A Brief History On November 2, 1898, the day recognized as the “birth of cheerleading,” University of Minnesota (UM) student Johnny Campbell became the first cheerleader in history, directing fans in cheering on the Golden Gophers football team. UM proudly calls itself the “Birthplace of Cheerleading,” and apparently deserves that title. Digging Deeper During the 1800’s crowds at sporting events began to cheer on their teams, increasingly in unison. The 1890’s saw the first use of the word “cheerleader” referring to fans in the stands that would start cheers. Not surprisingly, Minnesota saw this trend evolve with Thomas Peebles, an…
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A Brief History On October 21, 1973, defensive end Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams (yes, that is where they played before St. Louis, and they were the Cleveland Rams before that) became the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in one game, a remarkable feat. Digging Deeper Not because of that curious statistic, but because of his good looks and acting ability Dryer went on to become a successful Hollywood actor, notably in the title role of the television series, Hunter (1984-1991). Not only did Dryer have a stellar 13 year pro football career and star…
A Brief History On June 17, 2014, EA Sports released the video game EA Sports UFC for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Below is the complete roster for the hit video game EA Sports UFC as the roster originally appeared on Wikipedia prior to its removal by electronic book burners. It is reproduced here per the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License. Digging Deeper Heavyweight Fabrício WerdumCC Cain Velasquez Junior dos Santos Travis Browne Stipe MiocicDLC Mark Hunt Andrei ArlovskiDLC Antonio Silva Roy Nelson Alistair Overeem Frank Mir Pat Barry Mark ColemanDLC Brock LesnarDLC Minotauro Nogueira Light heavyweight Daniel CormierCC [HW] Anthony JohnsonDLC Alexander…
A Brief History On October 3, 1995, in one of the most ridiculed jury findings in American history, a criminal jury found OJ Simpson not guilty of the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Digging Deeper Simpson had been an American hero, born into a working family and raised in the projects of San Francisco after his parents separated in 1952. OJ developed rickets as a child, and wore leg braces until age 5. A star high school football player, Simpson first played at the Community College level before transferring to USC where he…
A Brief History On September 10, 1960, the final event of the Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy, was the scene of the first Sub-Saharan African (Black) to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia won the prestigious Olympic Marathon race (about 26.2 miles long) and won it in high fashion, that is, barefoot! Digging Deeper Only 126 lbs, this slim 5’11” runner was 28 years old when he ran his historic race, and for good measure he won the Olympic Gold Medal in the Marathon in the 1964 Olympics as well. The course of events that led…