Brad Schultz - Lombardi Dies, Orr Flies, Marshall Cries: The Sports Legacy of 1970

Lombardi Dies, Orr Flies, Marshall Cries

The Sports Legacy of 1970

Brad Schultz

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schultz, Brad.

Lombardi dies, Orr flies, Marshall cries : the sports legacy of 1970 / Brad Schultz.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4422-5629-3 (hardback : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4422-5630-9 (ebook) 1. SportsUnited StatesHistory. 2. SportsSocial aspectsUnited StatesHistory. I. Title.

GV583.S38 2016

796.0973dc23

2015019480

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

For Darlene,

who loves to read but never has enough time to do so.

I know its not antebellum, but I hope 1970 will do.

• January 1: The University of Texas becomes the last all-white team to win a national championship, defeating Notre Dame 2117 in a dramatic Cotton Bowl.

• January 11: The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, the last time the champions of the AFL and NFL would meet. The battle was also symbolic of the cultural war being fought over hair.

• January 16: Curt Flood files suit against baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, the presidents of the American and National Leagues, and all 24 teams in Major League Baseball, challenging baseballs reserve clause.

• January 20: As part of a promotional stunt, two of the greatest heavyweight fighters in boxing historyMuhammad Ali and Rocky Marcianofight a staged match on film with the winner determined by computer.

• January 2829: The annual NFL Draft takes place in New York City. Tiny Grambling College has nine players draftedmore than Texas and Notre Dame combined.

• February 721: Pistol Pete Maravich of LSU torches the college basketball landscape to become the all-time NCAA scoring leader.

• February 16: Smokin Joe Frazier unifies the heavyweight boxing titles with an impressive win over Jimmy Ellis. The victory sets up three dramatic confrontations with Muhammad Ali.

• February 19: Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspends star pitcher Denny McLain in what will become the start of McLains descent into prison.

• February 24: Marquette University becomes the last big-college team to turn down an invitation to the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

• March 1215: Escorted by armed sheriffs deputies, Gary Player competes in the PGAs Pensacola Open. Player had been targeted by protestors for his alleged support of South Africas apartheid policies.

• March 21: Paul Haber wins his fourth U.S. National Handball Championship, defeating Lou Russo in the finals. Despite his unorthodox training and dissolute lifestyle, Haber will eventually win nine national titles and rank as one of the greatest handball players of all time.

• March 21: Yugoslav Vinko Bogataj crashes at the World Ski Jumping Championships; his pratfall will endure for years on ABCs Wide World of Sports.

• March 29: Unbeaten Dan Gable of Iowa State is upset in the finals of the NCAA Wrestling Championships, his first loss in eight years and 182 matches.

• April 4: Bobby Fischer leads a U.S. team to a near upset of the powerful Soviet squad in a chess showdown in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Despite the defeat, the enigmatic and troubled Fischer sparks a chess revival in the United States and around the world.

• April 6: Former NBA star Maurice Stokes dies. While a debilitating illness cut him down in the prime of his career, he forged a short but memorable friendship with rival player turned teammate Jack Twyman.

• April 6: The career of Morganna The Kissing Bandit Roberts takes off when she runs onto the field to kiss Frank Howard of the Washington Senators. Morganna turns it into a career and becomes the most famous gate-crasher in professional sports.

• April 13: Billy Casper wins the Masters golf title and momentarily escapes the shadow of the Big Three of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player.

• April 16: Oscar Robertson, head of the NBA Players Association, ends possible merger talks with the ABA by filing a lawsuit against the NBA.

• April 25: UCLA defeats Long Beach State to win the first-ever NCAA Mens Volleyball Championship. It is the first of 19 NCAA crowns for head coach Al Scates.

• May 2: Diane Crump becomes the first woman jockey in the Kentucky Derby, finishing next to last in a field of 17 aboard Fathom.

• May 421: The shooting deaths of four student protesters at Kent State lead to campus unrest across the nation. With the situation at Ohio State near the boiling point, football coach Woody Hayes appeals to students to keep the peace.

• May 8: Willis Reed makes a dramatic return from injury to lead the New York Knicks to their first NBA title with a Game 7 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

• May 10: Bobby Orr scores the winning goal in overtime to give the Boston Bruins the Stanley Cup over the St. Louis Blues. The picture of Orr celebrating the score becomes one of the most iconic images in the NHL.

• May 13: The International Olympic Committee awards the 1976 Winter Olympics to Denver, but city voters will later stunningly reject the Olympics in a referendum.

• June 12: Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates no-hits San Diego while allegedly high on LSD.

• June 16: Brian Piccolo of the Chicago Bears succumbs to cancer, ending one of the most poignant stories in the NFL.

• June 21: The great Pel leads Brazil to the World Cup soccer title with a 41 win over Italy in the final. The performance of Pel and the Brazilians is considered the greatest in World Cup history.

• June 24:Ball Four is released and becomes an immediate sensation. Lurid, provocative, and scandalous, the book by pitcher Jim Bouton revolutionizes the practice of sports journalism.

• June 2430: Two old ballparks, Crosley Field in Cincinnati and Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, give way to new multipurpose stadiums, signaling the end of a baseball era.

• June 27: Lubbock, Texas, hosts the AFCA All-America Game, less than two months after a deadly tornado nearly destroyed the city.