Ruth Ali Chamberlain

Robinson

Phelps

FROM FOOTBALL AND FORMULA ONE TO BOXING AND

BASKETBALL, RELIVE MORE THAN A CENTURY OF
SPORTING BRILLIANCE WITH THIS ULTIMATE GUIDE TO
Dettori THE GREATEST SPORTING ICONS OF ALL TIME
Moore

McEnroe
Schumacher

Woods
NEW EXTRAORDINARY ATHLETES.
ICONIC STORIES.

140
PAGES OF SPORT’S
GREATEST
STARRING STORIES
MICHAEL JORDAN
MUHAMMAD ALI REMEMBERING
AYRTON SENNA ENGLAND’S FINEST
JONAH LOMU HOUR 50 YEARS ON
JESSE OWENS

ICONIC
MOMENTS
Also Inside

BABE RUTH GEORGE BEST JACK NICKLAUS

FOLLOW THE RISE AND FALL OF HOW THE HUMBLE BOY FROM BELFAST LOOKING BACK ON THE GOLDEN BEAR’S
BASEBALL’S LEGENDARY BAMBINO BECAME A FOOTBALLING ICON UNFORGETTABLE ’86 MASTERS TRIUMPH

IS JORDAN THE GREATEST? DOES HIS AIRNESS STAND ALONE

AS THE NBA’S BEST EVER PLAYER?
 EXTRAORDINARY ATHLETES.
ICONIC STORIES.

The world of sport is one illed with excitement, intrigue

and drama. Compelling protagonists, ierce rivalries and
titanic battles abound throughout history, with every
discipline contributing its own iconic moments and
unforgettable characters. In Legends of Sport, we tell the
stories of some of the most incredible athletes of all time.
From the inspirational England team who won the World
Cup on home soil in 1966, to the unparalleled basketball
genius of Michael ‘Air’ Jordan, you’ll ind dramatic retellings
of events you know and love, as well as insightful features
on extraordinary men and women with whom you may
be less familiar. Whether you’re a seasoned sports fan or an
enthusiast eager to learn more about the sporting icons of
yesteryear, you’ll ind a wealth of absorbing content to keep
you occupied here. Enjoy the book.
 EXTRAORDINARY ATHLETES.
ICONIC STORIES.

Imagine Publishing Ltd

Richmond House
33 Richmond Hill
Bournemouth
Dorset BH2 6EZ
 +44 (0) 1202 586200
Website: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk
Twitter: @Books_Imagine
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Publishing Director
Aaron Asadi

Head of Design
Ross Andrews

Editor in Chief
Jon White

Production Editor
Ross Hamilton

Senior Art Editor

Greg Whitaker

Designer
Perry Wardell-Wicks

Images courtesy of
Getty, Alamy & Rex

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Distributed in the UK, Eire & the Rest of the World by

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The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the
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Legends of Sport © 2016 Imagine Publishing Ltd

ISBN 978 1785 463 495

 08 50 ICONIC
SPORTING MOMENTS
Our pick of the most legendary
achievements in sporting history
24 LEGENDS OF THE
’66 WORLD CUP
English football’s inest hour is
relived by those who were there
36 PELÉ
Recalling the Brazilian superstar’s
move to the New York Cosmos
40 GEORGE BEST
The boy from Belfast’s journey to
the pinnacle of European football
44 JACK NICKLAUS
Remembering the Golden Bear’s
incredible 1986 Masters triumph
50 BOBBY JONES
How the pioneering golfer upset the
odds to make Grand Slam history
54 JESSE OWENS
The story of the iconic athlete’s
record-breaking 1936 Olympic Games
in Nazi Berlin
6
58 DON BRADMAN 98 MICHAEL JORDAN
The brilliant batsman who led
Australia to cricket greatness
23 reasons why His Airness is
the greatest NBA star of all time
64 BABE RUTH 108 AYRTON SENNA
The rise and fall of baseball’s most
iconic player – the Bambino
VS. ALAIN PROST
The compelling story of Formula
One’s greatest ever rivalry
68 JACKIE ROBINSON
The seminal sportsman who
shattered baseball’s colour line
114 WAYNE GRETZKY
Inside the controversial trade that
rocked the world of ice hockey
74 BO JACKSON
The All-Star athlete who dominated
the NFL and MLB at the same time
120 MUHAMMAD ALI
Follow the iconic Rumble in
the Jungle, round by round
78 KINGS OF THE SADDLE
Counting down the greatest lat
and jump jockeys of all time
126 MIKE TYSON
Charting the ferocious rise of the
youngest heavyweight champion
82 THE GOLDEN AGE
OF TENNIS 132 JONAH LOMU
The iconc era of big personalities,
bigger hair, intense rivalries and
Looking back on the career of
thelate rugby union superstar
incredible tennis
136 CHEATS: 10
92 JOE MONTANA SPORTING SCANDALS
Discover how the Comeback Kid and Discover the infamous episodes of
the San Francisco 49ers kickstarted a deception and subterfuge that rocked
football dynasty the sporting world
 40

82 44

92

78

136 54

64

120 50

7
 Legends of Sport

50
Sport has a way of confounding
our expectations. Time and
time again throughout history,
underdogs have triumphed
against impossible odds – see
Leicester City’s recent Premier
League win for a prime
example – and larger-than-life
personalities have earned their
rightful place in the pantheon of
all-time sporting greats.
Over the course of this list
we will celebrate an array
of phenomenal sporting
achievements, iconic moments

ICONIC SPORTING
and controversial incidents.
You can expect appearances
by some of the biggest names

MOMENTS
Endeavour, determination, breathtaking skill and a
dash of controversy – we celebrate some of sport’s
most amazing moments of all time
in sport, as well as some of the
most unlikely stories in history
– medals and trophies being
won against all expectations
and world records toppling like
dominos. In sport, anything
can happen and, as you’ll see, it
quite often does.

8
 50 Iconic Moments

CHAMBERLAIN’S THE MIAMI DOLPHINS

100-POINTER GO UNBEATEN
During a 169-147 victory over the New York Knicks In only their third season in the NFL, the 1972 Miami Dolphins

01 in 1962, Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia

Warriors became the irst NBA player to score 100
individual points during a single game. Unfortunately, no
video footage of this feat exists, only partial audio recordings.
02 team made history by winning the Super Bowl with a perfect
record. This included winning all 14 games in the regular
season and all three playof games, including Super Bowl VII to inish the
season 17-0.

Wilt Chamberlain’s
incredible NBA
record is unlikely
to be broken

SECRETARIAT’S
TRIPLE CROWN
In 1973, the American Thoroughbred racehorse Secretariat

03 became the irst US Triple Crown winner in 25 years.

Considered one of the greatest Thoroughbreds of all time,
Secretariat set records in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont
Stakes that still stand today.

IN 1962, CHAMBERLAIN COMANECI’S

BECAME THE FIRST, AND SO PERFECT
FAR ONLY, NBA PLAYER TO TEN
POST A 100-POINT GAME Aged just 14, Romanian

05 gymnast Nadia
Comăneci became

THE DUEL IN THE SUN one of the stars of the 1976 summer
Olympics in Montreal, where her
The irst Open Championship held at Turnberry,

04
outstanding routine on the uneven
in 1977, is remembered for an epic duel between bars was awarded a perfect ten
Jack Nicklaus and eventual winner Tom Watson. for the irst time in history. The
Played out in glorious sunshine, the two golfers traded pars score was so unexpected that the
and birdies over the inal two rounds in one of the most even electronic scoreboard was unable to
contests ever seen. correctly display it.

9
 Legends of Sport

DEREK REDMOND’S BORIS BECKER WINS

OLYMPIC CRUTCH WIMBLEDON AT 17
British athlete Derek Redmond has an enviable track Raising the silver gilt cup above his head in triumph to

06 record, previously holding the British record for the 400m

sprint and a gold medal for the 4x400m relay at the
World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth
Games. However, he is best remembered for the 400m semi-inal at
the 1992 Olympic Games. Of to a lyer, Redmond’s hamstring snapped
shortly into the race, leaving him stricken and on his knees. However,
determined to inish the race, he got to his feet and limped the
remainder of the distance, soon accompanied by his father, who broke
trackside protocol to be by his clearly devastated son’s side.
07 rapturous applause from all around Centre Court, Boris
Becker achieved a trio of irst-time feats on 7 July 1985.
He was the irst German to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title;
he was also the irst unseeded player to do so and, at just 17 years
old, he was the youngest ever player to win the championship. With
a big serve and acrobatic returns, Becker took three hours and 18
minutes to see of eighth-seeded American Kevin Curren in the inal.
Becker won the Wimbledon men’s singles championship again the
following year and for a third and inal time in 1989.

David Tyree of the New

York Giants performs the
unorthodox ‘helmet catch’
at Super Bowl XLII in 2008

MAGIC
JOHNSON’S
SKYHOOK
The Los Angeles Lakers and

09 the Boston Celtics teams

contested a ierce rivalry
during the 1980s, meeting three times in
the NBA inals. Each meeting was a battle

TYREE’S HELMET CATCH SINKS packed with talking points, but none
more so than Game 4 of the 1987 inals.

THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS With the Lakers two games to one up,
Boston had a chance to level the series
Sometimes in sport, it’s the more unorthodox methods that glean results – and at home, and had a one-point lead in the

08 David Tyree’s pass reception in the 2008 Super Bowl is the perfect case in point.
Trailing to the hugely favoured New England Patriots going into the inal two
minutes of the game, New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning managed to evade getting
game’s dying seconds. As the clock ticked
down, LA’s Magic Johnson received a pass,
drove down the middle of the court and
sacked by three Patriots defensive players, and throw a 32-yard forward pass to wide receiver launched an epic hook shot up and over
Tyree. What happened next was breathtaking. Jumping for the ball, Tyree controlled it with one into the basket to win it for the Lakers.
hand, pressing it tightly into his helmet until he was able to secure it with the other hand. From They would go on to take the series in large
this play, the Giants went on to score the winning touchdown. part thanks to Johnson’s ‘magic’.

10

ZOLA BUDD VS.
MARY DECKER
South African-born runner Zola
10 Budd cut a controversial igure in
1984. As athletes from South Africa
were banned from competing at that year’s
summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles due to
the country’s apartheid policy, Budd applied for
British citizenship, which was then fast-tracked
through. As if that wasn’t ‘ify’ enough, Budd then
proceeded to stumble, and then trip and wipe
out a rival in the women’s 3,000m inal. It just
so happened to be America’s own darling of the
track and current world champion, Mary Decker.
Budd carried on running to much heckling from
the American crowds and, perhaps sensibly,
inished seventh.
TYSON TAKES A BITE OUT OF HOLYFIELD
12
Incensed that a headbutt that opened up a cut above his
right eye was deemed accidental and went unpunished by
the referee, boxer ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson took matters into his
own hands during his WBA World Heavyweight ight against Evander
Holyield in June 1997. Or should that be teeth? In what would
become one of the most notorious moments in boxing history, during
the third round of their title ight, Tyson spat out his gumshield
50 Iconic Moments
DETTORI’S
MAGNIFICENT
SEVEN
Italian jockey Frankie Dettori is to
11 bookies what garlic is to vampires –
watch them grimace when his name
is mentioned. This is largely thanks to Dettori
achieving the near-impossible feat of winning
all seven races at Ascot in September 1996,
including the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II
Stakes, at odds of around 25,051-1. Dettori’s
achievement scooped one lucky punter
£500,000 while also skimming bookmakers
of many millions more, and transformed the
jockey into a household name. Unsurprisingly,
this feat hasn’t been repeated since.
and, while in a clinch with his dominating opponent, sank his teeth
into Holyield’s right ear, tearing of a one-inch strip of cartilage and
spitting it on the canvas. The fact that the referee didn’t stop the ight
there and then is startling enough, but when the ight did restart,
Tyson did exactly the same thing. This time the Brooklyn-born ighter
was rightly disqualiied before attempting to take on the entire MGM
Grand Arena audience during his unceremonious exit from the ring.
Tyson sinks his teeth into
Holyfield’s ear during their
much-anticipated WBA
Heavyweight rematch in 1997
11
 Legends of Sport

CHANG
Lightning Bolt: Usain
smashes his own
100m world record

UPSETS LENDL
at the 2009 World
Championships in Berlin

17-year-old American tennis

13 player Michael Chang completed

the most unlikely of comebacks
in the fourth round of the French Open
in 1989, when he fought back from two
sets down to beat world number one Ivan
Lendl. Despite having his serve broken
in the irst game of the third set, Chang
ultimately claimed it, only to be besieged
by leg cramps in the fourth. However, by
hitting ‘moon balls’ at every opportunity,
Chang was able to slow the game down,
disrupt Lendl’s rhythm enough to win the
match, and eventually the tournament

ROCKY ENDS
UNDEFEATED
14
In the brutal world of boxing,
few get to retire on their own
terms and fewer still with a
perfect record, but that’s exactly what
World Heavyweight Champion Rocky
Marciano did in April 1956. Citing that
he wanted to spend more time with his
family, Marciano ended his professional
career as the only heavyweight champ
with an unblemished record of 49 wins in
49 professional bouts, 43 of which were
knockouts. Nicknamed the ‘Brockton
Blockbuster’, Marciano’s last bout was
against Archie Moore in New York.
USAIN BOLT BECOMES THE
FASTEST MAN EVER
Although he set a new world record time for the 100m sprint (9.72s) at the Reebok
15 Grand Prix event in New York in May 2008 in only his ifth senior 100m event,
it wasn’t until that summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing that Jamaican sprinter
Usain Bolt exploded into public consciousness. It was there, in the men’s 100m inal, that he
decimated the chasing pack and smashed his own world record with a time of 9.69s. What
was even more remarkable was that Bolt appeared to ease up towards the end of the race
in celebration (some called it showboating), and one of his shoelaces was lapping around
untied. This prompted scientists at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University
of Oslo to predict that Bolt could have achieved a sub 9.60s time had he maintained his speed,
stooped to the line and ensured his laces were securely fastened. Bolt duly obliged, and the
following year at the World Championships in Berlin, he beat his own world record with a time
of 9.58s. He stands today as, without doubt, the fastest man ever.

12
 50 Iconic Moments

COE VS. OVETT

The media love a good rivalry, and

16 at the 1980 Olympic Games in

Moscow, Britain’s middle-distance
runner, Sebastian Coe, was portrayed as the
good-guy golden boy of the track, while his
compatriot and rival, Steve Ovett, was seen
as the bad boy – probably because he was
less keen to engage with the media. At the
Moscow games, the two runners irst faced-of
in the men’s 800m inal when Coe, regarded
as the fastest man in the ield, left himself
with far too much to do and had to settle for
silver behind Ovett. Coe shed his dejected
demeanour, however, and turned it around
in the 1,500m inal, taking gold. Ovett, on the
Britain’s Sebastian
Coe in action in the
other hand, seemed far too relaxed and had
800m event at the to settle for bronze. Their rivalry continued
1980 Olympic Games at the 1984 Olympics, in which Coe won his
second 1,500m gold.

CAL-STANFORD: Billie Jean King defeated

Bobby Riggs in the much-

‘THE PLAY’
anticipated ‘Battle of the
Sexes’ exhibition match

Recognised as one of the most iconic

17 moments in college football history,

‘The Play’ took place during a 1982
match between the University of California
Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal.
Stanford took a 20-19 lead with four seconds
left in the game, but the Golden Bears used ive
lateral passes on the ensuing kickof return to
score a hotly disputed winning touchdown.
The situation was further confused by the fact
that all 144 members of the Stanford band had
moved onto the ield in celebration, believing
the game to be over and hampering the ref’s
visibility for at least one of the crucial laterals.

BILLIE JEAN KING WINS THE

‘BATTLE OF THE SEXES’
After retiring from tennis in 1951 having won six major titles, American Bobby

18 Riggs remained an outspoken igure in the sport. In 1973 he declared that the
female game was far inferior to the male game, and boasted that he could beat
any of the top female players, even at his current age of 55. When Billie Jean King declined
his challenge, Margaret Court stepped in to accept before promptly losing the match 6-2,
6-1. After further taunting from Riggs, King eventually agreed to play him in a one-of match
dubbed the ‘Battle of the Sexes’. The match took place in Houston on 20 September 1973,
with King winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and scooping $100,000 in prize money.

13
 Legends of Sport

PHELPS’ OLYMPIC
GOLD RUSH
With a total haul of 22 medals (18 gold, two silver

19 and two bronze) across three diferent Olympiads,

Baltimore-born swimmer Michael Phelps stands
alone as the most decorated Olympian of all time. The fact that
eight of his 18 gold medals were won at one Olympic Games
(Beijing in 2008) illustrates the dominance that Phelps had in
American swimmer
the pool even further. At the Beijing games, Phelps took the
Michael Phelps is the most
decorated Olympian of all record away from fellow swimmer Mark Spitz for the most
time, with 18 gold medals irst-place inishes at a single Olympics, and in doing so set
seven new world records.

Steven Gerrard lifts

the European Cup
for Liverpool after a
stunning comeback

LIVERPOOL FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRAILING BY

MILAN IN ISTANBUL THREE GOALS,
Although football is often described as that ‘funny old game’, you can be sure that no

20 Liverpool fan was laughing as the half-time whistle was blown in their 2005 UEFA
Champions League inal match against AC Milan at the Atatürk Stadium in Istanbul.
Trailing to goals from Milan’s captain, Paolo Maldini, and a Hernán Crespo brace, Liverpool’s hopes
LIVERPOOL’S
HOPES OF
of winning a ifth European Cup looked bleak. However, a stunning comeback in the second half
saw Liverpool net three times, courtesy of inspirational captain Steven Gerrard, Vladimír Šmicer
and Xabi Alonso (the latter blasting the ball into the roof of the net after his penalty was saved by
WINNING A FIFTH
Milan’s Brazilian keeper, Dida). Some excellent goalkeeping from Liverpool’s Jerzy Dudek, including
a stunning double save from Milan’s Ukrainian goal machine, Andriy Shevchenko, kept the scores
EUROPEAN CUP
level throughout extra time, before Liverpool triumphed 3-2 on penalties. Cue much jubilation,
disbelief and ribbing of Manchester United fans. LOOKED BLEAK
14
 50 Iconic Moments

LARA HITS 375 NIKI LAUDA RECOVERS TO WIN

THE F1 CHAMPIONSHIP
Cricket history was made on

21 18 April 1994 when Brian Lara

started the third day of the ifth No comeback is perhaps as dramatic, nor as swift, as that of Austrian racing
Test for the West Indies against England
in Antigua unbeaten on 320 runs. The
watching crowd were already giddy with
22 driver Andreas Nikolaus Lauda, otherwise known as ‘Niki’. Having won the World
Championship in 1975, Lauda was involved in a serious accident at the 1976
German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. Having urged his fellow drivers to boycott the race
excitement as Lara closed in on Garry due to the circuit’s insuicient safety arrangements, the race went ahead, and on the second
Sobers’ long-standing record of 365 runs, lap, Lauda’s Ferrari swerved of the track, hit an embankment and burst into lames. Despite
and a full-on pitch invasion ensued when sufering severe burns and inhaling hot, toxic fumes, Lauda miraculously recovered and
he broke it. His record that day stood returned to the track just six weeks later, before going on to win his second title in 1977.
at 375 of 538 balls over 766 minutes,
but incredibly the best was yet to come.
Lara made 501 not out for Warwickshire
LAUDA’S FERRARI SWERVED OFF THE
against Durham, and a decade later
eclipsed his own Test record by scoring
TRACK, HIT AN EMBANKMENT, AND BURST
400 not out against… you guessed it,
England again. INTO FLAMES
The Federer vs Nadal
Wimbledon final of 2008 is
considered one of the greatest
tennis matches of all time

FEDERER VS NADAL
Afectionately referred to as ‘Fedal’, the rivalry between Roger

23 Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal of Spain is one of

tennis‘s most intense. The pair played each other 34 times
over 12 years, with Nadal the victor on 23 occasions to Federer’s 11. The two
men inished six consecutive calendar years as the top two ranked players
on the ATP Tour from 2005-10, during which they contested a truly
epic men’s inal match at Wimbledon in 2008. That match,
which inished 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 in Nadal’s favour,
lasted four hours and 48 minutes, and is widely
regarded as the greatest in tennis history.

15
 Legends of Sport

RED RUM WINS THREE

GRAND NATIONALS
“AGÜEROOOOO!”
With Manchester United on the brink of winning their 20th league crown having

24
Thoroughbred
steeplechaser Red Rum
won the Grand National,
one of the most notoriously gruelling
steeplechases on the racing calendar,
three times in 1973, 1974 and 1977 – a feat
that hasn’t been repeated since.
KERRI STRUG’S LANDING
Having under-rotated on
29 beaten Sunderland, the conclusion to the 2011/12 Premier League season went
down to the dying seconds of the inal match of the season. With a victory at
home against Queens Park Rangers, United’s ‘noisy neighbours’ Manchester City could leapfrog
them on goal diference and clinch their irst league win for 44 years – the only problem was
that they were losing 2-1 as the game entered injury time. What happened next was one of
the most dramatic and memorable turnarounds in football history. City scored twice – the irst
coming courtesy of forward Edin Džeko from a David Silva corner; the second as a result of
some neat individual skill from striker Sergio Agüero. Cue pandemonium among the home fans
and City’s Argentinian match-winner, forever immortalised as “Agüerooooo!” courtesy of Martin
Tyler’s commentary.

25 her irst vault and damaged

her ankle, gymnast Kerri
Strug had to land a second at the 1996
Olympics to clinch gold for the USA. She
gamely limped to the runway, performed
her vault and briely landed on two feet
before hopping onto one.

LOU GEHRIG’S FAREWELL

When motor neurone

26 disease forced legendary

New York Yankees player
Henry ‘Lou’ Gehrig to retire in 1939,
his impassioned farewell speech to a
sold-out Yankee Stadium went down in
history. In it, he famously called himself
“the luckiest man on Earth.”

THE BILLS GO FOUR

SUPER BOWLS AND OUT
To lose one Super Bowl

27 is unlucky enough, but to

lose four consecutively
is nothing short of devastating. That
Sergio Agüero wins Manchester City
their first league title in 44 years with
virtually the last kick of the game

was the fate that befell the unfortunate

Bufalo Bills team of the early 1990s. The
team hasn’t made one since.
ROGER BANNISTER BREAKS
TORVILL AND DEAN’S
OLYMPIC BOLÉRO
THE FOUR-MINUTE MILE
A fourth-place inish in the 1,500m event at the 1952 Olympic Games in

28
British ice dancers Jayne
Torvill and Christopher
Dean are synonymous
with Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, which they
skated to at the 1984 winter Olympics in
Sarajevo. Their perfect routine became the
highest-scoring single programme ever.
30 Helsinki spurred English runner Roger Bannister on to sporting immortality.
His disappointment at the games made him determined to run the world’s irst
sub-four-minute mile. Remarkably, he achieved this feat two years later at the Iley Road track
in Oxford on 6 May 1954, in front of 3,000 spectators. With 25mph winds prior to the event,
Bannister toyed with the idea of not running at all and conserving his energy for a diferent
meet. However, the winds dropped suiciently and he ran, clocking up a irst lap time of 58
seconds, a half-point time of 1:58, a split-time of 3:01 at the bell, and a inal lap time of just
under 59 seconds to run straight of the track and into the record books.

16
 50 Iconic Moments

SCHUMACHER CLAIMED ALMOST EVERY

F1 RECORD AS HIS OWN
Schumacher won seven
World Championships
in total, five of which
were consecutive

THE TIGER
SLAM
There are many reasons why

31 Tiger Woods is one of the most

recognised faces in sport, but the
fact that he is the only golfer in the modern
SCHUMACHER WINS SEVEN
era to hold a non-calendar-year Grand Slam
is one of the biggest. The term ‘Grand Slam’
refers to the winning of all four of golf’s WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
major championships in a single year – a Regarded as one of the all-time greats in motorsport, Germany’s Michael
monumental feat. Tiger’s tour dominance
began with him winning the US Open in
2000 by 15 strokes, followed by victories
32 Schumacher is certainly, statistically speaking, the greatest driver that Formula
One has ever seen. Between 1994 and 2004, Schumacher claimed almost
every Formula One record as his own, including the most overall race victories, fastest laps,
in the Open Championship and PGA pole positions and races won in a single season. But it is the number of Formula One World
Championship, before sealing the ‘Tiger Championship titles that Schumacher holds that puts him head and shoulders above his peers:
Slam’ at the Masters the following year. seven, ive of which were won consecutively between 2000 and 2004 while driving for Ferrari.

THE THRILLA
IN MANILA
Regarded as one of the

33 greatest bouts in boxing

history, the ‘Thrilla in
Manila’ was the third and inal ight
between Joe Frazier and Muhammad
Ali, held at the Araneta Coliseum in
Quezon City, Metro Manila in the
Philippines on 1 October 1975. The
ight (so called from Ali’s boast that
the ight would be a “killa and a
thrilla and a chilla, when I get that
gorilla in Manila“) was a ierce, yet
evenly contested match that resulted
in a victory for Ali when Frazier’s
Muhammad Ali and corner conceded prior to the 15th
Joe Frazier talk up
the fight ahead of the round. Ali triumphed 2-1 overall over
‘Thrilla in Manila’ the three contests.

17
 Legends of Sport

RED SOX BEAT

When the play book is
out of the window and
all else fails, just get the

THE CURSE
ball to Michael Jordan

Until they sold star player

34 Babe Ruth (known as ‘The

Bambino’) to the New York
Yankees in the 1919-20 of-season, the
Boston Red Sox were one of baseball’s most
successful teams, with ive World Series
titles. After the sale, however, they entered
an 86-year slump, known as the ‘Curse of
the Bambino’, in which they failed to win
another title. The ‘curse’ was inally broken
in 2004 when the Red Sox came back from
a 0-3 deicit to defeat the Yankees in the
American League Championship, before
beating the St. Louis Cardinals to win the
World Series.

BOB BEAMON
SMASHES THE
LONG JUMP MICHAEL JORDAN WINS RING
RECORD NUMBER SIX
Everyone who was packed into Salt Lake City’s Delta Center knew what was

36
Going into the 1968 Olympic

35 Games in Mexico City as the

favourite to take long jump
gold, US athlete Bob Beamon had won 22
out of 23 meets that year, and set a world
best of 8.39m – though it was later deemed
wind-assisted. On 18 October, however,
Beamon set a world record with his irst
jump of 8.90m. Unfamiliar with metric
measurements Beamon didn’t know what
he had done at irst, but was overcome by
emotion when the realisation hit.
coming – the fans, the players, the coaches – but all were powerless to prevent the
inevitable. With the Chicago Bulls trailing to the Utah Jazz 86-83 in game six of
the 1998 inals, and with just 41.9 seconds of the match remaining, all the Bulls had to do was
get the ball to their ‘23‘, and magic man Michael Jordan would do the rest. And so it transpired.
After receiving an inbound pass, Jordan drove to the basket and hit a shot over several Jazz
defenders, cutting the score to 86-85. Amazingly, Jordan then managed to steal the ball from
Utah’s Karl Malone and dribbled down the court before, with just 5.2 seconds left on the clock,
taking of and unleashing a game-winning, 20-yard shot into the basket. Jordan’s stunning
winner was his climatic shot for the Bulls and gave them an 87-86 victory, handing them their
sixth championship in eight years. Jordan was voted the Finals MVP, having averaged 33.5
points per game, and his total of six Finals MVPs remains an NBA record.

18
 50 Iconic Moments

RAY EWRY DOMINATES THE BOBBY ORR

EARLY OLYMPIC GAMES SCORES
37
Born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1873, childhood was a challenge for Raymond
Ewry after he contracted polio and was consigned to a wheelchair, with doctors
fearing he would never walk again. But, with the steely determination, Ewry
IN OVERTIME
Competing for the 1970 Stanley
embarked on a training regime to strengthen his legs and overcame his illness to become
one of the best jumpers of all time. At his irst Olympic Games in 1900, Ewry won gold
medals in the standing long jump, standing triple jump and standing high jump events, and
38 Cup, the Boston Bruins had
dominated the St Louis Blues
and were on course to win their irst title
defended his titles at the 1904 and 1908 games (though the triple jump was discontinued), for 29 years. But with the inal game tied
winning eight in total. in overtime, Boston’s Bobby Orr, one of the
greatest players to ever grace the ice, passed
EWRY STRENGTHENED HIS LEGS AND the puck to teammate Derek Sanderson
before bolting to the net unimpeded as

OVERCAME HIS ILLNESS TO BECOME ONE Sanderson returned the favour. Orr was
tripped by defenseman Noel Picard, but still

OF THE BEST JUMPERS OF ALL TIME managed to sweep the puck under Blues
goalie Glenn Hall to clinch the cup.

SEVE WINS THE 1984 OPEN

Having only made ive bogeys in 70 holes over the 113th Open Championship tournament

39 at St Andrews in 1984, three of Seve Ballesteros’ dropped shots had come on the 17th hole.
This time Seve knew that he had to secure a par to prevent Tom Watson (with whom
he was tied and who was teeing of behind him) being crowned Open champion for the sixth
time. He pulled it of but, glancing over his shoulder, saw that Watson was ideally
placed on the fairway to repeat his feat. And so it would come down to the
inal hole. Knowing that it would likely secure the win, Seve’s birdie
putt teetered agonisingly on the edge of the cup before,
seemingly spurred on by willpower, it dropped
in. Seve didn’t know that Watson had
already bogeyed the 17th,
and at that point he
didn’t care.

Seve’s self-confessed
moment of glory came at
the 1984 Open Championship
in St Andrews, Scotland

19
 Legends of Sport

ROD LAVER’S
DOUBLE SLAM
In terms of dominance, no

41 tennis player has a record

comparable to that of Australian
great Rod Laver. Laver’s 200 singles titles
are the most in history, and he won an
incredible 22 titles in one season in 1962,
including the Grand Slam of the Australian
Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the
US Open. Then, in 1969, Laver became
the irst, and to date only, man to win the
Grand Slam twice. Such was his brilliance,
Laver was the irst tennis player to earn £1
million on the court, and is rightly regarded
as one of the greatest players in history.

Jonny Wilkinson kicks

England to victory with an
extra time drop goal at the
2003 Rugby World Cup

JONNY WILKINSON KICKS

ENGLAND TO WORLD CUP GLORY THE ‘BLACK
In a team sport, seldom has an individual player made such an impact as England

40 ly-half Jonny Wilkinson did in his side’s 2003 World Cup triumph in Australia.
Famed for his distinctive stance when preparing to kick the ball, Wilkinson got BALL FINAL’
Contested between

42
of to a lyer in England’s irst match against Georgia, scoring 16 points as England romped to
an 84-6 victory. He followed this up by scoring 20 points as England beat South Africa 25-6. A defending world snooker
somewhat lacklustre team efort followed against minnows Samoa (where Wilkinson scored champion Steve Davis and
12 points for England as they ran out 35-22 winners) before he was rested for their inal group Irishman Dennis Taylor, the ‘black ball
game against Uruguay. Wilkinson was back on form in the quarter-inal match against Wales, inal’ took place at the Crucible Theatre
scoring 23 of England’s 28 points before kicking all 24 of England’s points as they defeated in Sheield in 1985, where Davis was the
France in the semis. In the inal, Wilkinson kicked four penalties against the host nation, and heavy favourite having won three of the
with the scores tied 17-17, he scored a dramatic, last-gasp drop goal with just 26 seconds of extra previous four inals. Unable to shake of
time remaining to win it for England. the challenge of Taylor, the game went
to a 35th deciding frame in which Davis
WITH THE SCORES TIED AT 17-17, led 62-44 with only the last four colours
remaining on the table (worth a combined

WILKINSON SCORED A DRAMATIC DROP score of 22 points). Taylor managed to pot

three of the colours, meaning that the title

GOAL WITH JUST 26 SECONDS LEFT would be decided on the black ball. He
sunk it at the fourth attempt.

20
 50 Iconic Moments

THE MIRACLE ON ICE

43
So unlikely an outcome was the USA’s national ice
hockey team pipping their Soviet Union counterparts
to the gold medal at the 1980 winter Olympic Games in
Lake Placid that it was referred to as the ‘Miracle on Ice’. A moment
of profound national sporting pride for the United States, the victory
is still talked about in glowing terms all these years later. The Soviet
Union had taken gold in six of the seven previous Olympic Games,
and the format of the competition in 1980 was a round-robin, rather
than the straightforward knockout format favoured today. When the
US and Soviet teams met, the USSR took the lead in both the irst
and second periods. A third period turnaround saw the US gain the
upper hand, however, and they held on to claim the most unlikely of
victories. The result was likened, by ABC Olympic Sports Anchor Jim
McKay, to college football players beating the Super Bowl champions.

The ‘Miracle on Ice’ took place

at the Lake Placid Olympic
Center Ice Rink in 1980

Athletes Tommie BOTH ATHLETES RAISED A

Smith and John Carlos
acknowledge ‘black
power’ at the 1968 BLACK-GLOVED FIST
Olympic Games

THE SALUTE
As the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ played out to honour the

44 victors in the men’s 200m inal at the 1968 Olympic

Games in Mexico City, something truly iconic occurred.
African-American track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos (who
inished irst and third, respectively) each raised a black-gloved ist
from the winners’ podium and kept them aloft for the duration of the
anthem in a gesture of black solidarity. Although Smith later claimed
that the gesture was a “human rights salute” and not a ‘Black Power’
salute, both athletes received their medals shoeless to represent black
pride, and Carlos wore a beaded necklace “for those individuals that
were lynched or killed that no one said a prayer for.” Both athletes
were expelled from the games for their actions.

21
 Legends of Sport

Divine intervention?
Maradona scores the
infamous ‘hand of God’
goal at the 1986 World
Cup in Mexico

OWENS’ TRIO
OF RECORDS
Before his much-publicised

45 ‘snub’ by Adolf Hitler at

the 1936 Olympic Games
in Berlin, American track athlete Jesse
Owens was responsible for what has been
described as “the greatest 45 minutes ever
in sport” where, at the 1935 Big Ten track
meet in Michigan, he set three new world
records and equalled another. During the
meet, Owens equalled the record for the
100-yard dash and set new world records
in the long jump, 220-yard sprint and
220-yard low hurdles. He then went on to
become the most successful athlete at the
1936 games, making a mockery of Hitler’s
myth of Aryan supremacy.

TENDULKAR’S
CENTURY OF
CENTURIES MARADONA’S ‘HAND OF GOD’
In 2012, India’s Sachin

46 Tendulkar became the

irst player to score 100
international centuries during his side’s
one-day defeat against Bangladesh in
Dhaka. The 38-year-old had twice come
close after scoring his 99th century
against South Africa in 2011, but when
his momentous milestone inally
arrived he was applauded by teammates
and opposition alike, even if his own
celebration was understated.
47
With tensions from the Falklands Conflict still simmering between the two
nations, the quarter-inal match between Argentina and England at the 1986
World Cup in Mexico took on extra signiicance. Early in the second half,
Argentina’s Diego Maradona cut inside, played a diagonal pass to teammate Jorge Valdano
on the edge of the box, and continued his run in the hope of a return. In attempting to
clear, England’s Steve Hodge hooked the ball high into the box, where Maradona somehow
managed to out-jump goalkeeper Peter Shilton and knock the ball into the net with his left
hand. The referee failed to spot the infringement and allowed the goal, much to England’s
ire. Four minutes later, Maradona scored perhaps the inest ever World Cup goal and
England were dumped out of the competition 2-1. Years later, Maradona remarked: “At the
time I called it ‘the hand of God’. Bollocks was it the hand of God, it was the hand of Diego!”

22
 50 Iconic Moments

MANDELA & PIENAAR WIN THE

WORLD CUP FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Growing up in South Africa’s apartheid regime, the young Francois Pienaar was

50 indoctrinated to believe that Nelson Mandela was a terrorist who must remain
behind bars. So it seemed an unlikely prospect that Mandela would one day
present Pienaar, as captain of the South African rugby union team, with the famous William
Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup trophy, having won the tournament on home soil. It was perhaps
JOE NAMATH even more unlikely that Pienaar would invite the South African president to his wedding, and
name him as godfather to his two sons – such is the power of sport to bring people together.

‘GUARANTEES’ Traditionally, rugby was a white sport in South Africa, but Mandela, recently released and
newly elected as president in the irst multiracial democratic election in 1994, saw the World

VICTORY Cup as an opportunity to unite the nation and erase the cultural divide.

Conidence can be a clincher

48 in sport, but few believed the

brash comments made by New
York Jets quarterback Joe Namath a few days
Uniting a nation: Nelson Mandela
presents Springboks captain
Francois Pienaar with the 1994
Rugby World Cup trophy
before they were due to meet the Baltimore
Colts in Super Bowl III were anything but
misguided. At the time, National Football
League teams (of which the Colts were one)
were superior to their American Football
League counterparts (the Jets included) –
and the season stats seemed to back up this
theory. Eyebrows were raised when Namath
‘guaranteed’ victory for the Jets. But he was
right – they won 16-7.

BOBBY
THOMSON’S
‘SHOT HEARD
‘ROUND THE
WORLD’
Back in 1951, the New York

49 Giants and the Brooklyn

Dodgers were contesting a
three-game playof to win the National
League. With the Giants trailing 4-2 going
into the ninth innings, Bobby Thomson hit a
scintillating three-run homer to win the game
5-4 and clinch the pennant for the Giants. The
game, the irst to be televised nationally, was
watched by millions across America, and was
heard by many millions more on the airwaves,
including American servicemen stationed
in Korea via Armed Forces Radio. Hence the
satisfying ‘ting’ of Thomson’s home run being
heard all around the world.

23
 Legends of Sport

It’s 1966 and all that:

relive the iconic extra-
time victory that
brought football back LEGENDS
OF THE ’66
home, as told by those
who were there

ithin hours, London’s Evening

W
WORLD CUP
Standard had hit the streets.
‘Champions of the World’, ran the
headline. ‘A dream come true. England have
won the World Cup,” it began. The following
day, the Sunday newspapers also picked up
the news, inevitably splashing it across their
front pages: ‘Golden Boys!’ the Sunday Mirror
proclaimed, before adding a chirpy note to
the world’s bankers: ‘Britain’s reserves went
up yesterday by one valuable gold cup.’ There
was no doubt this would be a day to savour
for decades to come.
On 30 July 1966, 96,924 people packed into
Wembley Stadium and 32.3 million British
viewers tuned in on their televisions to watch
England take on West Germany in the World
Cup inal. Today, the names of the England
players who took part that day can be reeled
of one by one like old friends. But back then
– despite Alf Ramsey declaring, “we will win
the World Cup” when appointed England
manager in 1962 – not many fans really
believed they could do it.
“I don’t think England supporters expect
England to win anything and there was
certainly that same feeling even back then,”
says West Ham fan John James, who attended
the inal in 1966. And yet Ramsey stuck to his
word. He had formally taken charge on 1 May
1963, and promptly began to do things his
way. Not for him the lack of control over team
selections sufered by the previous manager,
Walter Winterbottom. Ramsey made his
own choices, and whether that was naming
Bobby Moore as England captain at just 22,
or playing without wingers in the face of
disbelief, he stood by every decision he made.
As hosts, England automatically qualiied
for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, along with
defending champions Brazil. That left 14
other places which were taken by Argentina,

24
Legends of the ’66 World Cup

Bobby Moore lifts

the Jules Rimet
trophy aloft in one
of the most enduring
images in English
sporting history

25
 Legends of Sport
Bulgaria, Chile, France, Hungary, Italy, North
Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland,
Uruguay, the Soviet Union and West Germany.
All of England’s games were held at Wembley
and, while the team started slowly with a 0-0
draw against Uruguay, they then went on a
sensational run of victories that took them
straight to the inal.
The night before the big day, Ramsey
– with a nagging sense that the occasion
could overwhelm his men – tried to help the
players relax. Without fanfare, they went to
watch Those Magniicent Men in Their Flying
Machines at a local cinema. “Alf loved going
to the pictures so we all strolled down to the
picture house,” recalls winger Terry Paine,
who had just achieved promotion to the
First Division with Southampton and played
against Mexico in the second game. “And
you know what? Not one photo was taken or
autograph was asked. Can you imagine that
today? You wouldn’t get within 100 metres of
anybody but that was a remarkable feature of
football in those days.”
I GOT TO THE DOOR OF THE DRESSING
ROOM JUST AS BOBBY ARRIVED CARRYING
THE GLEAMING JULES RIMET TROPHY
Norman Giller, sports historian
26
It wasn’t the irst time Ramsey had tried to
relieve anxieties among the squad. You could
say it had become a speciality of his. After
that group stage draw, he took the players to
Pinewood Studios. “We mixed with stars such
as Sean Connery and went on the set of the
James Bond ilm,” says Paine. “That was extra
special and it got us over the disappointment.”
Ramsey treated the international side as
if it were a club team. He adopted similar
principles to those that had seen him turn
Ipswich Town into league champions at the
irst time of asking. The team became close-
knit and fostered a feeling of togetherness
that would serve them well on the pitch.
On the eve of the inal against West
Germany, most of the talk concerned striker
Jimmy Greaves and whether or not he would
play in place of Geof Hurst. For most of the
tournament Greaves had partnered Roger
Hunt up front, but an injury granted Hurst a
place in the team for the quarter-inal. Hurst
scored the only goal in that game and went
on to provide an assist for Bobby Charlton in
The keather ball used in
the 1966 World Cup final,
originally claimed by West
Germany’s Helmut Haller
LEGEND OF
MANAGEMENT:
SIR ALF RAMSEY
What Alf Ramsey lacked in pace and height,
he more than made up for with an uncanny
knack for ensuring he was in the right part
of the pitch at the right time. He made his
professional debut on 26 October 1946 in
a second division game for Southampton
against Plymouth Argyle and proved
himself to be an intelligent right-back. But
after 96 appearances for the club, scoring
eight goals, he left for Tottenham Hotspur
and won the first division in 1951.
When his playing days were over,
Ramsey went on to manage Ipswich Town
in the Third Division (South) in 1955, leading
them to promotion as champions. He won
the first division with the club in 1961-62, an
incredible success that led to him managing
England. After winning the World Cup in
1966, he took England to third place in the
UEFA European Championship in 1968 but
quarter-final defeats at the 1970 World
Cup and 1972 Euros, coupled with failure
to qualify for the 1974 World Cup were
disappointments that saw him sacked by
the FA.
Ramsey was
inducted as a
manager into the
English Football Hall
of Fame in 2002
and again as a
player in 2010
 Legends of the ’66 World Cup

George Cohen and Jack Charlton in

action during the 1966 World Cup final

the semi. Unwilling to change a winning side,
Ramsey decided to overlook Greaves for what
would have been the biggest game of his life.
“Being a West Ham fan, I was pleased that
Hurst was going to be involved in the inal,”
says James. “The atmosphere for the games
had also begun to change for the better. It had
been quiet in the earlier rounds. For the inal,
there was a fabulous atmosphere. There were
lots of Germans in the stadium – we were
surprised at how many – but they were well
outnumbered. It was something to behold.”
Back then, the fans didn’t wear replica kits.
They just weren’t available to buy. Neither
did they ly the lag of St George, preferring
the Union Flag instead. The supporters also
turned up with their England rosettes proudly
The game got underway at 3pm. England
versus West Germany; Bobby Charlton pitted
against Franz Beckenbauer; Bobby Moore
marking the irst victory in winning the coin
toss and electing to kick of. The crowd were
in high spirits and then, in the 12th minute,
Helmut Haller cut the atmosphere completely
dead. A cross from Sigfried Held was knocked
from the head of Ray Wilson to his feet,
allowing the German to ire a low cross-shot
to Gordon Banks’ right: 1-0 to West Germany.
Just six minutes later, however, Moore sent
a free kick lying over the German defence,
into space created by Hurst. With a glancing
header, he equalised.
England were playing tremendously well.
“As a Liverpool fan, I was impressed with
Hunt up front, or Sir Roger Hunt as he has
always been known at Anield,” enthuses Dr
Rogan Taylor, director of the Football Industry
Group at the University of Liverpool. Hunt
ired directly at the German goalkeeper Hans
Tilkowski but just couldn’t quite get it past.
“The team were all playing their part and no
one was letting the side down,” says O’Neil.
But the crowd started to quieten as
the minutes ticked away. “The fans didn’t
do much to lift the team at this point, I
remember that quite starkly,” says Manchester
United fan John Toye. “But they began

AFRICA PULLS OUT

pinned to their clothes, swinging their rattles
and making a tremendous noise. “It was very
diferent to the guys with their drums and
trumpets today,” says Arsenal fan Roy O’Neil,
who recalls buying his ticket from an agency
at the Barbican in London for ive times its
face value, and ending up in a neutral zone
of the stadium surrounded by Italian fans.
“I remember the game being the irst time I
had heard the clapping routine which is still
used today; the one that ends in the shout
“England”. It was unique at the time.”
Unfortunately, there were no sporting legends from Africa in the World Cup of 1966. Every
team in the continent decided to pull out of the qualifiers in protest at the teams which
topped the African zone having to play-off against European or Asian opposition for their
place in the finals.
The feeling was that Africa should be offered a direct route for qualification, and the
boycott led to the rules being changed for the 1970 tournament. One consequence of this
action was that North Korea took part in the World Cup for the first time in 1966, which
caused problems at home: the country wasn’t recognised by the UK, and so it was almost
refused entry. Today, six of the 32 finalists are taken from Africa.

27
 Legends of Sport

BOBBY MOORE WAS ONE OF THE great job. Martin Peters was an intelligent
guy coming in from the left-hand side.

GREATEST DEFENDERS THERE HAS BEEN
… HE DIDN’T HAVE PACE BUT HIS SOCCER
BRAIN WAS SECOND TO NONE
Terry Paine, 1966 World Cup winner
cheering again once Martin Peters scored to
put England ahead again.” It was the 78th
minute and Peters shot from close range,
having initially hit Horst-Dieter Höttges from a
Hurst attempt.
With ive minutes to go, the players who
hadn’t been selected to play in the team
that day had assembled on the touchline on
the orders of Ramsey and they were fully
anticipating a win. They were all part of the
team, Ramsey had told them, and so they
must be supportive of those on the pitch.
They waited for the referee to blow his whistle
and then – drama.
In the 89th minute, moments after a
narrowly wide shot by Charlton had England
fans groaning, Wolfgang Weber shot towards
the England goal. It crossed the line and
the crowd went completely silent. “What a
gut-wrencher at the stroke of full time,” says
James. It was 2-2 and that meant only one
thing: an agonising extra 30 minutes. “No way
did we think the team would win in extra
time. The team was dejected but Alf came out,
waved his inger and gave them a lecture.” It
seemed to do the trick.
The rest of the squad remained in situ for
the duration of that half and, unlike James,
Paine was conident. “I still believe Gordon
Banks was the greatest goalkeeper the world
has seen, he was a superstar,” he says. “Bobby
Moore was one of the best defenders there
has ever been – he didn’t have pace but his
soccer brain was second to none. Ray Wilson
could match Brazil’s Garrincha for pace and
Nobby Stiles was of the old school and did a
Bobby Charlton speaks for himself. And
young Alan Ball, the best one-touch player
in the world. Then we had Geof Hurst
alongside the hard-working Roger Hunt.”
Ball crossed to Hurst in the 101st
minute and Hurst smashed the ball on
the underside of the crossbar, causing it to
bounce down on to the line and be cleared.
But did it go in? Referee Gottfried Dienst
consulted his linesman Toiq Bahramov. “I
remember him running over to this day,”
says Paine. “The Russian linesman said
something which sounded like it would be
‘yes’. The goal was given and from our point
of view it was in.”
The West Germans tried to rally but
England were on a high. Some supporters
ran on to the pitch and at home, viewers
listened to a distracted Lancastrian
BBC commentator named Kenneth
Wolstenholme utter the infamous words:
“Some people are on the pitch! They think
it’s all over!” Hurst blasted into the net and
the crowd went wild. “It is now!” England
had won the World Cup.
A ll across the country, people jumped in
celebration. “I was only 10 and watched it in

TOP 6 GOALSCORERS OTHER STATS ENGLAND’S STADIA

EUSÉBIO
(PORTUGAL) 89
GOALS SCORED
WEMBLEY
CAPACITY
98,600

HELMUT HALLER
DURING TOURNAMENT
47 GOALSCORERS
TOURNAMENT
WHITE CITY STADIUM
(LONDON) –
(WEST GERMANY)
2 OWN
GOALS
76,567
VILLA PARK
(BIRMINGHAM) – 52,000
GEOFF HURST
(ENGLAND) 11 GOALS SCORED
BY ENGLAND GOODISON PARK
(LIVERPOOL) – 50,151

FERENC BENE 5
3 OLD TRAFFORD
(MANCHESTER) – 58,000
(HUNGARY) GOALS
CONCEDED HILLSBOROUGH
BY ENGLAND
ENGLAND (SHEFFIELD) – 42,730
GAMES WON
VALERIY PORKUJAN ROKER PARK
(SOVIET UNION)
(SUNDERLAND) – 40,310

FRANZ BECKENBAUER
1
ENGLAND
0
ENGLAND
AYESOME PARK
(MIDDLESBROUGH) – 40,000
(WEST GERMANY) GAME GAMES
DRAWN LOST

28

our front room on our old battered black-and-
white set while my mum went shopping,” says
Manchester United fan John Horne. “After the
game, I went outside and repeatedly smashed
the ball against our coal shed wall for the next
three hours, imitating Geof Hurst’s winning
goal.” The result meant so much to so many
people and enthusiasm for football soared
among the population.
As Haller sneaked away with the match
ball, whipping it from under Hurst’s nose as
he celebrated his hat-trick, the celebrations
continued in the dressing room. “I got to the
door of the England dressing room just as
Bobby arrived carrying the gleaming, real
Jules Rimet trophy”, says sports historian and
former Daily Express chief football reporter
Norman Giller, who has now recalled the
entire day in a comprehensive new book
called July 30 1966, Football’s Longest Day.
“All the England players were in a state of
exhaustion as they pushed their way down
the tunnel, yet Bobby looked immaculate
without a bead of sweat.”
Giller went to hug the captain in
congratulation of the feat but Alf Ramsey
appeared, irked by the disputed goal, and the
journalist knew it was time to leave. Ramsey’s
A beaming Queen Elizabeth
presents Moore with the World
Cup trophy following the game
spirit quickly lifted but the players were still in News, recalled fans wanted to play tribute to
disbelief. “Will somebody pinch me,” George England’s newest footballing legends. “There
Cohen was heard as saying. “Am I dreaming?” was one guy who twice walked the Pennine
He wasn’t. The players went to a reception at Way who suggested that all the stiles along
The Royal Garden in Kensington but the fans the 250-mile route should be known as
weren’t ready to give up celebrating. As they ‘Nobbies’”. That didn’t happen but it didn’t
got wind the players were at the luxury-ive matter. The players had secured their place
star hotel, they gathered outside, cheering as in history; the most successful England side
their new heroes appeared on the balcony. of all time. “To win a World Cup, you need at
The excitement lasted for weeks. Frank least ive world-class players,” says Paine. “We
Wood, a reporter on the Bolton Evening probably had more than that.” Result.
LOSING THE WORLD CUP
Although England achieved but it also heralded another drama, Pickles: The Dog
success in 1966, they sporting legend: Pickles, a Who Won the World Cup, on
actually managed to lose black-and-white collie, who the story in 2006. “It was
the World Cup – in the most sniffed out the Jules Rimet almost like a classic Ealing
literal sense. The trophy Trophy seven days later comedy – this ridiculous
was stolen on the afternoon wrapped in a newspaper in a event whereby this iconic
of 20 March 1966 from the hedge in London. piece of silverware was
Methodist Central Hall in “It was all over the news taken and no one knew
Westminster where it had because there was this who did it. I thought it was
been put on display. It led to mystery element to it”, charming; a British caper
a nationwide hunt and much recalls screenwriter Michael which lent itself well to an
embarrassment for the FA Chaplin, who based the TV entertaining film.”
29
 Legends of Sport

ROAD TO THE FINAL

After a stuttering start, England were rampant en route to the World Cup final

ENGLAND 0 – 0 URUGUAY England were continually frustrated

11 JULY, ATTENDANCE: 87,148 during their opening game

If there was any optimism that England would win the

World Cup, it faded during this lacklustre opening game
in which they came up against a disciplined Uruguay
side that was so defensive minded, England failed to
score for the irst time at Wembley since 1945. For their
eforts, Uruguay were booed from the ield by frustrated
England fans but their players celebrated as if they had
been victorious because they sensed a draw against one
of the favourites would help through to the next round.
As it happened, England had only a handful of goalscoring
chances, with Jimmy Greaves having the majority of them,
but their build-up play was uninspired and lacking pace
and they left the ield looking exhausted.

ENGLAND 2 – 0 MEXICO Nobby Stiles’ tough

16 JULY, ATTENDANCE: 92,570 tackling against

France didn’t go
over well with FIFA
The game against Mexico reignited the conidence of the
both the England team and the crowd. It also marked the
tournament debuts of Terry Paine, who replaced Manchester
United’s John Connelly, and Martin Peters, who came in for
the injured Alan Ball. England left the pitch winners thanks
to goals in either half by Bobby Charlton, with a thunderous
25-yard shot, and Roger Hunt, who inished tidily from close
range. The win – along with Mexico’s previous draw with
France – all but ended their opposition’s hope of progression
and got England on their way.

ENGLAND 2 – 0 FRANCE
20 JULY, ATTENDANCE: 98,270
This game belonged largely to Roger Hunt, primarily
because he scored both England’s goals in their 2-0 win. In
doing so, he ensured England would progress, but perhaps
just as remarkable was Gordon Banks’ third clean-sheet of
the tournament. Nobby Stiles got himself into some bother
following a vicious tackle which led to calls by FIFA oicials
A VICIOUS TACKLE BY STILES LED
for him to be dropped. Ramsey refused but he couldn’t
ignore a larger problem: one of the biggest star players,
TO CALLS BY FIFA OFFICIALS FOR HIM
Jimmy Greaves, was injured and had to be sidelined. It
would turn out to be his last game of the tournament. TO BE DROPPED
30
 Legends of the ’66 World Cup

ENGLAND 1 – 0 ARGENTINA
23 JULY, ATTENDANCE: 90,584
In Argentina this game has since been referred to as ‘el
robo del siglo’, or ‘the theft of the century’ because the
goal – by Geof Hurst, who was brought in for the injured
Jimmy Greaves – was deemed by them to be ofside. It
also saw the Argentinian captain, Antonio Rattin, sent
of for a second caution, incidents which began to cause
bad blood between the two sides. It wasn’t a particularly
violent match, but Rattin refused to leave the ield, holding
the game up by 10 minutes. As he left, he grabbed the
corner lag – bearing the Union Jack – and screwed it up.
Argentina held on admirably but Hurst’s 78th minute
header was timely and decisive, taking England through.

ENGLAND 2 – 1 PORTUGAL
16 JULY, ATTENDANCE: 94,493
Eusébio was renowned as one of the world’s best players
and he ended the tournament as the top scorer with
nine goals. It was against him and his Portugal team that
England faced their iercest test, not only letting in their
irst goal of the tournament but being as mesmerised
by the inesse of the Portuguese attack as the watching
crowd. Even so, it was England who scored irst; Bobby
Charlton getting the goals in the 30th and 80th minute
with Eusébio only responding in the 82nd minute, Moore and Stiles embrace after
England’s hard-fought semi-
making for a tense inale to the match. It was a true test
final victory over Portugal
for England’s defence, though, and also a good lesson in
sportsmanship. There was an admirable air of grace in the
behaviour of the Portugal players throughout.

THE GERMAN ROUTE

The West Germans played
their games at Hillsborough
in Sheffield and Villa Park in
Birmingham, starting in the
best way possible with a 5-0
thumping of Switzerland before
a crowd of 36,127. They were
then held to a scoreless draw
against Argentina but recovered
their attacking prowess by
putting two past Spain in a 2-1
victory that saw them advance
straight to the quarter-finals.
Their opponents were Uruguay
and while the South Americans
had played a frustrating game
against England with an eight-
man defence, they proved
more susceptible in the face
of the German onslaught.
West Germany fired four goals
past them without reply in
thrilling game at Roker Park in
Sunderland. Much of that was
to do with two Uruguayans
being sent off, however. For
that ‘crime’, it was the home
nation who got it in the neck:
the referee was from the UK
and this only heightened anti-
British feelings among the South
Americans. It didn’t help matters
that a German defender, Karl-
Heinz Schnellinger, had clawed
the ball from the top corner of
his goal using his hand to prevent
Uruguay from scoring early on
and had suffered no penalty for
having done so.
West Germany went on to face
the Soviet Union in the semi-final
at Everton’s Goodison Park and
won 2-1. Helmut Haller and Franz
Beckenbauer got the goals for
the German side while Valeriy
Porkuyan pulled one back in the
final two minutes to make for a
more respectable scoreline.

31
 Legends of Sport

THE GOAL THAT NEVER WAS?

For more than 50 years, England’s third goal in the final has proved controversial,
with doubt cast over whether the ball crossed the line after it hit the crossbar and
bounced down. While the goal stood following consultation between the referee and
the linesman, the Germans have always believed it should have been ruled out.
In 2010, it appeared scorer Sir Geoff Hurst himself thought the same. He told a
press conference to promote sponsorship of the Football Conference, “I have to
admit that the ball didn’t cross the line”. But it later emerged it was an April Fool’s
joke, much to everyone’s relief.
Thankfully, earlier this year Sky Sports used the EA Sports Performance system
to prove once and for all that it did cross the line. Or maybe not. BILD Sports of
Germany continued to dispute the claim and there have been tests which show the
opposite is true. A decision set to go into extra time itself, perhaps.

1 Nobby Stiles collects the

ball centrally and sprays a
pass out the right wing

32
 Legends of the ’66 World Cup

6 The ball is
cleared but Roger
Hunt wheels away in
celebration. After a
lengthy pause, the 5
referee signals a goal Hurst lets rip a
powerful shot that
beats Tilkowski
and bounces down
off the crossbar

4 Ball’s cross inds Geoff Hurst

in the German box. The striker
turns sharply past defender Willi
Schulz and on to his right foot

3 Ball beats
German
defender
Horst-Dieter
Höttges and
ires a cross
towards the
centre of the
penalty area

2 Stiles’ pass is collected

by the diminutive
Alan Ball, who races
towards the byline

33
 Legends of Sport
GORDON BANKS
Capped 73 times for England, Gordon
Banks is regarded as one of the greatest
goalkeepers of all time. He starred in every
one of his country’s matches en route to the
World Cup final victory in 1966 and kept a
clean sheet in every game until the semis.
He was also an FA Cup finalist in 1961 and
1963 for Leicester City and a winner of the
League Cup in 1964 with the Foxes and Stoke
City in 1972.
THERE WAS A BIG FURORE ABOUT
GEOFF’S GOAL THAT HIT THE BAR [BUT]
ROGER HUNT WAS RIGHT. IT WAS A GOAL
34
GORDON BANKS
Arguably England’s greatest ever goalkeeper, Gordon Banks
recalls that fateful day in 1966 in this exclusive interview
The 1966 World Cup started well from your
perspective, but did you sense it could be
an uphill battle from then on?
When we drew 0-0, I thought, “Wow, we have
our hands full here now. We have really got to
do something”. But I think there was tension
in that irst match and we didn’t play like I
knew we could play. It was only when we
won the next match and then got through the
group stage that we realised we stood a bit of
a chance. We were undefeated and we weren’t
conceding goals and we felt teams would
be saying, “Oh crikey, they are hard to score
against.” That was good.
Having four cup inals under your belt, you
were no stranger to Wembley, were you?
We also played England friendlies at Wembley
and it did give me a little bit of conidence to go
out and do my job. There’s not much diference
between playing in a [domestic] cup inal and a
World Cup inal – you just need to go out there,
do the best you can and hope everything goes
your way.
Is it true that Alf Ramsey managed the
England national team as if they were a
club side?
He made it that way, deinitely. He also made
sure that if he told you something you had to
do it or you were out. Oh yes, he was pretty
strong in that sense. But the information that
he got over to the players was fantastic. He
would give you the strength and the weakness
of the opposition. He might come over to me
and say ‘go and watch this centre forward, he’s
got a great left foot and if it’s on that side he can
really wallop it so be prepared because he will
deinitely do it’. He was a terriic manager, and
something really special.
Were you nervous before the inal?
Well, we tried to do what we would normally
do for a friendly match but when four or ive
us decided to walk from Hendon Hall hotel
into the village, people recognised us and they
were coming over and wishing us the best of
luck, which showed how important this game
was. There was also a large crowd outside the
hotel where the bus was waiting and when
we got on the bus, everyone was clapping and
cheering – that brought a lot of tension. I mean,
I know it was the same route that we always
took when we played international games at
Wembley but all of that meant it was very quiet
on the bus.
Was there a point when you thought, this is
it: there is a real chance that you could be
making history?
When the noise went in the dressing room to
tell us that it was time to go into the tunnel,
then wow, that was when it really hit home.
We saw the Germans alongside us and shook
their hands but walking down that tunnel was
really nerve-wracking. The tension was very
high. But after we sang the national anthem,
tossed the coin and I ran to the goal to have
one or two practice shots lined up against me,
the referee blew his whistle and that’s when
the tension disappeared. We just concentrated
on doing our jobs. We wanted to give it 90
minutes as best we could.
Germany put one past you very early in the
game. What was your feeling at that point?
Well, to be honest with you – and I’m not
being critical because he’s a great player and
he did well for the team – but I’m pretty sure if
Big Jack [Charlton] had not been standing in
front of me, I would have saved the shot. But
I couldn’t see. He was just inside the six yard
box. I don’t know what he was doing and I’m
not the kind of guy to give people rollickings

or things like that but anyway, yes. It never put
our heads down, though. We just realised we
had to carry on and get a goal back.
Was there a real strength of mind among
the players – a will to win?
We were all concentrating on what we were
doing. I was also watching and hoping we
would get an equalising goal, which we did –
and then we went in front.
Which players stood out during the game?
You’ve always got players who stand out
for their clubs and for England, like Bobby
Charlton and Bobby Moore. They stood out
tremendously. Alan Ball was voted by players
as the best that day because of the amount of
efort he put in and the way he kept possession
and so on. He had a super day. But I think the
rest of the lads were just class players and we
played as a team, if you understand. We didn’t
play as individuals. Bobby Charlton, who
could hit a ball fabulously with both feet, if
he couldn’t get a shot in, he wouldn’t try for a
shot and waste it, he would keep possession
and make a pass. So there were these terriic
players and you couldn’t really say anything
wrong about them to be honest.
How did you feel when Germany got that
second goal to equalise right at the death?
Well, nobody mentions this and I can’t believe
it but if you watch that goal again, you will see
me and Bobby Moore chasing the referee for
a few yards. They’d got a free kick which was
about 25 or 30 yards outside of the box on my
right-hand side and they came down to the
edge of the box to about 25 yards and took
a short free kick. They then started to run in
towards my goal and the ball came right across,
into their paths. One of the players, Karl-Heinz
Schnellinger, was running and the ball was just
behind him. I don’t think he did it deliberately
but it hit his arm, which is a foul – had it not hit
his arm, it would have gone right across and of
for a throw on the other side for us. But it rolled
right into the path of the guy [Wolfgang Weber]
who got the equaliser. I tried to block it but he
took it well over my body and he knocked it in.
It should have been a free kick for us.
That forced the game into extra time; is
that where Alf Ramsey came into his own?
Alf – a great manager – was something special,
I tell you. He really was. Both teams had been
running and working hard in that 90 minutes
Legends of the ‘66 World Cup
and both managers were on the pitch. I was
farthest away but as I got close, I could see the
German players sitting on the pitch and three
or four of our lads doing the same. I then heard
Alf say, “Get up, chin up, we don’t want to make
it look as if we’re tired”. He was trying to get
something over on them and he wanted to get
their players to think, “They must be very it,
they don’t want to sit down”. That was typical
of Alf. Something like that might just help.
Did the players react well to that?
We looked at each other and thought that
was a good idea. And then he said “Come on,
you’ve won this once, you have to get out there
and win it again”. That was all he said really.
He knew we were playing quite well and well
enough to get that result.
Extra time was dramatic, wasn’t it?
Oh yes. And while there was a big furore about
Geof’s goal that hit the bar, the thing that
always stands out in my mind is that Roger
Hunt, who was standing nearest when the
ball came down and saw it, didn’t go to head it.
The goalkeeper made the dive and he was on
the loor and you would have thought Roger
would have made sure but he didn’t because
he saw it go over the line and thought they
would give a goal. I like the thing I saw on Sky
Sports this year which showed the ball was just
over the line. That shows Roger Hunt was right.
It was a goal.
Geoff Hurst secured the game with a hat-
trick. What do you remember of that goal?
I was like all the defenders, shouting at Bobby
Moore to whack the ball up the ield. “Get rid of
Banks and his England
teammates attempt to keep
out a West German attack
it!” Bobby saw Geof running on his own and
he popped the ball right into his path. Of course
the Germans had been attacking in numbers
so they had very few people back there. So
Geof made this run and scored but I will never
forget him saying, “I just wanted to thump it.
It wouldn’t have worried me if it had gone way
over the bar because it would have taken a lot
of time to get the ball back.” He knew there was
not long to play but the ball went into the top
corner. And that was it. It was all over.
Could you relax then?
Yes. I could see the people walking from the
stand and going home. They knew it was the
end and I knew that would be it then. But I
just couldn’t believe it. West Germany were a
terriic side and they had some great players
who could play some very good football.
Running around with that trophy on our
ground with our supporters was fantastic.
Bobby Moore let each one of us have a little
run with it and we would wave it to the crowd.
But when we came round to the German
supporters – and this is true – they were all
clapping us and I thought, wow, that is really
something nice and diferent.
Was that unusual?
Oh yes, crikey. Very rarely did fans clap the
opposing team, so that was really nice. But our
fans were fantastic too. I remember we were
close to inishing our meal at the hotel after
the game and Alf came over and said, “come
on you lads, we have to go out on this balcony.
There’s a crowd out there.” The fans were
clapping and roaring and the police had to
close the road. It was incredible; a great day.
35
 Legends of Sport

Pelé in action for the

New York Cosmos, who
he helped to transform
during his three
seasons in the US

AMERICA’S FIRST
COSMONAUT
When the New York Cosmos signed Brazilian
superstar Pelé in 1975, it marked the start of a
considerable upturn in soccer’s stateside popularity

36

n 1975, the then 35-year-old Pelé was past
I his peak as a player, a factor that played
on his mind during his long, protracted
transfer to the New York Cosmos. Did they
expect him to play as he had in the past? Was
the move worth the risk? The Brazilian legend
had always intended to wind up his playing
career at his beloved Santos, but the lucrative
deal on the table, which included $9 million
for Pelé himself, ultimately proved too good to
turn down.
The move dragged on for six months, and
involved telegrams, phone calls, endless
meetings with lawyers, consultants and tax
oicials, and even the intervention of US
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to ease the
deal through. In fact, Kissinger issued a formal
invitation to Pelé to play in the US, citing that
his involvement would aid the development
of football in North America. Few could argue
against him.
Despite the USA’s relative success at the
inaugural World Cup in 1930, the nation
had little in the way of professional football
leagues prior to the formation of the North
American Soccer League (NASL) in 1967; only
regional leagues set up around New York and
New England. Pelé’s arrival was expected to
By the time he arrived at the
Cosmos, Pelé’s storied career had
seen him win three World Cups with
Brazil and the Copa Libertadores
twice with Santos, after breaking
onto the scene as a teenager
galvanise the sport in a country with a couple
of hundred million fans in waiting.
Warner Communications, the company
that owned the Cosmos, negotiated a two-
year contract with Pelé, which included a
sub-licensing agreement that guaranteed
the player 50 per cent of any revenue that
the club received from the use of his name.
The deal was eventually sealed, and Pelé
was oicially unveiled as a Cosmos player
at a packed press conference on 11 June
1975. After subsequently watching his new
team lose at home to Vancouver and away
to Philadelphia, Pelé could be forgiven for
wondering what he had got himself into.
His team, which was really little more than a
college side, lacked the talent and itness to
compete consistently over 90 minutes.
Pelé’s league debut came two weeks after
his unveiling against the Toronto Metros at
New York’s temporary home, the Downing
Stadium on Randall’s Island. Not only did the
Cosmos win the match 2-0, but the regular
home attendance of 8,000 had swelled to
more than 22,500 (the average would top
20,000 for the duration of Pelé’s stay at the
club). Ten million people tuned in to watch
CBS’ live broadcast of the game, a record
Pelé
PELÉ’S LEGACY
Before Pelé, the United States was a soccer
wasteland, with only 3,746 people turning
out for the Cosmos’ inaugural game in
1970. Things changed dramatically when he
signed, however, with home attendances for
matches more than trebling. The numbers
show that Pelé achieved exactly what he
was brought in to do in growing soccer in the
US. The sport is now firmly established at
grass-roots level across the country, and is
the most popular sport for Americans aged
between six and 20. Many also cite Pelé’s
influence in helping the US national team
end its 40-year absence from the World Cup
to become a regional power in North and
Central America.
THE MOVE
DRAGGED ON FOR SIX
MONTHS … PHONE
CALLS, TELEGRAMS,
ENDLESS LAWYERS,
CONSULTANTS AND
TAX OFFICIALS,
AND EVEN THE
INTERVENTION OF US
SECRETARY OF STATE
HENRY KISSINGER
37
 Pelé has continued
to promote
soccer throughout
the world in an
ambassadorial role
since his retirement

American TV audience for a soccer match.
And if further proof of the Brazilian’s draw
was needed, ticket sales dipped dramatically
whenever he missed a game through injury.
Part of Pelé’s contract with Warner
required him to attend numerous publicity
engagements, including frequenting baseball
and American football games – a necessity
he found particularly tiresome due to the
comparatively slow pace of both sports. He
went as far as to express his incredulity at
the laid back attitude of American fans, who
“just sat there eating popcorn and chatting,”
in stark contrast to their famously passionate
South American counterparts. It was around
this time that Pelé coined one of the most
iconic phrases in sport, while engaging with
American reporters. In trying to articulate
the diference between soccer and American
football, he described the sport he played
as ‘o jogo bonito’ – ‘a beautiful game’. It
resonated to the extent that it has remained
as soccer’s unoicial slogan more than 40
years later.
38
As Warner Communications also owned
record labels and ilm studios, Pelé was
constantly rubbing shoulders with the
American glitterati. His own fame often
eclipsed the stars around him, however.
On one visit to the Warner oice at the
Rockefeller Center, Pelé’s arrival caused such
a commotion, with people clamouring for
an autograph, that the screaming masses
completely ignored the arrival of another
famous client – one Robert Redford.
In addition to increasing public interest
in soccer stateside and strengthening
attendances at NASL games, Pelé’s
introduction to the Cosmos improved the
TEN MILLION PEOPLE TUNED IN TO
WATCH CBS’ LIVE BROADCAST OF PELÉ’S
DEBUT MATCH, A RECORD AMERICAN TV
AUDIENCE FOR SOCCER
team’s fortunes on the pitch too. The Cosmos
inished second in the NASL’s Northern
Division in 1976, and made the playofs,
eventually losing in their second game
against a Tampa Bay Rowdies team boasting
England’s Rodney Marsh among their ranks.
During the ofseason, Pelé also played twice
for an American All-Stars team against Italy
and England. Although they lost both games,
the team helped revive fan support for a US
team on the international stage.
Further developments of the pitch
prompted Pelé to sign a one-year contract
extension in 1977. The Cosmos moved to a
more permanent home at the Giants Stadium
 Pelé

UNITING NATIONS
Such is the pulling power of Pelé that, as well as popularising a flagging
national football league in the United States in the 1970s, he was also
able to help thaw more than 50 years of hostility between the US and
Cuba during a 2015 trip.
Players of the current New York Cosmos team, along with their aging
talisman, arrived at the José Marti International Airport in Havana on
31 May 2015 ahead of a scheduled exhibition match against the Cuban
national team. Mobbed at the airport by fans and well-wishers (Pelé had
reportedly been in ill health prior to the visit), there was little doubt that
the Brazilian was still as big a draw as he was in his playing days.

in New Jersey, and saw the arrival of more
globally recognised names, including Franz
Beckenbauer and Pelé’s old friend and Santos
teammate Carlos Alberto. Attendances
continued to grow during that season, as did
media coverage, and the Cosmos won their
last eight home games to inish second to
the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, a team that the
Cosmos thrashed 8-3 in front of a sell-out
crowd of 78,000 in the playofs. They also got
the better of their previous season’s nemeses,
the Tampa Bay Rowdies, to reach the Soccer
Bowl – the inal match to determine the NASL
Outdoor Championship. The Cosmos beat
the Seattle Sounders 2-1 in a match that, after
111 games and 65 goals, would be Pelé’s last
competitive outing.
The curtain inally came down on Pelé’s
glittering career with an exhibition match
against his beloved Santos, played on 1
October 1977, three weeks shy of his 37th
birthday. Around 75,000 people packed into
Giants Stadium for the match, in which Pelé
played the irst half for the Cosmos (scoring
one inal goal) and the second half for Santos.
At the inal whistle, tears rolled down Pelé’s
cheeks as he soaked up the cheers of the
crowd. A itting send-of for an all-time great.
In the years following Pelé’s retirement,
American interest in soccer began to dwindle,
however, with the NASL inally folding
in 1984. With the sport in dire straits, the
1994 World Cup in the US was seen as a
catalyst to charge up a public enthusiasm
that was in danger of latlining. Fortunately,
the tournament had the desired efect,
and two years later Major League Soccer
(MLS) kicked of its inaugural campaign.
Now encompassing more than 20 teams,
the reformed league continues to go from
strength to strength.
Although history tells us that soccer
existed in the US before the arrival of Pelé, in
truth it was the charisma, breathtaking skill
and stunning goals of the Brazilian legend
that helped to sow the seeds for the game’s
continued success in North America. As Pelé
himself would acknowledge years later: “I felt
that I had played my part in what I set out to
do. Football had really caught on in the US.”
Mission accomplished.

Pelé with Brian Joy and Eusébio in April 1977,

just before a game in the National American
Soccer League (NASL) between the Las Vegas
Quicksilvers and the New York Cosmos

Pelé is overcome
with emotion at
the end of his
final match for
the Cosmos, as
depicted on the
cover of this
magazine

39
 Legends of Sport

BECOMING
THE BEST
Arguably Britain’s greatest-ever
footballer, George Best shone
for Manchester United with his
sublime skills and star status

Best putting on a show as usual, beating a defender

in the famous red jersey of Manchester United

40

ob Bishop was standing by the
B touchline on the playing ields in
the midst of a working-class Belfast
estate, watching the young footballers of
Cregagh Boys Club. The surroundings were
inauspicious, the facilities poor, but that didn’t
matter, as the focus was on the pitch and, in
particular, a small-framed 15-year-old whose
natural twists, turns and runs were leaving his
opponents standing in his wake.
Bishop was Manchester United’s chief scout
in Ulster. He left once the game had ended,
and immediately sent a telegraph to United
manager Matt Busby. “I think I’ve found you
a genius,” it read. Within days an approach
had been made to the boy’s parents asking for
permission to allow him to cross the Irish Sea
to the north-west of England for a trial. The
boy’s name was George Best.
Born on 22 May 1946 in Belfast, the irst of
six children to an iron-turner at the Harland
and Wolf shipyard, Best lived for football from
the very beginning. “He was kicking a ball as a
toddler, aged 15 months,” says his sister Barbara
McNally, “and as a child growing up, that’s all
he did. He played the game morning, noon and
night. I don’t remember him doing anything
else but play football.”
Although his natural intelligence saw
him pass his eleven-plus exams and take a
George Best (centre, third
from right) in the official
team photo with manager
Matt Busby after winning
the European Cup
George Best
place at the nearest grammar school, known
as Grosvenor High School at the time, a
combination of sectarian abuse on his
journeys and a preference for the ball saw Best
regularly playing truant. “My mum and dad
found out and said there was no point in him
continuing to go there,” says McNally. He left
and went to the local school, Lisnasharragh
Intermediate where, McNally adds, “he was
able to play football with his friends, and he
was happy again.”
Manchester United ofered Best a fortnight’s
trial in 1961, yet shortly after arriving in
England, he began to feel homesick. “He’d MORE THAN A
FOOTBALLER
only been in Manchester for a few years when
he turned around and went home,” recalls
David Meek, who covered United for 40
years, 37 of them for the Manchester Evening George Best was football’s first superstar.
News. But United persuaded him to come Today players promote themselves
back. “They put him and David Sadler with a endlessly, but in the 1960s it was almost
motherly landlady, and both of them made unprecedented. Best modelled, opened a
him feel more at home,” says Meek. It would boutique called Edwardia, and invested in
be the making of Best who – snapped up by the Manchester nightclub Slack Alice. Wages
chief scout Joe Armstrong – rapidly advanced were a fraction of their current figures too.
through the A and B junior teams and straight In 1961, Best earned £50 a week, although
through the youths. that later shot up to £1,000 a week. Yet
Best was a breathtaking talent; a footballer Best’s sister, Barbara McNally, says Best
who was able to pull tricks on the ield that wasn’t motivated by money. “He would have
had never before been seen. His dribbling played for nothing in those days. All of the
skills were legendary and his pose balletic. He players from his era would.”
41
 Legends of Sport
As one of United’s most prolific goalscorers –
here seen putting one past Sheffield Wednesday –
Best’s legendary status at Old Trafford is secure
could take the ball close to a defender, only
to leave him standing with a bewildering
and demoralising spurt. There was a joy and
showmanship in his play – licks of the ball
from his left to his right foot – and ferocious,
powerful volleys that would thunder into
the net. He’d make goals out of nothing, and
depress the full backs he encountered.
“He was quite stunning,” says Meek. “He just
looked and played diferently. You could tell
that he was special.” And indeed he was. For a
club steeped in the history of the Busby Babes
of the 1950s – the incredible young players
who had won two league championships
only for eight to die in or as a result of the
Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958 – Best’s
rise was beautiful to see. Sure, there was
heartache back home: “It was one of the most
HE PLAYED THE GAME MORNING, NOON
AND NIGHT. I DON’T REMEMBER HIM DOING
ANYTHING ELSE BUT PLAY FOOTBALL
Barbara McNally, Best’s sister
42
diicult periods, certainly for mum and dad,”
says McNally of Best’s move to Manchester.
“He was my mum’s irst-born child and she
just worshipped him.” However, he would
become a symbol of optimism for the tens of
thousands who packed into Old Traford.
When Best made his home debut on 14
September 1963 against West Bromwich
Albion, not even the frustrated hacking of
Welsh international full-back Stuart Williams
could stop him. He had the experienced player
chasing shadows, epitomising Busby’s belief
in playing attacking football. “The balance of
the guy and the conidence on the pitch is
what came across,” says Meek. “He seemed
to make the ball part of him, and he had this
tremendous self belief, which oozed through
everything he did on the football pitch.”
And yet of the pitch he was humble; shy
even. “He wasn’t the easiest player, from a local
reporter point of view,” Meek continues. “He
was hard work to interview.” But it was Best’s
feet doing the talking, and he was fortunate
to be surrounded by a raft of great footballing
talent. At the time, Busby was building another
exciting team involving Bobby Charlton, a
Munich survivor, Denis Law, who had been
signed from Torino for a club-record fee, and
Pat Crerand from Celtic. “What pleased the
fans with George was that it was the youth
programme coming good again. The Busby
Babes were homemade, so to speak, and here
was George Best coming of the production
line,” says Meek.
Best continued to entertain. He was part
of the 1964 FA Youth Cup-winning team that
thrashed Swindon Town 5-2, winning back
the trophy for the irst time since 1957 (United
having won the cup in its irst ive seasons of
existence). He also won a 1964-65 league title
medal, with United pipping Leeds United on
goal diference. But it was the European Cup
quarter-inal in 1966 against Benica that sent
Best’s stock soaring. Integral in the 5-1 victory,
scoring twice against one of Europe’s inest
teams, a fan ran on the pitch with a knife for a
lock of his hair. The Portuguese press labelled
Best ‘El Beatle’.
Best had become a superstar. His skills
and lair were matched by his good looks
and iconic role in the Swinging Sixties.
While he enjoyed reaching the semi-inal
of the European Cup that year, and another
league victory the following season, he was
also lapping up the female attention his
fame and talents brought. Best was United’s
leading goalscorer six years running, but
he was scoring just as much of the pitch.
“He had an irrepressible determination to
enjoy himself,” says Meek. “And Busby had a
hands-of approach with him. He didn’t know
how to cope. It was something new for Matt.
The Swinging Sixties and all that was not
something he had to deal with and when he
did, he was in at the deep end.”
But then so was Best. His infamous
problems with alcohol were only just
around the corner, but he continued to play
exceptionally well. The following season, he
lifted the European Cup and became European
Footballer of the Year. United beat Benica 4-1,
and Best scored in every round, including the
inal. Ten years after Munich, United had won
the cup they craved, and Best was overjoyed
that he was able to help deliver the trophy
to his manager, a man who had overcome so
much tragedy. Best was aged just 22 and was
already at the top of his game.
However, this marked the beginning of a
downward spiral. It would be the last trophy
he would win at United, as complacency
began to set in. Best was still in his prime
but, frustratingly, his fellow players could not
match his skill and enthusiasm. Drink took
hold, and Best would frequently walk away
from Old Traford, to Busby’s dismay. “George
had found his teammates at United were no
longer as motivated as they had been,” says
Meek. “And that put a dampener on his own
enthusiasm. One or two young players – Brian
Kidd, for instance – were excelling, but by and
large they were past their best. Busby had lost
his enthusiasm to break up a team and start
all over again. He was too old and had been
through too much with the Munich air crash.
The whole thing ground to a halt.”
Best left United for good in 1974, aged
just 26. He had short spells at Stockport
County and Cork Celtic, and played for the
Los Angeles Aztecs in the NASL from 1976 to
1978, interspersed with time at Fulham. He
also played for the Hibernian, the San Jose
Earthquakes, Bournemouth, the Brisbane
Lions and Tobermore United, ending his
playing career in 1984. He wouldn’t win a
trophy with any of them.
“He just got disillusioned, I think,” says Meek.
“It was evident to the fans before he left that
he had lost his motivation and he hadn’t been
playing particularly well. The conclusion was
that United wouldn’t miss him, even though
they could have done with the old George.”
And yet his place in sporting history was
secure, his genius comparable to Pelé, Johan
Cruyf, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.
“He joined the all-time list of greats with that
performance in Lisbon when he came home
with the sombrero on his head,” says Meek.
“Busby didn’t want to go a goal down in the
opening minutes, and asked the team to play
cautiously in the opening stages. But it was
as if George had not heard that. He got stuck
in attacking, and scored twice in the opening
stages of the match. That, for me, was when I
realised he was on the world stage and would
always be remembered.”
43
 Legends of Sport

44

NICKLAUS’
GOLDEN
MASTERS
Nicklaus secured his 18th
and final major in incredible
circumstances. His record
still stands today
Jack Nicklaus
The unbelievable
story of how 46-year-old
Jack Nicklaus smashed the
record books to win the
1986 US Masters
hen Jack Nicklaus arrived at
W Augusta for the US Masters in 1986,
he could already lay claim to being
the greatest golfer of all time. He had amassed
an unmatchable collection of 17 majors in
a golden era full of genuine superstars; his
legacy was irmly in place. But at the age of
46, ‘The Golden Bear’ hadn’t won a major in
six years, winning just two tournaments in
that time. As far as the media were concerned,
Nicklaus was done and dusted. They argued
his peak years were a faded memory and
his chances of wearing a sixth green jacket
nonexistent. Maybe they were right. Nicklaus’
season’s best in the lead up to the irst major
of the year was a tie for 39th in Hawaii. In
fact, he had missed three out of seven cuts in
total. With a growing business empire taking
up more of his time away from the course, the
reasonable consensus was that Nicklaus had
no chance of increasing his tally of majors.
Even when a third-round 69 ired him
into the top ten heading into Sunday’s inale,
no one believed he had a genuine shot at
the title. What happened next is the stuf of
sporting legend. A inal round seven-under
65, including a then-course record back-nine
30, propelled Nicklaus to a stunning one-shot
win that the man himself describes as his
“most memorable moment in golf.” It was
the greatest come-from-behind win ever, one
that still hasn’t been matched decades later. A
triumph for a man universally written of by
everyone – except himself.
After eight holes of his inal round, Nicklaus
was level par having swapped a birdie on
the par-ive second with a disappointing four
at the short fourth hole. The leaderboard
was awash with the game’s inest talent,
too. Overnight leader Greg Norman was
menacingly placed, and mercurial Spanish
star Seve Ballesteros had jumped into pole
position. With Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer and
Nick Price also in contention, the stage was
set for a characteristically memorable Masters
Sunday showdown.
45
 Legends of Sport

By the time he had reached Amen Corner,

Nicklaus had picked up three consecutive
birdies. The Golden Bear’s charge had well
and truly begun. Or had it? A tugged tee shot
at the devilishly diicult short 12th hole saw
Nicklaus chip to six feet for his par. Blaming a
spike mark right on the putt’s line, he saw his
ball drift agonisingly by the hole, his challenge
seemingly with it. Nicklaus was having none
of it though. He grabbed that shot back at the
irst attempt, birdieing the par-ive 13th after
hitting his second shot to 40 feet – fractionally
shy of a contour that would’ve taken his ball
even closer. Nicklaus was perfectly poised at
ive-under, three shots adrift of Ballesteros. A
solid par at 14 followed, but he was running
out of holes.
The whole mood of the 1986 Masters
changed in the next 15 minutes. The par-
ive 15th is one of golf’s great all-or-nothing
holes, a real gamble-or-fold afair. Nicklaus
had driven down the middle of the fairway,
leaving himself 220 yards to the heart of
the raised, postage stamp green. In front
was water, left and right the crowd, and over
the back an almost unplayable chip shot. A
crisp, nerveless four-iron found the putting
surface around 20 feet from the cup. Nicklaus
had carded three pars in the previous three
rounds on the 15th, but now was his chance
to make eagle. He painstakingly lined it
up, pulled away twice and then rolled in a
perfectly weighted left-to-right putt. Nicklaus
said the roar from the crowd was like nothing
he’d ever heard before. Playing partner Sandy Nicklaus tees off on
Lyle said it made the hairs on the back of the 18th at Augusta,
his neck stand up. The whole of Augusta one hole away from
securing victory
suddenly started to believe that a miracle
could happen.

Now, at seven-under and just one shot

A FAMILY AFFAIR
The 1986 Masters was a Nicklaus family affair. For a
start, Jack’s eldest son Jackie was his caddy for the week.
Together the pair formed a deadly partnership, even if Jack
was known to overrule his son’s reading of some putts,
citing years of first-hand Augusta knowledge. Jack’s mum
Helen was making her first visit to Augusta since 1959,
when her son was still an amateur. She famously quipped
that she was there more as a flower lover than to watch
the golf. Jack’s wife Barbara was always present, and she
speaks fondly of Jack’s sixth green jacket being the most
memorable. If ever the stars aligned perfectly, it was in
1986 for Jack Nicklaus.
adrift, Nicklaus strode purposefully to the
par-three 16th hole, a cauldron of sporting
theatre. With the pin in its traditional Sunday
position, just yards over the front-left bunker,
Nicklaus took aim with a three-quarter ive
iron. As soon as he hit it, his caddie and eldest
son Jackie knew it was heading straight at
the target. Was it enough club, though? “Be
good,” he said. Jack, already picking his tee up,
whispered, “it is”. The tee shot nearly went in.
If the roar on 15 was loud, then Nicklaus had
whipped the crowd and millions watching on
TV around the world into a frenzy. He duly
tapped in for birdie and a share of the lead of
the US Masters.

46

Nicklaus was to reach nine-under with
yet another birdie on the 17th. Few images
symbolise his triumph in 1986 better than
the iconic arm-and-putter-raised celebration.
Few lines of commentary resonate better than
broadcaster Verne Lundquist’s “Yes sir!” call as
Nicklaus took the outright lead on 17 at nine-
under-par. The Golden Bear took that total
to the clubhouse too, after skilfully getting
down in two from 40 feet on the inal hole.
The 46-year-old outsider was on the verge of a
truly remarkable win.
One-time leader Ballesteros visited the
water on 15 and three-putted the 17th to drop
out of contention. All that was left between
Nicklaus and glory was the inal pairing of
THE ROAR FROM THE CROWD WAS LIKE
NOTHING HE’D EVER HEARD … AUGUSTA
SUDDENLY STARTED TO BELIEVE THAT A
MIRACLE COULD HAPPEN
Kite and Norman. Australian Norman, who
was fresh from four birdies in a row, bogeyed
the 18th after pushing his approach into the
greenside crowd. Challenge over. But Kite still
had a ten-foot birdie attempt that could force
a playof. He missed, and Nicklaus won his
18th major title.
Jack Nicklaus
That is, of course, a total that has yet to
be matched. Tiger Woods currently stands
at 14, but countless injuries and private life
scandals mean he almost certainly won’t get
close to Nicklaus’ record, even if he does have
his 1986 moment still to come. Woods had
looked set to go beyond Nicklaus’ total,
47
 Legends of Sport

THIS WAS A SPORTING

LEGEND REDISCOVERING
YES SIR!
It is golf’s most endearing moment. Jack

HIS MOJO IN THE MOST Nicklaus reaches nine-under-par with a birdie

at the 17th to take the outright lead at the US

EXTRAORDINARY OF Masters at the age of 46. Verne Lundquist’s

“Maybe… Yes sir!” commentary as the ball
meandered on its route has become equally
CIRCUMSTANCES as famous.

having dominated the sport for 12 years from

The Golden Bear celebrates an
eagle on the par-five 15th that
launched him to within just a
shot of the leading position
his record-breaking US Masters victory in
1997, but while he won the US Open with a
broken leg in 2008, it so far stands as his inal
major victory. Nicklaus’ tally could well be
untouchable for generations.
When trying to work out who is the
greatest golfer of all time, an almost
impossible task when comparing players from
vastly diferent eras, longevity plays a massive
part. Nicklaus was 46 when he won the 1986
Masters. He won his irst major at the US
Open in 1962, aged 22. That phenomenal
25-season stretch is testament to Nicklaus’
quality and consistency. No player has come
to close to matching his control over the game
of golf over such a period of time.
His record in major championships, even
when he didn’t win, is equally remarkable.
Nicklaus inished second in 19 majors, often
losing to some of the game’s other greats –
Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tom Watson
to name a few. He inished in the top ten at 73
majors, including the inal three he played as
an amateur. To put that in perspective, that’s
25 more than his nearest challenger, Sam
Snead. Since becoming eligible for the Seniors
Tour, Nicklaus has added another ten ‘major’
titles. And despite heavily prioritising the four
majors, he still won 73 times on the PGA Tour.
It’s impossible to do justice to the full
extent of Nicklaus’ achievements here, but the
1986 Masters is perhaps the standout among
them all. Written of by everyone, this was
a sporting legend rediscovering his mojo in
the most extraordinary of circumstances. The
old saying goes that the Masters doesn’t truly
begin until the back nine on Sunday, and that
was never more true than in 1986. At Augusta
National, the most famous golf course of them
all, Jack Nicklaus’ sixth green jacket stands
alone as its deining moment. A itting inale
in a career full of accolades. The term ‘legend’
is bandied about too easily in sport. Certainly
not in this case.

48
 Jack Nicklaus

JACK NICKLAUS IN NUMBERS

1 SHOT 30
THE WINNING
MARGIN IN
1986
NUMBER OF SHOTS
NICKLAUS TOOK ON
THE BACK

9 325 15TH
HIS SCORE AT
THE PAR FIVE

65
NICKLAUS’
FINAL ROUND
SCORE AT THE
MASTERS IN PGA TOUR

1986 SEASONS FROM

FIRST TO LAST
MAJOR WIN

18 73
MAJORS PGA
TITLES TOUR
WON WINS

4 US OPEN
CHAMPIONSHIPS

3 OPEN
CHAMPIONSHIPS

5 PGA
CHAMPIONSHIPS

6 MASTERS
CHAMPIONSHIPS 46
NICKLAUS’
AGE IN 1986
49
 Legends of Sport

A teenage Bobby Jones

demonstrates his early
aptitude for golf

THE GRAND
SLAM MAN
A pioneer of the game and lifelong
amateur, Bobby Jones remains an
unsurpassed golfing great

50

iger Woods hasn’t got many people
T left to beat. The 40-year-old is
regarded as one of the greatest golfers
ever to have lived, with 14 major titles to his
name, but Robert T ‘Bobby’ Jones still has one
over on him.
Woods, in spite of all his success, has never
achieved the Grand Slam – winning all four of
golf’s most prestigious championships in the
same year. Nor has anyone else. Jack Nicklaus,
Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Walter Hagen:
none have equalled Jones’s annus mirabilis.
Perhaps no one will ever reach the heights
that Jones did in 1930, when the 28-year-old
won all four ‘majors’ in golf. A lifetime later his
astounding record still stands.
JONES TOOK THE ODDS. SUCCESS IN
ALL FOUR COMPETITIONS WOULD SEE HIM
POCKET MORE THAN $60,000
The Old Course at St
Andrews, where Jones
won the Open in 1927
Bobby Jones
In his formative years, Jones was
originally ‘prescribed’ golf to help with a
serious digestive illness that hindered his
development. Growing up in the sultry heat
IN THE
of Georgia, he and a friend laid out a golf
course in their front garden. It was a typically
BAG
humble and understated beginning to his With a reputation
career in course design – years later, he would for throwing clubs
found the famous course at Augusta National, in anger at his own
arguably the most iconic 18 holes in golf. imperfections early
His family moved to a house next to in his career, it
East Lake Golf Club, then an infant course might appear that
in suburban Atlanta. Jones spent many Jones had no care
afternoons watching Stewart Maiden play, and for the equipment
although he didn’t initially take any lessons, he used. And while he later worked with J
the ive-year-old copied the swing of the club Victor East to develop the first set of steel-
shafted clubs for Spalding & Co, a brand still
popular today, Jones’ own golf was played
with a ramshackle collection of clubs. He
nicknamed his trusty putter, which felled so
many opponents, ‘Calamity Jane’. The rest
of his bag was filled with clubs that didn’t
match, but were chosen for feel.
51
 Legends of Sport
THE ULTIMATE
AMATEUR
The word ‘amateur’ comes from the French ‘to love’. Bobby
Jones played golf for the love rather than money. Only when
he made several films in which he taught actors to play the
game after retiring did he earn any money from the sport.
Jones’ original ambition was to become an engineer. He
received two degrees from Georgia Tech University before
following his father’s footsteps and becoming a lawyer. He
did a bachelor’s degree at Harvard before qualifying as a
lawyer at Emory in Atlanta. He joined his father’s firm and
continued to work there after retiring from golf. He also
designed the first set of matched golf clubs, and worked in
the manufacture of sporting goods and bottled soft drinks.
52
professional with almost immediate success.
Jones took to golf with staggering aptitude.
He was a true natural, and won a six-hole
children’s tournament aged six. By nine, he
was East Lake’s junior champion and playing
in men’s competitions. He won the irst of his
13 majors at 21.
In 1930, Jones was at the peak of his
powers. Lloyd’s of London laid odds of 50
to 1 that he could complete the Grand Slam.
So Jones, an amateur who did not win prize
money, created his own prize pool. He took
the odds. Success in all four competitions
would see him pocket more than $60,000.
The challenge began, ittingly enough,
at St Andrews, the proverbial home of golf.
Jones had previous with the Old Course.
For a player known as the gentleman of the
sport, he had a temper, and battled with it
in his early years. Playing in his irst Open
Championship, the 19-year-old Jones led the
amateurs after 36 holes. However, he took two
to get out of a bunker at the 11th hole, tore up
his card, and withdrew from the competition
in frustration.
In time, he learned to deal with his temper.
“Why should I punish myself like this over a
golf tournament?” he once asked. “Sometimes
I’d pass my mother and dad on the course,
look at them and not even see them because I
was so concentrated on the game. Afterward,
it made a fellow feel a little silly.”
Back at St Andrews, nine years older
and wiser, he beat Roger Wethered in the
inal to claim the British Amateur title. The
convincing six-hole winning margin does
not adequately sum up Jones’s advantage
over the ield. In his opening match, he
started 3-4-3-2 on what was then one of the
toughest courses in the world. He completely
dominated from start to inish.
Jones then travelled to Liverpool and
Hoylake, where the Open Championship
would be held. It was a title that Jones had
won twice before. The 1930 edition saw
the prize fund increase from £150 to £400,
although as an amateur Jones would take no
share. By comparison, when Woods shot a
brilliant 18-under-par to win 76 years later, the
purse was £4 million.
Hoylake was by no means a walk in the
park. With one round to go, Englishman
Archie Compston led by a single shot. And
while Compston carded an 82 on the inal
day to open the door for Jones, the American
struggled to cross the threshold. However, his
 Bobby Jones

JONES RETIRED
ALMOST ON THE
SPOT. HAVING
ESSENTIALLY
BEATEN THE GAME,
HE GAVE IT ALL UP
AGED JUST 28
famous recovery skills came to the fore: a long
bunker shot on the 16th was drilled to within
a foot of the hole, helping him to a two-shot
win in tough conditions.
Returning to the US, Jones’s popularity was
at an all-time high. He had become one of
America’s most celebrated sportsmen, but he
was unphased by the crowds having hardened
himself to the pressures of tournament play
as a teenager. At 15, he had toured the country
with fellow East Lake player Alexa Stirling,
playing exhibition matches to raise money
for the war efort. They drew big crowds then,
and while Jones’s temper remained, he coped
with the bulging galleries now.
Nevertheless, the US Open at Interlachen
in Minnesota would test the defending
champion to his limits. On the back nine of
the inal round, Jones dropped three shots in
two holes before putting a ball in the water
at the 17th. Under enormous pressure, and
Jones put enormous
needing to get down in two from 40 feet on pressure on himself to
the inal green, Jones spared any nerves by be the best, and was
sinking a spectacular, undulating putt to win known for his temper

his third major of the year.

In doing so, Jones became the irst man
to win even three of the four majors in a
year. He stood on the verge of history, but
he still hadn’t won that bet with the British
bookmakers. To complete the set, Jones had
to win the US Amateur Championship. It was
a title he had lifted four times already, and it
would be held at Merion Cricket Club. As a
14-year-old, he had travelled to Pennsylvania
from his home in Georgia to become the
youngest ever competitor at the US Amateur.
Having come through qualifying, Jones lost
ive of the irst six holes against Frank Dyer,
a player of some note at the time, before
rallying to beat him. The teenager lost to
defending champion Robert A Gardner, but he
had made his mark.
And 14 years later, Jones returned to Merion
to try to lift his ifth US Amateur title. In fact,
it threatened to become anticlimactic. Jones
thrashed everyone in sight. He qualiied
irst. He beat Jess Sweetser nine and eight
in the semi-inal. Gene Homans got just one
hole closer in the inal. Nevertheless, the
celebrations were wild. He needed a military
escort just to get of the green.
Jones retired almost on the spot. Having
essentially beaten the game, he gave it all up
aged just 28. But he couldn’t bring himself
to walk away entirely. He made ilms about
golf, the only time he ever made money from
the sport. And in 1933, along with Alister
MacKenzie, he designed and opened Augusta
National Golf Club. A year later, it hosted
the inaugural Masters tournament. Jones
could frequently be seen in his members’
green jacket and played in several of the
early competitions. He never won, but it
didn’t matter – in the record books and in the
Augusta greens, the legacy of Bobby Jones is
indelibly marked.

53
 Legends of Sport

THE FASTEST
MAN ON EARTH
Jesse Owens fought poverty, discrimination
and some of the best Olympians of all time to
become the world’s most iconic athlete

54

n 1936 Jesse Owens lined up alongside his
I competitors at the starting line for the 100
metres inal at Berlin’s Olympiastadion.
A stunning 10.3 seconds later he was the
fastest man alive. As he stood on the victor’s
podium the men around him gave the Nazi
salute. Owens knew a black man winning gold
in the 100 metres was an embarrassment to
the Nazi oicials standing around him, but
he couldn’t have cared less as he looked at
the stars and stripes hoisted into position and
remembered the reason he became an athlete
in the irst place. He’d left his home and family
in Cleveland, Ohio behind, sufered a gruelling
nine-day sea voyage from New York to
Hamburg in third class and endured years of
training to do one thing; become somebody.
Born in Oakville, Alabama in 1913, Owens’
family sufered the discrimination and
segregation that thousands of other black
families endured during this deeply intolerant
period of history. Owens was expected to
work to earn his keep and at a young age
he was holding down jobs alongside going
to school. In 1922, Owens’ father decided it
would be best for his family to move north
in search of jobs. The US Deep South with its
racist intolerance gave families like the Owens
very few opportunities to grow and thrive.
They moved to Ohio in search of opportunity
Owens won gold in
the long jump at the
1936 Olympic Games
away from the poverty and racism of the
former slave states.
Owens had always been a keen sportsman,
enjoying baseball, but lacking any money
for expensive sport equipment he took up
athletics at his new school. He immediately
shone on the track and his high school coach,
Charles Riley, saw natural ability he had rarely
seen in other students. He coached Owens in
sprinting and long jump at the beginning of
the school day so the young student could
continue to work evening jobs and support
his family. After winning the national high
school championships, he was accepted into
Ohio State University on a sports scholarship
but once he got there reality quickly kicked
in; he was not allowed to sleep in halls of
residence with white students and he and
other black students were forced to stay in a
boarding house along the main street where
no restaurants would serve them.
Despite the prejudices held within the
town, Owens blossomed as a top athlete.
College coach Larry Snyder tuned his
technique, ixed his slow starts and made him
run like a pro. He told his protégé to sprint
using as little of his feet as possible so he
could glide across the track. After his success
at the Olympic tryouts in New York where
he broke the world record, he said goodbye
Jesse Owens
A CULTURE OF
DISCRIMINATION
SEGREGATION
During the early stages of Owens’ career
the US was deeply intolerant of African-
Americans and other minority races.
Segregation was the driving force of this
discrimination, black people were not
allowed to attend better funded whites-only
schools, be allowed to walk into whites-only
shops or even drink in whites-only bars.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Owens’ family was poor and as his father
was a labourer the Great Depression hit
them hard. They were forced to move from
Alabama to Ohio in search of work in what
became known as the ‘great migration’
of poor Americans from the depressed
southern states to the industrial north.
US POLITICS
US politics, especially in the south, were
tied up with the problem of segregation and
the calls to end discrimination against black
people through constant protests. Despite
this pressure, politicians in Washington were
reluctant to act since it would cost them
precious votes from a white middle class
fearful of militant civil-rights groups.
BLACK POWER
Throughout Owens’ career, black civil-rights
groups became increasingly vocal about
demands for justice and equality. Owens
himself became affiliated with a number of
pro-civil rights organisations, including some
militant groups that did not reject violence.
FBI director J Edgar Hoover even had files on
Owens and placed under surveillance.
A CHANGING WORLD
With the outbreak of WWII and the
devastation it brought, the old colonial
empires of Europe died and USA emerged
as the dominant western power. Owens
became a peace ambassador for the world’s
new superpower, spreading the ideals of
freedom and liberty throughout the globe in
the 1950s and 1960s.
55
 Legends of Sport
to his family; he was one of only 19 African-
American athletes on the US Olympic team of
over 350.
Owens and the other competitors knew
Hitler didn’t want to see anyone other than
his Aryan ‘master race’ winning gold medals
and prove to the world that his fascist
state produced the inest men and women.
The German athletes selected to compete
emphasised the Nazi ideal of racial purity,
men like Erich Borckmeyer, 1.8-metre (six-
foot) tall, muscular, Germanic looking and had
held world records for running. When the 100
metres inal got underway, Owens crouched
onto the starting blocks and forgot about the
other athletes around him. When the gun
ired he didn’t step heavy and remembered
what his father told him: “Imagine you’re
sprinting over a ground of burning ire.” He
put as little weight as possible on his feet and
almost tip-toed to the inish line. The training
paid of and he quickly accelerated ahead of
the pack and won his irst gold medal. Much
to Hitler’s dismay, Owens’ victories did not
end there, as he also won gold in the long
jump, 100-metre relay and 200 metres, in
which he also broke the world record with
a time of 20.7 seconds. He was the only
male US athlete to win multiple golds across
diferent events. He was a star.
The award ceremonies involving Owens
and other black athletes were steeped in
controversy. Hitler did not attend even though
he shook hands with other champions in
events before the 100 metres inal. Owens
was told Hitler had ‘an urgent appointment.’
He knew it was political. As Owens won
more medals pressure mounted on Hitler to
56
show his face at the award ceremonies. In
the end the Olympic committee told him he
would have to attend all or none of them. He
chose the latter and in private he was furious,
screaming to an aide: “These Americans
should be ashamed of themselves, letting
Negroes win their medals for them. I shall not
shake hands with this Negro!”
Owens was no fool; he knew Nazi Germany
would never accept him as their equal. The
bitter pill he had to swallow was when he
returned home and realised that neither
would America. Despite the ticker-tape
parade in New York and the fame from the
national press he was still a black man living
in the 1930s. After the parade he was refused
service in all hotels in the city apart from The
THE NAZI OLYMPIC GAMES
Berlin won the bid to host the 1936 Olympic
Games in 1931, before the Nazis came to
power, but Adolf Hitler became obsessed
with the possibility of projecting his new
country onto a worldwide stage. Despite
doubts from the International Olympic
Committee about the suitability of Nazi
Germany, Hitler was determined preparations
would be ‘complete and magnificent’ in order
to showcase the dominance of the Nazi state.
The head of the Reich Sports Office, Hans
von Tschammer, said the physical demands
of the Olympics would be an excellent way
Jesse Owens wins
the 100 metres
final in front of
Adolf Hitler
Pennsylvania but only on the condition that
he used the service lift. In Owens’ own words:
“When I came back to my native country, after
all the stories about Hitler, I couldn’t ride in
the front of the bus.”
He and his fellow athletes had been treated
like ‘trained seals’ by the Amateur Athletics
Union (AAU). They had gone on tour before
coming home, appearing at events in Europe
where the athletes were forced to sleep in
aircraft hangers because the AAU refused
to pay for hotels. When he inally returned,
Owens was penniless, but the commercial
deals he was being ofered would allow him
to support his family. The AAU told him latly
that he wasn’t allowed to accept them and
that must ‘do what he was told.’ Shocked and
of, “weeding out the weak, Jewish and other
undesirables.” In preparation, Hitler ordered
all people of Jewish and Roma descent
ineligible for participation in the Olympics and
made sure all athletes engendered the Nazi
credo of racial purity. When the games got
underway and non-white athletes like Owens
began to win medals over the supposedly
superior Aryan competitors, however, Hitler
was forced to leave the stadium in order to
avoid shaking their hands or congratulating
them in front of the watching crowd and the
eyes of the world.

angered at his treatment, Owens took the
deals and was stripped of his amateur status.
He found the commercial money dried up
after he turned his back on amateur athletics,
however. By the end of the 1930s he was
one of the most famous Americans alive,
yet he was desperately poor. In an efort to
raise money he started his own dry-cleaning
business but it quickly folded. He then did
celebrity appearances and founded a baseball
league; but it was not enough. So he decided
to turn himself into a fairground attraction
and race whatever his employers told him to,
including horses. Despite critics saying it was
below an Olympian’s dignity to sell himself
as a circus act Owens felt he had no choice.
He found steady employment during World
War II through US government, itness clinics
and showing of his physical prowess to keep
up morale. When the war ended he broke his
speed record, running 100 yards (91 metres) in
9.7 seconds during a baseball game in 1950. At
the age of 37 he was still dubbed the ‘greatest
track man of the past 50 years.’
JESSE WAS NOT AN ANGRY OR BITTER
MAN … HE JUST WANTED TO MAKE
SOMETHING OF HIMSELF
Minnie Ruth Solomon, Jesse Owens’ wife
Owens’ celebrity never completely waned
and in the rock-and-roll years of the 1950s,
when an ofer came through to go on a
goodwill trip to Berlin, he jumped at the
opportunity. In the 15 years since he had
made history there, Berlin had changed
dramatically; bombs had decimated the
city and the only way into the Olympic
stadium was via army helicopter. When he
set foot inside the stadium he was met with
thunderous applause; racial prejudice had
been replaced with acceptance. He addressed
the crowds and spoke of liberty for all,
proclaiming: “Stand fast with us in the ight
for freedom and democracy.”
Owens set numerous records while
competing for The Ohio State University
As the United States government and its
people moved on from segregation laws
and inequality, Owens inally gained the
recognition he deserved. In 1976, president
Gerald Ford awarded him the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian
honour. Owens had come a long way since
the small Alabama boy left his home with
his family for better opportunities in 1922. In
the words of his wife Ruth: “Jesse was not an
angry or bitter man. He didn’t hate anyone…
he just wanted to make something of himself.”
He died four years later, his place cemented as
one of the greatest sportsmen the world has
ever seen.
57
 Legends of Sport

THE
From loner, to captain
of the Australian cricket
team and, some would
say, the greatest

INVINCIBLE
batsman of all time,
Don Bradman’s career
spanned euphoric highs
and devastating lows

DON
n the shoulders of his teammates,

O Australian cricket captain Don

Bradman left the ield in England for
what appeared to be the last time. But rather
than being carried aloft as a hero, in 1938
Bradman was helped from the ield with
a broken ankle as England made 903 in a
game they would win to draw the series 1-1.
Bradman would later admit that he thought it
would be the last time he toured the country.
The burden of captaincy was too much to
bear – he was broken, physically and mentally.
All of which makes his leadership ten years
later, when Australia failed to lose a single
game in the UK, all the more remarkable. The
team was dubbed ‘The Invincibles’.
Bradman was not a natural captain. He
was, at heart, a solitary man. As a child he
famously spent hours hitting a golf ball
against a brick water tank with a cricket
stump, a practice to which many have
attributed his incredible talent. But it also
helped to shape his personality – most young
boys and girls learn to play cricket with their
brothers, sisters, parents, friends or anyone
who will bowl at them. Bradman played alone.
It’s perhaps unsurprising then that Bradman
was not made Australia captain until 1936,
eight run-illed years after his Test debut. The
early signs were troubling too: in his irst ive
innings as skipper, despite starting with a Test
average of 98.69, Bradman registered two
ducks and scored only 133 runs in total. It was
soon to prove a blip, however. With his side
2-0 down to England in Melbourne, Bradman
lipped the batting order to protect his top Bradman walks out at
Worcester in front of a
order from the diicult conditions, making packed house, as he did
270 himself as Australia took the match and throughout the 1948 tour
sparked a ightback to win the series. It was a
redemptive moment for Bradman, but there
were many who remained unconvinced. Few

58
Don Bradman

59
 Legends of Sport

doubted his ability as a tactician and batsman, Perhaps not a natural

but his personality was still on trial. There captain, there was
were still questions, and after the drawn never any doubt
that Bradman was a
series in 1938, Bradman had still not won as fantastic batsman
captain in England.
These reservations were soon rendered
irrelevant. When World War II broke out,
despite his wavering physical and mental
health, the 31-year-old Bradman joined the air
force. He would go on to serve in a number
of roles throughout the following months, but
ultimately the stress of training on his body
proved too great. In 1940 he was discharged
with ibrositis, a muscle condition that left
him unable to perform even the most basic
tasks without experiencing tremendous pain.
His cricketing days appeared to be over – he
could hardly even brush his own teeth, and
relied on his wife to shave his face.
When cricket resumed following the end
of the war, Bradman was appointed a Test
selector, becoming an inluential igure in
Australian cricket once again. A resumption
of his playing career was seen as out of
the question but, in true Bradman style, he
battled tooth and nail to come back. By his
own monumental standards, however, his
batting during the limited appearances he
made was painstaking.
With another home Ashes series looming in
late 1946, Bradman’s inclusion – which before
the war would have been near automatic
– was a topic of signiicant debate, not to
mention his ability to captain. The argument
was put to bed by a typically belligerent
Bradman, who contravened his doctor’s
orders and declared himself it to both play

A MARATHON,
NOT A SPRINT
When Australia visited England and Ireland in 2015, they played 16
matches, only nine of which were first-class, and in total spent just
short of 12 weeks in the UK. What’s more, they brought their golf
clubs, their families and all their home comforts along with them.
In 1948, Bradman and his men played 31 first-class matches and
another three minor matches – in total the tour consisted of 112
days of cricket over 144 days.
They left Australia on 19 March, stopping off in Sri Lanka to play
Pictured here in the middle a game there just in case they didn’t get enough cricket in England,
of the front row, Don
is part of the Bardsley- and arrived on 16 April. They played their last game in Aberdeen on
Gregory cricket team 18 September, and just about made it home in time for Christmas.
The modern player would balk at the idea.

60
 Don Bradman

A RESUMPTION
OF HIS PLAYING
CAREER WAS SEEN
AS OUT OF THE
QUESTION BUT, IN
TRUE BRADMAN
STYLE, HE BATTLED Don with Stan McCabe in

TOOTH AND NAIL TO 1938 resuming an innings

at the WACA during an
Australian XI vs Western

COME BACK Australia match

and lead. He averaged 97.14 in the series,

which Australia won 3-0.
Despite this climactic success, and
seemingly being constantly on the verge of
mental and physical breakdown, Bradman had
Bradman is almost run
to go back to England. It was an obsession, out during a Test at the
and understandably so – he had uninished Melbourne Cricket Ground
business with the English. In 1932, England
had beaten Australia on their own patch on
the infamous Bodyline tour, bowling fast at
Bradman’s body as part of a controversial
strategy to negate his talent. Not only that, but
the bad blood created by Bodyline seemed to
mark the beginning of Bradman’s declining
health and the in-ighting that haunted the
early years of his captaincy. So when, in
1947, he inally announced his retirement, it
seemed itting that his swansong would be a
tour of England. Bradman had earned another
chance through pure single-mindedness. He
had backed himself into a corner that left
victory as the only option.
The 34-game 1948 tour drew record crowds He wanted devastation; annihilation even. In bowler, Trevor Bailey, commented to Bradman
throughout. Bradman, of course, hated it. He the sixth game, against Essex at Southend, that Miller seemed uninterested. “He’ll learn,”
was here to score runs, lead his side and, most the Australians made 721 in just one day Bradman replied.
importantly, win. “Knowing the personnel, I before bowling the county side out twice for Of their irst eight matches, the Australians
was conident that here at last was the great a combined total of 270. It was completely won seven by an innings – only Yorkshire
opportunity which I had longed for,” he later unnecessary in a game with nothing at stake, came anywhere near them with a four-wicket
wrote. “A team of cricketers whose respect and especially on a tour where the visitors were defeat. If there had been any doubt about
loyalty were unquestioned, who would regard adored at every single turn. Bradman’s intentions before his arrival, that
me in a fatherly sense and listen to my advice, Even one of Bradman’s own players showed irst month brutally clariied them. He would
follow my guidance and not question my his dissent. Keith Miller – who at that point assault every bowler in the land so that when
handling of afairs.” topped the averages, having come in at 364/2 he arrived at Trent Bridge for the First Test,
Bradman had been open about his desire – allowed the ball through to hit his stumps. there would be no doubt about who the
to go unbeaten. He didn’t just want victory. “I got sick of the slaughter,” Miller said. The favourites were.

61
 Legends of Sport
NO FAIRY-TALE ENDING
In 1948, Bradman walked to the wicket at the Oval for Australia one last time
with the score at 117/1. Four runs would take his career average past 100.
However, English leg-spinner Eric Hollies produced a googly, which cleaned up
the Australian for a two-ball duck. Bradman’s average was set at 99.94.
Australia won the initial clash by eight
wickets, and Bradman made 138 in the
irst innings, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.
Having steamrollered everyone in sight, the
Australians found an English side braced for
the onslaught.
It took Bradman 83 minutes to record his
irst boundary. However, on a tricky pitch
with England’s bowlers exercising a control
none had yet managed, Bradman’s sheer force
of will and refusal to ofer up his wicket saw
him become the irst player to pass 1000 runs
that season. The tour, the runs, the victories:
Bradman poses with
his ‘Don Bradman’
brand Sykes bat
62
he felt they were all his responsibility. The
glory would be his, but the failure would be
too. Player and captain were inally working in
complete harmony.
Bodyline was 15 years in the past and his
broken ankle at the Oval ten, but for Bradman
the two experiences drove him in almost
everything he did that summer. Even his
selection of fast bowlers, like Ray Lindwall,
bore the marks of Douglas Jardine’s assault in
1932, and there was as much satisfaction in
his bowlers’ destruction of the English batting
order as in his own proliic run-scoring.
DESPITE BEING
CONSTANTLY ON THE
VERGE OF MENTAL
AND PHYSICAL
BREAKDOWN,
BRADMAN HAD
TO GO BACK TO
ENGLAND. IT WAS
AN OBSESSION
The irst defeat at Trent Bridge didn’t deter
the English crowd. A record gross of 132,000
people watched Australia win by a staggering
409 runs at Lord’s. Then to Old Traford,
where England dropped their best batsman,
Len Hutton, as Bradman’s side seemed to
spread confusion and panic throughout
the hierarchy. Only that old foe the English
weather spared the home side another
defeat. It meant Headingley would be where
Bradman won the Ashes. It was another
remarkable display by the tourists, and
ittingly their skipper was at its heart.
Having been set an unlikely 404 to win
with less than a day to play, Australia battled
on a turning wicket that the England captain
had subjected to the heavy roller. A draw
would have been enough, leaving Australia
with a 2-0 series lead with only one game
remaining, but nothing was further from
Bradman’s mind. He made an unbeaten 173 in
a little over four hours to win the game and
the series. When Australia arrived at the Oval,
the Ashes had already been retained. The last
Test could be dedicated to Bradman’s farewell.
In a quirk of fate, 39-year-old Bradman
played little part in an innings victory to
conclude the unbeaten tour. When walking
out to bat, captain Norman Yardley shook his
opposite number’s hand and led the rapturous
crowd in three cheers. Two balls later,
Bradman was walking back to the pavilion
with no runs to his name. It mattered not.
 HE HAD
BACKED HIMSELF A smiling Bradman

INTO A CORNER
before being diagnosed
with fibrositis in 1940

THAT LEFT
VICTORY AS
THE ONLY
OPTION

BODYLINE: BRADMAN TAMED In 1932, Douglas Jardine arrived in Australia

with a plan to stop Donald Bradman in his
tracks. The Australian had scored 974 runs
in just seven innings during the 1930 series
in England, and opposition captain Jardine
had no intention of allowing Bradman to do
the same on his own turf. Jardine devised a
system that involved his fast bowlers, led
by the fearsome Harold Larwood, bowling
short and at the body of the Australian
batsmen with a leg-side field.
The system was designed as much to
intimidate Bradman and company as to
dismiss them, and the tactics came close
to causing an international incident, as
England controversially won back the Ashes.
Bradman averaged in the 50s, but that
was nothing compared to the 139 he had
managed in England two years before.

63
 Legends of Sport

THE RISE &

FALL OF THE
BAMBINO
An all-American icon, Babe Ruth
reinvigorated a sport with his
lightning pitching, home runs
and larger-than-life persona Ruth pitching at Comiskey Park for
the Boston Red Sox at the home of
the Chicago White Sox, 1914

64
 Babe Ruth

t’s game three of the 1932 World Series already drinking the dregs from beer glasses,

I and Babe Ruth is pointing to centre

ield, goading Chicago Cubs pitcher
Charlie Root. Seconds later, Root’s pitch
was sailing into the Wrigley Field bleachers,
exactly where Ruth had pointed. In an act of
unparalleled audacity the New York Yankees’
‘Bambino’ had underlined his name in the
chewing tobacco and having run-ins with the
law. His parents realised that their discipline
alone couldn’t keep their son in check, so he
was sent of to a Catholic reformatory in an
attempt to teach the young troublemaker
some Christian values. St Mary’s Industrial
School for Boys would be his home for the

baseball record books and all-but secured
a seventh World Series’ title. For the mean
pitcher turned hard-hitting outielder, it
was the deining moment in a career that
fundamentally transformed baseball.
Babe’s story begins on 216 Emory Street in
the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Born George
Herman Ruth Jr. on 6 February 1895, he was
raised in a working-class neighbourhood
on the city’s waterfront. His parents, Kate
Schamberger and George Herman Sr., owned
a nearby tavern, but Ruth had a tough
upbringing, with him and his sister, Mamie,
the only two of the couple’s eight children to
survive infancy. Ruth was known throughout
his career as having a diicult personality,
and by the age of seven, ‘Little George’ was
next 12 years.
In the dozen years that Ruth spent at St
Mary’s, his primary motivator was a man
named Brother Matthias. A monk at St
Mary’s, Matthias is credited as the guiding
light who helped the young maverick take
to this new, regimented environment, while
also introducing him to baseball. Both Red
Sox and Yankees fans have a lot to thank
him for. Ruth would later describe him as
“the greatest man I have ever known.”
In the years to come the teenaged Ruth
began to showcase his true natural talent for
the sport. His ability didn’t go unnoticed, and
he was discovered by Jack Dunn, the owner
of the local side, the Baltimore Orioles (not
to be confused with the modern franchise
MURDERERS’
ROW
The Yankees’ 1927 team is considered one
of the best ever. Along with Babe Ruth, the
batting line-up included the big names of Earle
Combs, Mark Koenig, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel
and Tony Lazzeri. A top six to strike fear
into any pitcher, they earned the nickname
of ‘Murderers’ Row’, and each could boast
enviable career batting statistics. Superb
pitchers Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Urban
Shocker and George Pipgras completed the
team, and their manager, Miller Huggins,
oversaw a total of 110 victories in the season.

Babe is knocked
unconscious at a game
in Washington in 1924

65
 Legends of Sport
TO UNDERSTAND HIM, YOU HAD TO
UNDERSTAND THIS: HE WASN’T HUMAN
Joe Dugan, teammate
of the same name). A feeder side for the Red
Sox, this was the break Ruth was looking for.
Now aged 19, the only stumbling block was
that the young, up-and-coming star needed
a legal guardian to sign the contract. Dunn
gladly put pen to paper and, in doing so, Ruth
earned the nickname ‘Dunn’s new Babe’, a
title that would soon be shortened and then
immortalised in sporting culture.
It wasn’t long before the Bambino began
to make a name for himself. In one game,
the Orioles were up against the far more
successful major league side, the Philadelphia
Athletics. Despite being underdogs, Ruth had
other ideas, and while he would be known as
a power hitter later in his career, he unleashed
BABE RUTH IN NUMBERS
IN 1919, WHILE WITH THE RED SOX, RUTH SET A SINGLE-
SEASON HOME RUN RECORD OF 29
IN 1920, HIS FIRST YEAR IN NEW YORK,
HE KNOCKED 54 HOME RUNS
IN 1921 HE BROKE HIS OWN RECORD BY HITTING
59 HOME RUNS. IN FEWER THAN 10 SEASONS,
RUTH HAD MADE HIS MARK AS BASEBALL’S
ALL-TIME HOME RUN LEADER
IN 1927, RUTH OUTDID HIMSELF AGAIN BY
HITTING 60 HOME RUNS IN A SEASON – A
RECORD THAT STOOD FOR 34 YEARS
THE NEW YANKEE STADIUM (BUILT IN 1923) WAS
DUBBED “THE HOUSE THAT RUTH BUILT”
LEAD THE YANKEES TO SEVEN AMERICAN LEAGUE
PENNANTS AND FOUR WORLD SERIES TITLES
LIFETIME STATISTICS
2,873
HITS
506
DOUBLES
66
an expert exhibition of pitching, as 29 batters
struggled their way to a paltry six hits and two
unearned runs.
After a streak of similiarly scintillating
performances, Babe could not go unnoticed
for long. In the summer of 1914, Dunn was
strapped for cash so, in search of a quick buck,
he put his star player in the shop window.
The major leagues soon came calling in the
form of the Boston Red Sox, and Ruth packed
his bags and made his way to Massachusetts.
His Red Sox debut came on 11 July 1914, but
it wasn’t all plain sailing. Ruth was actually
sent back to the minor leagues to hone his
skills after a less-than-convincing performance
against Detroit.
22-YEAR BIG LEAGUE CAREER WITH 714 HOME RUNS
2,174
RUNS
2,213
RBI
.342
BATTING
AVERAGE
The young star slumped again in 1915, but
by June he was back – and back to stay. The
southpaw pitcher fast became a key member
of a Red Sox side that would land three
championships in the next ive years. The
1916 title in particular was a high point for the
rising star, who pitched a record 13 scoreless
innings in one game. The success continued
for another three years until it ended abruptly
as the Red Sox were faced with potential
bankruptcy. The club’s owner, Harry Frazee,
was deep in debt, and Ruth again found
himself as the most valuable asset. The New
York Yankees won the race for his signature
and, in December 1919, purchased him for a
record $100,000.
Predictably, Ruth’s departure signalled a
downturn in the Red Sox’s fortunes, but the
Yankees excelled, recording four World Series
triumphs in the next 15 seasons. Naturally,
the boy from Baltimore was at the centre of
this success, as his former club reeled in an
episode that would become known as the
MOST YEARS LEADING A LEAGUE IN
HOME RUNS (12)
MOST TOTAL BASES IN A SEASON (457)
HIGHEST SLUGGING PERCENTAGE FOR
A SEASON (.847)
CAREER HOME RUN RECORD STOOD UNTIL
1974, WHEN IT WAS SURPASSED BY HANK
AARON OF THE ATLANTA BRAVES
WON 89 GAMES IN SIX YEARS WHILE
SETTING THE WORLD SERIES RECORD FOR
CONSECUTIVE SCORELESS INNINGS
AMONG THE FIRST FIVE PLAYERS INDUCTED
INTO THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
.474 .690
ON-BASE
PERCENTAGE
SLUGGING
PERCENTAGE

‘Curse of the Bambino’. In the years to follow,
baseball fans would witness a number of
phenomenal seasons as Ruth became the
sport’s all-time home run scorer in just under
ten campaigns. His importance was so great
that when the Yankees moved to a new
stadium, it was afectionately known as ‘The
House That Ruth Built’. Attendances soared,
and Ruth went on to break his own record in
1927. His haul of 60 home runs in a season
stood for 34 years.
Ruth saw baseball evolve from a grind-
it-out style of sport into a big, high-scoring
game. Prior to his popularisation of power
hitting, baseball was experiencing a period
known as the ‘dead-ball era’. The sport was
going through a diicult age of pitching and
defence as the fans bemoaned a lack of home
runs and big hits. Enter Babe, who set about
launching an all-out assault on baseball’s
records. To quote Yankees’ teammate Joe
Dugan: “To understand him, you had to
understand this: he wasn’t human.”
The story of Babe Ruth wasn’t all record
setting though, with the Bambino having
an infamous appetite for food, alcohol and
women. His past as a young troublemaker
Babe Ruth (top row, centre) in 1913
during his stint in the baseball team
at the St Mary’s Industrial School
for Boys
never truly deserted him, and he lived a life
of excess, becoming a regular ixture in the
Big Apple’s raucous nightlife. This infamous
reputation later afected Ruth’s chances of
becoming a team manager; the man was just
too much of a risk.
By 1935, he was back in Boston playing
across town for the Braves. The overweight
Ruth looked past it, but he reminded his
fans of his enduring talent by hitting three
home runs in a single match on 25 May
1935. Deciding to go out on a high, he retired
the following week, and was inducted into
the Baseball Hall of Fame a year later. Two
years on from his accolade, Ruth realised his
ambition of becoming a coach when he was
taken on by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sadly,
he lasted less than a season in charge, and
never got the chance to manage a major
team. The former star donated much of his
fortune to charitable events, and on 13 June
1948 he made one last emotional appearance
at Yankee Stadium. Now sick with cancer, he
looked a shadow of his former self. He would A young Babe Ruth in 1920,
during his first year with
pass away just over two years later on 16
the New York Yankees
August 1948, but is forever immortalised in
the annals of baseball history.
67
 Legends of Sport

68
 Jackie Robinson

BREAKING An icon of the Civil

Rights Movement, Jackie
Robinson made history as
the first black man to play

THE
major league baseball

n deiance of racial epithets and heinous

I death threats, 28-year-old Jackie Robinson

strode onto Ebbets Field in Flatbush,

COLOUR
Brooklyn on 15 April 1947 to make history
as the irst black man to play modern
professional baseball.
Baseball, the American pastime and the
most popular sport of the period, had been
exclusively white for more than 62 years –
ever since a man called Fleetwood Walker

LINE
Jackie Robinson did more
than perhaps any other
sportsman to promote
equality in the United States
turned out for the Toledo Blue Stockings
in 1884 in the American Association. When
Robinson walked out onto the diamond more
than half a century later it was astonishing,
outlandish, revolutionary.
That day a 13-year-old Larry King – who
would become one of the United States’ most
beloved broadcasters – paid 50 cents to watch
the Brooklyn Dodgers open their season
against the Boston Braves. He was one of
only 26,623, a small baseball crowd in those
days – especially for opening day. “There’s no
whiter white than Dodger white”, King once
said. “And when he came out, that colour of
his skin against the colour of that uniform was
just mind-boggling to look at.”
Robinson, wearing his now-iconic number
42 jersey, ielded the game’s irst out, taking
the throw from Dick Culler’s grounder to third.
Stepping up against Johnny Sain, the right-
hander with the most wins in the National
League the previous year, Jackie then went
zero-for-three in the irst, third and ifth
innings, the last of which was a double play.
With the Dodgers trailing 3-2 in the seventh,
Robinson played a deft bunt down the right
line. The rookie irst baseman, Earl Torgeson,
rushed the throw, which skimmed of
Robinson and allowed him to get to second –
and Eddie Stanky to third. A double from Pete
Reiser scored both runners and the Dodgers
took the ballgame 5-3.
However, as impressive as he was on the
ield, the Jackie Robinson story is as much

69
 Legends of Sport

about his impact beyond the diamond as on

it. The man himself summed it up perfectly
Robinson’s inspirational
when he said: “A life is not important except journey to the major
in the impact it has on other lives.” leagues has been adapted
The enormity of 15 April 1947 is diicult to numerous times, including
this 1950 biopic in which he
comprehend for a person who lived through starred as himself
it; it’s nigh-on impossible to gauge looking
back. Yes, sport has always had a crucial role
in our culture, but it has tended to follow,
rather than shape, public opinion. The day
baseball re-integrated came more than seven
years before it was decreed that segregation
in something as pivotal as education was
unconstitutional, however. That 1947 game
was a turning point in the American Civil
Rights Movement.
So, who was it that set the wheels of history
in motion? Historians cite turning points like
the service of black Americans in the Second
World War as those that set the stage for
Robinson. The sporting successes of boxer Joe
Louis and track star Jesse Owens in the 1930s
undoubtedly helped, too. But in practical
terms, Brooklyn Dodgers club president and
general manager Branch Rickey had decided April 1947 is the date etched into the annals considered to be one of the greatest power
in the early 1940s he would ield a black of American history, it was the famous three- hitters and catchers in the history of any
ballplayer – and started the search for the best hour exchange in Rickey’s oice on 28 August baseball league. Exactly why Rickey went
man for the job. 1945 that truly changed the country forever. for Robinson instead of Gibson is unknown,
Robinson is the name children in every Before signing Robinson, Rickey wanted and few today have ever heard of the man
American school are taught to associate to ind out if he had what it took to break so revered at the time that some called Babe
with the shattering of the colour barrier. But baseball’s colour divide. While Robinson was Ruth ‘the white Josh Gibson’.
revolutions, like baseball, are team eforts. a standout ballplayer, many pundits of the Almost two years before Robinson played
In 1943 Rickey gained approval from the era were of the opinion that he wasn’t the a major league at-bat, Rickey sat him down in
Dodgers’ board of directors to ind a top best player in his division. That honour, it’s Brooklyn, quizzing him on whether he had it
player in the Negro leagues. And while 15 suggested, would have gone to Josh Gibson, ‘upstairs’ to deal with the likely backlash he’d
experience from fans, pundits and players –
including his own teammates.
“Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid

NEGRO LEAGUE STARS

to ight back?” Robinson asked. “I’m looking
for a Negro player with enough guts not to
ight back”, came the response. That same day
Between Fleetwood Walker in 1884 and Jackie Robinson signed an agreement to play for the
Robinson in 1947, there were a host of black Dodgers, worth $600 a month.
baseball players who spent the best years of their Despite being an established player at 27
careers locked out of the major leagues because of years old and at the peak of his physical
their skin colour. prowess, Robinson’s journey to the big leagues
Josh Gibson was arguably the best of the lot, took a year-long detour through the minors in
dubbed the black Babe Ruth by many – with the AAA baseball. He packed his bags and headed
remainder calling Ruth the white Gibson – he was a north to play for the Montreal Royals, and
catcher with a fierce arm and a big bat. though the proile of the league was lower, the
Satchel Paige, a lanky pitcher with a devastating opposition and outrage Robinson faced was
command was another all-time great who made it anything but.
to the big leagues, and with a flowing swing, Buck Clay Hopper, his manager for the 1946
Leonard was compared to the legendary Hank Aaron season, reportedly begged Rickey to send
in his pomp. However, retiring in 1948, he admitted Robinson to any other Dodger ailiate. He
he was too old to play by the time the divide ended. was latly rebuked by the steadfast executive.

70
 Jackie Robinson

THERE’S NO A 1947 poll placed Robinson

as the second most popular
man in the United States,

WHITER WHITE THAN after Bing Crosby

DODGER WHITE. AND

WHEN HE CAME OUT,
THAT COLOUR OF HIS
SKIN AGAINST THE
COLOUR OF THAT
UNIFORM WAS JUST
MIND-BOGGLING
TO LOOK AT
Larry king

Robinson’s irst stop was the southern state of

Florida, for spring training, where he arrived
to ind he couldn’t stay in the same hotel as
his white colleagues. Instead he was invited
to stay in the home of a local black politician.
And the discrimination and prejudice did not
stop there.
In the small town of Sanford, in
conservative central Florida, the chief
of police threatened to cancel games if
Robinson and Johnny Wright, another Negro
league player signed by Rickey, did not stop
training. That kind of hostility saw Robinson
transferred to Daytona Beach, Florida. But
when the team arrived in Jacksonville for a
ballgame, they found the stadium padlocked
without prior warning. Then in DeLand,
Florida one of their games was called of,
supposedly due to malfunctioning lighting.
During that season Otey Clark, a pitcher
for the Louisville Colonels, remarked:
“Everything he did, they booed him. I
remember our pitcher, Jim Wilson knocked
him down (with a pitch), and the fans
cheered. Robinson didn’t seem to pay any
attention to it.”
Robinson sensed his participation in that
season of minor league baseball was as much
about changing prejudiced perceptions as
it was the number of times he got on base.
He was as much an activist as a slugger. On
the eve of his irst minor league match-up,

71
 Legends of Sport
Robinson poses for a photo
in his Dodgers cap and now-
iconic number 42 jersey
72
in Jersey City on April 18 1946, he said: “We
all sensed that history was in the making,
that the long ban against Negro players was
about to come crashing down, setting up
reverberations that would echo across a
continent and perhaps around the world.”
That day he went four-for-ive, scoring four
runs, with a home run, four runs batted in
and two stolen bases, for a career-making
day. The second baseman would also go on
to lead the International League with a .349
batting average, and in runs scored, notching a
stunning 113 in 124 games.
Robinson played well but he also played
with panache, inishing second in the league
in stolen bases, with 40, and helping his team
to a sterling 100-54 regular season record. But
did he also change the minds of baseball fans
over the course of that season? The answer:
yes and no.
While Robinson enjoyed almost unanimous
support among the Royals fans, he was
consistently heckled by opposing spectators.
However, by the time he played his last minor
league game, Royals manager Hopper, who
started spring training by asking Rickey if he
“really thought a n***er was a human being”
had changed his tune: “Robinson is a player
who must go to the majors. He’s a big-league
ballplayer, a good team hustler and a real
gentleman”, he said.
After two full years in the big leagues
Robinson was considered a success. He had
overcome abuse, both physical and verbal
from fans and opposing players alike – and
from the St Louis Cardinals in particular,
who even threatened to strike in response to
AS IMPRESSIVE
AS HE WAS ON THE
FIELD, THE JACKIE
ROBINSON STORY
IS AS MUCH ABOUT
HIS IMPACT BEYOND
THE DIAMOND AS
ON IT
 Jackie Robinson

Robinson’s presence on the diamond. But

something was still missing.
By the close of the 1948 season, Robinson
was hitting for an average hovering around
the .290 mark; very good, but not great,
especially for a leadof hitter. So on the eve
of the 1949 spring season, Robinson turned
to hall of fame irst baseman George Sisler
for help – Sisler being the man who once hit
for a mind-blowing .420 average in a season.
Through their hugely successful master-pupil
relationship, Sisler taught the 30-year-old
Robinson how to hit to right ield, how to
anticipate a fastball and how to check his
swing until the last – the three things missing
from the second baseman’s game.
Robinson’s average duly shot up to a .342,
making his 1949 season one of the inest
in the history of the big leagues. Robinson
swept up the National League MVP award,
which was voted for by baseball fans, and
was the starting second baseman for the All-
Star game. These achievements, as fulilling
for the famous number 42 as they must have
been, were so much more important for what
they represented to the nation at large, and
Robinson recognised this.
He proved that not only did a black man
merit a place at the table with the white man,
but that he could go toe-to-toe with every
other professional in the game and come
out on top. In 1949 Jackie Robinson, the
Negro league player from Pasadena, southern
California, was the best ballplayer in the
world. Period.
Robinson would go on to play a further
seven years in the major leagues, but would
WE ALL SENSED THAT HISTORY WAS IN
THE MAKING, THAT THE LONG BAN AGAINST
NEGRO PLAYERS WAS ABOUT TO COME
CRASHING DOWN Jackie Robinson
do nothing to eclipse the achievements of
1949. He came close to leading his team to a
National League pennant, almost dragging his
Brooklyn side to the World Series by hitting
.335. But eventually they succumbed to the
cross-town rival New York Giants – and Bobby
Thomson’s famous game-winning home run
in the irst-ever nationally televised baseball
game, known since as the ‘shot heard ‘round
the world’.
Although Robinson inally won a World
Series title in 1955, by that time he was irmly
on the wane physically. And, while the title
was a nice way to cap his seismic career,
Robinson – who was already exhibiting the
signs of the diabetes which would curtail his
life – was left out of game seven of the world
championship series. He got his ring, but that
would be that.
Robinson did come close to signing a
contract with the Dodgers’ arch-rivals, the
aforementioned Giants from across the
Brooklyn Bridge. However, with his body
breaking down he decided to take up a
position as an executive with cofee brand
Chock Full o’ Nuts. Robinson retired at the
close of the 1956 season, at the age of 38,
however his contribution to the sport, and to
society, was never forgotten.
“Robinson was important to all blacks,” said
legendary Giants center ielder Willie Mays.
“To make it in the majors and to take all the
name-calling, he had to be something special.
He had to take all this for years, not just for
Jackie Robinson, but for the nation.”
Hall of famer Lou Brock echoed his
sentiments: “Jim Crow was king – and I
heard a game in which Jackie Robinson was
playing, and I felt pride in being alive.”
Robinson will always be remembered as
the man who changed, not only baseball, but
the United States. First as the only black man
in the most American of sports, and then
as the very best ballplayer in the world, he
proved to whites that black people had just
as much of a right to participate in American
life as they did. Every 15 April, every major
league player dons the number 42, which
has been retired by each ball club for the
other 364 days of the year. And for as long as
baseball is played, the name Jackie Robinson
will always live on.

REMEMBERING
ROBINSON
To this day, decades after Jackie Robinson first strode onto a major
league diamond, the sport remembers the pioneering player every
year on 15 April. Always falling close to the start of the season, the
celebration is marked by each player on every single team wearing
Robinson’s famous number 42 – a number also retired by each club
for every other day of the year. While the decision to universally
retire the number 42 came in 1997, 2004 saw the inaugural Jackie
Robinson Day take place, a move welcomed unanimously. The
tradition is now firmly ingrained into the fabric of baseball in the
United States, with players, fans and public figures alike using the
occasion to pay tribute to the American icon and Dodgers great.

73
 Legends of Sport

Despite his pro career being

cut short by injury, Jackson
still became the first player
to be named an All-Star in
two sports

74
 Bo Jackson

AMERICAN
An All-Star in both
baseball and football,
and a college track-and-
field superstar… is Bo

ALL-STAR
Jackson the greatest
athlete in history?

sk anyone to name the greatest

A sportsperson the world has ever seen

and you’ll get a range of answers: Pelé,
Muhammad Ali, Stei Graf, Usain Bolt. Names
known the world over.
But there’s one name that should
undoubtedly make the list; one that sports
fans outside of the US may not have heard.
For those that know the name Bo Jackson,
however, it’s easy to see why people describe
the man from Alabama as the greatest athlete
in sports history.
From an early age, Bo was talented on
the track, in baseball and in football, and
by the end of his career he was the irst
player in history to be made an All-Star in
the two major sports. One story that is often
overlooked thanks to Jackson’s astonishing
achievements though, is how he almost
decided to forego his football career entirely.
It was a dramatic time for Jackson, who had
been playing, and excelling, in both baseball
and football since his early high-school days.
After winning the Heisman Trophy during his
senior year for his exceptional performance
in college football, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
drafted Jackson, and the team’s management
invited him to visit, lying him out to Florida
on owner Hugh Culverhouse’s private jet. The
team reportedly assured Jackson that oicials
had checked with the National Collegiate
Athletics Association (NCAA) and that the
trip, which could have cost him his collegiate
eligibility, had been approved. Jackson was
also told that, if he chose to sign for the Bucs,
he would be required to quit baseball entirely
and be a one-sport athlete – a tough decision
for a young man of such exceptional talent.
When Jackson returned to Auburn
University, however, he was duly informed by
his baseball coach that the trip had not been
approved, and that the NCAA considered it
to be a violation of the rules. Jackson was
immediately ruled ineligible to play the

75
 Legends of Sport
remainder of the baseball season, and despite
the Bucs’ best eforts to help him appeal, the
bridge was burned.
Jackson has since spoken about the
situation, explaining that he thinks it was
a plot by the Bucs to force him to drop his
baseball career in favour of signing for their
team – that if they declared him ineligible
for baseball, he would be forced to focus on
football. He was convinced that, because he
was having such an impressive senior season
in baseball, the NFL team thought he would
give up his football career to focus on the
other sport, and that their actions were a
desperate attempt to stop him from doing so.
Jackson was understandably furious that
Culverhouse had lied to him, and vowed
that if the Buccaneers drafted him he would
refuse to sign. He made good on his promise
later that year, and so they forfeited his rights
before the end of the 1987 draft.
Fortunately, Jackson’s career in sport was
not over by any means. In 1986, despite the
fact that he had been ruled out of the game
for half a season, Jackson was drafted by an
MLB team, the Kansas City Royals. He signed
for them and, after spending a year playing
for the Memphis Chicks (the Royals’ Class AA
minor league ailiate) he made the Royals
roster in 1987.
Finally able to show what he could do on
the ield on a major stage, and burned by his
experience with the Bucs, Jackson seemed
committed to being a one-sport athlete. But
before the 1987 NFL draft ended, Bo was
drafted again – this time by the Los Angeles
Raiders. Curious, he met with the owner
of the Raiders, Al Davis, and they came to
an agreement that would allow Jackson to
continue to play baseball as well as playing
in the NFL. A contract was negotiated where
Jackson would be permitted to see out the
entire baseball season with the Royals before
reporting to the Raiders for the remainder of
the football season. Not only that, Davis also
ofered Jackson an extremely generous salary.
CAREER OPTIONS
As if going pro in two major US sports wasn’t enough, in school Jackson had another option
that he could’ve pursued – track and field. He competed in decathlon, and was a two-time
state champion in the competition. Both times, he built up such a commanding points lead
before the final event (the 1500m) that he never even competed in the race, and still won the
gold medal. He also set state school records in high jump and the long jump.
76
Jackson had an overall
batting average of .250
at the end of his career,
hitting 141 home runs
For Bo, this was the perfect scenario – not
only did he get to continue with his baseball
career, he could also test his ability on the
football ield in the pro sphere. In his irst
season with the Royals, Jackson hit 22 home
runs with 53 runs batted in and ten stolen
bases as a left-ielder. Not a bad start for his
irst season in the majors, but it was in the
1989 season that he really started to showcase
his talents.
That year Jackson was voted to start for the
American League All-Stars – a team made up
of the best players in the league. The team
then faced of against their National League
counterparts, and after catching a line-drive to
save two ield runs, Jackson hit a monstrous
137-metre home run to open his side’s irst
inning. At the end of the game he was
unanimously named MVP for his play on both
ofence and defence.
Of course, throughout these years, he was
also playing the majority of games for the
Raiders in the NFL. In 1989, the same year
that he was named an All-Star for the Royals,
he also had his most proliic season as a
football player. In the 11 games in which he
played, Jackson rushed for 950 yards and
scored four touchdowns as the team’s feature
running back. The next year he rushed for
698 yards and scored ive touchdowns over
the ten games he played to earn Pro Bowl
honours – making him the irst player in
history to be named to All-Star teams in two
major US sports. He was at the very top of
both his games.
However, in January 1991, disaster struck.
Jackson was on the receiving end of a
seemingly routine tackle at the end of a
34-yard run during a Raiders playof game,
which resulted in a career-ending hip injury.
Despite surgery in 1992, Jackson was never
able to return to the football ield – it was the
premature end of the star’s NFL career.
But injury didn’t totally end his sporting
life. Jackson made a triumphant return to the
baseball diamond in 1991, where he played
two seasons with the Chicago White Sox,
appearing in 108 games in total. According to
an interview with ESPN, Jackson promised
his mother that once he recovered from hip
surgery, he would hit a home run for her.
Sadly, before he could make his return, she
passed away. In his very irst inning after
surgery, Jackson hit a home run to right ield.
He reportedly had the ball encased and bolted
to the dresser in her room. In 1994, after just
seven years as a professional, he retired as an
all-time great.
 Bo Jackson

IN HIS BASEBALL IN THE NFL HE

CAREER HE HIT RUSHED FOR

141
HOME RUNS
2,782
YARDS
16
TOUCHDOWNS
IN JUST

4
SEASONS

STILL HOLDS A HIT IN

MONDAY NIGHT
FOOTBALL CARRY
RECORD OF 20 2012
221
HE COMPLETED A

YARDS
300
HOME RUNS
IN EVERY
PRO SEASON
MILE
BICYCLE RIDE
BEFORE HIS FOR CHARITY
INJURY

77
 Legends of Sport

KINGS OF THE SADDLE

We run down the champion jockeys whose monumental
achievements will forever stand the test of time

he role of a horse-racing jockey is perfectly plot their tactics to their horse’s jockey. Naturally, some do it far better than

T often widely debated. Just how

important are they? While a jockey
can’t turn a lousy horse into a superstar,
the best jockeys know exactly how to steer
a horse around a course. They understand
their mount’s strengths and weaknesses, and
best abilities. Some horses will prefer to hang
around at the back of the pack and break
through later in a race, while others are more
comfortable leading from the front.
Finding the right balance and executing
it correctly is the ultimate ambition of any
others – this list counts down the best.
Examining racing giants on both sides
of the Atlantic, from both lat racing and
National Hunt, here are ive jockeys that have
contributed some of horse racing’s most
iconic and enduring achievements.

78
 Kings of the Saddle

01 TONY MCCOY
When it comes to National Hunt jockeys,
Sir Tony McCoy is incomparable. He was
Champion Jockey (most winners in a season)
a record 20 consecutive times – every year
he was a professional. He won 4,358 times
over the hurdles, and won every major race
in the British jump calendar. His 289 wins in
the 2001/02 season is a British horse-racing
record for most winners in a season (lat or
jumps), beating Sir Gordon Richards’ long-
standing mark of 269 victories in 1947.
McCoy won 31 times at the Cheltenham
Festival, including a then-record ive winners
at the 1998 festival. He rode Mr Mulligan to
his irst Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1997, but
would have to wait until 2010 to claim his
irst Grand National win. Riding 10-1 joint
favourite Don’t Push It, McCoy inally won
the world’s most famous race at the 15th
time of asking. The emotional outpouring as
McCoy crossed the Aintree line in front of
70,000 spectators showed just how highly
the Northern Irishman was regarded. He was
knighted by the Queen in 2016.

Tony McCoy on Straw Bear,

who was winner of the
2006 Fighting Fifth Hurdle

02 BILL SHOEMAKER
For 29 years, Bill Shoemaker held the survived. He grew to 1.5 metres and weighed
Bill Shoemaker during a
photo shoot just before a
race at Hollywood Park

world record for total professional victories.
He inished a 40-year career with 8,833
victories, including a staggering 11 Triple
Crown races. It’s something of a miracle that
Shoemaker became a jockey, considering
he wasn’t expected to make it through the
night after his birth. Weighing a tiny 1.1
kilograms, Shoemaker was put in a shoebox
in the oven to stay warm, and somehow
just 48 kilograms – the perfect stats for
a champion jockey. Although the Triple
Crown itself avoided Shoemaker, he is
fondly remembered for dominating the races
through the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Perhaps
his inest moment came in the Kentucky
Derby in 1986, when he rode 18-1 outsider
Ferdinand to victory. At 54, Shoemaker
became the oldest jockey to win the race.

THE INFANT SHOEMAKER WAS PUT IN

A SHOEBOX IN THE OVEN TO STAY WARM,
AND SOMEHOW SURVIVED
79
 Legends of Sport

03 LESTER PIGGOTT
With close to 5,000 career wins, including
a stunning nine Epsom Derby triumphs
and three Prix de l’Arc de Triomphes, Lester
Piggott is a horse-racing legend. At 1.72 metres,
Piggott was remarkably tall for a jockey, and
famously rode 6kg under his natural body
weight throughout his career to compensate.
His rap-a-tap-tap whip style was controversial
but efective, and has since been widely
copied. Piggott was an international jockey
too, winning races in 27 countries outside the
UK, paving the way for the modern ‘freelance’
jockey who rides for multiple stables and
owners. In 1990, after spending a year in
prison for tax evasion, Piggott claimed the
Breeders’ Cup Mile in the US on top Royal
Academy. He retired in 1995 with 11 Champion
Jockey awards to his name.

PIGGOTT WAS
AN INTERNATIONAL
JOCKEY, WINNING
IN 27 COUNTRIES Lester Piggott on
Teenoso wins the Derby
at Epsom in 1988
OUTSIDE THE UK

04 FRANKIE DETTORI
Italian-born Frankie Dettori announced l’Arc de Triomphe in that same year, marking
himself to British horse-racing fans by Dettori’s fourth, and record-equalling, win at
becoming the irst teenager to ride more Lonchamp. Dettori went on to be named the
than 100 winners in a season since Lester World’s Best Jockey 2015 after topping the
Piggott. While he would never match rankings with a score in excess of 100.
Piggott’s dominance of the sport, the
charismatic rider was prone to moments of
brilliance. He will forever be remembered
DETTORI WILL
for winning all seven races on a single
day at Ascot, and for his trademark ‘lying
FOREVER BE
dismount’ celebration. Dettori needed just
the Epsom Derby to complete his collection REMEMBERED FOR
of the British Classics, and did so at the 15th
attempt when he rode the Peter Chapple- WINNING ALL SEVEN
Hyam-trained Authorized to the title in
2007. Dettori would go on to win the Derby RACES ON A SINGLE
again in 2015, on board Golden Horn. The
dynamic pair would also win the Prix de DAY AT ASCOT
80

Eddie Arcaro on board
Maine Chance Farm’s
Reward in April 1958,
during a workout on
the track
05 EDDIE ARCARO
If the Triple Crown is the most prestigious title
in US racing, then that makes Eddie Arcaro
the most prestigious jockey in this list. Arcaro
is the only jockey to win the Triple Crown
twice, on board Whirlaway in 1941, and again
after World War II in 1948 on Citation. In total,
he notched 17 winners in these classic races
over an 18-year period – ive in the Kentucky
Derby, and six each in the Belmont Stakes and
the Preakness Stakes. Such was his success
that Arcaro collected career earnings of more
than $30 million – an almost unimaginable
US Triple Crown
winner Secretariat
pictured here during
his retirement in
the 1970s
Kings of the Saddle
amount in today’s money. He rode 4,779
winners before being forced into retirement in
1962 due to severe bursitis.
The son of Italian immigrants, Arcaro had
begun racing at 16 in 1932. He was another
jockey born premature, and at 1.57 metres
tall, another perfectly built for life in the
saddle. Arcaro stayed attached to racing after
his retirement, and was the driving force
behind the creation of the Jockeys’ Guild,
an association representing the interests of
American jockeys.
THOROUGHBRED EXCELLENCE
Choosing one racehorse that stands out
above all others is virtually impossible,
but Secretariat’s records have stood
the test of time. In 1973, Secretariat
became the first US Triple Crown winner
in 25 years. The race records he set
in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness
Stakes and the Belmont Stakes still
stand today. His overall record stood
at 16 victories from 21 starts, and he
took home career earnings in excess of
$1.3 million. In the lead up to his assault
on the Triple Crown, Secretariat was
ARCARO IS THE
ONLY JOCKEY TO
WIN THE TRIPLE
CROWN TWICE, IN
1941 AND AGAIN
AFTER WORLD WAR
II IN 1948
crowned the 1972 American Horse of the
Year, an award handed out to only one
two-year-old horse since. Secretariat had
wonderful pacing too, starting last before
perfectly accelerating through the field.
With Ron Turcotte on board, he utilised
this method to win the Kentucky Derby
and the Preakness Stakes, both by 2 ½
lengths to the unlucky Sham in second.
Secretariat left his defining moment
to the crunch third leg of the classics,
however, claiming the Belmont Stakes by
a stunning 31 lengths.
81
 Legends of Sport

82
THE GOLDEN
Journey back to an era
of wooden rackets,
big hair, fiery on-court
remonstrations and truly

AGE OF
transcendent tennis stars

hile there’s much to be said for

W the last decade, during which

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak

TENNIS
John McEnroe made five
consecutive Wimbledon finals
in the 1980s, winning three
of them
Djokovic and Andy Murray have reigned
supreme – tennis has arguably never been as
popular or relevant as it was in the late-1970s
through to the mid-1980s.
It was a fully-professional age of tennis, and
yet one which was still supremely accessible.
The stars, not yet media-trained, said what
they liked to the press, and arriving before
the age of mass consumerism, spectators
were also spared the ubiquitous commercial
presence of today’s game, in which players
rush to strap on sponsored wristwatches
before collecting their Grand Slam trophies.
Plus, travelling sans entourages, even tennis
mega stars would take up lodgings with local
families, wherever they played – rather than
the fancy hotels of today. Back then, wooden
rackets were still the norm, save for a few
innovative players, meaning the style of play
was generally more attacking; and based on
ingenuity and guile, rather than brute force
and attrition.
And while usually either Americans or
Europeans dominate the sport today, it was
a time when players on either side of the
Atlantic had a legitimate claim on superiority.
Not only that, but the breadth and depth
of competition was arguably higher than it
had ever been, or has been since. In short,
it was the golden era of tennis. And the one
tournament to completely epitomise it was
Wimbledon in 1980.
On the men’s side, the dashing, ice-cool
Swede, Bjorn Borg was gunning for a ifth
consecutive title at the age of just 24, while
the next big thing, a brash, young New Yorker
by the name of John McEnroe sought his
irst SW19 crown. There was also Jimmy
Connors, the only man with a larger on-court
persona than McEnroe, waiting in the wings,
his famously combative temperament only

83
 Legends of Sport

fuelled by having to play third-string to his

two dominant, younger rivals. And, although
he didn’t make a dent in the main draw, a
20-year-old Ivan Lendl made only his second
of 14 appearances at the All England Club,
seeded tenth.
The women’s tournament was packed with
potentially even more star-power. Top seed
Martina Navratilova, often considered the
game’s all-time great, would look down at a
draw including bitter rival Chris Evert (then
Evert-Lloyd), against whom she had lost the
two previous Wimbledon inals. She was,
however, coming hot of her fourth French
Open title at the time.
John McEnroe racing
Also in the pack were two players at polar across the court with
opposites of their careers; a 36-year-old his legendary speed.
Billie Jean King, appearing in one of her inal
Wimbledon championships but still going
strong as the ifth seed, and Tracy Austin, 19 inal duel between Navratilova, quickly on match should the drizzle return, complaining
years King’s junior, who had become the US her way to becoming the queen of the All her vision would become obscured if drops
Open’s youngest-ever champion the previous England Club having already collected two fell on her lenses. When it did, however, the
summer. Finally the long-serving Australian of her eventual nine crowns, and Billie Jean umpire continued the contest as Navratilova
Evonne Goolagong Cawley, seeded fourth, King. It only came to be after King, ighting to took the irst set 7-6, at which point it was
lurked menacingly in the draw, though win one last time the title she coveted above agreed they’d come back the next day.
Navratilova remained the hot favourite. all others, had saved match point against Pam In the morning sun King took the second
The women’s tournament, one of the Shriver in the previous round, prevailing 5-7 set at a canter, conceding just a solitary game
greatest-ever tennis competitions in terms 7-6 10-8 over the course of a mammoth match to the world number one Navratilova in a
of depth of talent, got underway with few that lasted nearly three hours. The event itself little under 20 minutes. A ierce battle raged
surprises during the opening week. Local was a colossal battle; King clearly had a lot in the third, with neither competitor giving
hopes faded early on, however, with Sue of ight left in her – and many suspect she an inch, until King inally broke to serve
Barker and Virginia Wade, both seeded inside would’ve pulled of the shock were it not for for the match at 6-5. Heartbreakingly, she
the top 20, dumped out in the second and her poor eyesight. dumped four volleys – normally one of her
fourth round, respectively. The match of the King only agreed to play through in a most dependable shots – into the net and her
tournament was undoubtedly the quarter- rain-interrupted irst set if oicials halted the opponent was of the hook.
After saving match points in her next two
THE WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT WAS service games, King damaged her glasses in a
changeover, switching to a less familiar pair, to

ONE OF THE GREATEST EVER TENNIS which she attributed her loss after going down
10-8 in the third. “I think that maybe the

COMPETITIONS IN DEPTH OF TALENT single match in my career I could have won if

I hadn’t had bad eyes”, she later remarked.

TIMELINE

15 JUNE 1974 16 JUNE 1974 8 SEPTEMBER 1979 8 JUNE 1980 6 JULY 1980
The women’s golden era Bjorn Borg wins his i rst Chris Evert pats Tracy Bjorn Borg lifts his third Borg successfully sees
commences as Chris Evert Grand Slam title – at Roland Austin on the head as the consecutive French Open off the challenge of John
picks up her i rst French Garros in June 1974, kicking latter, aged 16, wins the i rst title, his i fth Roland Garros McEnroe to retain his
Open crown. off the men’s golden era. of her two Grand Slam titles. triumph in seven years. Wimbledon crown in 1980.

84
 A MAN FOR
ALL COURTS
These days it’s not uncommon to win the
French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back
(both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer
have done it) but in Bjorn Borg’s day it was
virtually unheard of.
Nowadays, because of racket technology
and what some claim to be a deliberate ploy
by the All England Club slow down the play
at Wimbledon, the two are growing closer in
speed and bounce.
But it simply wasn’t done in the men’s
game in the golden era of tennis.
Clay required ardent baseline play,
boundless stamina, consistent, deep
groundstrokes and patience. Players like
Guillermo Vilas won it.
Grass, on the other hand, was a serve-
and-volley man’s kingdom. Borg, however,
won the pair back-to-back a staggering three
times – in 1978, ’79 and ’80 – and it is one
of the reasons he is considered an all-time
great alongside the likes of Rod Laver, Pete
Sampras (below) and Roger Federer.

Jimmy Connors
poised for action
with a double-
handed grip in 1978

4 JULY 1981
McEnroe defeats Borg in
the 1981 Wimbledon i nal,
coni rming his status as the
world number one.
13 SEPTEMBER 1981
Borg shakes hands with
McEnroe at the net after he
loses the US Open i nal. He
would retire shortly after.
3 JULY 1982
Martina Navratilova defeats
Chris Evert 6-1 3-6 6-2 to win
the 1982 Wimbledon title the
third of her eventual nine.
4 JULY 1982
Veteran Jimmy Connors
upsets reigning champion
John McEnroe in the 1982
Wimbledon i nal.
9 SEPTEMBER 1984
John McEnroe beats Ivan
Lendl to win the 1984 US
Open i nal, his i nal Grand
Slam singles title

85
 Legends of Sport
The men’s draw saw an equally dramatic
quarter-inal when Connors faced of against
American Roscoe Tanner, the owner of the
biggest serve in the game at the time. His
16 aces weren’t enough to stop Connors
prevailing 1-6 6-2 4-6 6-2 6-2 in a brutal
encounter, which left the Illinois native saying,
“when Roscoe is on a string like that, you just
sit and wait ‘til it’s over – it’s just brutal.”
Had he won the tournament, the world
number three would have had to beat
Tanner, McEnroe and then Borg in successive
days, thanks to persistent rain delays and
rescheduling. Alas, although he took a set
from McEnroe, his younger rival always
seemed on a collision course with Borg in the
inal, beating Connors 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.
This 1980 tournament was slap-bang in the
middle of a time of seismic shifts in men’s
tennis. Like the women’s game, it was a much
more professional sport than it had been
just years previously. However, the creation
of their union, the Association of Tennis
Professionals (ATP), was the product of a
bitter struggle with sponsors to allow players
to act as free agents. The result was the
abolition of the professional-amateur divide
and tennis became big-money entertainment
virtually overnight.
The newly-formed ATP lexed its
muscles in 1973, calling for a player boycott
of Wimbledon over the suspension of
Yugoslavian number one Nikola Pilic by his
tennis federation for his refusal to play in
a Davis Cup tie. Among the top players, 81
withdrew from the tournament, including 12
of the 16 top men’s seeds, one of whom was
reigning champion, and top seed Stan Smith.
Hence the era of player power was born.
For the irst time, players were allowed to
dictate their own touring schedules, driving
ticket, television and advertising revenue
through the roof and turning the game’s stars
into household names. As money lowed in,
participation rates soared, paving the way
for the 1980s – an era of unprecedented
competition and diversity in the sport.
On the women’s side, clay specialist Evert
came from a set down to defeat her great
WITH A HUGE, BLACK CLOUD OVER
CENTRE COURT, GOOLAGONG CAWLEY
BLEW EVERT AWAY IN THE FIRST SET
86
THE END
OF AN ERA
The day Bjorn Borg retired marked
the end of the golden era of
tennis. In his quest for a first US
Open title – to go along with his
six French Open trophies and five
Wimbledon crowns – the Swede
was beaten by John McEnroe, who
was now the undisputed king of
tennis. Coming just months after
he lost his Wimbledon crown in
1981, Borg threw in the towel. He
was just 26 years old. Many have
speculated that – unlike modern-
day greats like Pete Sampras and
Roger Federer – Borg didn’t want
to compete as the second-best
player in the world. For him, it was
top spot or nothing.
rival Navratilova in the irst semi-inal 4-6 6-4 series of net charges to break – and forced a
6-2, while Goolagong Cawley bested Austin, tie-break. After some nervy exchanges, the
who had won 35 of her previous 36 matches, Australian found a mini-break, and herself
in a topsy-turvy encounter, 6-3 0-6 6-4. 5-3 up. Returning, Evert chipped a delicate,
Goolagong Cawley had endured a miserable loated forehand drop shot, but it clipped the
year to that point, with illness and injury net and rolled back, handing her opponent
keeping her sidelined for seven weeks before three match points.
June. It seemed to be a blessing in disguise, Missing the irst on a long, airy sliced
however, as commentators remarked how backhand return, Goolagong Cawley made no
fresh and hungry the Australian looked. “I get mistake on the second, bringing Evert to the
stale if I play too much”, she later remarked. net and striking a hard passing shot down the
With a huge, black cloud over Centre Court, line, which Evert could only volley limply into
Goolagong Cawley blew Evert away in the irst the net. Nine years after her irst Wimbledon
set, taking it 6-1. win, Goolagong Cawley was the champion.
The second was a much tighter afair – and It was now the turn of the men. In
Evert even served for it at 6-5, despite falling dispatching Brian Gottfried in the semi-inal,
3-0 behind shortly after a lengthy rain delay. Borg ensured he passed to the inal with the
But Goolagong Cawley, going for her second loss of just two sets, where he would meet
Venus Rosewater dish, went on the ofensive, McEnroe in the inal everyone had expected
pushing her baseliner opponent back with a to see. It didn’t disappoint.
McEnroe, 21, was met with a cacophony
of boos as he strode out onto Centre Court –
potentially a irst for a inalist in Wimbledon’s
104-year history. But if anything was going
to ire up the Queens native with the sharp
tongue and a sharper slice serve, it would be
just that.
 The Golden Age of Tennis

THE GOLDEN AGE

IN NUMBERS
26
COMBINED GRAND SLAM
SINGLES TITLES WON BY
18
GRAND SLAM SINGLES
TITLES WON BY

CHRIS EVERT
BJORN BORG AND

JOHN MCENROE MARTINA NAVRATILOVA

AND EACH
ONLY
JIMMY CONNORS STEFFI GRAF AND SERENA WILLIAMS
HAVE MORE IN THE OPEN ERA

8 YEARS BETWEEN JIMMY CONNORS’

FIRST AND SECOND WIMBLEDON
TITLES. HE FIRST WON THE
TOURNAMENT AS A 21-YEAR-OLD IN

1974, BUT HAD TO

WAIT UNTIL
40
BILLIE
AGE AT
WHICH
JEAN KING
1982
FOR HIS SECOND
RETIRED, ALLOWING HER TO COMPETE
WITH YOUNGER RIVALS MARTINA
NAVRATILOVA AND CHRIS EVERT

87
 Legends of Sport
Roger Federer, whose
Grand Slam record would
eventually surpass those of
Borg, Connors and McEnroe
88
THE SECOND
GOLDEN AGE?
Some have described the recent era, defined
by the dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael
Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray
as the true golden age of tennis – or men’s
tennis at least. While the women’s game
has been relatively thin on the ground
recently, the period between 2005 and 2012
undoubtedly saw one of the greatest crops
of on-court talent ever.
However, while the modern era has
outstanding individual success stories – with
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic combining for a
whopping 42 Grand Slam singles titles – the
period between the late 1970s and early
1980s is almost unanimously considered to
have boasted louder, enthusiastic and more
compelling personalities.

McEnroe burst onto the scene against the
lithe Swede two years previously, stunning
his illustrious opponent in his own backyard
(Stockholm), at 18 with a blistering straight-
sets victory. As with all great match-ups,
the two exhibited completely diferent
playing styles, in addition to their contrasting
personalities. McEnroe, a serve-and-volley
exponent with a vicious swinging serve to
the Borg backhand and an artist’s touch at the
net, came up against the marathon man, who
covered every blade of grass and returned
everything with the precision of a surgeon.
After racing to the irst set 6-1, the upstart
American seemed to relax, allowing Borg
to jam his foot in the door with a series of
searing passing shots to take the second 7-5.
Now having McEnroe irmly under the cosh,
he took the third set 6-3. Down a break in
the fourth, and staring down the barrel of
the gun, McEnroe earned himself a reprieve
by conjuring an inspired passage of tennis,
dragging the fourth to a tie-break.
MCENROE
WAS MET WITH
A CACOPHONY
OF BOOS AS HE
STRODE OUT ONTO
CENTRE COURT
Bjorn Borg, with his
trademark hairstyle,
races across the court
for a double-handed
backhand in 1979
GREATEST
MATCHES OF THE
GOLDEN ERA
What followed has gone down in tennis lore
simply as ‘the tie-break’. After 34 points and
22 minutes, in which McEnroe and Borg saved
ive match points and set points, respectively,
the American took it 18-16 with a wicked top-
BORG DEF. MCENROE
1980 WIMBLEDON FINAL
spinning return to the feet of the onrushing
Borg, who could only net his pick-up volley. A scintillating five-set classic, played at
But if McEnroe thought the ice-man was an incredibly high standard, which was
about to melt in the deciding set, having punctuated by a 34-point fourth-set tie-
come so close to a ifth crown, he was wrong. break. This is often called the greatest tennis
Cranking up his serve, which came down match ever played. The final score was 1-6
at McEnroe from an awkward height, and 7-5 6-3 6-7 (16-18) 8-6
increasing the ferocity with which he ran
everything down, the Swede lost just two
points on his next seven service games. EVERT DEF.
Returning at 7-6, Borg found himself 40- NAVRATILOVA
15 up. Chipping back his return, McEnroe 1985 FRENCH OPEN FINAL
advanced on Borg, but on the stretch could
The match Chris Evert, then aged 30,
only ofer a volley straight down the ‘T’. With
described as her ‘most satisfying’ win,
trademark foot-speed Borg shaped to hit a
because it proved she could still be a
two-isted backhand, ripping it cross-court and
Grand Slam champion – and still overcome
past the outstretched racket of McEnroe. He
Navratilova, who had dominated their
had won with lair. The undisputed number
rivalry for two years. Evert won a marathon
one spot belonged to Bjorn Borg.
encounter 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 7-5
That he would bow out of the game
scarcely a year later at the premature age of
26 – after relinquishing his Wimbledon crown
to McEnroe and missing out on a irst US
CONNORS
Open title at the hands of the same man – is DEF. MCENROE
of hardly any consequence. More lasting is
the image of the long-haired Borg sinking to
1982 WIMBLEDON FINAL
Eight years after he won his first Wimbledon
his knees on that July day in 1980, his face
pointed to the sky in exhausted joy. It was his
final – and after being shut out by the
Borg-McEnroe hegemony – Connors pulled
triumph, in the greatest match of all time. It’s
an image which not only deines the golden
off an upset in an ill-tempered affair.
Although McEnroe came close to his second
era of tennis, but the agony and ecstasy of the
sport itself.
successive title, Connors prevailed in five,
winning 3–6, 6–3, 6–7, 7–6, 6–4.
89
 Legends of Sport

GOLDEN AGE STARS

BJORN BORG
The ice-cool Swede enjoyed his prime from
the mid-1970s until he retired, at the age of
26 in 1981, after succumbing to arch-rival
John McEnroe in the Wimbledon and US
Open inals. Born in Stockholm in 1956, Bjorn
turned professional in 1973 and duly won the
French Open the following year.
Borg holds a number of Open Era records,
including winning 41 per cent of Grand Slam
singles tournaments he entered – and 90
per cent of his matches in those. He won
Wimbledon and the French Open three times
in a row, and won a Grand Slam title without
dropping a set on three separate occasions.
Borg won 11 Grand Slams in total – ive
Wimbledons and six French Opens.
However, he failed to win the US Open in
ten attempts, in which he reached the inal
four times. In the early 1990s Borg attempted
an ill-fated comeback in which he insisted
on using a wooden racket, at a time when all
other professionals used graphite frames. In
his irst nine matches back, he failed to win
a set. Borg’s on-court demeanour was always
understated; he was not one for outbursts or
theatrics in the vein of McEnroe or Connors.

JOHN MCENROE
John McEnroe is remembered both for his
ability – especially his touch and net play –
and for being the archetypal enfant terrible.
His berating of match oicials over disputed
calls is legendary, and his oft-parodied ‘you
cannot be serious’ outburst has gone down
in infamy in sports folklore. While the subject
of amusement, McEnroe is also credited for
inspiring a radical improvement in the quality
of match oiciating during his career, too.
Born in 1959 in Germany (where his father
was stationed with the US Air Force), he grew
up in Queens, New York City and attended
Stanford University to play tennis, before
turning professional in 1978. McEnroe won
seven Grand Slam singles titles in all – four
US Open crowns and three Wimbledon
championshiips – but his bête noire was the
French Open, where he lost the 1984 inal to
Ivan Lendl, having led by two sets to love.
McEnroe was also a highly successful
doubles player, winning nine Grand Slam
titles, with frequent playing partner Peter
Fleming once remarking that the best-ever
doubles pairing would have been McEnroe
and ‘anyone else.’

JIMMY CONNORS
Jimmy Connors, considered one of the best
players of all time, was notable for his intense
on-court mentality, aggressive baseline
playing style, and his longevity at the top of
the sport. Born in East St Louis, Illinois in
1952, and coached by his mother, Connors
made his debut on the Pro tour in 1972.
As a 21-year-old he enjoyed a historic
year in 1974, winning three of the year’s
four Grand Slam titles. His US Open inal
victory that year against pre-Open Era
legend Ken Rosewall was notable for its
stunning brutality, decimating the 39-year-old
Australian 6-1 6-0 6-1. The American was one
of the irst tennis players to experiment with
non-wooden racket frames, using a distinctive
steel number in the early-1980s. Connors won
eight Grand Slams in total, between 1974 and
1983, but played until the age of 44, enjoying
a memorable run in the 1991 US Open as a
39-year-old wildcard, after a series of unlikely
victories against younger opponents.
During his career Connors was notorious for
his on-court antics, characterised by some as
boorish and contrary to the spirit of the game,
while others enjoyed his showmanship.

90

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA
Considered by many leading commentators
to be the greatest-ever female tennis player,
Martina Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam
singles titles and a record 31 major women’s
doubles titles.
Born in the Czech Republic in 1956,
Navratilova made her debut on the United
States Lawn Tennis Association Pro tour
in 1973 as a 16-year-old. Most at home on a
grass court, Navratilova ittingly won her irst
major title at Wimbledon in 1978 and won
nine singles titles at the All England Club in
total. She enjoyed a long and storied rivalry
with Chris Evert, with the two meeting 80
The Golden Age of Tennis
CHRIS EVERT
Chris Evert (nicknamed the Ice Maiden) is
one of the most successful tennis stars of all
time. Tied on 18 Grand Slam singles titles,
the same as Martina Navratilova, only Stei
Graf and Serena Williams have more in the
Open Era.
Two years Navratilovas’ senior, she was
born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1954,
turning professional in 1972. In her 17-year
career she racked up a frankly astonishing
winning percentage of 89.96 per cent,
winning 1,309 matches and losing only
146 times, which is the highest Open Era
win ratio of all time, for men and women.
Considered a child prodigy before they
times between 1973 and 1988, 61 of them in
inals. Between the two of them they held
the number one spot for all but 23 weeks
between November 1975, when rankings were
introduced, and August 1987.
Navratilova still holds a number of records
in women’s professional tennis, including
most singles titles (167) and most doubles
titles (177) in the Open Era, as well as holding
the best-ever season win-loss record, when
she went 86-1 in 1983. Navratilova continued
to play on the women’s doubles and mixed
doubles circuits for many years after she
retired from singles.
BILLIE JEAN KING
While Billie Jean King’s prime years had
passed by the time the golden age of tennis
rolled around, she was still a formidable and
feisty opponent – and more than a match for
anyone else playing on the tour until the day
she retired.
But her presence at tournaments towards
the end of her career were just as important
for symbolic reasons, for BJK was tennis’s
greatest political igure and revolutionary.
Plus, the advent of the WTA tour and a great
deal of its early success is owed to largely to
her tireless work of the court.
An early advocate for gender equality in
sports, King is most famous outside of tennis
became the norm in women’s tennis, she
is one of the few to not only cope with the
burden of great expectation, but actually
achieve more than most would have
expected of her.
A clay court specialist, Evert won a higher
proportion of her matches on the surface
(94.55 per cent) than any woman since
the inception of the WTA. Never losing in
the irst or second round of a major, Evert
reached the semi-inals or better in 34
consecutive Grand Slams between the 1971
US Open and the 1983 French Open. She was
a consistent baseliner noted for her steely
on-court demeanour and focus.
circles for her exhibition match against Bobby
Riggs, dubbed the ‘Battle of the Sexes’. The
then-29-year-old King took on the 55-year-old
Riggs in 1973, in what is still the highest-
attended tennis match ever in the United
States, drawing a live audience of over 30,000
and a television viewership of an estimated
90 million people worldwide. In a best-of-ive
set encounter, King triumphed in straight sets,
6-4 6-3 6-3, in what was a symbolic moment
both in sports and American society.
King enjoyed a hugely successful 24-year
career, winning each of the Grand Slam
singles prizes, before inally retiring at 40
years old.
91
 Legends of Sport

In 1982, one play earned

Joe Montana and the San
Francisco 49ers a place in
history, and heralded the THE
COMEBACK
beginning of one of the
NFL’s greatest dynasties

he playofs of the National Football

T
KID
League’s 1981 season seemed like
any other: a mix of expected results,
with some shocks and surprises thrown
in. But they also marked a sea change; the
genesis of a footballing dynasty that would
go on to dominate the league in the decade
to come. Standing in the way of this power
shift was head coach Ray Perkins and his
New York Giants, fresh from a battle with the
Philadelphia Eagles at Veterans Park. Opposite
them, the San Francisco 49ers and their cool-
headed hotshot quarterback, Joe Montana.
Now in his third year of professional football,
Montana, and the 49ers, were hungry for their
irst taste of Super Bowl glory.
The Giants had always been a strong
contender in the NFC, playing a physical style
of football on both ofence and defence. The
49ers, on the other hand, were plucky and
determined, but never consistent enough
to be of any real threat. This time, though,
something was diferent. At 25 years old,
Montana had inally settled into his role, and
with an ofence gelled around him, his passing
was consistently tearing defences to ribbons.
The Giants were wary of a change, but they
weren’t expecting this.
“I don’t think anyone saw it coming with
them becoming the dominant team in the
league for several years to come,” recalls
Perkins, now 70, in an interview with
NewJersey.com. “They had some really great
teams and played some really great football
over the next four to ive to six years. We
certainly didn’t see that coming, but that was
the one game that got them over the hump.”
A few months earlier, with the 1981 regular
season looming, the 49ers had been readying
themselves for another run at Super Bowl
immortality. With his ofence inally feeling Joe Montana in action for
complete around Montana, head coach Bill the San Francisco 49ers

92
Joe Montana

93
 Legends of Sport

Walsh began building his defence into a Montana was throwing short pass after The Catch has become
fortress of muscle and steel. He revamped short pass and wide receiver Dwight Clark arguably the most iconic
his secondary with rookies Ronnie Lott, Eric was catching them like it was practice. moment in NFL history

Wright and Carlton Williamson before giving
experienced safety Dwight Hicks a more
prominent role.
With these changes in place, the Niners had
a slightly shaky start with losses to the Detroit
Lions and Atlanta Falcons in the irst three
games of their campaign. Soon after, however,
things began to shift rapidly into gear.
Montana began throwing completed pass
after completed pass, and Hicks and the rest
of the defence started swallowing ofensive
plays like a black hole.
The team would go on to win all but one
of their next 13 games, blowing their rivals
away in a truly spectacular showing. The
Niners’ focus on the short passing game, and
Montana’s impeccable arm, helped them
cruise through the regular season with a
13-3 record, winning the NFC West and also
booking a place against the Giants at the
49ers’ home, Candlestick Park.
In that game, the Niners threw everything
at the Giants. Montana and company had
become known as a team that came back
from behind to win, but here, they went on
from a 7-7 tie in the irst quarter to totally
dominate New York. By the second quarter,
that lead was 17-10, which rolled into a 24-10
lead by half-time.
The Niners refused to relent, and Montana
pummelled the Giants defence until the inal
whistle was blown, calling time on a 38-24
win. Clark was easily Montana’s favourite
receiver with ive passes for 104 yards and a
touchdown. Next stop: the Dallas Cowboys.
Next stop: The Catch.
That successful pass from Montana to
Clark in the dying seconds of the NFC
Championship Game on 10 January 1982
has become legendary among players,
broadcasters, coaches and fans. When Clark
leapt above defender Everson Walls, collecting
the ball in the Dallas end zone for the winning
touchdown, it created something electric:
a moment in time that changed the fate of
Montana and the rest of the 49ers forever.
Prior to that inal drive, the game was a
back-and-forth afair that Dallas was slowly
winning in a war of attrition. It wasn’t pretty,
but it was getting the job done. Early on
Montana had thrown a blinding 17-yard pass
to Charle Young, and an even more impressive
24-yarder to Lenvil Elliott before an eight-
yard pocket pass saw wide receiver Freddie
Solomon trot over the line for a touchdown.
Cowboys QB Danny White responded with
a 20-yarder of his own before setting up a
44-yard ield goal. And the Niners’ hard-fought

THE STEVE YOUNG

QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSY
After more than a decade of leading the
Niners offence, Montana sustained an elbow
injury that put him out for the entirety of the
1991 season. The strain was so severe that
Montana was forced to miss almost all of
the next season as well, before coming on to
play in the final game of the regular season
against the Detroit Lions. Despite almost two
years out, Montana proved he still had it,
guiding the team to another win.
Second-string QB Steve Young had stepped
into Montana’s shoes in the interim, and
had proved his worth, despite the Niners not making the playoffs in 1991. Young continued
to start the following season, but many thought his days were numbered, as reports of a
recovering Montana continued to surface. However, the deputy’s growing confidence and
performances ultimately won out. Montana would eventually be traded to the Chiefs.

94
 Joe Montana

THAT PASS IN THE

DYING SECONDS OF THE
NFC CHAMPIONSHIP
GAME HAS BECOME
LEGENDARY

95
 Legends of Sport
Montana
throwing a
pass against
the Cincinnati
Bengals at
Super Bowl
XXIII in 1989
lead was soon erased when a fumble on the
29-yard line allowed White to throw for a 24-
yard touchdown.
In the second quarter, things went from
bad to worse when a Montana pass was
intercepted in the end zone. But the ensuing
Cowboys drive was eventually stopped, and
it didn’t take long for Montana to ind his
favourite pair of receiving hands, slotting
a sweet 20-yard touchdown pass to Clark
to make it 14-10. Dallas soon struck back.
A ive-yard rush over the line was all that
was needed to retake the lead, following a
controversial interception penalty that gave
the Cowboys an extra 35 yards of scrimmage.
Montana seemed to lose his cool in the
third quarter, a pass to running back Elliott
96
bouncing out of his hands, but an interception
by Niners linebacker Bobby Leopold spared
his blushes. Montana then made an easy
handof to leet-footed RB Johnny Davis to
retake the lead at 21-17.
This clearly wasn’t the Cowboys of old, their
era of dominance was coming to a close, but it
was still a team willing to grind through blood
and sweat for a win. One minute into the
fourth quarter and everything went wrong for
Montana and the Niners. A 22-yard ield goal
reduced their lead, and then a fumble by RB
Walt Easley set up White for a simple 21-yard
touchdown pass to Doug Cosbie, storming the
Cowboys into a 21-27 lead. With less than ive
minutes on the clock, Montana and his team
had a lot of ground to cover.
Montana dug in, found his form, and
embarked on an 83-yard drive that brought
the Niners to the Cowboys’ 6-yard line.
The quarterback was keeping his cool,
trusting the fortiication of his ofensive line
and scrambling away from any defenders
fortunate enough to break through. No
interceptions now. Just focused passing.
Next came ‘the play’, because behind every
great catch, there’s a play orchestrating the
pieces. With 58 seconds left at third and three,
Montana took the snap and prepared for a
‘Sprint Right Option’ that would have opened
Freddie Solomon up for a pass. But Solomon
slipped, leaving Montana without his intended
target. A pass rush had also collapsed the
ofensive wall, with two defenders now

I AM HONOURED TO BE ABLE TO BE A
PART OF A PLAY THAT WAS KIND OF THE
CULMINATION OF JUST THIS INCREDIBLE
SURPRISE SEASON
Dwight Clark, former 49ers wide receiver
bearing down on Montana. He didn’t panic
– he knew exactly where Clark would be,
despite not being able to see the end zone.
Sprinting towards the sideline, Montana
threw an almost-desperate high pass over the
onrushing defenders. The next thing he knew,
the crowd was screaming. Touchdown. Kicker
Ray Wersching made the extra point, and the
49ers were winning 28-27.
”It’s humbling, really,” commented Clark
on making The Catch in America’s Game: The
Super Bowl Champions documentary. “I feel
honoured people are still talking about it, 25
years later. I am honoured to be able to be a
part of a play that was kind of the culmination
of just this incredible surprise season. It’s great
to give 49er fans that moment that they can
relive over and over and over, and I know
they do because when I am in San Francisco
and a lot of places, people want to talk about
that play and how it crushed the Cowboys
and sent them into submission for a decade.”
For Montana and the 49ers, the win
against the Cowboys – against ‘America’s
RETIREMENT PLAN:
THE PRICE OF FOOTBALL
Joe Montana may have retired at the age
of 38 in 1995, following 14 seasons at
the San Francisco 49ers and two at the
Kansas City Chiefs, but all those years
of blood, glory and scrimmage took
their toll – something Montana has been
reflecting on ever since.
“The mental part was hard initially
when I first retired,’’ commented
Montana to USA Today. “Because it’s
quick – cold turkey, the game’s gone.
Joe Montana
Team’ – in the NFC Championship Game was
as important as their eventual victory over
the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI. It
was symbolic of a shift in NFL dominance,
the mantle of power passing from one team
to another. After years at the top of their
game, the loss to Montana and the 49ers at
Candlestick Park in 1982 signiied the end of
the Cowboys’ time at the top. The guard had
changed, and the Dallas Cowboys were out.
The win also heralded the beginning of the
San Francisco 49ers as one of the true football
dynasties of the 1980s. With Montana as their
talismanic quarterback, the team began a run
that would lead them to a total of four Super
Bowl victories in the next nine years.
Montana changed the team, and some
would say the entire league, forever with his
focus on pocket passing, his never-say-die
attitude, and his burning desire to win. Across
his career at the Niners, and later the Chiefs,
Montana led his teams to 31 fourth-quarter
come-from-behind wins. Few nicknames are
as well-earned as ‘The Comeback Kid’.
Then the physical stuff tries to catch up
with you.”
Since his retirement, Montana has
extreme pain in the muscles of his hands,
a knee that won’t straighten after four
separate surgeries, and a neck that has
needed three fuses and is headed for a
fourth. As well as further surgery on his
elbow, Montana also has nerve damage in
one eye; the painful legacy of a career in
the high-impact NFL.
97
 Legends of Sport

REASONS
JORDAN IS
THE GREATEST
From his incredible debut season to launching the most iconic brand in
sport, this is why Michael Jordan is basketball

pen a dictionary on either side of the Atlantic, ball handling and heart-stopping dunks. Put simply,

O look up the word ‘basketball’ and you won’t ind

a single word of deinition – all you’ll see is a
picture of Michael Jordan soaring through the air, tongue
hanging out, awestruck opponents gazing up at him.
This is what MJ means to the sport of basketball. He’s a
living legend. A man who took one of America’s greatest
professional sports and made it a global phenomenon.
Forget the Harlem Globetrotters, Jordan became a true
mainstream icon thanks to his incredible footwork, deft
Michael Jordan is to basketball what the late, great
Muhammad Ali was to boxing – a deinitive two-word
synonym for the sport.
As testament to this, we’ve gathered together 23
moments that encapsulate MJ’s dominance of the NBA,
along with ive potential challengers to his throne.
Records broken, championships claimed, and legendary
status achieved: this is the momentous history of
basketball’s most iconic son.

98
 Michael Jordan

CLINCHING
RING NUMBER
SIX WITH THE
CHICAGO BULLS
01
Some might argue that Jordan –
and the Bulls’ – irst NBA title in
1991 was the greatest moment
of his career, but truth be told the original
championship clinch was the inevitable end
to a six-year build up that cemented Jordan’s
status as a superstar. But a sixth title in the
same decade? Now that’s the stuf of
sporting legend.
That inal game, a rematch against the Utah
Jazz on 14 June 1998 was a close one. The Jazz
gave no Bulls no quarter, and with 40 seconds
left on the clock and the Bulls trailing, Jordan
would again prove his greatness. Two expert
shots later, the second from a Jordan steal,
saw the Bulls clinch the title at the buzzer. Six
titles, one decade. Jordan’s inal shot for the
Bulls was a magical moment in time.

‘THE SHOT’
02
In the late 1980s, Jordan was
fast becoming the face of
basketball thanks to his speed,
point-scoring power and instant likeability.
And as the Bulls entered game ive of the
Eastern Conference irst-round series on 7
May 1989 he would perform a single move
that would echo through the history of the
NBA. Facing the third-seeded Cleveland
Cavaliers, who the Bulls had struggled
against in the regular season, a tight match-
up looked to be heading back to Chicago for
game six. But Jordan and company weren’t
going down without a ight. As the game
drew to a close with the Cavs in the lead,
Jordan took a shot from the foul line and hit
a buzzer-beating basket that would send the
Bulls through.

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 Legends of Sport

THE FLU GAME THE HALL OF FAME

Imagine playing one of the best games of your career It’s not often that a Hall of Fame speech makes its way

03 while battling a nasty case of the lu and a 103-degree

fever. It sounds paradoxical, if not outright impossible.
Well, as history proves, Jordan was no ordinary player, and healthy or
04
not, he was not going to sit on the sidelines and abandon the Bulls
when they needed him the most. Dubbed ‘The Flu Game’, the match-
up between Chicago and the Utah Jazz in game ive of the 1998 NBA
inals saw Jordan step up and score an incredible 38 points while
fatigued and disoriented. Coach Phil Jackson unequivocally called it
the best Jordan performance he’s ever seen, and this was MJ on a bad
day. Two days later, he and the Bulls claimed their ifth title.
into the annals of sporting history. On 11 September
2009, Michael Jordan was inally inducted into the
hallowed halls of the NBA HOF and when he stepped up to the
mic he made waves by bringing up every single person who had
doubted him, from his earliest years to his arrival in the NBA. He
didn’t attack them, however. Instead, he thanked them, citing them
as a driving force for his success. Controversially, Jordan even called
out former GM Jerry Krause, who had gone on record stating only
organisations could win championships. Jordan was deiant in his
position – it was players, not franchises, that won titles.

A FATHER’S DAY NBA TITLE

When Michael Jordan’s father from him. His Airness would go on to have years before. Jordan would go on to help the

05 was murdered in 1993, he swiftly

announced his retirement from
basketball, citing a lack of enthusiasm for the
sport now that his biggest fan had been taken
a middling career in Major League Baseball
before returning to the NBA, and the Bulls, in
1995. He was immediately able to rekindle the
Bulls win another NBA title, the fourth of his
career, with the championship-winning game
coming on Father’s Day: a true tribute to the
ire that had made him so dominant in the late James Jordan.

100

A PLAYOFFS
RECORD OF
63 POINTS
06
During the 1986 NBA Playofs,
Michael Jordan would secure
another record. In a match-up
against the Boston Celtics on 20 April 1986, he
scored a truly terrifying 63 points and helped
secure a powerful Bulls victory. It’s a towering
record, and one that still stands, continuing
to cement Jordan’s status as one of the NBA’s
most creative and dominant players. On that
day, Jordan was unstoppable – he’d been out for
most of the regular season with a broken foot,
but when he returned he ravaged the Celtics. It
was such an incredible performance that Celtics
legend Bird commented that he’d come up
against “God disguised as Michael Jordan.”
Michael Jordan
SHRUGGING
OFF GREATNESS
If one event could sum up
07
the palpable sense of magic
surrounding Michael Jordan in
his heyday, it’s ‘The Shrug’. One of several
epochal moments that now have their own
titles – see ‘The Shot’ and ‘The Shot II’ – it was
a standout moment of inspiration in a career
littered with them. On 30 June 1992 in a game
against the Portland Trail Blazers, Jordan
began by scoring a tasty 35 points in the irst
half, adding another four to help the Bulls
breeze past the Blazers 122-89. By the end of
the game, Jordan had hit six three-pointers
to send the crowd into raptures. He was on
ire, and the now-iconic nonchalant response
suggested that even the man himself couldn’t
quite comprehend his performance.
BY THE END OF
THE GAME, JORDAN
HAD HIT SIX THREE-
POINTERS TO
SEND THE CROWD
INTO RAPTURES
THE 1988
DUNK CONTEST
Basketball is all about exhibition,
08 and what better stage to perform
on than a dunking competition
in front of the world? Dunking competitions
were nothing new when Jordan joined the
1988 event during the All-Star weekend, but
with the Bulls forming into one of the most
formidable teams in the NBA, everyone was
excited to see His Airness step up. Taking
place in Chicago, Jordan deinitely had the
home crowd – and potentially a couple of the
judges – on his side. But there could be few
complaints when he won with a scorching
leap and dunk from the free throw line.
101
 Legends of Sport
NAMED NBA FINALS MVP
THREE YEARS STRAIGHT
Once Chicago won the NBA
09 title in 1991, the seal had
been proverbially broken. A
new age had begun, and the Bulls were
the new kings of US basketball. For three
straight years the they battled their way
to the inal round of the NBA Finals, and
102
along the way one Michael Jordan became
the only player to be named NBA Finals
MVP three times before 1993. During a
legendary six-game series against the
Phoenix Suns in 1993, Jordan averaged
41 points per game, as the Bulls stormed
their way to a three-peat.
THAT DUNK
OVER PATRICK
EWING
If you’re going to make a dunk
10 heard around the world, why
not do it over the head of one of
the league’s most dominant centres? That’s
exactly what Jordan did when the Bulls faced
the New York Knicks in the 1991 Eastern
Conference inals. Just before the Bulls would
go onto to dismiss the Bad Boys of the Detroit
Pistons, they needed to get past their other
rivals, the dominant Knicks.
Taking place in the inal seconds of the irst
half, Jordan’s viciously hard dunk towered
over the seven-foot Ewing and helped reduce
the Knicks’ lead at the time to just two points.
Much like Scottie Pippen’s dunk over Ewing a
couple of years previously, the move summed
up the intense rivalry burning in the Eastern
Conference in the early 1990s. It’s also Jordan’s
personal favourite dunk.
THE MOVE
SUMMED UP THE
INTENSE RIVALRY
CLAIMING
THE NCAA
TITLE AS A
FRESHMAN
Before Jordan claimed double Olympic
11 gold and six NBA titles, he was carving
a name for himself in collegiate
basketball history. It wasn’t an impact he took
his time to make either. During his freshman
season, Jordan helped take North Carolina to
NCAA championship greatness in 1982. Under
coach Dean Smith, Jordan had 13.4 points per
game with a 53.4% shooting average. He tore
North Carolina’s opponents to shreds and
saw the college take its irst national title in a
quarter of a century.
 Michael Jordan

WINNING THE LEADING THE DREAM TEAM

FIRST RING How do you top winning gold at a Team USA illed with fellow icons. Dubbed

By the time Jordan and the Bulls 13 the 1984 Olympics? You go ahead
and do it again eight years later at
the ‘Dream Team’, MJ was lanked by Patrick
Ewing, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, John

12 began the 1990-91 season, the

Chicago-based franchise had yet
to clinch a championship in its 25 years
the 1992 games in Barcelona. In 1984, Jordan
had barely been drafted by the Bulls, but at
the beginning of the 1990s he had cemented
Stockton, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, David
Robinson, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
Together, Olympic gold was assured and the
of existence. But there was something himself as a legend in the making and joined team became the stuf of legend.
shifting in the Eastern Conference – the
LA Lakers were slipping from their perch
and the brutality of the Detroit Pistons
had lost its edge. Jordan and the Bulls
DUBBED THE ‘DREAM TEAM’, MJ WAS
came out swinging, their dismissal of the
Pistons in the conference inals setting up a
FLANKED BY PATRICK EWING, SCOTTIE
showdown with the Lakers. And while the
series wasn’t quite the event everyone was
PIPPEN, CHARLES BARKLEY, LARRY BIRD
hoping for, Jordan put on a masterclass and
helped claim Chicago’s irst NBA title. AND MAGIC JOHNSON TO NAME A FEW

BEATING THE BAD

BOY PISTONS
14
Rivalries are the lifeblood
of professional sport, and
basketball has had plenty
of iconic hot-headed duels. During
the late 1980s and early 1990s, there
was one team that was consistently
the bane of Jordan and the Bulls: the
Detroit Pistons. With the LA Lakers a
shadow of their former selves,
it came down to these two
giants of the Eastern
Conference to slug
it out for supremacy.
Swatted out of the
playofs by the Bad
Boys in 1988, 1989 and
1990, Jordan and the Bulls
came at the Pistons looking for blood
in 1991. The clinically dispensed with
their physically imposing rivals in a
four-game whitewash.

103
 Legends of Sport

BAGGING A 72- OLYMPIC GOLD IN 1984

WIN SEASONAsk any basketball fan worth
17
In the summer of 1984, Jordan
had barely been drafted by the
Chicago Bulls (technically he was
Wayman Tisdale also illing out the ranks
with plenty of star power. Still, the young MJ
wasn’t to be pushed to the sideline, and he

15 their salt to name the best NBA

team of all time and there’s a
very good chance the words ‘1995-1996
still a college player at the time) when he
was selected for another incredible honour –
joining the USA’s national basketball team at
led the scoring for Team USA, averaging a
cool 17.1 points per game as he and his fellow
players steamrollered their way to Olympic
Chicago Bulls’ will tumble from their mouth the 1984 summer Olympics in Los Angeles. gold on home soil. Coached by the legendary
with awestruck reverence. That legendary Jordan wasn’t the only hyped young player Bobby Knight, the win in LA was the irst
Bulls team was truly a force of nature, and on the team either, with Patrick Ewing, Sam salvo in a pro career where Jordan would win
with Jordan at the fore they racked up an Perkins, Chris Mullin, Steve Alford, and every major accolade out there.
unprecedented 72 wins on their way to
reclaiming the NBA title after a two-year
hiatus from the inals. The previous record
of 69 wins, held by the 1970-71 LA Lakers,
was smashed when Jordan and the Bulls
pulled of an impressive win to down the
Milwaukee Bucks on 16 April. The Bulls’
mark would stand for two decades until a
Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors
notched 73 wins in 2015-16

THAT LEGENDARY
BULLS TEAM WAS A
FORCE OF NATURE,
WITH JORDAN AT
THE FORE

ROOKIE OF
THE YEAR There was little surprise when

16 Michael Jordan bagged the

Rookie of the Year award in his
debut season in the NBA. This was the
young man that had efectively led Team
USA to Olympic gold just before the season
started, lest we forget. And the accolade
wasn’t awarded on simple goodwill – Jordan
earned it with a truly impressive opening
year in pro basketball. With the number 23
Bulls jersey on his back, he helped Chicago
improve its record to 38-44 and breach the
postseason for the irst time since 1981. He
averaged 28.2 points per game and even
earned a place on the All-Star team.

104
 Michael Jordan

A HIGH OF
69 AGAINST
THE CAVS
Michael Jordan has so many

18 records to his name, ranging from

points scored to number of shots
blocked (his stellar defensive contributions
to the Bulls are often overlooked), but his
record high of 69 points in a game against
the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1990 really stands
out. During the 1989-90 season, the Bulls and
the Cavs were headed in two very diferent
directions. While the Bulls were racking
up the wins, their Cleveland rivals were
slipping further out of contention. So when
Jordan racked up a staggering 69 points and
an equally jaw-dropping 18 rebounds in a
single game on 28 March 1990 it sent a clear
message to the Cavs and the rest of the NBA:
you’re good, but you’re not Bulls good.

IT SENT A CLEAR
MESSAGE TO THE
CAVS AND THE REST
OF THE NBA: YOU’RE
GOOD, BUT YOU’RE
NOT BULLS GOOD

‘THE SHOT II’ THE 30K CLUB

There aren’t many players who pull of a play that passes into sporting myth. More so than in most sports,

19 Fewer still manage it twice. But that’s the territory of one Michael Jefrey Jordan.
The second, but no less famous basket that has since been immortalised as ‘The
Shot II’, was taken in the 1993 Eastern Conference semi-inals. Once again lined up against
20 statistics are integral to
basketball. From points to assists,
those all-important numbers don’t just win
the Cleveland Cavaliers, the game had come down to a tie. With mere seconds left on the championships, they cement the status of
clock, Jordan charged in and took a shot at the elbow to clinch the game and continue the the NBA’s elite players. Perhaps the holy grail
Bulls’ dominance of the Cavs in the 1990s. of stat categories is the fabled ‘30,000 Point
Club’, a prestigious group of NBA legends who
have accumulated a staggering number of
WITH SECONDS LEFT ON THE CLOCK, points throughout their careers.
Only ive players hold the honour and,
JORDAN CHARGED IN AND TOOK A SHOT hardly surprisingly, Jordan is one of them. He
entered the club in third place on 4 January
AT THE ELBOW TO CLINCH THE GAME 2002 while wearing a Wizards Jersey.

105
 Legends of Sport
BECOMING A BRAND
WITH JUMPMAN
21
Today, there are plenty of
sportsmen and women who enjoy
sponsorship deals and agreements
with some of the biggest sportswear and
clothing brands in the world, but very
few have ever transcended their sport so
completely that they create their own brand.
In 1997, in a landmark partnership with
sportswear and shoemaker giant Nike, Jordan
TAKING OVER HOLLYWOOD
WITH SPACE JAM
No list of MJ’s greatest
23 achievements can leave out
his star turn opposite the cast
of Looney Tunes in the 1996 blockbuster hit
Space Jam. Okay, Jordan was a little wooden
in places, and to say it wasn’t a hit with critics
would be an understatement, but with a inal
box oice gross of $230.4 million against a still
hefty (for the time) $80 million budget, Space
Jam crushed everything else that hit cinema
screens upon its release.
106
THE FIRST
TRIPLE-
did just that. And so, the Jumpman was
born. It’s a testament to the staying power of
that brand that the words ‘Air Jordan’ are as
DOUBLE By the end of his career, MJ
still as synonymous with Nike as its iconic
swoosh. All the more so when you consider
that, according to Forbes, the Jumpman
22 had a truly impressive 28
triple-doubles (three double-
digit scores in one of ive categories – points,
brand brings in an annual haul of $1 billion, rebounds, steals, assists and blocked shots),
while occupying over 70% of the lucrative but his irst as a professional came in 1985
basketball wear market. with his most iconic associated team, the
Chicago Bulls. In a tense match-up against
the Denver Nuggets on 14 January, Jordan
scored a total of 35 points, bagged himself
14 rebounds and was on hand to ofer a
game-changing 15 assists to see another
crucial win notched up for the Bulls.
Interestingly, Space Jam wasn’t a Looney
Tunes ilm that happened to include Jordan.
Rather, the whole project was created as a
vehicle to capatalise on his worldwide image
IN A TENSE
MATCH-UP AGAINST
and brand. The ilm struggled behind the
scenes, but Jordan’s presence provided the
x-factor it needed to reach astronomical
THE NUGGETS,
cinematic success. Whether the rumoured
Space Jam 2 – with LeBron James in the hotseat
JORDAN SCORED
– pulls in the same kind of numbers remains to
be seen… 35 POINTS
 Michael Jordan

…AND 5 REASONS HE ISN’T

It’s borderline blasphemous to name anyone other than Michael Jordan as the greatest
NBA player of all time, but there are others who have a legitimate claim to the title

KAREEM LARRY BIRD

ABDUL-JABBAR
From 1969 to 1989, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
was a phenomenon in the NBA. A king of
consistency for 20 seasons, he maintained an
incredible level of level of performance over
the years. Add to that six NBA titles and the
lofty position as leading scorer in NBA history
and you’ve got a pure NBA legend.
Another basketball icon who made his name
during the era that Michael Jordan was
emerging, Larry Bird is a living Boston Celtics
legend. While Bird was never known for his
athleticism per se, he had incredible ball skills,
impeccable court awareness and a jump shot
that consistently tore the league’s meanest
defences to shreds. Not to mention his three
NBA championship rings.

BILL RUSSELL
A name often overlooked in favour of Wilt
Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and
Michael Jordan himself, Bill Russell is, in
terms of titles, the most successful player in
the history of the NBA. With 11 NBA rings
to his name, and ive regular season MVP
accolades, Russell remains the greatest
defender to ever take to the court. He dogged
ofensive players from 1956 to 1969 and
became a Boston Celtics legend.

MAGIC
JOHNSON
As Jordan was helping build the strength
and status of the Bulls in the mid-to-late
1980s, one man was ruling the courts with
the LA Lakers: Magic Johnson. With ive NBA
titles and countless other honours, the 6’9’’
point guard helped cement the Lakers as the
juggernauts of 1980s basketball.
LEBRON JAMES
Whether playing for the Miami Heat or his
hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron
James is the biggest name currently playing
in the NBA. James already has two rings
to his name with the Heat, and with his
dextrous skill in both ofence and defence,
it’s likely his star will continue to ascend.

107
 Legends of Sport

Senna and Prost

embrace on the
podium during
their testing time
as teammates
at McLaren

108
 Senna Vs. Prost

SENNA VS.
Champions. Teammates.
Rivals. The story behind
the ultimate clash of
personalties that made

PROST
Formula One headline
news around the world

port, and especially motorsport, is

S inherently exciting, with fast-paced

action, risks, rewards, highs and lows.
But what elevates sport from a competitive
exercise to an experience that dominates the
hearts and minds of people around the world
is drama. And there is no greater drama than a
rivalry at the very top of a sport between two
thrillingly diferent protagonists.
That is exactly what Formula One fans of
the late 1980s and early 1990s were treated
to, as Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost went
wheel to wheel against a thrilling backdrop
of glamour, politics and in-ighting in a battle
that captured imaginations around the world.
Senna was rewarded for a good start in
Formula One with a seat alongside reigning
world champion Prost at McLaren for the
1988 season. Prost took an early lead in
the championship, but Senna hit back with
victory in San Marino. The two went on to
win 15 of the 16 races that season, and it was
the junior driver, Senna, who won the title.
Senna was to give an indication of his
unique mentality in the 1988 Monaco Grand
Prix. He was leading the race by more than 50
seconds from Prost but, instead of cruising to
victory, he continued to push himself and his
car to the limit. Senna eventually lost control
and crashed, handing victory to his teammate.
It was characteristic of Senna – he consistently
drove on the edge, whether chasing the lead,
holding of a rival or well out in front, and that
appealed massively to the watching public,
few of whom warmed to Prost’s mechanical,
more considered style.
Manish Pandey wrote the BAFTA-winning
documentary Senna, and explains what
was so magical about this new kid on the
block: “Senna was diferent. He didn’t come
in to just make up the numbers, and I fell in
love with his racing style in that irst race at
Monaco. Mika Häkkinen decided to not have

109
 Legends of Sport

a personality in order to have a private life,

much like Kimi Räikkönen now. However,
Senna displayed so many emotions. Even
under that helmet when all you can see is a
JUSTICE IN JAPAN
pair of eyes, you knew what he was thinking Was it planned or was it an accident? Only
and feeling, and he made you feel things too, Senna will ever know if he deliberately drove
even if you didn’t quite know why.” his McLaren (centre) into the back of Prost’s
Prost hit back the following season by Ferrari (left) at the start of the 1990 Japanese
regaining the title, the third of his career. Grand Prix to win the title, a year after Prost
However, this season was where relations had done the same to him.
between the teammates really soured. The
pair had a bust up at San Marino when
Prost claimed Senna broke a gentleman’s
agreement. Senna denied this agreement ever
existed, but the bad feelings would provide
an intriguing backdrop to the season. Senna
had to win the inal two races of the season to
stand a chance of retaining the title, the irst
of which was in Japan. Prost was leading from
Senna, but turned suspiciously early into
a corner as his teammate was trying to get
past, sending both cars into an escape road
where they came to a halt. Senna got a push
start and, incredibly, worked his way through
the ield to claim an astonishing victory, only
for the marshals to rule he hadn’t completed
the race as he had missed a chicane due
to the crash. Senna was furious, claiming a
conspiracy led by FIA President, and Prost’s
friend, Jean-Marie Balestre. The decision
stood, and Prost celebrated a tainted title.
Throughout these fraught months, Senna
was never afraid to make his feelings known,
frequently walking out of drivers’ meetings
and arguing with the top brass. He was
the underdog with whom the public could
identify and get behind, ighting against the
establishment, Balestre and Prost in particular.

SENNA THE MAN

Part of Senna’s enduring legacy was his intriguing mix of
playboy lifestyle and down-to-earth nature. He was born
into relative comfort in São Paulo, and got into karting early,
before progressing through the ranks to the glitz and glamour
of Formula One. Here he met and dated a string of models
following his divorce from childhood sweetheart Lilian de
Vasconcelos Souza in 1982, who struggled with “always
knowing she would be number two in his life,” according to
Pandey. The couple had only been married a year. However,
Senna would never forget his origins, and donated millions of
dollars to help Brazil’s poorest children, as well as setting up
the Ayrton Senna Institute, a non-profit organisation that helps
to improve education in Brazilian schools.

110

WHY DID SENNA DO WHAT HE
DID? HE GOT SOMETHING OUT OF A
PERFECT LAP, A PERFECT RACE, A
PERFECT CHAMPIONSHIP
Manish Pandey, writer, Senna
“Balestre pretty much wrote the rules
on the back of an envelope,” says Pandey.
“When [McLaren boss] Ron Dennis mounted
his appeal against Senna’s disqualiication
in the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, they got
their piece of paper back, and people had
actually crossed out their points and inserted
their own allegations against Senna that
weren’t even in the original charge. It was real
kangaroo court stuf. That was what he was
up against.”
Prost then moved to Ferrari, but that wasn’t
going to stop this most dramatic of rivalries.
The pair went head-to-head yet again the
following season, and reached Suzuka with
Prost this time needing to win the inal two
races to stop Senna earning his second world
title. Despite inishing on pole, Senna was
unhappy that he was on the dirty side of the
track, thus risking a poor start. The authorities
refused to change it and, as Senna expected,
Prost got of the line quicker. But Senna
refused to give up the ight, diving down the
inside and clipping his rival, causing both cars
to spin out and retire. Just as Prost had the
previous season, Senna won a tainted title,
but this was just another dramatic chapter in
Formula One’s most fascinating story.
“When Senna found out the pole position
had been switched,” continues Pandey “he
thought ‘Hang on a minute, I’ve risked my
life going for pole, now I’m going into the irst
corner in second’. What I love about Senna
is that he was a little crazy, but there was
Senna Vs. Prost
nothing calculated about that. He wasn’t
going in to take Prost out. He was furious
and thought ‘If Prost is irst into the corner,
I’m not backing of’. That made me, rightly or
wrongly, love Senna more.”
The rivalry had hit its peak in the two
seasons spanning the turn of the decade,
as Senna then cruised efortlessly to his
third world title in 1991, with Prost’s Ferrari
uncompetitive. The Frenchman retired
before returning in 1993 in an incredibly
advanced and virtually unbeatable Williams
car. Having comfortably secured his fourth
title, Prost then retired for a second time,
allowing Senna to take his place at Williams.
However, changes in the competition’s
rules meant that the advancements made
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 Legends of Sport

Senna’s distinctive yellow,

green and blue helmet
was designed in honour of
the Brazilian flag

SENNA PROST
162 RACES 202
3 TITLES
4
41 WINS
51
65 POLES 33
29 POLES
AND WINS 18
2
1 3
80 PODIUMS
106 2
1 3

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 Senna Vs. Prost

by Williams had to be curtailed for the

1994 season, and Senna reported feeling Even when teammates, the
incredibly uncomfortable in his car as the rivalry between Senna and
Prost was incredibly fierce, as
season approached. He failed to inish each battled for supremacy
either of the irst two races of the season
and then, tragically, hit a barrier during the
San Marino Grand Prix. Senna’s right wheel
and suspension hit his head, forcing it back,
causing fractures and brain damage. He was
airlifted to hospital, but was pronounced dead
later that day. He was 34 years old.
Even though Prost had a markedly better
racing record than Senna, the Brazilian was
the man who gained the majority of support
around the world, and whose legend lives on
more vividly.
“People generally thought Prost was a better
driver, especially many in their 40s and 50s
who found Senna reckless. But Prost would
get preferential treatment. One time his
Williams teammate, Nigel Mansell, turned up
to ind his car swapped over because Prost
wanted Mansell’s chassis. He was sacked by
Renault, left McLaren, was sacked by Ferrari
WHATEVER HE FELT, SOMEHOW HE HAD
and left Williams after just one year. Then you
had Senna who was at Lotus for three years
THE ABILITY TO MAKE YOU FEEL A BIT OF IT
until he realised he couldn’t win, then he went
to McLaren. He was at McLaren for six years, … AND THAT’S THE POINT OF SPORT
spending most of his career at just two teams.
That speaks volumes about the man.” Senna was able to relate to
the public and vice versa, a
In this heated battle between two great
big factor as to why he was
competitors, played out across the most so popular
glamorous locations around the world, Prost
was billed as the pantomime villain. He was
brilliant, but also cold, calculating and distant,
while Senna was charismatic, vivacious,
donated huge sums of money to charity, was
handsome, spoke four languages, and had that
streak of genius that few people are blessed
with. He had that special something to which
everyone could relate.
“The diference between the two of them
was motivation,” enthuses Pandey. “Why did
Senna do what he did? He got something
out of a perfect lap, a perfect race, a perfect
championship. There was something deeply
spiritual about what he did. He felt something
incredible, and human beings are very
intuitive. Whatever he felt, somehow he had
the ability to make you feel a little bit of it,
whether you were a poor Brazilian kid getting
up at 3am to watch him win on a black-and-
white TV and feeling great for the rest of the
day, or me, watching him at Suzuka at 6am.
You felt something. And that’s the point, I
think, of sport.”

113
 Legends of Sport

114
 Wayne Gretzky

SELLING THE
How can you put a price
on a legend? Inside the
trade that changed the
face of the NHL

GREAT ONE I
t’s hard to believe that anybody thought it
would really happen. Not LA Kings owner
Bruce McNall, who was forking over a
huge sum of money and had been working
relentlessly to keep things going smoothly.
Not Edmonton Oilers general manager Glen
Sather, who made no secret of how insane
he thought it all was. Not the Oilers fans, who
packed Rexall Place to cheer on their favourite
son. Not even Wayne Gretzky himself, the
local hero and hockey icon; the man dubbed
The Great One. You have to wonder if even
Oilers owner Peter Pocklington believed that
they would all go through with it, despite it
being his idea in the irst place.
How do you trade Wayne Gretzky? How do
you give away the most talented man on ice?
In 1988, Wayne Gretzky was ice hockey.
A player so gifted that the rules of the game
had been changed to account for his presence
(the unoicially titled ‘Gretzky rule’, created
in 1985). An adopted local hero who had
become a national celebrity over the course of
nearly a decade with the team, who had taken
the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cup
victories, and who was breaking records on
a regular basis. A goalscorer so unstoppable
that the area behind the opposition’s goal was
referred to as ‘Gretzky’s oice’.
In the 1981-82 season, Gretzky scored 92
times in 80 games, still the single-season
record today. In 1985-86, he broke another
record, scoring 52 times and notching 163
assists for a 215-point season – and that was
in 80 games. At the time of his retirement, he
held a staggering 61 NHL records. The fans
loved him and he loved the fans. Who in their
right mind would trade him? As it turns out,
Wayne Gretzky
playing for the everyone has a price.
Los Angeles Kings, Of course, teams had been sniing around
following his Gretzky for years, and Pocklington had
controversial move
from Edmonton turned them all down. But during the 1987-88
season, his outlook was changing. Gretzky
had signed a ive-year contract but had just
one year left until he would become a free
agent. Pocklington was in dire need of cash,
and his captain would be in a strong position

115
 Legends of Sport

to argue for a huge salary increase. Suddenly, Gretzky’s career at the

those never-ending overtures from LA Kings Oilers saw him shatter
owner Jerry Buss didn’t seem so ridiculous. If almost every NHL record

they were serious about Gretzky, maybe this

was the time to do a deal.
Times were also changing at the Kings. Buss
was out, but McNall hadn’t stopped calling
Pocklington about Gretzky. He wanted to take
the LA Kings to another level, and recruiting
an icon was the perfect way to do it. At the
NHL Awards in Toronto, McNall decided to get
the Edmonton owner’s attention. He ofered
him $15 million and some players. Pocklington
asked for time to think, but it wasn’t long
before he made the call. This was a deal they
could work with.
But the most important player in the
situation was yet to be consulted. Gretzky
got a call from his father, Walter, just two
hours after winning the Stanley Cup for the
fourth time. The man who Wayne credited
with being his very irst coach would be the
irst person to tell him that he was going to
be traded. The news was certainly a shock,
but it made sense. Gretzky loved the Oilers,
Edmonton and the fans, but he knew how
much he was worth and he knew that
Pocklington did not have the money to pay it.
Then there was Los Angeles. Although
Pocklington had put feelers out to the
Vancouver Canucks and the Detroit Red
Wings (who Gretzky had supported growing
up and seriously considered), Los Angeles
made a lot of sense. He’d just married the
actress Janet Jones and they had been
spending a lot of time living there. When it
looked like the deal might actually happen,
McNall reached out to Gretzky to make
sure that he was satisied with it. The player
went back and forth before realising that
Pocklington was set on trading him. It had just
become a matter of iguring out the speciics.
Ever the canny businessman, Gretzky not
only secured a healthy salary for himself,
but took an active role in the trade. He
THE GRETZKY RULE
insisted that McNall send Marty McSorley, If you’re looking for further evidence of just target to lash out, and suddenly you’d be
a defenseman, with him, and center Mike how great an impact Gretzky had on the NHL, looking at a 4-4 game, or even a 3-3. That’s
Krushelnyski also joined the deal at Gretzky’s look no further than the so-called ‘Gretzky a lot of space on the ice, and the Oilers and
insistence. For Pocklington, the $15 million rule’. A short-lived NHL change that was Gretzky could be relied upon to make the
price tag was the crucial element, but he also introduced as a direct result of the Edmonton most of it every time, using their superior
secured center Jimmy Carson for the Oilers, Oilers’ style of play. skating skills to deliver a punishing offence.
along with Martin Gélinas (a winger), and irst- In the mid-1980s, when the Oilers went So, in 1985, the NHL ruled that teams with
round draft picks for 1989, 1991 and 1993. a man down due to penalties, it did not go offsetting minors must play at full 5-5
Carson wasn’t happy about the trade (he unnoticed that the opposing team would strength. Gretzky justifiably complained, and
requested a trade from the Oilers roughly a promptly commit a minor penalty too. A bit the rule would eventually be repealed in the
year later), and neither was Sather, who had of jostling from an Oiler would cause the 1992-93 season.

116

been kept in the dark until the last minute.
Pocklington inally dropped the bombshell
on his team manager at a charity golf game
when the deal was almost done. Sather stated
several times that he seriously considered
punching his employer in response.
But if Sather’s reaction seems severe, it was
nothing compared to how the Oilers fans
felt. Shortly before the trade was announced,
Gretzky and Janet were married in Edmonton
in an event that can only be described as a
local parade. Footage of the day shows crowds
of locals lining the streets and doting on their
favourite son, sharing in the happiness of his
special day. It wouldn’t last.
Wayne Gretzky
WAYNE GRETZKY WAS ICE
HOCKEY. A PLAYER SO GIFTED
THAT THE RULES OF THE
GAME HAD BEEN CHANGED TO
ACCOUNT FOR HIS PRESENCE
The deal was made public at an oicial
press conference at Moulson House in
Edmonton on 9 August 1988, attended by
Gretzky, Sather, Pocklington and McNall.
Before they went in front of the cameras,
Pocklington and Sather took Gretzky aside
and told him that it wasn’t too late to stop
this. Sather even ofered to resign in protest
if Gretzky told him that he didn’t want to go.
However, Gretzky replied that the situation
had gone too far. A statue outside
“I don’t want to try and philosophise on Rexall Place,
what’s happened, because I don’t think we can Edmonton, of
Gretzky holding
justify the reasons why this has happened,” the Stanley Cup
said Sather in the press conference, visibly
117

Gretzky remains a
prominent ambassador
for ice hockey today
shaken. When the time came for Gretzky to
speak, things got even more emotional.
There in front of the cameras, forced to talk
about leaving the team that he had helped
bring to greatness, and where he had played
some of the most brilliant hockey the world
had ever seen, The Great One began to weep.
“I promised Mess [Oilers teammate Mark
Messier] I wouldn’t do this,” he said, as the
tears started to low. Gretzky struggled to get
a complete sentence out, dabbing at his nose
and eyes with a tissue. The room burst into
CELEBRITIES POURED IN … MOVIE STARS, MUSICIANS,
ATHLETES… HOCKEY WAS SUDDENLY A BIG DEAL IN LA, AS
EVERYONE WANTED TO GET A GLIMPSE OF THE NEW STAR
118
applause, acknowledging the man and his
signiicant eforts.
The reaction among fans was decidedly
less respectful. This trade was unbelievable
and there had to be someone to blame. For
many, that someone was Gretzky’s wife, and
speculation was rife that she had urged him to
ask to be traded – rumours that weren’t helped
by Pocklington mentioning his departing star’s
new family in the press conference.
However, if that was an attempt at
delection, it didn’t work. The Oilers owner
received endless criticism and death threats,
and was burned in eigy as fans protested
this terrible crime.
One thing was for sure, though: Gretzky
was a King, and he was wasting no time.
Once the Edmonton conference was over, he
and McNall lew on a private jet back to LA,
where he held his second press conference.
The Kings were not a team that had received
a lot of press attention in the past. This was a
team that had something to prove, and now
they suddenly had the eyes of the world
upon them. Gretzky was determined to
succeed, and scored his irst goal during his
very irst shift.
While the LA Kings wouldn’t win a Stanley
Cup while he was there (Edmonton would
bounce back to win another in 1991), there
was a marked improvement in their playing
quality and visibility. They knocked the
Oilers out of the Stanley Cup playofs in
Gretzky’s irst season. To capitalise on the
publicity surrounding the trade, the Kings
would go on pre-season exhibition tours
around North America, which soon became
an annual tradition.
Suddenly, the LA Forum was catering
to sell-out crowds for ice hockey games.
Celebrities poured into the stadium, calling
McNall personally to get the best seats
possible. Movie stars, musicians, athletes…
Hockey was suddenly a big deal in LA, as
everyone wanted to get a glimpse of the
Kings’ new star. Gretzky wasn’t just a points
machine; he became an ambassador for
the sport. He was in commercials and on
magazine covers, and even hosted Saturday
Night Live.
Gretzky’s time as an King is largely
credited with the explosion in popularity
of ice hockey in California. The San Jose
Sharks were founded in 1991, followed by
the Anaheim Ducks, who were founded in
1993. ‘The Trade’, as it’s now simply known,
may have rocked the hockey world and
devastated Edmonton, but it gave the NHL a
whole new foundation in the United States,
and ushered in a new era for the sport.
 Wayne Gretzky

60 NHL RECORDS STILL STANDING AWARDS

HART
MOST GOALS: 894 GOALS IN 1,487 GAMES
9 TROPHIES
(MVP)

MOST GOALS IN ONE SEASON: 92 GOALS IN 80 GAMES

ART ROSS
MOST GOALS IN ONE SEASON INCLUDING PLAYOFFS:
100 GOALS IN 93 GAMES 10 TROPHIES
(MOST POINTS
IN ONE SEASON)

MOST GOALS IN ONE PERIOD (TIED WITH 10 PLAYERS): 4

MOST ASSISTS INCLUDING PLAYOFFS: 2,223

CONN SMYTHE TROPHIES
2 (PLAYOFF MVP)

MOST ASSISTS: 1,963

MOST ASSISTS IN ONE SEASON: 163 LESTER

B PEARSON AWARDS
(NOW TED LINDSAY
AWARD) FOR MOST
OUTSTANDING PLAYER
AS VOTED FOR BY
MOST ASSISTS IN ONE SEASON
INCLUDING PLAYOFFS: 174
5 OTHER PLAYERS

MOST POINTS: 2,857 IN 1,487 GAMES

LADY BYNG TROPHIES

MOST POINTS IN ONE SEASON:

5 FOR SPORTSMANSHIP
AND PERFORMANCE

215 IN 80 GAMES (52 GOALS, 163 ASSISTS)

MOST POINTS IN ONE SEASON

INCLUDING PLAYOFFS: STANLEY CUPS
255 IN 98 GAMES WITH THE
4 EDMONTON
OILERS

119
 Legends of Sport

THE RUMBLE
It’s the ultimate underdog
story. A triumph of
brains and strategy over
brute force. The most

IN THE
iconic eight rounds in
boxing history. Relive the
fight that transformed
Muhammad Ali from a
champion into a legend,

JUNGLE
round by round

he sultry African air hung heavy as

T two ighters prepared for a bout that

would, one way or another, come to
deine their careers. In one corner was the
undefeated heavyweight champion George
Foreman – a mass of brute strength and as
devastating a puncher as the division had
seen – and in the other was his challenger. A
no-hoper according to most experts; a 40-1
outside shot with the bookmakers; a ighter
whose best days were far behind him, despite
his typically brash comments to the contrary.
No one seriously believed that 32-year-old
Muhammad Ali would even go the distance
against his formidable opponent, except
perhaps Ali himself. But on 30 October 1974 in
Kinshasa, Zaire, Ali did the impossible.
Why Zaire? The ight was to take place
on African soil because the promoter, Don
King, needed $10 million to stage the event.
Where would he get the money? President
Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire was keen to raise
the country’s proile to encourage trade. He
saw the Ali-Foreman ight as the perfect
opportunity to achieve this, and was happy to
provide the necessary funds. The ‘Rumble in
the Jungle’ was on.
The 47th ight of Ali’s career was deemed
his toughest to date. At 25 years old, his
opponent, Foreman, was in his prime. He
had an unbeaten record of 40-0, with 37 of
those wins coming by way of a knockout.
Foreman’s punch was lethal. None of his
eight ights prior to the Rumble in the Jungle
had lasted more than two rounds. The last
time that a Foreman opponent made it to the
end of a ight was in 1970, when Argentinian

120
Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali springs off the

ropes to land a heavy blow on
George Foreman

121
Legends of Sport
Gregorio Peralta lost by a unanimous decision.
From then on, Foreman had only had to go
past three rounds on four occasions, one of
which was a rematch against Peralta, who he
stopped in ten.
The most telling results in Foreman’s
record, however, were his two wins against
Ken Norton and Joe Frazier. Both men were
taken out by a technical knockout in the
second round of a scheduled 15-round match.
Ali had succumbed to both. The irst defeat
of his career had come against Frazier in
1971, going down by a unanimous decision in
‘The Fight of the Century’. In March 1973, Ali
had taken on Norton over 12 rounds in San
Diego and lost his title by a split decision. But
Ali wasn’t a man to be beaten. He had since
defeated both opponents in rematches.
The head-to-head record of ‘Big George’
Foreman suggested there was only ever going
to be one winner in Kinshasa – a perceived
certainty relected in the build-up to the
ight and the odds on ofer. When the day
arrived, 60,000 spectators in the 20th of May
Stadium, and an estimated global audience
of one billion, sat with bated breath as they
waited for the bell to ring for round one. After
the inal strains of the national anthems, Ali
started his pre-ight verbals. And after a few
minutes’ delay, Foreman slipped of his robe
and headed to the centre of the ring for the
referee’s instructions. Ali was still talking.
Ali in 1966 – a seminal year
for him, both personally
and professionally
The bell rang and the ight was underway.
Ten second in, Ali landed the irst punch,
a light blow to the forehead. Foreman
was initially cautious, trying to divert his
opponent’s quick hands, but Ali slipped
in a couple of quick rights to remind the
undefeated champion that this was not going
to be an easy ight. Foreman dispensed with
caution in response, and began attacking
persistently, but Ali was tying up his wild
punches each time. With less than a minute
to go, Ali landed a blow to the side of the
head, following a lurry from both boxers.
Into round two and Foreman continued to
move forward with Ali still trying to subdue
him. Foreman managed a strong hit to the jaw
while following up with some heavy-hitting
body shots, but after a mid-round lull, neither
ighter was landing any killer blows. Ali began
to hang on the ropes and absorb Foreman’s
punches as the pace slowed down, and with
just a minute to go, he connected with a series
of sharp jabs with Foreman’s face.
The champion’s left eye was starting to
look pufy as the bell rang for round three,
and Ali was quick to land a combination
straight to the face of Foreman. The pattern
of the previous two rounds continued as Ali
stuck to the ropes and let Foreman get in
a few body shots, but most of his punches
were being absorbed. Again, as Foreman
worked the body, Ali slipped in a crisp jab
to his face. Commentators pointed out that
Foreman was looking unusually slow, just as
he ired in some quick body shots. With the
seconds counting down, Ali let of a quick
combination, not once but twice, again to
Foreman’s face. The round was his.
Muhammad Ali

In the press conference

after the fight, Ali wasted
no time in pointing out that
he was still ‘the greatest’

123
 Legends of Sport

Round four and Foreman was looking

tired; it was the furthest he had been in a
ight in two years. After 30 seconds, Ali’s
hand speed allowed him to connect with
a mean combination to Foreman’s head,
and the champion looked momentarily
lost. Temperatures were nearing 30 degrees
Celsius but Foreman was still coming forward,
throwing wild punches that had little efect
on his opponent. Exhausted and frustrated, he
headed back to his corner as the bell sounded.
Channelling his anger, Foreman made
straight for Ali as round ive began, and
landed a heavyweight body shot. The break
had renewed his determination, but Ali was
content to back into the ropes and let his
opponent throw mostly inefective punches.
Ali took a breather, and Foreman still couldn’t
ind a way through. The challenger taunted
him as he ended the round with a lurry.
Before the bell for round six, oicials were
looking to tighten up the ropes to stop Ali
leaning back so far, but it wasn’t long before
he was at it again. With less than a minute
gone, Ali struck Foreman three times in
the face. The undefeated champion was
beginning to look like a beaten man. He came
Muhammad Ali back with a sustained attack, but Ali covered
photographed in 1967, up, keeping himself protected as Foreman
three years after winning
his first heavyweight title
tried in vain to land a clean hit.
The crowd knew who was in front, as chants
of ‘Ali, Ali, Ali’ rang out before the round-seven

124

bell brought the two ighters back together.
Both were out of their respective corners early,
but nothing changed as Foreman lapped and
Ali backed of to pick him of.
Into round eight and George Foreman
entered unfamiliar territory; it was the irst
time he had been this deep into a ight in
four years. Ali was in charge and he knew it.
Both ighters quickly settled into the same
pattern: Ali on the ropes, Foreman coming
forward, but Ali landed a couple of clean jabs
to the head early on. Foreman took a wild
swing, missed and almost fell out of the ring.
Sensing blood, Ali moved to the centre of the
ring, as Foreman swung and missed again.
It was then back into the opposite corner as
the heavyweight champion looked for a way
through. With less than 20 seconds to go, Ali
made his move, dancing out of the corner to
deliver a lethal combination of punches to
Foreman’s head and chin. It was too much
I TOLD YOU ALL THAT I WAS THE
GREATEST OF ALL TIME WHEN I BEAT
SONNY LISTON. I TOLD YOU TODAY, I’M
STILL THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
for Foreman, who pirouetted to the loor. The
referee started the count, but the champion
couldn’t make it. The ight was over, and a
THE MEN WHO
huge roar erupted from the crowd.
Chaos ensued. Police entered the ring, BEAT ALI
debris lew onto the canvas, but nothing could
sour Ali’s redemptive victory. In his post-ight YEAR: 1971
interview he said: “I told you, all of my critics, DATE: 8 March
I told you all, that I was the greatest of all time OPPONENT: Joe Frazier
when I beat Sonny Liston. I told you today, VENUE: New York
I’m still the greatest of all time.” ROUND/TYPE: 15 – Unanimous Decision
Ali had shown exactly how tactically astute YEAR: 1973
he was. He couldn’t match Foreman in a DATE: 31 March
straight show-of-strength ight, and so he used OPPONENT: Ken Norton
the rope-a-dope style to perfection. Foreman VENUE: San Diego
was keen for a rematch, but while Ali claimed ROUND/TYPE: 12 – Split Decision
it was the ight he wanted before he retired,
YEAR: 1978
he once again skilfully avoided Big George’s
DATE: 15 February
advances. The two would become close
OPPONENT: Leon Spinks
friends in the years to come, but they would
VENUE: Las Vegas
never again meet in the ring.
ROUND/TYPE: 15 – Split Decision
YEAR: 1980
DATE: 2 October
OPPONENT: Larry Holmes
VENUE: Las Vegas
ROUND/TYPE: 10 – Technical Knockout
YEAR: 1981
DATE: 11 December
OPPONENT: Trevor Berbick
VENUE: Nassau, Bahamas
ROUND/TYPE: 10 – Unanimous Decision
125
 Legends of Sport

Tyson at his vicious best

in becoming the youngest
heavyweight champion
of all time by defeating
Trevor Berbick

126
 Mike Tyson

THE
After a deeply troubled
upbringing, a young
Mike Tyson overcame
adversity and tragedy

BADDEST
to become the
undisputed heavyweight
champion of the world

t’s no exagerration to say that Mike Tyson

I
MAN
was, at his formidable peak, the most
feared boxer of all time. An intimidating
and vicious ighter, he dominated the
heavyweight division for years. A one-man
wrecking ball inside the ring, by the age of
20 he was the youngest ever heavyweight
champion, and just two years later he uniied

ON THE
the division to become its undisputed ruler.
Only Muhammad Ali betters his reign as
undisputed champion. In fact, such was
Tyson’s dominance, the only person who
realistically stood a chance of beating him was
the man himself. Before his demons got the

PLANET
better of him though, Tyson was untouchable.
He was the world’s most famous sports star –
a winning combination of unmatched talent
and a sprinkling of Hollywood dust.
His life could very easily have gone down
a diferent path, however, had juvenile
detention centre counsellor and one-time
amateur boxing champion Bobby Stewart not
introduced a 14-year-old Tyson to legendary
New York boxing manager Cus D’Amato.
Tyson has been arrested more than 30
times before the age of 13. His father, Jimmy
Kirkpatrick abandoned his family when
Tyson was just two and his family moved
to a troubled neighbourhood in Brooklyn.
In return for some academic efort, Stewart
taught Tyson how to use his ists. Tyson
was small, spoke with a lisp and was an easy
target for bullies. Boxing quickly became a
way to defend himself.
D’Amato saw the raw potential in Tyson,
and took on the role of father igure in his life.
At 14, Tyson was placed under full custody
of D’Amato, who would later become the
boy’s guardian after the death of Tyson’s
mother. D’Amato set Tyson a gruelling training
regime and entered him into a number of

127
 Legends of Sport
TYSON ROCKED BERBICK AT THE END
OF THE FIRST ROUND, AND PUT HIM
DOWN WITHIN THE FIRST TEN SECONDS
OF ROUND TWO
non-sanctioned ights to teach the young
upstart how to deal with older and stronger
opponents. After a failed attempt to qualify
for the 1984 Olympic team, 18-year-old Tyson
turned professional. His rise through the
heavyweight ranks was meteoric. He quickly
earned the nickname Iron Mike because of a
brutal habit of destroying opponents inside
one round.
Tyson’s strength was overwhelming, and he
often intimidated opponents with his ripped
physique. He was only 5 foot 10 inches tall,
but his menacing attitude won many bouts
before the irst bell was sounded. He also
matched his physicality with technique and
precision. Tyson was quick on his feet, and
combined lightning-fast hand speed with
devastating accuracy. Iron Mike was always
perfectly balanced, able to deliver knockout
combinations with timing and poise. He
complemented this with a classical defence,
holding his hands high in a peek-a-boo style
drummed into him by D’Amato, while his low
centre of gravity allowed him to efortlessly
TRAINER, MENTOR, FATHER
128
From the moment he
turned professional, Tyson
was on a collision course
with the heavyweight title
slip out of range, before launching another
assault on his opponent.
Tyson was heavyweight boxing’s new star,
winning 19 of his irst 20 ights by KO or TKO
with 16 wins coming inside the irst round.
Like a Roman gladiator he was ruthless and
entertaining. As the quality of his opponents
grew, Tyson mania gripped America.
Expectation reached fever pitch when he was
ofered his irst world title bout against Trevor
Berbick in November 1986 for the WBC belt.
The ight was a non-event. Tyson took less
than two rounds to dispatch his adversary.
He rocked Berbick at the end of the irst
round, and put him down within the irst ten
seconds of round two. With 35 seconds left of
the second, a left hook followed a thunderous
right to the body. Berbick was done. HBO’s
commentary team described it as the perfect
performance. Tyson had ushered in a new
era for the heavyweight division – he was
youngest-ever world heavyweight champion.
Following the ight, he demonstrated some
of the intimidating bravado for which he
Of all the people that Mike Tyson came into contact
with, none had a greater impact than Constantine
‘Cus’ D’Amato. D’Amato was Tyson’s mentor from
the age of 13, passing on a wealth of knowledge from
years and years on top of the boxing management
game. D’Amato had trained legendary Hall of
Famers Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres, and saw
huge potential in Tyson. He even adopted Tyson
when his mother died. Tyson credits D’Amato with
single-handedly turning his life around, and being the
only father figure he ever had. D’Amato promised to
turn Tyson into the youngest heavyweight champion
ever, and in 1986 Tyson fulfilled that promise.
Unfortunately, D’Amato had died the year previously.
His death had a lasting effect on Tyson, and many
believe it sparked his eventual downfall.
129
 Legends of Sport

would soon become infamous, saying: “I was

throwing hydrogen bombs … Every punch
was with murderous intentions.”
Within a year Tyson had added the WBA
and IBF titles to his WBC crown after wins
over James Smith and Tony Tucker. In the
process he became the irst heavyweight to
own all three major belts. Defences came
and went: 1984 Olympic Super Heavyweight
champion Tyrell Biggs was knocked out, and
the following year Larry Holmes sufered the
only KO defeat of his stellar 75-ight career
at the hands of Iron Mike. The juggernaut
showed no signs of stopping, and all roads
lead to a uniication battle with lineal
champion Michael Spinks.
Interest in the ight was huge. Both ighters
were protecting unblemished professional
records, and both had legitimate claims to
being the real champion. The ight was billed
as ‘Once and for all’ and drew comparisons
to some of boxing’s biggest clashes. Tyson
was the favourite, but Spinks had his backers,
not least Muhammad Ali who said, “he hits
hard enough, he’ll stick and move, he’s fast,
and he’ll keep his distance.” It was a clash
of styles: Tyson’s speed and power against
Spinks’ unorthodox technique. Donald Trump
won the right to host the title ight at the
Atlantic City Convention Hall after bidding Tyson flew at Michael
a record $11 million (£7.5 million). Such was Spinks in their 1988 title
bout, never allowing his
the anticipation, a ringside seat cost $1,500 previously undefeated
(£1,020). It was the hottest ticket in town. opponent to settle
The ight lasted 91 seconds. Tyson lew
out of the traps at the bell. He caught Spinks
with a solid left hook in the irst ten seconds,
causing his opponent to cover up straight
away. Tyson knew he had the better of him his knees. Spinks was down again almost his billing, and much more. Spinks would
from that moment, keeping Spinks on the immediately, and this time he couldn’t get never ight again, announcing his immediate
ropes, never allowing him to settle. Spinks’ up. Tyson had feigned a Spinks right hand retirement just a few months later. It was
tactics looked peculiar. He showed no real and returned a left-right combination that the richest bout in boxing history up until
signs of movement or of trying to outbox ended the sixth shortest heavyweight title that point, grossing around $70 million (£47
Tyson. Spinks was dropped for the irst time ight in history. Tyson was the undisputed million) in total, $10 million (£6.8 million)
in his professional career after just a minute, heavyweight champion after landing just more than the previous record holder, the
a cruel right to the body sinking him to eight punches. Iron Mike had lived up to 1987 Marvin Hagler vs Sugar Ray Leonard
ight. Tyson himself took home a record purse

IT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ANY

of $20 million (£13 million).
Even now, the Spinks win is described as
the pinnacle of Tyson’s career. He defended
FIGHTER. I WAS THROWING HYDROGEN his belts twice more, against British hero
Frank Bruno and Carl Williams, to take
BOMBS … EVERY PUNCH WAS WITH his professional record to 37-0. His aura of
invincibility was untouchable. But Tyson’s
MURDEROUS INTENTIONS life outside the ring was slowly catching up
with him. He lurched from one personal crisis
Mike Tyson to another – abusive relationships, contract

130

disputes and sacked trainers – before he
inally came unstuck in the ring. In one of
the greatest sporting upsets of all time, 42-1
outsider James ‘Buster’ Douglas produced one
of boxing’s ultimate underdog stories to knock
Tyson out, for the irst time in his career, in
the tenth round of their championship ight
in Tokyo, Japan. A proposed super ight with
number one heavyweight contender Evander
Holyield also fell through.
In 1992 Tyson was convicted of raping
18-year-old beauty pageant contestant Desiree
Washington and sentenced to six years in
jail. He would serve three before his release.
His comeback ight against Peter McNeely
was a huge occasion, grossing nearly $100
million (£68 million) worldwide, but Tyson’s
career after prison is widely remembered for
two ill-fated ights with Holyield. Tyson was
Mike Tyson
“YOU KNOW,
I’M GONNA
HURT THIS GUY”
What’s the best way to wind up Mike Tyson?
Well, probably by trying to play mind games
with him just minutes before the biggest
fight of all time. That’s what Butch Lewis,
Michael Spinks’ promoter, did by demanding
Tyson have his hands rewrapped after
noticing a lump in one of his gloves. Lewis
started a commotion that threatened to
derail the fight, and it wasn’t until Spinks’
trainer Eddie Futch went into Tyson’s
dressing room and gave the all-clear that
the fight went ahead. Lewis later admitted
that he had tried to get one up on the Tyson
camp. It did the exact opposite. Tyson was
seriously angry, telling his trainer Kevin
Rooney: “you know, I’m gonna hurt this guy.”
Tyson won the fight in 91 seconds.
worn down by Holyield in ight one, and then
disqualiied in ight two for biting Holyield’s
ear. His last major ight, with titles on the line,
was a brutal defeat at the hands of Lennox
Lewis in 2002. Tyson would lose three of his
last four bouts.
Such was his self-inlicted fall from grace,
it’s easy to forget how dominant the young
Tyson was. He called himself the ‘baddest
man on the planet’ and had the bravado,
the ferocity, and the raw talent to back
the claim up. His swift and menacing rise
through the heavyweight division was as
Tyson’s later
brutal and clinical as the sport has ever seen.
career in the ring
It took Tyson just three years to become the never reached
undisputed heavyweight champion of the the heights of his
initial run
world, destroying everyone in his path. No
boxer has ever instilled as much fear into their
opponents. Perhaps no one else ever will.
131
 Legends of Sport

GIANT OF
RUGBY
Iconic. Impassioned.
Immortal. Jonah Lomu
may have left us too soon,
but his impact on rugby
union will live on forever

When selected for the All

Blacks, Lomu was meant to
play number 8, but shifted
to the wing due to his speed

132

here will never be another Jonah.
“T Never. There might be wingers who
score more tries and who knows
there might be a couple of bigger boys, but no
one will ever replicate the impact that Jonah
had on rugby,” wrote former New Zealand All
Black and number 8 Zinzan Brooke on the
passing of his friend and former teammate.
When the news broke of Jonah Lomu’s
death in November 2015, torn from the world
unjustly at the young age of 40, the sporting
community mourned as one. He left us too
soon, but we are left with one of the most
inluential legacies in all of rugby. A man who
not only brought a newly professional rugby
union out of the working men’s clubs and
into the mainstream, but changed how the
sport was played. Blurring the lines between
forward and back, showing that speed and
size could exist in one man without the need
for hyperbole.
From his iconic performance in the 1995
World Cup (where he destroyed the hopes
of would-be winners with deft footwork and
unforgettable tries) to the latter part of his
career, where he played for teams across the
international rugby world, Jonah Tali Lomu
became the face, heart and soul not just of
New Zealand, but union as a whole. And it
would be there in South Africa that Lomu
would make his biggest impact of all.
Over two decades ago, the rugby world
was gearing up for the 1995 Rugby World
Cup. Hosted by South Africa (who would
go on to eventually win the tournament on
home soil), the competition was set to be
the biggest and most provocative yet for the
sport. Going into the tournament, England
were among the favourites, having muscled
their way to Grand Slam success in the Five
Nations a few months prior.
There was, however, one factor that
England, and the rest of the nations who
reached the inals, didn’t take into account: a
young man who had made waves a year prior
in the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament.
Someone who was ready to write his name in
history, one spectacular, barnstorming try at a
time: big Jonah.
Ironically, despite having someone as
imposing as Lomu on their teamsheet, the All
Blacks were a little hesitant going into their
semi-inal clash with the white jerseys of
England. The English side was frighteningly
imposing, with the squad’s renewed focus on
bulk and sheer brutality making them one of
Jonah Lomu
the most dangerous teams in the northern
hemisphere. But the All Blacks had an ace
hidden in plain sight – a man who had made WAS LOMU
ON HIS WAY TO
an impact on everyone who trained with him
and lined up against him, even in his youth.
“I irst met Jonah when he was a 16-year-
old,” commented Brooke in a column for The
Telegraph. “He was at Wesley College and
THE NFL?
had come to my club at Marist to watch us Despite becoming the face of rugby union
play. Even then he was an incredible physical in the 1990s, Lomu was constantly linked
specimen, I remember thinking ‘goodness with potential transfers to other codes and
gracious me’. At the time he was a No 8. sports. Like many cast into the mainstream,
Little did I know that I would be playing Lomu was a huge draw for promoters in
alongside him in an All Blacks’ team just other sporting distinctions. In 1996, following
three years later.” his iconic 1995 World Cup performance, the
By the age of 20, Brooke and Lomu Dallas Cowboys tempted Lomu into training
were selected for the All Blacks campaign with them. However, issues with pay and his
at the upcoming Rugby World Cup. And loyalty to union saw him decline the chance
after a blistering group performance where to play in the NFL. Rumours flared up again
they crushed every other team unlucky three years later, with the suggestion he
enough to be pooled with them – a vicious might switch codes to league following New
34-9 deconstruction of Wales at Ellis Park Zealand’s exit from the 1999 World Cup.
being one particularly clinical scalp – and
a surprising thriller against Scotland in the
opening round of the knockout stage, New Lomu playing
Zealand were paired against the equally for the Cardiff
Blues in 2006
vicious England in the semis.
By the time those 80 minutes were up
at the Newlands in Cape Town, rugby had
changed forever. England had been downed
45-29, their World Cup dreams crushed
to dust, and Jonah Lomu had become an
overnight sporting sensation. His four tries,
unforgettable manoeuvres and outrageous
power from the wing made him an instant
anomaly. If Lomu’s speed had confounded
England, his nimble footwork and titanic size
soon drove the point emphatically home.
Fierce on the ield yet charming of it, he
became an instant hit with fans.
Former England international Will
Greenwood, who would go on to be a
linchpin of the side that won the Rugby
World Cup in 2003, remembered gathering
with his friends to watch what initially
THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER JONAH.
THERE MIGHT BE WINGERS WHO SCORE
MORE TRIES … BUT NO ONE WILL EVER
REPLICATE THE IMPACT THAT JONAH HAD
Zinzan Brook, friend and former teammate
133
 Legends of Sport
FOR ALL THOSE INCREDIBLE MOMENTS,
LOMU WAS FIGHTING ANOTHER BATTLE –
ONE THAT HE WOULD ULTIMATELY LOSE
seemed like a predictable win for his
home nation against the All Blacks in the
semi-inals. Instead “…we witnessed one
man turn a game into a global sport in 80
minutes,” he told Sky Sports. “It was the
most extraordinary physical performance
you are likely to see. It changed rugby, and
everybody sat up in sport and entertainment
and said ‘Who’s this guy?’, ‘What’s this sport?’
and it changed rugby that day.”
Yet for all those incredible moments on
the pitch, Lomu was ighting another battle
behind the scenes – one that he would
ultimately lose. “People say to me that semi-
inal must have been the best game you ever
played,” he recalled in an interview a mere
three months before his death. “And I say
yeah, maybe. But imagine what I could have
done if I was healthy.”
A specimen of a man at just under
two metres tall, the near 120-kilogram
Aucklander knew something wasn’t right
69.8%
84.6%
THE INCREASE
IN THAT WIN
THE WIN RATE EVERY
RATE FOR THE TIME LOMU
ALL BLACKS CROSSED THE
WHENEVER LINE FOR
LOMU PLAYED A TRY
134
with his health going into the 1995 Rugby
World Cup. “I had problems when I got
abrasions, they just always got infected,” he
recalled in one of his inal interviews. “And
I felt so tired. When the lads went out to
socialise, I’d take a sandwich back to my
hotel room. And I was usually so tired I’d
wake up ive hours later with egg and salad
all over my face.”
By the end of 1995, the source of that
constant exhaustion had been diagnosed.
Jonah was sufering from a rare kidney
disease known as nephrotic syndrome. It
would shorten his career, eventually forcing
him out of international duties for the All
Blacks in 2002 as his condition worsened. By
2003, he was on dialysis three times a week
before receiving a much-needed kidney
transplant in 2004.
A year later, Lomu did the unthinkable and
returned to professional rugby. Undeterred
by his condition (the new kidney had taken,
MOST TRIES
IN A SINGLE
TOURNAMENT
(1995)
EQUALLED BY BRIAN
HABANA (2007) AND
JULIAN SAVEA (2015)
but his illness refused to abate entirely),
Lomu joined New Zealand irst division
team North Harbour, and briely played for
the Cardif Blues in 2006. His health was
never at 100 per cent, but despite this he
still competed in bodybuilding competitions
and continued to tirelessly promote his long-
standing charity and ambassadorial work.
By 2007, his health problems had begun
to worsen again, however, and Lomu was
forced to retire from rugby union for good, a
brief spell at French side Marseille Vitrolles
ofering one last taste of professional
competition. Four years later, his health
took another nose dive as his body began
rejecting the kidney he’d had transplanted
back in 2004. It was a terrible time for Lomu
and his family, and further deepened his
reliance on dialysis treatment, but he battled
on. Despite his health problems he remained
a true ambassador for rugby for the next
four years. His disease had aged him, but the
same gentle giant was there for all to see.
Even now, it doesn’t feel like big Jonah has
gone anywhere. Immortalised in everything
from video games to heartfelt hakas across
the world, his legacy has been woven into
the fabric of rugby union. There really will
never be another Jonah.
24TH LOMU’S RANK, IN CAPS,
FOR THE ALL BLACKS
TOTAL NUMBER OF
TRIES LOMU SCORED
FOR THE ALL BLACKS
NUMBER
OF TRIES
SCORED AT
WORLD CUPS
(WORLD RECORD,
EQUALLED ONLY
BY SA’S BRYAN
HABANA)
 Jonah Lomu

WE
WITNESSED
ONE MAN
TURN A GAME
INTO A GLOBAL
SPORT IN 80
MINUTES …
IT CHANGED
RUGBY
Will Greenwood,
former England player

Lomu’s combination of size and

speed changed the role of the
winger forever, with other, bigger
players following his example

135
 Legends of Sport

Throughout history, athletes, teams and even entire sporting

organisations have bent the rules to try and cheat their way to glory

N
ot a year goes by that the world of
sport isn’t tarnished by scandal.
The demands of professional
competition frequently prove too much
for some, who bend the rules to suit their
own ends. Whether it’s the use of banned
substances, illegal betting, inancial scams
or simply underhand tactics to gain an
advantage, cheating continues to plague
sports the world over. And even with the
chance of being caught and facing severe
penalties, scandals continue to emerge.
But while these controversies can have
lasting, damaging effects, their discovery
and punishment can ultimately only
help improve the future state of the sport
in question. Nevertheless, as long as
sports stars desire glory, paychecks and
prestigious awards, scandals will likely
continue to plague the competitions we all
know and love.

136
 10 Sporting Scandals
LANCE ARMSTRONG’S
SECRET DOPING
Regarded as a hero by his legions of
01 fans, Lance Armstrong’s reputation
came crashing down in 2012 when
allegations of drug use came to a head. The
Texan was a seven-time winner of cycling’s
annual lagship event the Tour de France,
and had successfully beaten testicular cancer
in 1996. This, and his devotion to helping
ind a cure for the disease through his Lance
Armstrong Foundation (now called Livestrong
Foundation), had made him a worldwide icon.
During his winning streak (his seven
consecutive wins from 1999-2005 were an
all-time cycling record until he was stripped
of his titles), Armstrong was on the receiving
end of continued allegations over his use of
drugs. These claims irst appeared in 2001
when suspicious Irish sports journalist, David
Walsh, discovered a connection between
the cyclist and the Italian doctor Michele
Ferrari, who was under investigation for
supplying performance-enhancing drugs.
As he was continually linked to doping but
From hero to zero:
Lance Armstrong
disappointed and
angered fans with his
use of drugs
never convicted, the American and his US
Postal Service team amassed title after title.
Armstrong even sued Sunday Times for libel
over what he saw as false allegations.
Ultimately, events began to catch up with
the cyclist in 2010 when former teammate,
Floyd Landis, claimed Armstrong was guilty
of doping. The claim made by Landis, who
himself had been stripped of his 2006 Tour
win, initiated a formal investigation in the
summer of 2012. The United States Anti-
Doping Agency (USADA) researched the
allegations at length and found the cyclist
guilty of doping and banned him from the
sport for life. Armstrong maintained his
innocence but the deining moment inally
came in January 2013 with what is now an
infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey, when
he admitted to taking drugs in every one of his
Tour de France victories. Professional cycling
has found it diicult in recent years to escape
doping scandals, but the fall of Armstrong is
still the most shocking to date.
137
 Legends of Sport
THE FAKE PARALYMPIANS
03
This scandal is so unbelievable
that it still doesn’t seem true.
Spain’s Paralympic team won
basketball gold at the Sydney games in
2000, beating Russia 87-63 in the inal of the
intellectual disability tournament. However,
they were ordered to return their medals
138
after an inquiry found that 10 of the 12-man
squad did not have any sort of disability. The
controversy resulted in the resignation of
the vice-president of the Spanish Paralympic
Committee and the president of the Spanish
Federation for Mentally Handicapped Sports.
The team did not undergo any medical or
BEN JOHNSON:
TOO FAST?
The 1988 men’s 100 metre
02 inal in Seoul was one of the
most controversial moments in
Olympic history. Millions around the world
watched as Ben Johnson lined up with a
pantheon of sprinting greats on the track.
The gun ired and the Canadian scored a
scintillating start, racing out of the blocks a
neck ahead. A mere 9.79 seconds later it was
all over. Johnson had triumphed convincingly
but within 24 hours he had failed a drugs test
and the celebration had turned to controversy.
Traces of the anabolic steroid Stanozolol were
found in his urine. Johnson claimed his herbal
drink taken before the race must have been
spiked, but the oicials didn’t believe him. The
fastest man in the world was sent home in
disgrace, banned for two years and stripped of
all his records.
psychological tests before they were called
up to play for the national side.
This wasn’t the irst and won’t be the last
example of cheating at the Paralympics, but
it is certainly one of the most infamous; the
desire for success overcoming reason and a
basic sense of humanity.
Carlo Ancelotti, manager
of AC Milan during the
scandal, shown attending a
Calciopoli hearing
CALCIOPOLI
The national team may have
04 been World Cup winners, but
away from the Azzurri, Italian
football was not in a good place in 2006. Serie
A clubs Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio
and Reggina were all involved in a scandal
that would rock Italian football. Known as
‘Calciopoli’, evidence was found that these
clubs had been far too inluential over
referees. Both the police and Italian football
governing bodies uncovered a number of
telephone conversations between Juventus
general manager Luciano Moggi and Italian
oicials, where the Juve head honcho had
too much say in the appointment of referees
for certain ixtures during the 2004-2005
seasons. The allegations were that this
shadowy network of communications was
giving the ive teams an easier ride with
refereeing decisions.
In total, 41 people were investigated. Turin
giants Juventus were perhaps the worst
afected, being stripped of two Serie A titles,
thrown out of the UEFA Champions League
and demoted with a nine-point penalty.
The other four teams involved were given
substantial points deductions. The Calciopoli
incident demonstrated that there were
severe problems in the running of Italian
football and since 2006, the implicated clubs
have continued to protest their innocence,
with Juventus still refusing to accept that
they did not win the two titles fairly.
Perhaps the most interesting response
to an Italian sanction was when Verona
defender Emanuele Pesoli was handed a
three-game ban for match ixing in 2012.
He reacted to the punishment by staging a
hunger strike. Italian football may have its
problems, but it’s rarely boring.
139
 Legends of Sport

THE 409-PAGE DOSSIER

UNEARTHED THE RAMPANT
USE OF STEROIDS AND
GROWTH HORMONES
IN MLB

THE MITCHELL
REPORT
The Mitchell Report was a game-

05 changer in the use of drugs

in baseball. An independent
investigation undertaken by United States
senator George J Mitchell, the 409-page
dossier unearthed the rampant use of anabolic
steroids and growth hormones in MLB.
Published on 13 December 2007, 89 Major
League players were implicated in allegations,
in particular New York Yankees pitcher Roger
Clemens, who had eight pages devoted to his
involvement. Clemens was named by Yankees
strength and conditioning coach Brian
McNamee, but denied any wrongdoing. By far
and away the biggest contributor to the report
was Kirk Radomsk, who as a former batboy
for the New York Mets, could provide a lot of
inside information. Even US president George
W Bush got involved, describing the report
as “part of putting the steroid era of baseball
behind us.” Drug testing in Major League
Baseball has become stricter ever since.

140
THE MUSTANGS
GET FOUND OUT
In 1987 the USA’s National

06 Collegiate Athletic Association

(NCAA) was rocked by a serious
scandal. By trying to match the big boys,
Southern Methodist University (SMU)’s
college football team, the Mustangs, broke
recruiting rules. NCAA regulations prohibit
paying athletes on scholarships at the
university but it was found that several of
SMU’s enrolled players had been ofered
big bucks to play. In 1982 the Mustangs had
just inished their season undefeated, so to
capitalise on their success SMU decided to
start ofering wages to obtain the best players
available. Research has found that Sean
Stopperich, for instance, was paid $5,000 to
move from Pittsburgh to the Texan university
as the Mustangs sought the best players.
SMU received the harshest punishment
possible, the so-called ‘death penalty’. The
team was banned from any competition for
one year with a partial ban extending into the
following season. Nearly three decades on, Despite being a billion dollar
industry, the NCAA prevents
college football is a billion-dollar industry and any sort of payment being
many feel that NCAA players should be paid. made to players

THE SAINTS
Gregg Williams – the man
behind the idea of paying
BOUNTY
players to deliberately
injure their opponents SYSTEM
Player bonuses can often be

07 controversial, but not like this.

In a notoriously underhanded
scheme, the NFL’s New Orleans Saints
paid members of their squad bonuses for
deliberately injuring opponents during a
game. The Saints implemented the system in
2009 and up to 27 players were involved in
what would be a Super Bowl-winning season.
The scheme ended in 2011 but the over-
aggressive practice was uncovered a year
later. An investigation found that the bonuses
were the brainchild of defensive coordinator
Gregg Williams. Williams was suspended for
his role and was only allowed back into the
sport a year later on 7 February 2013.

141
 Legends of Sport

FIGURE SKATING
SABOTAGE
Nancy Kerrigan had just left a

08 training session at Cobo Hall,

Detroit when she was attacked and
struck with a crowbar. With her right knee in a
bad condition, the US igure skater watched on
as one month later, Tonya Harding won the US
Championships. Within days, however, a police
inquiry had linked the victorious Harding to the
mysterious assault.
The investigation found that Harding had
arranged for Kerrigan to be attacked in order to
give her the chance to win the national inal.
She eventually admitted to the crime and was
slapped with a $100,000 ine and stripped of her
1994 title. This tale of petty jealousy ultimately
saw Kerrigan have the last laugh, however, as
she overcame her injury to win silver at the 1994
Nancy Kerrigan was a
winter Olympics, while Harding came in a distant victim of rival Tonya
eighth place. Harding’s jealousy

THE BLACK
SOX SCANDAL
During the days of Babe Ruth,

09 eight Chicago White Sox players

were paid a reported $100,000
to throw the 1919 World Series. Despite this
White Sox team being one of the best in
baseball history, the team owner, Charles
Comiskey, paid them a relative pittance for
their services. It is reported that two of the
team’s most well-known stars, ‘Shoeless
Joe’ Jackson and Buck Weaver, each made a
paltry $6,000 a year. The low pay motivated
the players to try and seek other, more illicit,
sources of income.
DESPITE THIS WHITE SOX TEAM BEING Their opposition in the World Series inals,
the Cincinnati Reds, went on to win the series

ONE OF THE BEST IN BASEBALL HISTORY, 5-3 and whispers about foul play arose in the
immediate aftermath. Despite the suspicions,

THE TEAM OWNER, CHARLES COMISKEY, nothing was done until 1920 when a grand
jury was called to investigate. Four of the

PAID THEM A RELATIVE PITTANCE …

players admitted to the jury that they had
thrown the game in return for a sizeable bribe.
They all stood trial just under a year later and
MOTIVATING THEM TO SEEK OTHER despite initially being acquitted due to a lack
of evidence, it was decided that they should
SOURCES OF INCOME all be banned from the sport for life.

142
 HARLEQUINS
‘BLOODGATE’
Feigning injury is an all-too

10 common occurrence in the world

of sport, but it has never been as
heinous as in the incident that went on to
be known as ‘Bloodgate’. The Heineken Cup
quarter-inal match between Harlequins and
Leinster on 12 April 2009 was heading for a
frantic inish when, with eight minutes left,
Quins full back Tom Williams exited the ield
after a blood injury. A tactical substitution was
made and Nick Evans, the side’s best kicker,
returned to try and help his team win. This
was to no avail, as Leinster progressed to
the semi-inals 6-5 winners. No one thought
anything suspicious had happened, until a
subsequent investigation proved otherwise.
A joint inquiry spearheaded by the
European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC) and the
Rugby Football Union (RFU) four months after
the match had taken place proved that blood
capsules had been used to fake Williams’
injuries to enable the substitution. The event
was immediately dubbed ‘Bloodgate’ by the
media and, on second viewing, TV replays
showed Williams winking towards the dugout
as if to say ‘mission complete’. It was revealed
that club doctor, Dr Wendy Chapman, had
even cut Williams’ lip in order to make the
injury look authentic. Director of Rugby, Dean
Richards, and physiotherapist, Steph Brennan,
were also linked to the scandal. Ironically, the
replacement kicker, Nick Evans, had missed a
drop goal after being illegally reintroduced to
the ield.
The reprimands were severe. Williams was
given a 12-month ban (reduced to just four
on appeal), Richards received a three-year
Dean Richards,
ban and two years were handed to Brennan.
shown here talking Chapman also didn’t get of lightly and was
to Nick Evans, forced to appear in front of the General
received a three-
year ban for his
Medical Council for bringing her profession
role in Bloodgate into disrepute. The club itself was handed a
ine of £260,000 and has nursed a damaged
reputation in the rugby community ever
since. Harlequins met Leinster once more in
the Heineken Cup in 2014 and ran out 24-18
winners, but this time blood capsules were
replaced by a high-scoring and honest game
of rugby.

143
 of al
fer
al ci
tri Spe

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