The sun had gone down an hour before, and night had taken full hold off the coast of France. When I saw someone in the choppy waves a dozen feet away, I wondered if I was hallucinating again. I'd...

From the Maine-Canada border to the tip of the Florida Keys, the U.S. Atlantic Coast measures 28,673 miles, and George Reiger seems to know at least one fascinating fact for every cape, cove, bay,...

At the first suggestion of spring this year, my niece, Leigh, who was two months shy of her fifth birthday, and I traded the foam balls we had been swatting around the basement for plastic ones....

I believe it was the knife sheath that caused my Uncle Joe Jackson to refer to me as the Headless Horseman for a good deal more years than I'd care to remember. The horseman part came because I...

4—Tony Triolo25—Illustration by Sam Q. Weissman30, 31—Manny Millan32, 33—Manny Millan (left), Heinz Kluetmeier34, 35—Heinz Kluetmeier (center), Carl Skalak (2)38, 39—Heinz Kluetmeier40, 45—George...

PRO BASKETBALL—The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 111-94 in Inglewood, Calif. to take a three-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven NBA finals (page 30).

ALFIE TURCOTTEDETROITAlfie, a 17-year-old center, helped the Portland (Ore.) Winter Hawks to the Memorial Cup major junior hockey title, which never had been won by a U.S. team. He had five goals...

THE ISLES' FOURTHSir:I can't believe it! The Islanders finally made your cover (May 23). No Indy 500. No Magic Johnson. Just Billy Smith doing what he does best—making a clutch save. Thank you....

The bullfrogs groaned. Wind stirred the rushes beside the lake. Clouds raced across the moon. Six men stood on a California road, their shadows long in the moonlight. Off to the east, toward...

LEARNING TO BE LIKE HUCK FINN

•John Tonelli, New York Islander left wing, who was arrested on a charge of driving while impaired the night the Islanders won the Stanley Cup, when asked what he and President Reagan talked about...

Julius Erving and the other 76ers had a high old time in taking a 3-0 lead over L.A. in the NBA finals

After a dry spell, America has six shotputters ready to challenge the East German world-record holder

Even teamwork by the two Unsers could not put a stop to Tom Sneva's run to his first Indianapolis triumph

"I always watched television," says Senior Reporter Wilmer Ames. "My earliest memories are of staying up with the lights off, watching old movies, and I may be one of very few people living in a...

Neither Wilford Scypion nor the game's pooh-bahs could lift Marvin Hagler's title

George Starke is a man of many parts but is best known as chief of the Redskins' famed offensive line

On a clear day you can see your face in Ralph Kryder's sport coat. "People call me the Mirror Man," says Kryder, 38, a high school science teacher and swimming coach in a suburb of Houston who...

While Paul Page's radio coverage is the real stuff, ABC-TV's is theater

A's Manager Steve Boros is helping lead baseball into the computer age

Here's a rundown on 10 of the finest prospects in the June 6-8 draft of high school and college players. Three are catchers: Robbie Wine of Oklahoma State, son of Bobby, the Phillies' former...

"Once when I was playing minor league ball in Joplin [Mo.], I claimed I was hit by a pitch even though I wasn't," recalls Boston Manager Ralph Houk. "While everyone was arguing, I bit myself on...

EXCUSE ME: Milwaukee lost a game to Oakland last week after Pitcher Jamie Easterly forgot the signs in the eighth inning and threw a slider when Catcher Ned Yost expected a fastball. The ball got...

In response to an SI poll, big league pitchers ranked the following as the game's best bad-ball hitters:

FERNANDO VALENZUELA: The Dodger lefty threw two complete-game shutouts, beating the Phillies 2-0 on four hits and the Giants 5-0 on two. He struck out 12 and batted 3 for 7 with one RBI.

Showbizwise, the finals in the MISL were boffo

Syracuse came from way back to beat Johns Hopkins for the NCAA title

Willie Gault, a hot NFL prospect, has hot Olympic prospects as well

That, say many top tennis players, is what happens after the Wizard of Boz, a.k.a. Warren Bosworth, performs his magic on their rackets and their games