May 7, 1988 – Kentucky Derby – Louisville, Kentucky: The ladies came early. They came in record numbers with their painted signs and their flamboyant, frilly hats. Believing the bigger the hat, the better the luck, they filed into Churchill Downs, the most famous...
San Francisco, California – 1951: A doctor labeled him a “quack” and advised against his weightlifting methods believing they were dangerous and could cause a heart attack. A newspaper journalist referred to him as a “charlatan” whose exercise routines could lead to...
1945 – Brooklyn, New York: Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers was deeply concerned that there were no black players in major league baseball. He knew baseball needed to change, but he knew it would be challenging to break the color barrier. Rickey was...
Sunday, September 28, 1941 – League Park – Cleveland, Ohio: Josephine Morhard took her seat behind the first base dugout in the venerable old ballpark. Home of the Cleveland Indians, it was the place where Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run. On this cool...
September 1935 – Seattle, Washington: University of Washington crew coach Al Ulbrickson told the Seattle Times that his Huskies would win the gold medal in the 8-man crew in the 1936 Olympics or he would quit his job. It was an extraordinary boast from a coach who had...
1955 – Pittsburg, Pennsylvania: Some diseases killed, polio crippled children for a lifetime. Since the first epidemic in the summer of 1894 in Vermont, polio had become the disease most feared by parents. It struck children without warning, frequently causing muscle...
