50 Fun Facts About American Sports

Which NFL team is owned by its fans as a nonprofit rather than by a wealthy individual?

The Packers are held by more than half a million stockholders, a structure that has kept the team, founded in 1919, in tiny Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Which six-time NBA champion quit in 1993 to play minor league baseball for the Birmingham Barons?

Michael Jordan batted just .202 in his one season in the Chicago White Sox system, then went back to basketball and won three more titles.

Which team did the United States beat in the 1980 Olympic hockey upset known as the Miracle on Ice?

The Soviet Union had won four straight Olympic golds, while the American side was mostly college players; the US then had to beat Finland two days later to take the gold medal.

Which touring basketball team, famous for comic routines, was founded on Chicago's South Side?

The Harlem Globetrotters began in Chicago in 1926; owner Abe Saperstein put Harlem in the name because it was seen as the center of Black American culture.

Which sports drink did University of Florida scientists create in 1965 for its football team?

Gatorade takes its name from the Florida Gators, whose coach asked university doctors for a drink to replace the fluids his players sweated away.

At which American auto race does the winner traditionally drink a bottle of milk in victory lane?

The Indianapolis 500 custom began after the 1933 winner asked for a glass of buttermilk, and a dairy executive spotted a marketing chance.

Which Brooklyn Dodgers player broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in April 1947?

Jackie Robinson's number 42 was retired by every Major League team in 1997, the first time any sport had honored one athlete that way.

Which trophy, donated by a governor general of Canada in 1892, do NHL champions each keep for a day?

The Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and since 1995 every member of the winning team has had it for a day.

Which NFL team's name, chosen in a fan contest, honors a poem by a writer buried in its home city?

The Ravens are named for Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven; more than 33,000 fans voted in the contest, and Poe lies buried in Baltimore.

Which paddle sport was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, for bored children?

Pickleball was cobbled together by future congressman Joel Pritchard and two friends, using a badminton court, table tennis paddles and a plastic ball.

Which slugger did the Red Sox sell in 1919, a deal later blamed for an 86-year title drought?

Babe Ruth's sale was only tied to a curse decades later: the phrase took off with a 1990 book, and the drought ended in 2004.

Which baseball team was supposedly cursed by a tavern owner whose pet goat was ejected in 1945?

The Cubs did not reach another World Series for 71 years, then won it in 2016 by beating Cleveland after trailing three games to one.

Which baseball club, founded in 1903 as the Highlanders, has won the most World Series titles?

The Yankees dropped the Highlanders name in 1913, having begun life when two owners bought the rights to a defunct Baltimore club.

Which boxer, stripped of his title for refusing the Vietnam draft, lit the 1996 Olympic cauldron?

Muhammad Ali lit the flame in Atlanta before a television audience estimated at 3.5 billion, almost three decades after his conviction for draft evasion.

Which American sprinter won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, hosted by Nazi Germany?

Jesse Owens won the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and sprint relay; nobody won the same four events at one Games again until Carl Lewis in 1984.

Which American swimmer won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a record for one Games?

Michael Phelps broke the mark of seven golds that fellow American Mark Spitz had set in 1972.

Which NBA center scored 100 points in a single game in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in March 1962?

Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point night was never televised and no film of it has surfaced; only a radio recording of the fourth quarter survives.

Which tennis champion beat Bobby Riggs in 1973's Battle of the Sexes, seen by 90 million worldwide?

Billie Jean King won in three sets at the Houston Astrodome, four months after Riggs had beaten Margaret Court.

Which quarterback, the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL draft, went on to win seven Super Bowls?

Tom Brady was only the seventh quarterback taken that year, and he wept when recalling the wait in an interview 11 years later.

Which racehorse won the 1973 Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths to complete the Triple Crown?

Secretariat was the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years, and his Belmont run is often called the greatest race ever run by a thoroughbred.

Which coach, winner of the first two Super Bowls, gives his name to the NFL's championship trophy?

Vince Lombardi died of cancer in September 1970, and the trophy, first sketched on a cocktail napkin by a Tiffany executive, was renamed in his memory.

Which golfer won his first major by 12 strokes at Augusta National in 1997, aged just 21?

Tiger Woods became both the youngest Masters champion and the tournament's first non-white winner that week.

What nickname was given to the 1992 US Olympic basketball squad, the first with active NBA players?

The Dream Team label became so famous that the 2008 US Olympic side was nicknamed the Redeem Team as a play on it.

Which award for college football's top player is named after a Downtown Athletic Club director?

The Heisman Trophy began in 1935 as a prize for the best player east of the Mississippi, and took its name a year later when John Heisman died.

Which ballpark, the oldest in the major leagues, has a left-field wall called the Green Monster?

Fenway Park opened in April 1912, when news of its first game was overshadowed by coverage of the Titanic, which had sunk five days earlier.

Which term for a desperate long pass did Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach popularize in 1975?

Hail Mary was Staubach's own description: a devout Catholic, he told reporters he had closed his eyes and prayed as he threw the winning touchdown against Minnesota.

Which 1972 federal law banning sex discrimination in schools transformed women's sports in America?

Title IX never mentions sports: its opening words, written by Senator Birch Bayh, simply bar sex discrimination in federally funded education.

Which racing organization traces its roots to moonshine runners evading police during Prohibition?

NASCAR grew out of bootleggers who used small, fast cars to carry whiskey out of Appalachia, then raced each other as a show of pride.

Which machine, first built in 1949 in Paramount, California, smooths the ice between hockey periods?

Zamboni is a family name: inventor Frank Zamboni came to ice rinks from the refrigeration business, and his surname became the everyday word for the machine.

Which sea creature do Detroit Red Wings fans traditionally throw onto the ice during the playoffs?

The octopus custom began in 1952, when two brothers hurled one onto the rink: its eight arms stood for the eight playoff wins then needed for the title.

Which Canadian-born instructor invented basketball in 1891 at a YMCA school in Massachusetts?

James Naismith asked a janitor for two boxes to use as goals; the janitor came back with peach baskets, and they gave the new game its name.

Which basketball shot did the NCAA ban from 1967 to 1976, a rule often linked to Lew Alcindor?

The slam dunk ban is nicknamed the Lew Alcindor rule after the dominant college center who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Which city was home to the NBA's Utah Jazz until 1979 and inspired their nickname?

New Orleans lost its NBA club after five seasons, and the nickname survived the move west only because there was no time to get league approval for another.

Which New York village hosts the Baseball Hall of Fame, thanks to a myth about Abner Doubleday?

Cooperstown won the Hall, which opened in 1939, on the strength of a legend that a future Civil War hero invented the game there in the 1830s.

What is the baseball term for a pitcher's outing in which no opposing batter ever reaches base?

A perfect game goes beyond a no-hitter, which can include walks and errors; in 1956 Don Larsen threw one in the World Series itself.

Which first baseman, nicknamed the Iron Horse, played 2,130 straight games before illness struck?

Lou Gehrig's streak stood for 56 years until Cal Ripken Jr. passed it in 1995, and the disease that ended it, ALS, is often known by his name.

Which hockey superstar's 1988 trade from Edmonton to Los Angeles made the sport big in California?

Wayne Gretzky learned he was being dealt just two hours after Edmonton won the 1988 championship, then spent eight seasons in Los Angeles.

Which Sac and Fox athlete won two Olympic golds in 1912, then played pro baseball and football?

Jim Thorpe lost his decathlon and pentathlon medals over a few dollars earned in semi-pro baseball, and was only restored as sole champion in 2022.

Which sport did William G. Morgan create in 1895 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, as mintonette?

Volleyball was devised at a YMCA as a gentler alternative to basketball, and its first name, mintonette, was borrowed from badminton.

Which athlete, nicknamed Prime Time, was the first to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series?

Deion Sanders also hit a Major League home run and scored an NFL touchdown in the same week of 1989, a double nobody else has managed.

Which Major League Baseball team began life in 1962 as the Colt .45s, a name chosen by fans?

The Astros name was announced in December 1964 to reflect Houston's role in the space program, just before the club moved into its new domed stadium.

Which Negro leagues pitching legend made his Major League debut for Cleveland in 1948, aged 42?

Satchel Paige signed on his 42nd birthday, becoming the oldest player ever to debut in the majors, and pitched in the World Series that same year.

Which American sprinter won 200-meter gold at the 1968 Olympics, then raised a gloved fist?

Tommie Smith had just run the first official sub-20-second 200 meters, and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman wore a human-rights badge beside him in support.

Which Hawaiian Olympic swimming champion of 1912 and 1920 popularized surfing beyond the islands?

Duke Kahanamoku slipped surfing displays into his swimming exhibition tours, and lost his 100-meter Olympic crown in 1924 to Johnny Weissmuller.

Which American city hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics, the first Games held outside Europe?

St. Louis took the Games from Chicago, the original choice, after planning rival athletic events for the World's Fair it was staging the same year.

Which Original Six club became the first NHL team based in the United States when it joined in 1924?

The Bruins beat the Montreal Maroons 2–1 in December 1924 in the first NHL game ever played on American soil.

Which university beat Princeton 6–4 in 1869 in what is regarded as the first college football game?

Rutgers hosted that game on its New Jersey campus, lost the rematch a week later, and shared a retroactive national championship with Princeton.

Which sprinter, who wore a leg brace as a child after polio, won three golds at the 1960 Olympics?

Wilma Rudolph wore the brace until she was 12, yet became the first American woman to win three track and field golds at a single Games.

Which American became the first Black winner of a major tennis singles title, in Paris in 1956?

Althea Gibson later became a professional golfer, and no other African-American woman won a major singles title until Serena Williams in 1999.

Which horse race at Churchill Downs each May lasts about two minutes and opens the Triple Crown?

The Kentucky Derby has been run since 1875, and its traditional drink is the mint julep, an iced mix of bourbon, mint and sugar syrup.