Past Our Prime

Frank Shorter landing on the cover of the July 5, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated was perfectly timed — the Montreal Olympics were just weeks away and Shorter was heading back to defend the gold medal he had won in Munich four years earlier in one of the most memorable moments in American track and field history. He had crossed the finish line in Munich in 1972 to a roar from a crowd that had spe...

Bowie Kuhn landed on the cover of the June 28, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated because he had just done something nobody in baseball had done quite so boldly — voided three of the biggest player sales in the history of the sport. When Charlie Finley sold Vida Blue to the Yankees and Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox all in a single afternoon, Kuhn stepped in and nullified every transacti...

George Brett spent 21 years with the Kansas City Royals and never played a single game for anyone else — which in today's era of free agency feels almost quaint. He's the only player in baseball history to win batting titles in three different decades ('76, '80, '90), hit .390 in 1980 — the closest anyone has come to .400 since Ted Williams — and finished with 3,154 career hits before a first-ball...

Dwight Stones is on the cover of the June 14, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated, and he joins Past Our Prime to take us back to one of the most electric moments of his remarkable career. That cover came on the heels of a world record in the high jump — a performance that announced to the world that Stones wasn't just a great athlete, he was an event. Being on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1976...

Alvan Adams was the Phoenix Suns' rookie center during the memorable 1976 NBA Finals run, and he was nothing short of sensational in his debut season. A 6'9" center out of the University of Oklahoma, Adams won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1975–76 after averaging around 19 points and 9 rebounds per game, bringing a unique blend of size, skill, and passing ability that was ahead of its time f...

On the latest episode of Past Our Prime, we dive into one of the most memorable moments in baseball history — the May 31, 1976 cover of Sports Illustrated that captured a dramatic home plate confrontation between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The cover photograph, shot by Neil Leifer, showed Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk (#27) making a tag out on Yankees outfielder Lou Piniella (#14), wi...

Larry Robinson was the cornerstone of the Montreal Canadiens' blue line during one of the greatest dynasties in NHL history, and the 1975–76 season was where he truly announced himself to the hockey world. He had already been part of the 1973 Cup-winning team, but it was the 1976 Stanley Cup Final against the Philadelphia Flyers where Robinson really made his mark. The Flyers were the feared Broad...

The May 17, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated is the perfect time capsule for Past Our Prime, capturing the sports world exactly 50 years ago through unforgettable stories and personalities. Headlined by Julius Erving on the cover, the issue showcased “Dr. J” at the peak of his ABA brilliance with the New York Nets as the league headed towards extinction and its historic merger with the NBA. But th...

This week on Past Our Prime, the guys crack open the May 10, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated and bounce all over the sports world of the mid-’70s. We talk about Muhammad Ali looking very un-Ali-like in his sluggish fight with Jimmy Young and how many thought Ali lost this one. We break down the end of Arnold Palmer’s days o the PGA tour when he began to realize his glory days were starting to fad...

On the May 3, 1976 cover of Sports Illustrated, Mike Schmidt was exploding onto the national scene as the Phillies’ young power-hitting third baseman. Fresh off tying a major league record with 11 home runs in April — and just weeks after smashing four homers in one game on April 17 — Schmidt was quickly becoming must-watch baseball. In true Past Our Prime fashion, we dove right into that magical...

Evonne Goolagong Cawley was on the cover of the April 26, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated, a fitting spotlight for one of tennis’s most graceful and naturally gifted champions who was reaching the #1 ranking in the world in late April 50 years ago. Goolagong’s presence on the cover also reflected a much broader impact—not just as a star player, but as a trailblazer for Indigenous Australians in i...

The April 19, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated had Ray Floyd on the cover after he absolutely ran away with the Masters, winning by eight shots at 17-under par in a wire-to-wire masterpiece. The story made it clear this was a different Floyd — more mature and more locked in than ever— while still giving props to guys like Ben Crenshaw who finished second. It was classic Augusta in the middle of th...

In the April 12, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated, Joe Morgan is portrayed as the driving force behind the modern Cincinnati Reds’ dominance, embodying the perfect blend of speed, discipline, and power that made him one of baseball’s most complete players. As the Reds’ second baseman, Morgan’s ability to control games with both his bat and his baserunning helped define “The Big Red Machine,” and t...

It’s time, for Past Our Prime… and this week we turn the clock back to April 5th, 1976—when the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team completed one of the most iconic seasons in sports history. On the cover of Sports Illustrated is Scott May, and inside the story is perfection: 32–0, a national title, and a team that still stands alone as the last undefeated champion in men’s college basketball....

The March 29, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated featured Kent Benson soaring toward the basket on its cover, captured during Indiana’s hard-fought 65-56 victory over Marquette in the Mideast Regional Final. Benson dominated the paint that night with 18 points and 9 rebounds, helping send the undefeated Hoosiers to the Final Four. Exactly 50 years to the day after that iconic cover hit newsstands, B...

At just 13 years old, Tracy Austin was already doing things most players twice her age could only dream about—right down to landing on the March 22, 1976 cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “A Star is Born.” And they weren’t kidding. With a calm, unshakable presence, she was already beating older, more experienced players with a sharp baseline game, all while still juggling school and fa...

The March 15, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated featured the ever-colorful and once again owner of the White Sox, Bill Veeck on the cover. One of baseball’s most imaginative and controversial owners, Veeck’s reputation for showmanship and fan-friendly ideas had already made him a legend in the game. Best known for stunts like sending Eddie Gaedel—the 3-foot-7 pinch hitter—to the plate in 1951 and f...

The March 8, 1976, issue of Sports Illustrated featured Buffalo Braves star Bob McAdoo on the cover, captured in a striking close-up portrait by photographer Neil Leifer, holding the ball at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium under the headline "Hottest Shot in the Game: Buffalo's Bob McAdoo." Just one year removed from winning the 1975 NBA MVP award—his second straight scoring title at 34.1 PPG in 1974-...

When Muhammad Ali stopped Jean-Pierre Coopman in five rounds on February 20, 1976, in San Juan, it was a controlled and confident defense of his heavyweight title. Ali dictated the pace from the opening bell, snapping jabs and sharp combinations while keeping the overmatched challenger at bay until the referee stepped in. The performance earned Ali the cover of the March 1, 1976 issue of Sports Il...

The February 23, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated featured a colorful and compelling story on Seattle SuperSonics guard Slick Watts, written by veteran reporter John Papanek who had a gift for capturing the spirit of athletes who didn’t always fit the traditional superstar mold, and Watts — with his bald head, crooked headband and relentless defensive energy — was perfect material. Rather than red...

On February 5, 1976, Franz Klammer delivered one of the most electrifying performances in Winter Olympic history, charging down the Patscherkofel course in Innsbruck to win gold in the men’s downhill. The 22-year-old Austrian was already a World Cup star, but the pressure on him that day was immense. Austria was hosting the Games, the nation expected victory in its signature alpine event, and Klam...

The February 9, 1976 cover of Sports Illustrated froze a moment that changed Tennessee basketball forever. Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld weren’t just winning games — they were transforming the sport. King played with raw power and fearless intent, a scorer who imposed his will, while Grunfeld brought grace, vision, and a scorer’s touch that made defenses choose wrong every time. Together, they b...

Sheila Young entered 1976 as the face of American speed skating, and in fact her appearance on the February 2, 1976 cover of Sports Illustrated made her the face of the USA's best chance at a gold medal and captured the moment perfectly. Already a world champion with a reputation for raw power and fearless racing, Young stood out in a sport dominated by European skaters. The cover reflected more t...

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ victory in Super Bowl X cemented their place as the NFL’s team of the decade, delivering a 21–17 win over the Dallas Cowboys and a second straight championship to cap the 1975 season. The cover of Sports Illustrated went to Lynn Swann, whose acrobatic catches and timely big plays earned him Super Bowl MVP honors and provided the game’s most indelible images. Yet the true b...

The January 19, 1976 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue marked another glossy step in a tradition that had begun almost accidentally a little more than a decade earlier. What started in 1964 as a winter stopgap—filling pages when sports calendars were thin—had evolved into a cultural event, blending fashion, fantasy, and far-flung travel. This ’76 edition leaned hard into escapism, taking readers t...