Sports' Forgotten Heroes

Gus Dorais is one of college football’s all-time greatest players and coaches. He was the first player in the history of Notre Dame to be named an All-American and was actually given the opportunity to coach the Fighting Irish. However, his best friend and college roommate needed the job and Dorais had another offer. So, Dorais took the other job – head coach at Dubuque – and his best friend, Knut...

Archie Moore is the only boxer in history to face Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson AND Muhammed Ali. An absolutely terrific boxer, Moore captured the light heavyweight championship by unanimous decision at the age of 39 over Joey Maxim. Moore held the title for 10-years before he was stripped of the belt for failure to fight as a light heavyweight towards the of his 10-year reign because he wanted...

Joe “The Jet” Perry was once the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, and until 2011 was the all-time leading rusher in the history of the San Francisco 49’ers. But never winning a championship and playing the shadow of the great Jim Brown has certainly affected the legacy of Joe Perry. Perry said no to a larger offer to play for the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL in 1948 and instead signed for nearly less...

A star at Cal-Berkley, Joe Kapp led the Bears to a Rose Bowl victory and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the 18th round of the 1959 NFL Draft. However, Washington and Kapp squabbled over terms, and Kapp decided to take his game north to the Canadian Football League and the Calgary Stampeders. After spending two years with Calgary, Kapp was traded to the British Columbia Lions (in 1961) a...

Duke Slater is not a common name amongst football fans, but it should be. While he played in the NFL prior to what we know it as now, Slater was still one of the greatest to ever play the game, particularly as a lineman. In fact, when the great Red Grange was asked to name the greatest players of all time (up until that point), Grange did not name himself as one of the greats. In fact, he named 13...

On July 12, 1910, New York Evening Mail reporter Franklin Pierce Adams filed his article after a game between the Chicago Cubs and New York Giants. Little did he or anyone know it would become one of the most famous pieces of work to ever be written about baseball, a little poem in which he proclaimed, “These are the saddest possible words, Tinker to Evers to Chance”. Those three, Tinker, Evers an...

Bob Allison was one of the best players for the Minnesota Twins during the 1960s. The Twins moved to Minnesota from Washington, D.C. for the 1961 season. However, before getting to Minnesota, Allison won the Rookie of the Year for Washington (known as the Senators) in 1959 by clubbing 30 Home Runs and knocking in 85 and batting .261. After the team moved to Minnesota is when Allison did most of hi...

Not only is Lefty O’Doul one of baseball’s forgotten heroes, he is actually one of America’s forgotten heroes as well. In fact, General Douglas MacArthur said what O’Doul did after World War II to help ease tensions between the U.S. and Japan was one of the greatest acts of diplomacy in the history of the U.S. O’Doul is one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball as his .349 career batt...

Sal “The Barber” Maglie enjoyed a terrific career going 119-62 over 10 years. But from 1950 through 1954 he was as dominant as anyone in the game. Given the nickname “The Barber” because of how he approached hitters and his game-day stubble, Maglie blossomed at the age of 33 after having spent time in the Mexican League and learning under the tutelage of former Major League pitcher Dolf Luque. Mag...

Kiki Cuyler was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1968, but so few can recall his career – and what a career it was! Cuyler, whose birth name is Hazen Shirley Cuyler, made it to the big leagues for good in 1924 and hit .354 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1925, Cuyler upped his average to .357 and set two records that still stand today for Pittburgh, most runs scored in a season with 144, and...

Lyman Bostock was a Major League Baseball player on the rise. During the first 3 ½ years of his career with the Minnesota Twins and California Angels, Lyman hit .311 with a high of .336 in 1977. He had just signed a free agent contract with the Angels, a team that was on the rise and hoping to win a championship with Bostock at the center of things. But it wasn’t to be. In a horrible case of being...

Ralph Guldahl joined the PGA TOUR in 1931, walked away from the game in 1934, rejoined the TOUR in 1935, and retired from the game for good in 1940. But in between, he was absolutely phenomenal. During his time on TOUR he won 16 tournaments including three Majors – the 1937 and 1938 U.S. Open and the 1939 Masters. He also won the Western Open in 1936, 1937 and 1938 when the Western was thought of...

One of the most flamboyant soccer players to ever play here in the U.S. was Giorgio Chinaglia. He was a star on a team filled with some of the world’s best, the New York Cosmos. He played with Pele, Beckenbauer, Alberto and so many others. And while he might not have been as skilled as them, the one thing he did better than anyone was score goals. In fact, he was, for lack of a better term, a goal...

Dolph Schayes played in the NBA for 15 years, and when he retired he was the league’s all-time leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder. Yet, many basketball fans don’t recall Schayes at all, or mistake him for his son, Danny, who spent 20-years in the NBA. Why do so many not recall Dolph? Perhaps it’s because he spent 14 of his 15 years playing for a team that no longer exists, the Syracuse...

The story of Gottfried von Cramm is truly remarkable. While most have probably never heard of him, von Cramm was once the No. 1 ranked tennis player in the world. A German, von Cramm played during the time Adolf Hitler was rising to power; and while most Germans knew what Hitler was about and was about to do, the rest of the world had no idea. On this episode of SFH we take a look back at the care...

Urban Shocker was regarded by many as the best pitcher of his time. In fact, Babe Ruth said he was the best pitcher he faced. Other pitchers said that Urban was the best. Writers of the day, such as Damon Runyon, and others called Urban the best too. He started his career with the New York Yankees was traded to the St. Louis Browns and then several years later, the Yankees reacquired him. He was t...

Roberto DeVicenzo won 231 golf tournaments around the world, and that includes the 1967 British Open. But it was his signing of an incorrect scorecard after the 4th round of the 1968 Masters for which he is most remembered. That “little” gaffe cost DeVicenzo an opportunity to win a second straight major, and one of golf’s most cherished tournaments. Instead of squaring off against Bob Goalby in an...

Gene Conley did something no other athlete before him or who played after him ever accomplished – win a championship in two of the major four sports we follow (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL). Not Deion Sanders, not Bo Jackson, no one. Conley won the World Series with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and came off the bench to help the Boston Celtics win NBA championships in 1959, 1960 and 1961. On this edition of...

Vic Hadfield was the first man to score 50 goals in a season for the New York Rangers. Named captain of a team that included the likes of Jean Ratelle, Brad park and Rod Gilbert, some say Hadfield just might have also been the heart and soul of the team. When Hadfield was placed on the No. 1 line to protect Ratelle and Gilbert the Rangers took off, and that line was quickly nicknamed the “GAG Line...

Dave DeBusschere was, simply stated, remarkable. A world class two-sport star who was raised just outside of Detroit, DeBusschere was a stud pitcher and an even better basketball player. Taken by the Detroit Pistons in the NBA’s territorial draft, he was also selected by the Chicago White Sox … and he played professionally for both teams. On the hardwood, DeBusschere quickly established himself as...

One of just four former Green Bay Packers to be immortalized with a statue, Johnny “Blood” McNally is also a member of the inaugural class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Along with such legends as Bronko Nagurski, Ernie Nevers, Jim Thorpe, Sammy Baugh, George Halas, Tim Mara and Don Hutson, Johnny was inducted into the Hall in 1963. One of the toughest players to tackle, Johnny still holds the...

1938 marks the 80th anniversary of the improbable … the year in which Don Budge, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, became the first (and just one of two) players to win the Grand Slam of tennis (Australian, French, Wimbledon, U.S.). Budge actually won six straight Grand Slam events to go along with a number of doubles, mixed-doubles, and Davis Cup Championships as well. Budge, who to...

Frank Ryan, the last man to lead the Cleveland Browns to an NFL Championship, joins the podcast to talk about his career and the magical year of 1964 when the Browns beat the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts 27-0 to win the title. Ryan was the Browns starter for most of the mid-1960s and Bleacher Report named Ryan as the most underrated player in the history of the NFL. As terrific as he was on the...

Every December college football heroes gather in New York City and are on hand for the announcement of the winner of one of the most, if not the most, iconic trophies in all of sport – The Heisman Trophy. Who was the man for whom the trophy is named, and what made him so special? John M. Heisman, the great-nephew of the man for whom the trophy is named – John W. Heisman, joins the podcast. John M....

Ernie DiGregorio was the NBA Rookie of the Year for the 1973-74 season. The No. 3 pick out of Providence after leading the Friars to 27-4 mark during his All-America senior season, Ernie was as exciting as they come. Standing just 6-feet tall and weighing all of 180-pounds, he was a magician on the court. If you were open, Ernie would find a way to get the ball to you. In fact, he set the rookie r...