by Bill McLain
That morning the receptionist called to tell me that I had a visitor in the lobby. When I met my visitor and he introduced himself, I was shocked that someone had come so far just to shake my hand and thank me personally. It turns out that Rob is a former officer in the Dutch Royal Navy and a mathematics professor. I was thoroughly impressed with the effort he had made to find me and I introduced him to my staff. We all had a memorable visit with Rob. In fact, we had another wonderful visit the following year and hope to have many more in the years to come.
That one visitor from the Netherlands made up for the tens of thousands of people we’ve helped who never bother to say “thanks.”
My Dutch friend, Rob Dijxhoorn, and I still keep in touch.
Sports
What does “packers” refer to in the name of the Green Bay Packers football team? (A team that produced a true star—Bart, that is.)
The official Green Bay Packers media guide states that in 1919, Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun were talking on a street corner in the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and decided to start up a football team. They later convinced Curly’s employer to put up money for the equipment and let them use the company athletic field for practice. Curly worked for the Indian Packing Company, and because early publicity identified the new team as a company project, the team was named the “Packers.” It’s been called that ever since.
However, Curly Lambeau’s first wife tells the story differently. When she was still Curly’s sweetheart, his father wanted him to return to Notre Dame University in the fall. Curly hated school and had a good job with the Indian Packing Company. However, he thought the only way to keep playing football was to return to Notre Dame University until Calhoun suggested that he could play for the town team. The Indian Packing Company gave them $500 for uniforms and equipment and Curly was elected team captain.
The first season was highly successful. The Green Bay Packers beat 10 opponents in a row before being beaten by another company-sponsored team from Beloit, Michigan.
Some consider 1921 to be the birth year of the Packers. This was the year that the fledgling National Football League (NFL) granted a franchise to the owners of the Acme Packing Corporation (successor to the Indian Packing Company) to host a team in the city of Green Bay.
The owners of the Acme Packing Corporation lost the franchise in 1922 for using college players under assumed names. The franchise was later awarded to Curly that same year. Low attendance and other financial problems forced the Packers to seek help from local merchants. In 1923 Curly, Calhoun, and others formed a corporation that was awarded a franchise in June of the same year. The corporation, with some revisions, still exists today.
FACTOIDS
In 1931 the Packers became the first team to win the NFL title three years in a row. In later years the team won nine NFL titles and two Super Bowls.
Vince Lombardi was the only Packer coach who never posed with the team for the official team photo.
Although quarterback Lynn Dickey recovered more fumbles than any other Packer, most of the fumbles were his own.
Unlike other professional football teams, Green Bay is a nonprofit organization. All of the team’s profits are either reinvested in the franchise or donated to charities or other worthwhile programs. In 1950 stock in the Green Bay Packers was $25 per share. Today it is still $25 per share.
Ray Nitschke played in more postseason games than any other Packer.
DID YOU KNOW?
Perhaps one of the greatest Packers is also an unsung hero, Bart Starr. Quiet and soft-spoken, Starr never displayed the ego common among superstars. Under his direction, the Packers defeated the Giants in the first title game ever played at Green Bay and the first million-dollar gate in professional football history.
But in spite of the fact that Starr had thrown three touchdown passes, the press raved about Paul Hornung’s great catches. After the game a national sports columnist was asked about Starr and replied, “Who’s that?”
The following year Starr led his team to victory while a 50 mph wind whistled through Yankee Stadium. While his opponents complained about the horrible weather, Starr completed 9 out of 21 passes and didn’t fumble once.
In 1967 the Packers played in weather that was 13 degrees below zero. During the final minute of the game, Starr executed a one-yard quarterback sneak that gave the Packers their third consecutive NFL title.
Although players and coaches on other teams recognized Starr as one of the best quarterbacks in the league, the modest Starr replied, “There are two big reasons for any success I’ve had. One is Coach Lombardi and the second is the best offensive team in the pro ranks.”
With all of the superegos in today’s professional sports, it’s refreshing to think about the “forgotten hero” of the Green Bay Packers: quarterback Bart Starr, who said, “I do the best I can.”
Who was the model for the Heisman trophy? (With a snarl, not a smile.)
The model was Warren Mulrey of the Fordham University football team, chosen by John Heisman, director of the Downtown Athletic Club of New York. The Heisman trophy was designed by sculptor Frank Eliscu.
The Heisman trophy is a statue of a football carrier with his right arm extended as if to straight-arm a would-be tackier. It is 21 inches high, stands on a black onyx base, and weighs about 70 pounds.
Originally there was a smile on the face of the statue but Heisman made Eliscu replace the smile with a snarl, arguing that football players were fighters. Other consultants wanted the fingers on the runner’s hand extended. Eliscu replied, “That may be good football but it is not good sculpture because they can be broken off too easily.”
Eliscu used a newspaper picture for some of the details of the uniform. The picture was of Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago. It showed him with his stockings folded over the tops of his shoes and his legs bare, which was the style at that time.
Perhaps the picture was prophetic. Jay Berwanger was the first player to win the Heisman trophy.
FACTOIDS
John Heisman helped legalize the forward pass and originated the “center snap” and “hike” signals. He also was the first coach to use the quarterback as a defensive safety and use him to run interference on end runs.
Archie Griffin is the only player to win the Heisman trophy twice.
The trophy was originally called the DAC (Downtown Athletic Club) trophy but was renamed the Heisman trophy after John Heisman died in 1936. In the same year the rules were changed so that all college players in the United States could compete, rather than just those east of the Mississippi River.
John Heisman was a Shakespearean actor during the off season. When coaching, he often reverted to more eloquent language such as saying “prolate spheroid” for “football.”
Most Heisman trophy winners have also made a name for themselves in professional football, including Paul Hornung, Roger Staubach, O. J. Simpson, Jim Plunkett, Tony Dorsett, Billy Sims, Marcus Allen, and Barry Sanders, to name just a few.
During his career, John Heisman coached at six colleges with a total record of 185 wins, 68 losses, and 18 ties.
DID YOU KNOW?
Although American football started in the eighteenth century, it was really just a combination of rugby and soccer. It wasn’t until 1880 that the game was changed to resemble modern-day football.
In 1905 there were so many football deaths and injuries that President Theodore Roosevelt called for more rule changes to make the game safer. Blocking with extended arms was outlawed and new formations were introduced. The forward pass was legalized at this time, with the help of John Heisman, but did not gain the popularity or finesse we recognize today until Knute Rockne at Notre Dame perfected it.
Perhaps one incident that prompted President Roosevelt to make football safer was the fact that his second cousin, William Roosevelt, broke his leg when playing for Stanford in the first Rose Bowl in 1902. In spite of his injury, he continued playing for another 15 minutes until he was fo
rced to leave the game because of broken ribs. To add insult, Stanford was destroyed by Michigan, 49-0.
In 1934, three men decided to create a trophy for the best collegiate football player of the year. The three were John Heisman, director of athletics at the Downtown Athletic Club of New York; Lou Little, coach of Columbia University; and Jim Crowley, coach of Fordham University. The trophy was first presented in 1935.
Although Heisman’s name will always be remembered because of the trophy named after him, it’s rather sad that he isn’t remembered for his other contributions to the great sport of football.
How did the “seventh-inning stretch” originate? (Respect for a president?)
Most authorities believe the seventh-inning stretch began in 1910 when President William Howard Taft left a game early and everyone stood up out of respect for the president.
A variation is that President Taft, who weighed more than 300 pounds, found that sitting for an entire game made him uncomfortable. Thus he would often stand up and stretch at about the seventh inning. Fans thought he was getting up to leave so they also stood up to show respect. Soon, everyone began stretching in the seventh inning.
There is, however, another reference dating back to 1869. It states, “The spectators all arise between halves of the seventh inning, extend their legs and arms and sometimes walk about. In so doing they enjoy the relief afforded by relaxation from a long posture upon hard benches.”
The term itself, however, cannot be traced back further than 1920.
FACTOIDS
Interesting quotes from baseball players:
Pitcher Dan Quisenberry said, “Once I tried to drown myself with a shower nozzle after I gave up a homer in the ninth. I found out you can’t.”
When the owner of the Dodgers offered to send Babe Herman on a trip around the world, Herman replied, “Frankly, I’d prefer someplace else.”
After officiating for the longest game on record (over eight hours), umpire Jack Lietz remarked, “We went the whole game without going to the bathroom.”
When speaking about hitter Willie Stargell, Sparky Anderson commented, “He’s got enough power to hit home runs in any park … including Yellowstone!”
The worst epithet hurled by clean-living Padres pitcher Bruce Hurst was “Oh, go wash your car!”
DID YOU KNOW?
Did Doubleday really start it all?
Ingrained in American sports folklore is the story of how baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday, a young West Point cadet. Supposedly, Doubleday invented the game in the summer of 1839 in the village of Cooperstown, New York. So much credence is given to this story that today’s Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown.
The story originated in 1907, in the final report of a committee commissioned by major-league executives to inquire into the origins of “America’s National Game.”
The story of Doubleday, who was also famous as a Union general during the Civil War, was based on the somewhat dubious testimony of Abner Graves, a retired mining engineer. Graves claimed to have witnessed the event. This account appealed to committee-man Albert G. Spalding, a former star baseball player and club owner who was also a famous sporting goods tycoon and a fanatically patriotic American.
The term “baseball” (originally “base-ball”) dates from 1744, when The Little Pretty Pocket Book described a game involving a pitcher who throws a ball to a batter who tries to hit it, runs to a base, and returns to score a run. The book contained an illustration showing a batter holding a bat with a curious flat, fanlike end, a catcher behind him, and a pitcher preparing to throw a small ball underhand. The two bases are marked by posts instead of the modern bags and flat home plate.
Many other early references to bat-and-ball games involving bases are known: “playing at base” at the American Army camp at Valley Forge in 1778; the forbidding of students to “play with balls and sticks” on the common of Princeton College in 1787; a note in the memoirs of Thurlow Weed, an upstate New York newspaper editor and politician, of an organized baseball club in 1825; a newspaper report in the 1820s that the Rochester, New York, baseball club had about 50 members at practice; and at Harvard an 1829 reminiscence by the elder Oliver Wendell Holmes that he played a good deal of ball at college.
What is the difference between billiards, snooker, and pool? (Are you waiting for a cue?)
It is common to use the term “billiards” for all games played on a billiard table that may or may not have pockets. However, there is a more precise definition.
Carom, or French billiards, is played on a table without pockets and only three balls are used, two white and one red. One white ball is the “cue” ball, and the remaining balls are “object” balls. To score a point, called a “carom” or “billiard,” a player must hit the cue ball so that it then hits the other two balls in succession. In some games, the cue ball must also hit a cushion one or more times to complete a carom. Carom is now a generic term for any game played on a table without pockets.
Snooker is played on a table that has six pockets. The game is played with a cue ball and 21 other balls; 15 are red and 6 are numbered, colored balls. A player must first shoot a red ball into a pocket. The player then tries shooting any other colored ball into a pocket. If successful, the player continues to alternately hit red and colored balls into a pocket. Every red ball remains in the pocket but each colored ball is removed and set on the table again. Once all of the red balls are in the pockets, the six colored balls must be shot into pockets in their numerical order.
Pool, which is also called “pocket billiards,” is also played on a six-pocket table. However, the pockets are usually wider than those on a snooker table. The game is played with a cue ball and numbered balls. Solid colors are used for balls 1 through 8, and stripes for balls 9 through 15. There are many varieties of pool games. When “Chicago” is played, for example, all balls must be sunk in rotation. In “straight pool” balls can be sunk in any order. However, the player must indicate the ball and the pocket, and gets one point only if successful.
FACTOIDS
Rudolph “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone was one of the best-known figures in the history of pool. Originally nicknamed “Brooklyn Fats” or “New York Fats,” he renamed himself “Minnesota Fats” when the movie The Hustler appeared in the early 1960s.
When only 18, Willie Hoppe won his first world’s billiards title by defeating Maurice Vignaus, the renowned French champion. Hoppe went on to win more than a dozen titles. Most consider him to be the greatest all-around billiard player of all time.
The record for an exhibition game unbroken run of 526 balls was set by Willie Mosconi. He also won the World Pocket Billiards title 15 times from 1940 to 1957. In world championship competition, the highest unbroken run of 182 balls was set by Joe Procita. He was competing against Willie Mosconi at the time.
In the nineteenth century billiards were often played at racetracks while people waited for race results to be posted. Sometimes a number of wagerers would pool their bets on a long shot in the race. If they won, the money was counted out on a billiard table. Hence the name, “pool” table.
Billiard balls used to be made of ivory or Belgian clay. Today they are usually made of cast phenolic resin, a strong plastic with small particles imbedded in it to add strength.
DID YOU KNOW?
Billiards started out as a lawn game sometime in the fifteenth century. Wooden sticks were used to shove, rather than hit, the balls. The term “billiard” comes from the French words billart (one of the sticks) and bille (a ball).
When the game was moved indoors it was played on a table with six pockets. The table also had a hoop used as a target. Eventually these disappeared, leaving only the pockets. The game was played by people in all walks of life and was so popular that even Shakespeare mentions it in Antony and Cleopatra.
The wooden stick, called a “mace,” had a large head that made it difficult to use. Players often turned the mace around and used its handle to h
it the ball. This eventually led to the development of the cue stick in the 1600s.
In The Music Man Professor Howard Hill said that pool was “the first step toward moral degradation.” But, let’s face it, he was trying to sell musical instruments for a band. In spite of his concern, pool has lost the stigma of smoky dens of iniquity and has become socially acceptable.
Why is a dartboard laid out the way it is? (Go for the bull’s-eye on this one.)
To be perfectly honest, no one knows for sure why a dartboard is designed the way it is and not that many people even have opinions about it.
It is known that a form of darts was a training game for English archers in the Middle Ages and that the indoor dart game became popular in English inns and taverns in the nineteenth century. It is also known how the “bull’s-eye” originated. When darts were first played they were thrown at the end of a keg. There was a cork in the keg’s center where it was tapped. This cork center eventually became the “bull’s-eye.”
Around 30 years ago there were many regional dartboards, each with a different design. One example is the “Log-End” board, which is nothing more than the sawed-off log from the bottom end of an elm tree.
Although some regional boards are still used today, one board has become the standard and is used in all major competitions. This board is called by such names as Clock, Treble, Standard, London, or Number One. The main feature is the treble ring that permits many different types of games to be played.
