Today in 1945, a promotion-minded Hartford jeweler and a sports legend well past his prime joined together to make baseball history. Superstar Babe Ruth delighted 2,500 Connecticut fans by participating in an exhibition game between the semi-pro Savitt Gems of Hartford and the New Britain Codys. The Gems had been founded by successful local…
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 31: New Haven Native Wins US Golf Championship – for the 6th Time
On August 31, 1935, thousands watched New Haven-born golf sensation Glenna Collett Vare win a record-breaking 6th U.S. Women’s Golf Championship at the Interlachen Country Club in Hopkins, Minnesota. Born in New Haven in 1903, Glenda Collett Vare was an active youngster, excelling at a variety of sports including swimming, diving, and golf. She…
August 30: The 92 Million Dollar Kickoff
Today in 2003, the UConn Huskies football team kicked off a new era in Connecticut college sports as they played their first game in the brand-new, 92 million, 40,000-seat stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The stadium was the result of a decade-long search for a suitable new home for the university’s expanding…
August 6: Dale Earnhardt Smokes the Competition in Stafford
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 First Home Team Gets A Major-League Trophy.
The Charter Oak Base Ball Club, founded in the summer of 1862, was the first baseball team 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 before national professional…
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: New England Patriots Pass 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…
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 U.S. Figure Skating Championships
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…