon turned northeast towards Japan. Accelerating due to a trough over the East China Sea, Helen rapidly approached the country and made landfall near Cape Kushimoto as a Category 3-equivalent typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. Later that day, a weakened Helen emerged into the Sea of Japan. After merging with an upper-level low, the storm transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on September 19 and was last noted two days later after moving through southern Hokkaido.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Helen (Paring)
In Japan, Typhoon Helen produced torrential rain, peaking at 790 mm (31 in) in Hokkaido, and damaging winds that caused widespread damage. A total of 4,213 homes were destroyed and another 146,547 were damaged as a result of flash flooding and landslides. Numerous vessels ran aground due to rough seas associated with the storm, including several thousand ton cargo freighters. In all, 87 fatalities and $102 million in damage was attributed to Typhoon Helen.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Marie
Typhoon Marie formed on October 4 and tracked westwards, while it intensified into a category 4 typhoon. Soon after reaching peak intensity, Marie weakened and turned northward and affected the northern Soviet Union and Japan until it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on October 16. Marie did not inflict much damage during its 12-day duration.


1972 Pacific typhoon season, Systems, Typhoon Therese (Undang)
Typhoon Therese, having developed on November 30, struck the Philippines on December 3. After crossing the islands, the typhoon reached a peak of 120 mph (190 km/h) winds in the South China Sea, a rare event for December. Therese's intensity fluctuated as it continued westward, and hit eastern South Vietnam on the 9th as a 115 mph (185 km/h) typhoon. Therese dissipated on the 12th, after causing 90 deaths and extensive damage on its path.