Playing The First French Open During A Revolution
In the late 1960s, the Western world was a boiling political mess, filled with dissent, assassinations, and protests in the streets. Tennis politics were also undergoing colossal changes. Since the late 19th century, almost all tennis tournaments had been limited to amateurs. But top players trained hard and they needed to earn a living,
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The ‘Moneyball’ Men Of The Dallas Cowboys
Long before "Moneyball", the movie about the 2002 Oakland Athletics, there were the Dallas Cowboys under Tom Landry, Tex Schramm, and Gil Brandt. …
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Next Up At The Olympics, Lifestyle Sports
Surfing, skateboarding and wall climbing, lifestyle sports with a focus on youth appeal and gender equality, will make their debut at the 2020 …
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Death On The Racetrack
On average, about 10 horses a week died on American racetracks in 2018, a rate which was 2 ½ to 5 times greater than that of the rest of the racing world. …
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Jesse Owens, Before Berlin
The world knows him as the track & field star who dispelled Adolf Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy at the 1936 Olympics. But a year before the Summer Games were held in Berlin, …
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When Soccer Triggered An Armed Conflict
Soccer violence on and off the field is universal like the game itself, but in 1969 the world’s most popular sport triggered an actual war between two countries. …
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Pro Golf Takes Off
On a winter day in 1916, a group of golfers met in New York City to hear what Lewis Rodman Wanamaker, heir to the Wanamaker department store fortune, had to say about golf. …
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How The NCAA Overtook Its Rival, The NIT
Hosting its games at New York City’s prestigious Madison Square Garden (MSG), the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was historically a more glamorous basketball event than the NCAA's post-season tourney …
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"Pumping Iron" Goes Mainstream
Long the domain of a small but dedicated group of muscle enthusiasts, bodybuilding burst into the mainstream in the late 1970’s …
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THIS WEEK
AUTO RACING May 24, 2009 Brazil’s Helio Castroneves wins the 93rd edition of the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first foreign-born driver to claim the famed chase three times (2001, 2002). Starting out from pole position in car #3, Castroneves clocked the 200-lap race in 3:19:35. Placing 2nd at the 500 in 2003, 2014 and 2017, Castrovenes is regarded as the best driver who never won an IndyCar Series championship.
RUNNING May 18, 1999 American running champion Betty Robinson dies at the age of 87. The Riverdale, Illinois native was the first female to win gold at the 100m sprint when the race was introduced to women at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. She went on to claim gold again in the 4 x 100m relay at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin after the heavily favored Germans, who were leading, dropped the baton.
HORSE RACING May 20, 1989 Pat Valenzuela wins the Preakness Stakes aboard Sunday Silence, crossing the finish line in a time of 1:538 and edging out rival Easy Goer by just a nose. Both jockey and horse had won the Kentucky Derby earlier, but would miss out on a Triple Crown three weeks later at the Belmont Stakes after trailing Easy Goer by eight lengths.
BASEBALL May 16, 1979 The NL approves the sale of the Houston Astros by the Ford Motor Company (Credit) to John McMullen. The team would sign up pitcher Nolan Ryan, baseball’s first $1 million contract, and go on to reach the playoffs the following year for the first time in franchise history. Founded as the Houston Colt .45’s, the Astros were renamed in 1965 as a reference to the nation’s space center.
