Sports' Forgotten Heroes

Jimmy Wynn was one of baseball’s most feared sluggers of the 1960s and early 1970s. Playing for the Houston Astros, however, muzzled just how powerful a hitter he was. Wynn and the Astros called the Houston Astrodome home, and it was by far one of the most difficult stadiums in baseball history to launch home runs in. Yet, Wynn, still put up remarkable numbers. In fact, Wynn produced nearly all of the power the Astros possessed. In 1967 he walloped 37 homeruns, while the rest of the Astros managed to hit just 56. In 1968 he hit 26 homeruns, while the rest of the team hit just 40; and in 1969, Wynn hit another 33 homeruns while the rest of his teammates hit 71. Wynn’s relationship with the team and manager Harry Walker was not exactly great. In fact, despite Wynn’s power, Walker tried to change Wynn’s approach at the plate which would have reduced his power and made him into more of a line drive and opposite field hitter. Wynn fought back and never acquiesced. Of course, this put a strain on the whole team and

In the mid-1990s the Canadian Football League was struggling financially. The league had teams in all of Canada’s big cities with the exception of Montreal. Out west were the British Columbia (Vancouver) Lions, the Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders. In the east were the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Rough Riders and the Toronto Argonauts. There was really no place left for the CFL to expand and realize the windfall it needed from expansion fees. So, the CFL looked to the lower 48 and expanded to Sacramento in 1993. In 1994 it added teams in Baltimore, Shreveport, and Las Vegas; and in 1995 it expanded to Birmingham and San Antonio. The expansion money gave the league the boost it needed. However, none of the new U.S.-based teams really caught on with the exception of one – Baltimore. Football fans in Charm City were starving for a professional football team, especially after the Colts had left in the middle of the night a decade earlier and the NFL teased B

Andy Pafko was a household name in Chicago for much of the 1940s. He made his debut with the Chicago Cubs in 1943 and became a fixture in their lineup until he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers midway through the 1951 season. Pafko represented the Cubs in the classiest of ways and helped Chicago win the National League Pennant in 1945. Unfortunately, the Cubs lost in seven games to the Detroit Tigers and would not return to the World Series until 2016. A return to trip the World Series was certainly not the fault of Pafko. He was an All Star for the team in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950. He enjoyed his two best years of his 17-year career while playing for the Cubs. In 1948, he hit .312 with 26 homeruns and 101 RBI; and in 1950 he hit .304 with 36 homeruns and 92 RBI. But, the Cubs couldn’t find a way back to the top of the standings with Pafko in the lineup, so they traded him to the Dodgers midway through 1951, and playing for the Dodgers, albeit just for 1 ½ years, might be where Pafko is best remembered. He

In 1964, Skip Lockwood was being looked at by several Major League Baseball teams. The Kansas City A’s and their general manager Pat Friday offered Lockwood a signing bonus of $35,000. Lockwood wrote a “1” in front of the 35 and convinced Friday and A’s owner Charlie Finley he was worth every penny. Finley agreed and Lockwood’s career was underway. A third baseman, one week out of high school, Lockwood joined the A’s on the road for some batting practice before he was to be assigned to a minor league team. The A’s batting practice pitcher didn’t care too much for Lockwood and beaned him. Quite a rude welcome; and that’s just one of the many stories Lockwood tells us on this edition of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes. Converted to a pitcher after not succeeding as a hitter, Lockwood was the No. 1 man out of the pen for the New York Mets of the mid-1970s closing out games for the likes of Seaver, Koosman and Matlack. He threw in the mid- to upper-90s and stared down some of the game’s best, guys like Aaron, Reggie, Sc

Edd Roush was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. A star for the Cincinnati Reds of the 19-teens and the 1920s, Roush also played in one of the most famous World Series of all time, the 1919 Series between the White Sox and the Reds. While so many players from Chicago have been written about and are well-known, especially Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, Kid Gleason and Eddie Cicotte; so few know about the stars of the 1919 Reds, such as Roush. A .323 career hitter, Roush spent 12 years with Cincinnati batting .325 with 199 stolen bases, 260 doubles, 152 triples and he hit 47 homeruns too! Edd’s granddaughter, Susan Dellinger, wrote a terrific book about the 1919 series and included a great deal of background on her grandfather. Susan also dives into the 1919 scandal from the Reds perspective. Titled, “Red Legs and Black Sox,” Dellinger joins the podcast to talk about the career of Edd, his few years in the rival Federal League, the 1919 series – from the standpoint of the Reds, and so much more including:

The name Drazen Petrovic might not be familiar to many of today’s NBA fans. But for those who recall the early 1990s and the sudden rise of the then New Jersey Nets, Drazen Petrovic is a name that brings up memories of a sharpshooting guard, a star on the rise, and man whose life was tragically cut short in a head-on collision along the famed autobahn. Petrovic, born in Croatia, had a passion for basketball matched by few. Every waking second, every chance he had, he was practicing the game. Gym rat? That was Drazen Petrovic. And he didn’t just practice shooting. He practiced and drilled virtually every aspect of the game as often as possible from the time he was a young schoolboy. Drazen had a goal, he wanted to play in the NBA. And he worked hard. He played for his local Sibenik, Croatia team. He also played for Cibona and Rea Madrid. He olayed on the international stage. He caught the eye of Notre Dame’s Digger Phelps. He caught the eye of the Portland Trailblazers too and they made him a 3rd round selecti

The name Oscar Charleston is not familiar to many. An absolute star in baseball’s Negro Leagues, Charleston’s best years came before there was much structure in the Negro Leagues. His prodigious power, spectacular defense and winning ways came before the more popular names of Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Buck O’Neill took the field. Oscar played for the likes of the Indianapolis ABC’s, Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords and even though he never played in Major League Baseball, he still drew comparisons to such legends as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker. So, who was Oscar Charleston? Jeremy Beer recently released an incredible biography on Oscar titled, “Oscar Charleston, The Life and Legend of Baseball’s Greatest Forgotten Hero.” This bio, which won the Seymour Medal, which is awarded by the Society for American Baseball Research – SABR – for the best baseball history or biography published in the preceding year, covers so much of Oscar’s life, from his childhood, through his stints in the militar

When you think of the greatest defensemen to ever play in the NHL, a few names come immediately to mind: Bobby Orr, Doug Harvey, Ray Borque and Denis Potvin. But one of the most overlooked names is Pierre Pilote and he deserves to be mentioned in any conversation when it comes to who was the greatest blueliner to ever play. Some of the reasons Pilote might be overlook, and even forgotten, are: his name only appears once on the Stanley Cup, he didn’t start playing in the NHL until he was 24, and he never scored at the pace of an Orr, Borque or Potvin. When Pilote played the game, defensemen were not known as big-time scorers. Yet, Pilote led the Blackhawks in scoring during their incredible run to the 1961 Stanley Cup Championship. Pierre was as tough as nails. He never won a Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship, but he won the Norris Trophy three times. The NHL started to track plus/minus during the 1959-60 season, and in the 10 years that followed, twice Pilote led the league. In 1963-64 he was a plus 31 and i

Darel Carrier is one of the greatest players to ever play in the ABA, the American Basketball Association and he joins me on this edition of Sports Forgotten Heroes. A prolific shooter from 3-point territory, Darel was named to the ABA’s All-Time team and is the leagues career leader in field goal percentage from downtown. In fact, for his career, Darel averaged exactly 20 points-per-game. Darel was a terrific high school basketball player who was offered scholarships by the University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University. A home-body, as he explains on today’s show, Darel chose WKU over UK and became the Hilltoppers go-to guy almost immediately. His skill on the court caught the eye of the then St. Louis Hawks and Darel was drafted by the team in the 9th Round of the NBA Draft. However, rather than try the NBA, Darel received (as he said) a better offer from the Phillips 66’ers (then one of the greatest Industrial League teams) with the promise of a job. So, off to Oklahoma Darel went and goodbye to t

Jerry Quarry was one of boxing’s most gifted fighters. But, he had two major flaws that were impossible to overcome: his size and his “thin” skin. First, his size. Most heavyweight boxers fought at weights that surpassed 200-pounds. Quarry was smaller and fought most of his fights between 175 and 185 pounds. As for the “thin” skin, that’s the best way I can describe how easily he cut. Those two flaws, certainly affected Quarry’s chances to win a heavyweight championship. As an amateur, he won the Gold Gloves. But as a professional, he fought for a heavyweight belt four times, but in each instance he lost. Quarry, who was 53-9-4 as a professional, could punch with anyone. Whether he hit you with his right or left, both were powerful. He was technically smart, and he offered brutal beatings of Ernie Shavers, Floyd Patterson and Ron Ellis – all top contenders. Quarry, who started to train in a boxing ring at the age of six, came from a family of boxers. He fought 200 times as an amateur, and basically lived his

The New York Rangers are one of the NHL’s six original teams, and throughout their history, the one position the Rangers have been known for is goalie. They have had some of the most successful goalies in the game suit up for them, most recently Henrik Lundqvist. In fact, several who have worn the Rangers sweater have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. On this episode of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes, we’re going to go back in time and talk about three goalies in particular: Dave Kerr, Chuck Rayner and Lorne “Gump” Worsley. Sure, many might have heard of Gump, after all, his name is on the Stanley Cup several times as the man between the pipes for the Montreal Canadiens. But Gump first came up with the Rangers and he really never got along with management and New York traded him to Montreal. While with the Rangers, however, Worsley was the main reason why the team was competitive. Nonetheless, the Rangers still traded him. Long before Worsley played for New York, Dave Kerr was the man between the pipes an

On September 17, 1920 at a car dealership in Canton, Ohio, a meeting took place between a group of men who loved football. All of these men, a group that included Jim Thorpe and George Halas – amongst others, had a passion for the game and there they created the American Professional Football Association (two years later it would change names to the National Football League). Another of the 12 men in attendance was Leo Lyons. Amazingly, Leo’s name, as one of the founding members of the NFL, is not documented anywhere in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. That will be corrected in June 2020 when the HOF dedicates a new exhibit about the found of the league. Leo, from Rochester, N.Y. started to dream of professional football when he was just 16-years-old. He told family and friends about his dream and goal of creating professional football, but they all laughed at him. Nonetheless, Leo never gave up on his dream, bought his own team, the Rochester (N.Y.) Jeffersons and years later, after striking up

The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin were one of the most controversial in history. As World War II was about to explode, there was much debate as to whether or not the 1936 Olympic Games should even be held. In fact, there was a lot of talk as to whether or not the U.S. should attend or boycott. After much deliberation, the U.S. decided not to boycott and off to Berlin the U.S. contingent went including the first-ever U.S. Men’s Basketball Team. Basketball was making its debut as an official Olympic event, and the U.S., as one might expect, was favored to win gold. Not only did the U.S. win gold, but it dominated the tournament. But that was only part of the story. Sure, with Berlin and Nazi Germany serving as a backdrop, there was no doubt that controversy would abound. But there was so much more. From the way the team was selected, to determining who would suit up for each game, to the Gold Medal Game and the awarding of the Gold Medals, this Olympic story is filled with controversy. Capturing it all was autho

Earl Morrall threw for over 20,000-yards during his 21-year NFL career. He was a part of three teams that won championships and was named NFL MVP in 1968 and he played a HUGE role in the Miami Dolphins perfect season of 1972. Not bad for a backup quarterback. In fact, Morrall played backup for guys like Fran Tarkenton, Johnny Unitas and Bob Griese. When Unitas went down in 1968, the Baltimore Colts didn’t lose a beat and Morrall led them to the NFL Championship. In 1972, after Bob Griese went down, Morrall picked up the slack and went 9-0 to help the Dolphins complete the NFL’s only perfect season. Joe Gibbs, who led the Washington Redskins to three Super Championships, once said the second most important position on a football team is backup quarterback and Morrall just might be considered the greatest backup ever. Morrall, who passed away in 2014, went 63-36-3 when he was called upon to step in and lead his team. The legendary Don Shula, who coached Morrall with the Baltimore Colts, knew the value of having

When the World Football League launched its inaugural season in 1974, all of the leagues 12 teams had very high hopes. But one team in particular thought it was going to do much better than it did – the Detroit Wheels. But, in reality, this team never stood a chance. After all, how can team expect to succeed when it’s operated with a pay-as-you-go mentality? The Wheels had 33 owners and none of them stepped forward to become the face of the team and actually run the franchise. Sure, the Wheels had a team president, general manager and a head coach. But none of them had a budget to run the franchise. The team president and general manager couldn’t sign any players while they sat idly by watching other WFL teams sign players. The team couldn’t find a place to play in Detroit, so it had to turn to Ypsilanti and Eastern Michigan University for a home. Fans didn’t show up. In fact, much to the embarrassment of the team, they thought they were going to sell out games, so they brought in auxiliary stands and at one

There are figures in sports who are larger than the game whom people know so little about. One of the biggest of those names is Chuck Taylor. In fact, almost everyone who has ever laced up a pair of sneakers has worn a pair of Chuck All Stars, Converse’s best-selling shoe. Interestingly, very few people can tell you anything about Chuck Taylor. Many think Chuck Taylor is a fictional character, a person Converse created. Well, not only did Converse not make up the name Chuck Taylor, he was very real. Chuck Taylor was an extraordinary salesman who created an incredible brand. Once the good folks at Converse saw what Taylor could do, they turned the keys over to him and said “go”. Taylor put on basketball clinics around the country that were “must-see” events. Sold out gymnasiums were par for the course. He created an annual yearbook in which he named the best players and best teams in the country. If your name appeared, that was HUGE! It wasn’t some sort of non-sensical promotional tool, it was the real deal. C

For four years, 1946 through 1949, the NFL faced stiff competition from an upstart league, the All America Football Conference. The AAFC was the real deal. Rosters featured such stars as Otto Graham, Joe Perry, Frankie Albert and Y.A. Tittle. It’s champion team, the Cleveland Browns, could compete with any NFL team and its coach, Paul Brown, created a passing attack that NFL teams just couldn’t defend. The AAFC introduced professional football to areas of the country that had never seen such a brand of football before. Of course, as with anything new, there were growing pains, and combined with dwindling attendance and rising player salaries, the AAFC - along with the NFL – was in danger of going under. But, the AAFC refused to give in. So, the larger league, the NFL, agreed to take in two of the AAFC’s best teams in 1950 - the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49’ers; and a third team in 1951 – the Baltimore Colts. The AAFC gave football so much, including teams to areas such as Miami, L.A. and San Francisc

Blanton Collier was the last coach to lead the Cleveland Browns to an NFL Championship; and he did so in 1964. Amazingly, if you ask most Browns fans who the last coach was to lead the team to a Championship most will say Paul Brown. Of course, Brown, for whom the team is named, was at the helm for a combined seven AAFC and NFL Championships. But his last title with Cleveland came in 1955. Sure, he led the Browns to a championship appearance in 1956, but that was the end of Paul Brown’s championship run. He was let go after the 1962 season and in stepped Blanton Collier who had the tall task of replacing a legend and rebuilding a championship pedigree. It didn’t take long. After the Browns had gone 7-6-1 in Paul Brown’s last year, Collier immediately restored Cleveland’s winning ways by leading the team to a 2nd Place finish in the Eastern Conference with a 10-4 mark. In 1964, Collier and the Browns went 10-3-1 and shutdown the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the championship game 27-0. In all, Collier ser

On November 28, 1929, Ernie Nevers scored six touchdowns for the Chicago Cardinals and kicked four extra points. That’s 40-points in one NFL game by one player, and that’s still the record. And Nevers did NOT do this against a pushover franchise. He scored all of the Cardinals points in a 40-6 win over the Chicago Bears. That’s only part of the story. Ernie Nevers was a phenomenal athlete. Not only was he a cornerstone of two NFL franchises, the Duluth Eskimos and the Chicago Cardinals, but he also pitched for the St. Louis Browns in 1926, 1927 and a part of 1928. Nevers was also a terrific talent in track and actually signed a contract to play professional basketball. But, football is where he really excelled. In fact, the 40-points he scored on that Thanksgiving Day was the middle game on an incredible stretch in which he scored all of the Cardinals points in a 19-0 win over the Dayton Triangles just four days earlier, and three days after he scored the 40-points he put up all of the Cardinals 13-points in

Joe Bauman was the first player in professional baseball history to hit more than 70 homeruns in a season. Bob Crues nearly hit 70 homeruns in a single season but came up just short with 69. Joe Brovia had nothing left to prove in the minor leagues and finally realized his dream of playing Major League Baseball when the Cincinnati reds called him up in 1955 at the age of 33. All three were stars for the minor league teams they played for, and only Brovia ever experienced the thrill of playing in the Show. Hard to imagine a guy could hit 72 homeruns in a year and never play in the Majors, but that’s the story of Bauman who got as close as Hartford and Milwaukee in the Boston Braves organization, but never adjusted to weather outside of his favorite places to play: Amarillo, Artesia and Roswell. As for Crues, his 1948 season in which he hit 69 homeruns went barely noticed and he never advanced beyond low levels of play even though he also hit .404 in 1948. Baseball has always been a tough and in certain instanc