Wilt Chamberlain Scores 50 Points/Game
In the 1961-62 NBA season Wilt Chamberlain scored 50 points/game.
USA Olympic Hockey Team Defeats Soviets
https://youtu.be/jdUsoyZy2aA In February 1960 the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.
Bobby Fischer US Chess Champion
The chess prodigy Bobby Fischer won the 1958 U.S. Championship at age 14. In the 1972 World Championship Fischer won the title match against Boris Spassky of the USSR in Reykjavík, Iceland. Publicized as a Cold...
Wham-O Produces First Frisbee
In June 1957, after learning that Yale students we're tossing empty Frisbie Pie Company pie tins as sport, the Wham-O Company branded a disc called "Frisbee." When Wham-O changed their marketing strategy to promote Frisbee use as a new sport, their sales increased...
Le Mans Crash Kills Driver and Many Spectators
https://youtu.be/RMoh5hZAaZk In June 1955 a major crash during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race in the city of Le Mans, France sent large pieces of debris into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Levegh. 180 more...
“The World Series Catch” by Willie Mays
In the 8th inning of game 5 of the September 1954 World Series, New York Giants center fielder Willie Mays made a remarkable over-the-shoulder running catch of a deep center field fly ball to record the out and throw back to...
Marilyn Monroe Marries Joe DiMaggio
In January 1954, Marilyn Monroe and and baseball star Joe DiMaggio were mobbed by reporters and fans when they married in San Francisco. On their honeymoon in Japan, Monroe was asked to perform for American soldiers stationed in Korea. She went, leaving her new...
First Black NBA Player
https://youtu.be/08IK0FjcPss In 1950 Chuck Cooper an All-American basketball player from Duquesne University (a private Catholic school in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania) was selected in the second round by the Boston Celtics. Cooper thus became the first...
Bogart on Baseball
https://youtu.be/onojPONm-9A Concerned that the emerging medium of television would hurt ticket receipts, Major League baseball officials produced TV commercials similar to those used to promote movies in the early 1950s.
Joe DiMaggio $100K
In 1949 Joe DiMaggio of the NY Yankees became the first $100,000/year baseball player. Joe DiMaggio, known as the "Yankee Clipper," was a supreme baseball player - an excellent fielder as well as hitter. Hall of Fame player, owner and manager Connie Mack called...
London Olympic Games
The 1948 Games of the XIV Olympiad were the first Summer Olympics held since the 1936 Games in Berlin. The 1940 Olympic Games, originally scheduled for Tokyo, then Helsinki, were canceled with the outbreak of World War II. The 1944 Olympic Games, provisionally...
Jackie Robinson
Joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American in major league baseball. CAREER BATTING STATISTICS YEAR TEAM GP AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR 1947 BKN 151 590 125 175 31 5 12 48 74 36 29 0 .297 .383 .427...
Moe Berg
Morris “Moe” Berg was an amazing character. Fluent in several languages, he reportedly read ten newspapers a day and was a successful contestant on the radio quiz show Information, Please. After graduation from Princeton University and Columbia Law...
Ted Williams
What's My Line - 1954 Ted Williams won six batting titles and led the American League in on-base percentage seven...
Kraft Durch Freude
Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy, abbreviated KdF), was a program operated by the state-owned German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront) that provided leisure activities for ordinary workers. To exemplify solidarity under National Socialism, passengers on...
NFL Championship
During the 1942 National Football League season (the league's 23rd year), the rosters of many teams were depleted by players enlisting for military service. On December 13, 1942, the Chicago Bears (11–0) beat the Washington Redskins (10-1) by a score of 10-6 in the...
The Slugger Enlists
Rated 1A for the draft in 1942, superstar Red Socks slugger Ted Williams appealed his draft status. He was subsequently re-rated 3A (as the sole supporter of his mother). However, criticism from fans and the press drove him to reconsider and he enlisted in the Naval...
Militarized Sports in Japan
In 1925 the Imperial Japanese Ministry of Education and the Department of War began to attach military officers to public schools to establish a military training system. In 1931 instruction in budo, the traditional martial arts of Japan, became compulsory for all...
▶Rose Bowl Moved to North Carolina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=plNACl2086U#t=1 Fearing a Japanese attack on the West Coast, the Rose Bowl (traditionally in Pasadena, CA) was played in Durham, N.C. on January 1, 1942. Duke lost to Oregon State, 20-16.
Joe DiMaggio’s Hitting Streak
In 1941 New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio's streak pulled his team out of an early slump, and led them to the World Series in which he received the Most Valuable Player Award.
Tokyo Olympic Games Cancelled
In 1936 the International Olympic Committee agreed to hold the 1940 Summer Olympic games in Tokyo, but, in the midst of war with China, Japan withdrew in 1938. It wasn't until 1964 that the games were played in Tokyo.
Baseball in Wartime Japan
Star pitcher Eiji Sawamura - killed in action 1944 (Wikimedia Commons) In a January 1942 "green light" letter to the baseball commissioner, FDR said "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going (during the war)." In Japan,...
Lou Gehrig’s Farewell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp3F51gtaZA Lou Gehrig, "the Iron Horse", was a beloved New York Yankee first baseman who set major league records for consecutive games played and career grand slams. Gehrig's career was shortened by amyotrophic lateral...
Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling – 2nd Match
Two heavyweight boxing events in the 1930s represented a contest between the USA and Nazi Germany, as well as black vs. white fighters. In 1936, former world heavyweight champion Max Schmeling defeated the previously unbeaten African-American rising star Joe Louis in...
Japan in Summer Olympics
Naoto Tajima (left) with Jesse Owens and Luz Long, 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics; Wikimedia Commons IMPERIAL JAPAN WAS THE 8TH RANKED NATION WINNING MEDALS AT THE 1936 SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES IN BERLIN (GERMANY WAS #1 AND THE USA WAS #2). Medal Name Sport Event...