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Archive for the ‘Sports Heroes’ Category

Sale & Pelletier

Canadians Sale & Pelletier became instant celebrities when their Silver medal performance at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympicstouched off a judging controversy. Many people felt Sale & Pelletiershould have won the Gold and there were charges of vote buying. This story was jumped on my the American media and soon Sale & Pelletier were [...]

The Fsatest Woman in the World

Who can forget the glamourous, flamboyant movie star looks and long fingernails she wore while running to victory and setting records in the 100 and 200 meter sprints at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and leaving no doubt that she was the “world’s fastest woman”. She was married to olympic athlete and personal trainer Al Joyner, [...]

Johnny Bench

Best known as a member of the Cincinnati Reds during the Big Red Machineera, Johnny Bench is arguably the greatest baseball catcher of all time. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in January 1989, his honors include National League Rookie of the Year (1968), National League Most Valuable Player (1970 & 1972), World Series [...]

Mark Fidrych

Fidrych, (Born August 14, 1954 in Worcester, Massachusetts) was a Major League Baseball player for the Detroit Tigers. Fidrych’s nickname was hung on him by a teammate in Bristol of the Appalachian League when the teammates noticed his resemblance to Big Bird on Sesame Street. The 21-year old rookie, who came out of nowhere, ended [...]

Mary Lou Retton

Mary Lou Retton bounded into the limelight at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. With her beaming smile, she was the first American woman ever to obtain the Gold Medal in the All-Around in women’s gymnastics. She also achieved a Silver medal in the Vault, and Bronze Medals in the Uneven Bars and Floor [...]

Dianne Durham

First African-American gymnast to be the USA All-Around Champion in 1983. Was Bela Karolyi‘s first USA All-Around after he defected to the United States.

Jake The Snake Roberts

Famous WWF (or WWE these days) wrestler who fought with a 10ft long python, which other wrestlers pumped up on steroids for some reason found scary.

Vinko Bogataj

The “Agony of Defeat” Ski Jumper. At the International Ski Flying Championship from Oberstdorf in 1970, Bogataj crashed on his third jump, and forever became identified with “the agony of defeat” through use of that clip on the opening titles of ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Despite how bad the crash looked, he suffered only [...]

Steve Fonyo

At the risk of sounding like a bad pun (not intended), Steve Fonyo followed in the footsteps of Canadian hero Terry Fox, each having lost a leg to cancer and embarking on a trans-Canada marathon to raise funds for cancer research. Sadly, Fox never completed the journey and succumbed to cancer and passed on without [...]

Gale Sayers

Chicago Bears running back whose story was immortalized in the movie Brian’s Song. He and Brian Piccolo were the first NFL players to put aside the racial barriers and room together while on the road. Brian Piccolo later succumbed to cancer.