Sport facts

In 1950, Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach passed up choosing Holy Cross star Bob Cousy, calling him a “local yokel.” Celtics owner Walter Brown later picked Cousy’s name from three in a hat in a special dispersal draft, and Auerbach was “stuck” with Cousy. The New York Knicks got veteran Max Zaslofsky, the Philadelphia Warriors [...]

It started — harmlessly enough — against Chicago White Sox pitcher Edgar Smith on May 15, 1941, with a single; nothing fancy. It ended against Cleveland Indian pitcher Jim Bagby, Jr., on July 17, more than two months later, with an eighth-inning double play. In between, Joe DiMaggio, the New York Yankee centerfielder, put on [...]

It’s a strange game, they say. And whoever they are, they’re right. A sampling, then, of just a few of the countless unusual things that happen in baseball. Playing in an afternoon game for the New York Mets on August 4, 1982, Joel Youngblood got a single off of Chicago Cubs pitcher and future Hall [...]

William Theodore Walton, III, was basketball’s hippie. He wore his bushy red hair in a pony tail and he wore a scruffy beard. When his team won the National Basketball Association championship, he rode his bicycle in the victory parade. He was also 6′ 11″ and one of the greatest players college basketball had ever [...]

Professional basketball received a gift in 1979. Actually it was two gifts, but they would forever be appreciated at least as much in a single breath as they would in two. Bird and Magic. Magic and Bird. Earvin and Larry. Larry’s Celtics and Magic’s Lakers. Together or separately, they stood for versatility and unselfish team [...]

On March 2, 1962, New York Knick Cleveland Buckner, a career 6.4 points-per-game scorer, had a career night, scoring 33 points against the Philadelphia Warriors. Normally, reporters would have surrounded Buckner after the game. It did not matter that teammate Richie Guerin also scored over 30 points; he was one of the NBA’s top scorers, [...]

* The five players on a team are the center, two forwards and two guards. * The officials for the game are the referee and an umpire. * The dimensions of a basketball court are: o 50 by 94 feet for professional and college o 50 by 84 feet for high school o 42 by [...]

In 1891, James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the YMCA Training school in Springfield Massachusetts, decided to try a new game for his students. Naismith, a former divinity student, had played rugby and disliked the rough aspect of the game. He wanted to find a team game that would eliminate physical contact. He asked [...]