Browsing: Sports

A Brief History On December 9, 1935, the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City (now known simply as The Downtown Club) made their choice for the most outstanding college football player, naming Jay Berwanger, halfback for the University of Chicago as the winner of the Downtown Athletic Club Award, the prize later renamed The Heisman Trophy. Digging Deeper Probably the most prestigious award in college football, the Heisman got its name from the Athletic Director of the DAC who died in 1936 and the award was renamed to honor him. Unlike most of the players so honored, Berwanger never…

A Brief History On November 23, 1948, one of major league baseball’s greatest hitters and onetime highest paid player in the National League died penniless, and no one, not even his own son, would claim the body. Wilson played for the Giants, Cubs, Dodgers and Phillies, but his heyday was with the Cubs. Digging Deeper Lewis Robert “Hack” Wilson was born in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania in 1900, and went on to a short but remarkable baseball career where in 12 years he hit 244 home runs, 1063 RBI’s, and batted .307 for his career. In 1930 Wilson hit 56 home…

A Brief History On November 12, 1993, Denver, Colorado became the site of the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship event, titled UFC 1, what has become the premier promotion of mixed martial arts fighting. Starting what would become a regular routine, the event was broadcast live on Pay-Per-View, had a live audience, and was later released on video. Digging Deeper This initial UFC event was an 8 man tournament, with eventual winner Royce Gracie of Brazil taking the top ($50,000) prize. The other big name fighter to go on to great things was Ken Shamrock, known as “The World’s Most…

A Brief History On October 19, 2016, just a few hours ago, the Cleveland Indians won the American League Pennant (Championship) and earned a ticket to the World Series against either the LA Dodgers or the Chicago Cubs, starting Tuesday, October 25, 2016. Beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4 games to 1 (finishing with a 3-0 shut out) after beating the Boston Red Sox 3 games to 0 put an intimidating stamp on the playoffs. And this was with the loss of 2 of their best pitchers late in the season! Digging Deeper Not a bad year for Cleveland sports…

A Brief History As the NFL completes week 5 of the 2016 football season, Forbes informs us that the sit down, kneel down protest mania sparked by San Francisco Forty Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick is hitting the NFL where it counts, costing the venerable football league as many as a third of its valued television viewers. Digging Deeper Kaepernick and other NFL players are protesting against their perceived racism by the police in the United States, and are claiming police are gunning down African-American men and boys for no apparent reason. Although a sizable minority of Americans seem to agree…