AKenosha News Kenosha, Wisconsin Wednesday, November 10, 1971 - Page 6
Bobby's Name in Lights
Who comes to mind when you think of sports personalities? Vida Blue, Kareem (Lew Alcindor) Jabbar, Joe Namath, Bobby Fischer. Bobby who? Fischer's name may not be on the lips of the average American now, but it soon may be. Fischer's sport is that unathletic but mind exhausting game of chess.
What is putting Fischer's name in lights is the fact that he is the best chess player the U.S. has produced and there is a good chance that he could wrest the world championship from its traditional domicile—the Soviet Union. Fischer just soundly trounced a Russian former world champion in a tournament in Buenos Aires and will meet the current world champion—also a Russian—next spring.
If this doesn't make the average American sports fan's blood run quicker, it does stir people outside their borders. An overflow crowd of 3,000 was on hand to observe Fischer working over the Russian in his latest victory. And visitors to the Soviet Union say that Fischer already is a household word there. If Fischer comes home a world champion next year, don't be surprised as parents when your offspring demand a chess set instead of a baseball glove, and then only a set endorsed by the master.
