Sport facts

Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy was the given name of Philadelphia Athletics owner and manager Connie Mack, who presided over some of the very best — and very worst — teams in baseball history during his remarkable half-century tenure at the A’s helm. He changed his name as a youth so it would fit into a box [...]

On the day that he pitched his World Series perfect game, New York Yankee Don Larsen was notified that his estranged wife, Vivian, had filed a court action seeking to withhold his Series money. She charged that Larsen was delinquent in his support payments. Larsen had better luck on the field. His performance in mowing [...]

Defense wins football games. A good defense beats a good offense. The best offense is a good defense. They’re all football cliches, and, like most cliches, they’re also true. The greatest teams in National Football League history have all featured ferocious and stingy defenses. Occasionally, a defense, or a special unit within a defense, is [...]

In his first NFL game in 1975, Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears rushed eight times for a total of zero yards. Fortunately, the Bears didn’t give up on him, and Payton didn’t give up on himself. By the time he retired in 1987, Payton — or “Sweetness,” as he had come to be known [...]

A rebellious youth in San Francisco, Orenthal James Simpson found his niche in football. After attending City College of San Francisco for two years — has any other star player ever had such a modest beginning? — Simpson transferred to the University of Southern California, where he gave Running Back U its most honored graduate. [...]

The Heisman Trophy, given to the best college football player in the country every year and the sport’s most prestigious individual award, started out with a different name and purpose. In 1935, the award debuted as the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy and was meant to honor the best player east of the Mississippi. Jay Berwanger, [...]

# A football field is 100 yds. long and 160 ft wide. # The width between the goalposts in high school and college are different than in professional football. 23 ft. 4 in. – high school/college 18 ft. 6 in. – professional # A football weighs between 14 and 15 ounces. # A football is [...]