The man considered by many to be the greatest baseball player ever to come out of Connecticut got off to an unusual start. The future pitcher and slugger who would be idolized by fans across the Americas as “Schoolboy” Johnny Taylor (“Escolar Taylor” in Mexico), was a track team member focused on high-jumping and…
Tag: sports history
September 10: Madison Square Garden Gets a Two-Minute “Pep Talk” from a Boxer Heading for Greatness
Today in 1942, Connecticut boxer Willie Pep began his meteoric rise to stardom when he knocked out featherweight Frankie Franceroni of New Jersey just two minutes into the first round, shocking a crowd of thousands at Madison Square Garden. Just two months and five more wins later, the twenty-year-old Pep became the World Featherweight…
September 7: A Game-Changer For Sports . . . and Television
Today in 1979, at 7:00pm Eastern time, the first cable channel devoted exclusively to sports and entertainment went live from its studio in Bristol, Connecticut. The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) was the dream of Bill Rasmussen, a former communications director for the New England (later Hartford) Whalers, who spent the better part…
August 30: The 92 Million Dollar Kickoff
What does a flagship state university striving for greater respect among peers and public do to achieve that goal in a directly visible way? Well, of course they invest in faculty, labs, and infrastructure. But these landmarks achieve their goals slowly, through the incremental increases in knowledge and discovery thy provide. The fast track…
August 6: Dale Earnhardt Smokes the Competition in Stafford. Twice. On the Same Day.
For a small state sandwiched between two of America’s largest cities, Connecticut has enjoyed its fair share of exposure to professional sports. While Connecticut is best known for its association with professional hockey and baseball teams and for the many Olympic athletes who grew up in its suburbs, the state has also played host…
August 1: Hartford’s Home Team Gets A Major League Trophy
The Charter Oak Base Ball Club, founded in the summer of 1862, was one of the the first baseball teams to be formed in Hartford. Their stated mission was to “establish on a scientific basis the health-giving and scientific game of Base Ball, and to promote good fellowship among its players.” In the age…
June 11: UCONN’s 1st Black Basketball Player
Harrison “Honey” Fitch, arrived on the University of Connecticut (then Connecticut State College) in the fall of 1932 and he made a solid impression, fast. Fitch, the first Black basketball player for the University of Connecticut (then Connecticut State College) and at the time the only Black student, had already earned the nickname “Honey”…
May 6: The Hartford Whalers Leave Connecticut.
May 6, 1997 marks a day that will live in infamy in the eyes of Connecticut sports fans. On that day, Peter Karmanos, owner of the Hartford Whalers, announced he was moving the NHL team to North Carolina and renaming them the Carolina Hurricanes. Connecticut has lacked a major professional sports franchise ever since….
April 30: The Patriots’ Trickiest Play Ever: They Passed Before the First Kickoff
In 1998, Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots pro football team, was seeking a new home for his franchise, which had outgrown their small and outdated stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. After failing to secure stadium deals in South Boston and then Rhode Island, Kraft set his sights on Connecticut. His quest for…
April 18: The Punch That Killed
A popular pastime for millennia, amateur (or “Olympic-style”) boxing experienced a 20th-century renaissance in the United States, thanks to celebrity heavyweights like John L. Sullivan and the inclusion of the sport in the 1904 Olympic games. During the early 1900s, amateur boxing matches were common in Connecticut cities. One infamous example of an amateur…
April 6: UConn First School Ever to Win Dual NCAA Basketball Championships
On April 6, 2004, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team under coach Geno Auriemma made national history after defeating their fiercest rival, the University of Tennessee, in the NCAA National Championship in New Orleans. For the Huskies, the 70 – 61 victory marked their third straight year of taking home the national title….
March 20: The First CT U.S. Figure Skating Championships Held in New Haven
Today in 1914, the first “International Style” Figure Skating Championship competition in the United States was held in New Haven, Connecticut. While amateur ice skating had been a popular American pastime since the colonial days, modern figure skating — an artistic blend of dance moves and other technical feats performed on ice — was…