Sports History This Week

September 29, 1999. Mario Kart 64, The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong sit atop the gaming world. A new franchise, though, is about to explode onto the scene: Tony Hawk Pro Skater. The hype wave has been building thanks to a free demo. And then at the X-Games – Tony Hawk lands the 900. All of the sudden, Hawk and skateboarding are thrust into the national spotlight. It's at this perfect moment th...

September 23, 2001. In his first game back after the tragic events of September 11th, Drew Bledsoe -- the highest paid quarterback in the NFL and the undisputed face of the New England Patriots -- is hoping to lead his team to his second Super Bowl appearance. But a brutal fourth quarter hit lands Bledsoe in the hospital, and his backup -- a relatively unknown late-round draft pick -- comes in and...

September 17, 1920. Football in America has arrived. Team after team joins the growing landscape: the Muncie Flyers, the Rock Island Independents, the Decatur Staleys. While more teams are waiting in the wings, the on-field product is a bit of a mess. Few fans are interested, players are on shaky contracts, and—maybe most importantly—the game itself is boring. At a car dealership in Canton, Ohio,...

September 10, 1989. The Atlanta Falcons are excited to witness the debut of their highly-anticipated rookie, whom they took fifth overall in the NFL Draft earlier that year. He’s young, he’s flamboyant, and he has not one, but two already-famous nicknames: Neon Deion and Prime Time. This is Atlanta’s first introduction to Deion Sanders, who would become a sports and cultural icon for the city, as...

September 1, 2007. A roaring crowd overlooks a football field in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The top-ranked University of Michigan team is going up against a small North Carolina school, Appalachian State University. Michigan paid App State to come to town... and lose. And yet, things have not gone as planned. Michigan trails by two points with just six seconds left in the game. They're positioned to kic...

August 27, 1976. Renee Richards expects to play tennis at this year’s U.S. Open. Coming off several impressive performances in top amateur tournaments, she wants to try her hand against the best competition in the world. But today, shortly before the tournament is set to begin, the USTA bars her from playing on the basis of her gender identity. A media firestorm and a precedent-setting lawsuit soo...

August 16, 1960. Captain Joe Kittinger steps into the passenger compartment of a balloon. He's preparing to travel higher than anyone has ever been in open-air: more than 100,000 feet. From there, he plans to jump. Today, Joe Kittinger sets the unofficial record for longest and highest parachute jump along with the longest free fall in history. His success will change the future of space travel. W...

August 11, 2008. It's Day 3 of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, and Michael Phelps is ready. This is the 4x100 freestyle, a swim relay race where Phelps and his team will look to overcome the odds and win gold. But for Phelps, one gold medal isn't enough. He wants to win eight of them. But this race will prove to be his largest obstacle yet. Today, Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics....

August 2, 1921. Hundreds wait inside a Chicago courthouse for the verdict. Seven Chicago White Sox players are accused of intentionally throwing the World Series, losing on purpose to collect a payout. For decades, gambling has been a part of America's pastime, but this fix is too big to ignore. The nation feels betrayed, yet is transfixed by the scandal, spending months following the whirlwind ca...

July 30, 1966. England wins their first, and so far only, World Cup. And yet even today, over half a century later, one specific element of that victory is still viewed by many as one of the all-time most controversial sports moments. What led to the controversy? Will it ever be resolved? And how did the 1966 England soccer team revolutionize the on-field tactics of how the game would be play...

July 19, 1980. Three young boxers are circling a track in front of thousands of people in downtown Moscow. Alberto Mercado, Jose Molina, and Luis Pizarro have found themselves as the sole representatives of Puerto Rico in this year’s controversial Summer Olympic Games. The young men are here in defiance of their own nation’s government and the government of the United States.  The U.S. and 64...

July 17, 1964. Donald Campbell climbs into the cockpit of the  Bluebird CN7  in the Australian desert with one goal in mind: breaking the world land speed record. In doing so, he sets off two incredible years of drama and heart-stopping competition between rivals, families, and even corporations, thousands of miles away in the United States.   What incredible lengths did these...

July 4, 1939. In front of more than 60,000 fans, Lou Gehrig steps up to the microphone. The “Iron Horse” had played in 2,130 consecutive games for the New York Yankees, manning first base in the Bronx for 17 seasons. But because of a debilitating yet little-known illness, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or ALS), Gehrig’s career is forced to come to an end. So on this day, “Lou Gehrig Appreciation D...

June 28, 1992. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, and more step onto the court in public for the very first time as teammates. They take center stage against Cuba, in their first tune-up before they would become a truly global phenomenon at the ’92 Olympics in Barcelona. This is the world’s introduction to the Dream Team. Anyone who knew basketball had a pretty good idea t...

June 23, 1972. President Richard Nixon’s men broke into the Watergate complex just six days earlier. He’s attempting some damage control, but in between meetings with his staff, Nixon signs a new bill into law – the Educational Amendments of 1972. He isn’t aware of it at the time, but Title IX of this law will change women’s sports forever. The bill’s passage comes after years of ca...

Sports History This Week, hosted by Kaelen Jones, brings to life moments in competition that redefined sports and our culture through gripping narratives, sounds from the archives, discussions with experts, and interviews with athletes who were there. For stories like this that go beyond the world of sports, check out History This Week wherever you get your podcasts.