Sports' Forgotten Heroes

In the movie, "The Natural", Roy Hobbs is a baseball prodigy. On his way to the minor leagues, he gets sidetracked and is shot by an obsessed fan. Years later, Hobbs surfaces and becomes a star for the fictional New York Knights. There is no definitive answer of whom the life of Roy Hobbs is based upon. However, speculation has always revolved around the careers of Eddie Waitkus who was shot by a...

36 times Lloyd Mangrum collected the winner's check on the PGA TOUR. He set the course record at The Masters. Won the U.S. Open in 1946 (almost won it again in 1950, but lost in the famous playoff to Ben Hogan). Twice he finished third in the PGA. Twice he finished second at The Masters. He was the TOUR's leading money winner in 1951 and won the Vardon Trophy twice (1951 and 1953). He was inducted...

There have been very few women to own a Major League Baseball franchise. The most notable, Marge Schott, owned the CIncinnati Reds from 1984 to 1999. Before her came Helene Hathaway Robison Britton who inherited the the St. Louis Cardinals. After Britton came Joan Payson, the first owner of the New York Mets and the first woman to own an MLB franchise without inheriting it. But, there was another....

One of the most obscure teams in the history of the NHL is the Cleveland Barons. In existence for just two years, the Barons moved to Cleveland from Oakland where they were first known as the California Golden Seals and ultimately merged with the Minnesota North Stars who are now the Dallas Stars. After playing in front of few fans and experiencing financial hardships in Oakland, the Seals packed...

When he was just 14, Leo Houck decided to step into the ring and give boxing a try. He loved it! For the next 24-years he made it his life. And he was pretty darned good at it too. In fact, over the course of his career, Leo never suffered a knockout. But he sure dished out punishment. According to BoxRec, Leo fought 210 times finishing his career with 144 wins, 39 losses and 27 draws. When Leo fo...

The NHL expanded to Atlanta for the 1972-73 season with the Flames. The team quickly became a perennial playoff team qualifying for the post-season in just its second season. In fact, in the eight years that the Flames called Atlanta home, they made the playoffs six times (although they never advanced past the first round). After the 1979-80 season, the Flames packed up and left the south for Calg...

The 1920s featured several legendary names in the NFL. Guys like Red Grange, Curley Lambeau ,Jim Thorpe, George Halas and a host of others. But one name that if often overlooked is that of Paddy Driscoll. The first-ever All-Pro QB, Driscoll was one of the game's most dominant forces. Originally a member of the then "Chicago" Cardinals, Driscoll also played halfback, would line up on defense, and w...

Think about this. You’re a Major League pitcher and you pitch in the World Series four times. You start four games and complete three of them. The game you didn’t complete, you pitch 8 2/3 innings. One of those four games, you pitch a 2-hit shutout and your overall ERA for those games is 1.01. You would certainly be one of the more talked about “great” pitchers each year when the post-season comes...

In 1950, the residents of Milwaukee, Wisconsin were given hope. Hope that with the building of a new stadium, professional sports would follow. Well, it didn’t happen right away, but it didn’t take too long before Lou Perini moved his Boston Braves of the National League to Milwaukee. On, April 6, 1953, the Milwaukee Braves took the field for the first time in County Stadium and a love affair betw...

In 1909, pitcher Jack Quinn made his Major League debut. 24-years later, 1933, Quinn made his final appearance. A remarkable career, in which he was out of the game in 1916 and 1917, had come to an end. Incredibly, part of the reason he didn’t play in 1916 and 1917 was because many thought Quinn was too old. Yet, after he came back in 1918, he went on to pitch 16-more years and when he retired, de...

Zack Wheat was overlooked by the baseball Hall of Fame for years. In 1959, after a unanimous vote, Wheat was elected to the Hall – an honor long overdue, but an honor he was able to enjoy in person. When you look back at the history of the great Los Angeles/Brooklyn Dodgers teams, their all-time team reads like a who’s who of baseball history. Names like Koufax, Campanella, Hodges, Robinson, Reese...

Archie Clark broke into the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakes in 1966. He came off the bench his first season (1966-67) and averaged 10.5 PPG. Over the course of the next few seasons, Archie brought two new moves to the game that so any players use today, the “Shake and Bake” and the “step-back”. And while Archie was an innovator on the floor with such moves, it was what he did off the court that has...

Denny Shute won 16 PGA TOUR events including the 1936 and 1937 PGA Championships. In 1933, Shute outlasted Craig Wood in a 36-o playoff at St. Andrew’s to win the Open Championship. Largely forgotten, Shute had a marvelous career. In fact, it wouldn’t be until 2000 when another golfer, Tiger Woods, would win back-to-back PGA Championships (1999 and 2000). Shute played during the 30s and 40s when t...

When it comes to firsts, Larry Doby just misses the mark. Jackie Robinson was the first to cross the color line when he did so for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Larry Doby was second (but the first in the American League to do so) when he made his debut for the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1947. Frank Robinson was the first black manager in baseball history when he was named player-manag...

Jim McCormick might not be a name familiar to most baseball fans, but it should be. After all, how many pitchers have tossed over 500-innings in a season five times AND 657 2/3 innings in one year? McCormick had seasons of 45, 40, 36 and 31 wins. He started 485 games and completed 466 of them. He won 265 games over his 10-year career (average of 26 per season) and posted an ERA of 2.43. But those...

Craig Wood was known to the golfing world as the “Blonde Bomber’ for his prodigious drives. He was also pretty dangerous with a putter in his hand. But, Wood, for all his big drives and magic on the greens was missing one thing when it came to a popularity contest – he was not flamboyant at all. In fact, he pretty much kept to himself. He figured he would let his game do his talking. And, his game...

  Andre Lacroix, the all-time leading scorer in the history of the World Hockey Association (WHA), is on this edition of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes. A member of the WHA Hall of Fame, Andre totaled more points than any other WHA player, more assists and played in more games. Lacroix’s career started in the 1967-68 NHL season with the Philadelphia Flyers. But after a trade to the Chicago Black Hawks a...

The 1976 NBA Finals featured a mediocre team in the Phoenix Suns and the historic Boston Celtics. Boston, including the previous season and the first two games of these NBA Finals had won 8-straight against Phoenix. The Suns, who had gone 42-40 during the 1975-76 regular season, got on a roll. First, they downed the Seattle Supersonics 4 games to 2 and then they took out the defending NBA Champion...

Pete Sampras is not, necessarily, a name that most tennis fans think about when discussing the greatest to ever play. However, upon closer examination, especially when it comes to the greatest American men to ever play, not only should Sampras be considered, statistically speaking, he should be considered the best to ever play. Period. While Jimmy Connors won the most singles tournaments in the hi...

Their names are not the most recognizable when talking about the New York Rangers and hockey history: Arnie Brown, Dave Balon and Orland Kurtenbach. One name that is very recognizable is that of Walt Tkaczuk. All four played a pivotal role in one incredible game in 1970 – the final game of the regular season in which the New York Rangers needed a series of events to occur in order to qualify for t...

Spec Sanders was somewhat of a football phenom. In fact, his days at the University of Texas made NFL teams take notice and in 1942 the Washington Redskins made Sanders the first-ever Longhorn to be taken in the first round when they selected him sixth overall. However, Sanders never put on the wine and gold of Washington. Following his days at Texas, Sanders joined his brothers in the Army as the...

Tom Fears was a record-setter. When he broke into the NFL as a rookie in 1948, he caught 51 passes. His second year, the split-end caught an NFL-record 77 passes and scored nine touchdowns. He broke his own record in 1950 with 84 passes for 1,116-yards and seven touchdowns. In a game against the Green Bay Packers that year, Fears hauled in an NFL-record 18 passes. The NFL had never seen anything l...

On November 6, 2020, the National Hockey League lost a great one, Jim Neilson. A phenomenal defenseman for the New York Rangers for 12-years of his 16-year career, Neilson was the quintessential stay-at-home defenseman who made opponents pay. He’d stand them up at the blueline, hit hard, made opposing forwards think twice before planting themselves in front of the net. One fo Jim’s proudest accomp...

Jerry Izenberg might not be a recognizable name to most sport’s fans, but it’s one that will be eternally remembered when it comes to all sports. You see, Jerry Izenberg is one of the greatest writers to ever put pen to paper when it comes to covering the games we love to watch. Jerry spent time at several newspapers, most notably though, he spent most of his career writing for a paper that so few...

One of the fastest players to ever grace the gridiron was the 5-foot-4 Buddy Young. A native of Illinois, Young played for the Illini before joining the AAFC (All America Football Conference) and later the NFL where he enjoyed great success with the then Baltimore Colts. Buddy’s speed and quickness is what made him a threat on the field. At Illinois, the first time Buddy ever touched a football, h...