Actor James Caan hosts this television special in tribute to the 1st 25 years of Sports Illustrated Sportsman/Sportsperson of the Year winners….which basically boils down to a Who’s Who of Sports from the first year of the award in 1954 to this 25th Anniversary program in 1979.
This video is absolutely priceless….as it has live footage of the greatest sporting events, teams, athletes, coaches, plays, fans et al including winners of the award like Roger Bannister, the 1st man to break the 4 minute mile…..Bob Beamon, the broad jumper who set a new world record of 29 feet 7.5 inches, which broke the old record by over 2 feet….Mark Spitz, USA Olympic swimmer who set 7 world records and won 7 gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games….Wilt Chamberlain, the man who scored 100 points in one NBA game…..Jim Brown, the gold standard for NFL running backs….Fran Tarkenton, the scrambling QB who set the all time passing record…..the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins led by Coach Don Shula…..the Amazing Mets of 1969….the decade of Coach John Wooten at UCLA with Lew Alcinder and Bill Walton….Bullet Bob Hayes, maybe the fastest man in the world ever, who was delivered long bombs from QB Don Meredith to lead the Dallas Cowboys….Mr. October Reggie Jackson’s putting the Yanks on his back and leading them to World Series victory over the Dodgers….. Capitan Comeback Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys….the original, but not only, Sugar in the boxing ring, Sugar Ray Robinson….Stan The Man Musial leading the Cards for 21 years…. Broadway Joe Namath making his prediction good….The Golden Boy Paul Hornung leading the Irish in college and Packers in the pros….the Splendid Splinter Ted Williams becoming the last MLB player to hit over .400….Dr. J Julius Erving, and his in your face disgrace dunk…..the NHL’s Broad Street Brawlers” Philadelphia Flyers two Stanley Cup championships….Arnold Palmer and golf’s one and only Arnie’s Army, which came out in throngs to watch him play….The Juice O J Simpson with his brilliant career and 1st to 2000 yards in NFL season….The Ice Maiden Chris Evert and her brilliant career and significant impact on the game of women’s tennis……Yankees Manager Casey Stengel and his thoughts of Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris et al….Coach Vince Lombardi while leading the Packers to 5 NFL titles….Don Larsen’s perfect game pitched, that’s 27 batters up, 27 batters out…..and the salute to the coaches/managers that includes Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes, Al McGuire, Sid Gillman, Lou Saban, Bo Schembeckler, Bobby Knight, Tommy Lasorda, Marv Levi, Billy Martin, Hank Stram, George Allen. When you consider all of that on one video…..and then you add legendary narrator John Facenda into the mix….and it is beyond compare.
Any way you cut the pie, the highlights seen in the 40 minute video are PURE GOLD….and if you even think you are a Sportsphile….and that line up of highlights doesn’t turn you on…..we can tell you now….you are not a Sportsphile.
