Sports History

Although they were favored to win gold at the Olympics, some Americans failed to even medal. In an especially cruel twist, two sprinters didn't even make it to the quarterfinals at the 1972 Games in Munich. 1. Overhyped Decathlete Dave Johnson Settles for Bronze at 1992 Barcelona ...read more

On June 24, 1995 at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, South Africa won the Rugby World Cup 15-12 over its arch rival New Zealand. The match stands as a hugely symbolic moment in South African history. It marked the nation’s first major sporting event since the end of its ...read more

The Olympic Games aim to help build a better, more peaceful world through sports. But in the 125-year history of the modern Games, the quadrennial international competitions have been marred by geopolitical drama, resulting in cancellations, bans and boycotts. Some Games, such ...read more

Modern Olympic history is full of heart-thumping victories and painful defeats. But a look back at the 28 Summer Games that have taken place since 1896 also offer a snapshot of geopolitics, a shift in women’s rights and the state of global affairs. From Athens to Rio, in the ...read more

For 75 years, active-duty members of the British military have served as stewards at Wimbledon, the annual tennis “Championships” held at the storied All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. Since 1946, uniformed men and women from the Army, Air Force and Navy have volunteered at ...read more

Title IX, the landmark gender equity law passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, banned sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. Its protections would open doors for girls and women in admission, academic majors, teaching positions, vocational ...read more

Amidst all the convulsions America experienced in 1968—the shocking assassinations, the violent protests, the atrocities in Vietnam—revolution rumbled even through the genteel world of men’s tennis. The unexpected messenger was a slender, bespectacled 25-year-old Army lieutenant ...read more

“ENGLAND OR DROWN!” proclaimed the New York Daily News on its frontpages. It was August 6, 1926, the day that an American, Gertrude Ederle, was poised to become the first woman to swim the English Channel. Only five men had ever swum the waterway before. The challenges included ...read more

He was known as the Galveston Giant—a boxer who fought his way toward the first world heavyweight title held by an African-American. But in 1912, Jack Johnson became something else: a wanted man. Accused of violating the Mann Act, which forbade transporting a woman across state ...read more

Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the Major Leagues on April 15, 1947, when he took the field in the top of the first inning against the Boston Braves. When Robinson took his spot at first base, he broke baseball’s 50-year-old color barrier, which not ...read more

The Kentucky Derby, first held in 1875 at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, is the longest-running sports event in the United States. Dubbed the “Run for the Roses,” the Derby features three-year-old thoroughbreds racing a distance of 1.25 miles. Today, some 150,000 ...read more

History Flashback takes a look at historical “found footage” of all kinds—newsreels, instructional films, even cartoons—to give us a glimpse into how much things have changed, and how much has remained the same. When the Olympic Committee announced that Squaw Valley would be the ...read more

It’s an iconic image: Two athletes raise their fists on the Olympic podium. The photograph, taken after the 200 meter race at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, turned African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos from track-and-field stars into the center of a ...read more

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics have been the first Games in 34 years that Russia has not, technically, attended. After a years-long doping scandal, the International Olympic Committee stripped Russia of 41 medals and formally banned them from this year’s games, leaving ...read more

The Past in Color features the work of colorist Marina Amaral, bringing to life black and white photos with color applied digitally. LAPD officer. Bit-part Hollywood star. Nixon supporter. Trailblazer for racial integration. Kenny Washington had an eventful–and in some ways ...read more

Nearly 60 years before the first Winter Olympics, long before figure skating was even a sport, an American named Jackson Haines became known for the pirouettes, dances and dramatic jumps he performed on the ice. Haines’ road to fame and fortune wasn’t an easy one. He was laughed ...read more

The instantly-recognizable song is played before thousands of sporting events every year, but just how did the Star-Spangled Banner come to be a staple of sports in the first place? The answer, it turns out, has to do with World War I. Baseball fans in the late 19th century ...read more

Who invented the bicycle? The answer is a little more complicated than you may think. A German baron named Karl von Drais made the first major development when he created a steerable, two-wheeled contraption in 1817. Known by many names, including the “velocipede,” “hobby-horse,” ...read more

You haven’t heard of him because his improbable rise wasn’t possible in America. Richmond was born into slavery on what’s today the New York borough of Staten Island on August 5, 1763. When the British landed there in 1776, at the start of the American Revolution, Richmond did ...read more

1. Janet Guthrie—Racing Through the Glass Ceiling Janet Guthrie wasn’t the first woman to get behind the wheel of a race car, but she became the first woman to compete in NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series (known today as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series), in the 1976 World 600 ...read more

Although inspired by the ancient Greeks, the Olympic marathon is a thoroughly modern invention. After Athens was chosen to host the first modern Summer Games in 1896, French linguist Michel Bréal proposed that the sporting competition include a long-distance run to follow in the ...read more

In the years since Mao Zedong’s communist revolution in 1949, relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States had been clouded by Cold War propaganda, trade embargos and diplomatic silence. The two superpowers had met on the battlefield during the Korean ...read more

1. They weren’t supposed to take place in St. Louis. After considering Philadelphia and New York, the fledgling International Olympic Committee originally awarded the 1904 Summer Games to the city of Chicago. Shortly after making their announcement, the Committee ran into a ...read more

On July 1, 1903, 60 men mounted their bicycles outside the Café au Reveil Matin in the Parisian suburb of Montgeron. The five-dozen riders were mostly French, with just a sprinkle of Belgians, Swiss, Germans and Italians. A third were professionals sponsored by bicycle ...read more

1. Theagenes of Thasos One of the towering figures of ancient sports, Theagenes was a Greek pugilist who supposedly won 1,300 bouts over the course of a 22-year career. His most significant achievements came at the Olympics in 480 and 476 B.C., when he became the first athlete ...read more

The 1,500 tennis fans packed into the grandstand showered applause upon Karl Behr and Dick Williams after their thrilling fourth-round match in the 1912 Longwood Challenge Bowl. Old-timers agreed that the match had been the finest in the tournament’s history. For five sets on a ...read more

Trophy’s Best Friend A few months before the 1966 World Cup, the Jules Rimet trophy, which is awarded to each tournament’s winner, went on display at a London stamp exhibition. Despite 24-hour surveillance, thieves managed to break into the trophy’s display case and make off with ...read more

Joe Louis (1914-1981), nicknamed the “Brown Bomber,” was heavyweight champion of the world from 1937 to 1949, an almost twelve-year streak that set a new world record. Louis, an African American, is perhaps best known for his legendary matchups against German boxer Max ...read more

Historically, black women in sports faced double discrimination due to their gender and race. A number of African American female athletes have emerged as trailblazers in their particular sports over the years, from track and field and tennis to figure skating and basketball. ...read more

The Olympic Games, which originated in ancient Greece as many as 3,000 years ago, were revived in the late 19th century and have become the world’s preeminent sporting competition. From the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century A.D., the Games were held every four years in ...read more

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) was an American former heavyweight champion boxer and one of the greatest sporting figures of the 20th century. An Olympic gold medalist and the first fighter to capture the heavyweight title three times, Ali won 56 times in his 21-year professional ...read more

Trailblazing athlete Althea Gibson became the first great African-American player in women’s tennis. Raised primarily in Harlem section of New York City, she won a string of American Tennis Association titles on the African-American circuit. After being allowed entry to the ...read more