PGA Championship Quiz: 1) Who are the only five to win at least 3 PGA titles? [All well known] 2) Who am I? I won in 1964, initials B.N. Answers below.
I was ten years old the summer of ’68 and remember being mesmerized by all that was transpiring across the country as I became increasingly aware of more than my immediate surroundings. The ‘68 Summer Games of Mexico City were certainly emblematic of the chaos both here and abroad.
HBO Sports did a piece in 2000 that focused on the Tommie Smith / John Carlos black power salute from those Games, an incident that polarized the nation. It is impossible to write about this, however, without using the N-word, but I will abbreviate to denote usage as employed by the participants in the story themselves.
Back in 1968 many black track athletes had to deal with the feeling among the white track hierarchy (and the fans) that, “I don’t care how fast or how far you can jump, you’re just another n-.” America seemed to be on the eve of destruction. Vietnam, racial inequality, poverty; these were just some of the issues roiling our country.
Enter three athletes who were to emerge in the spotlight in Mexico City; Tommie Smith, Lee Evans and John Carlos. Smith and Evans were farm laborers in California with experience picking cotton. They were humble youths who ran fast as hell. Carlos, on the other hand, was a boisterous, cocky Harlem youngster who, as described by his teammates, you didn’t want as your enemy. Athletics gave all three the chance to escape poverty and they ended up as teammates at San Jose State.
Smith was described as gazelle-like, Evans was a ferocious competitor but with a style that looked like he was “drunk on roller skates,” and Carlos was a wine-drinking, pot-smoking type whose attitude seemed to say, “C’mon, sucker, I wanna see what you got.” Smith and Carlos were to make their names in the 200 meters while Evans’s specialty was the 400.
At San Jose State, “Speed City,” Smith joined the ROTC, was studious, religious and not the least bit rebellious. And, in reality, San Jose State was a racist campus that somewhat tolerated the track athletes. Also at SJS was a black sociology professor by the name of Dr. Harry Edwards. Edwards taught, “Once you take off that uniform, you’re just another n-,” as he strove to turn the black athletes into advocates. The Olympics was the target and, specifically, a movement titled the “Olympic Project For Human Rights.” Soon, it was hoped that there would be a boycott of the Summer Games by the track stars. “Why run in Mexico City and crawl at home?” [The Boycott eventually failed and the movement turned to how best to demonstrate in Mexico City.]
Edwards became the chief target of the conservatives in America. White athletes like pole-vaulter Bob Seagren thought Edwards was a radical whose movement was doomed to failure. But it did gain some white support and all black athletes were urged to take a stand.
[One who took a stand and decided he would definitely play (and without protest) was Charlie Scott, a spectacular basketball player for the University of North Carolina and the only black at the school in those days. Scott was going to be on the Olympic team and he felt that if he was “revolutionary,” he would be closing the doors to everyone behind him.]
And then there was International Olympic Committee (IOC) Chairman Avery Brundage. Brundage was known as the “Bull Connor” of the Olympic Games and he couldn’t begin to understand the Olympic Project. Brundage was labeled “pro-fascist” and a racist who “represented the generation that tried to keep Negroes in their place.” It was Brundage who said, “If they (‘the boys’) demonstrate (at the Games), they’ll be promptly sent home.”
As the year went on, the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. had a catalytic effect on the black athletes. Coupled with the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the black stars were more willing to sacrifice. Meanwhile, down in Mexico City, the local government was having their own problems with the kinds of student protests that were sweeping the world. Just prior to the Games, the police in Mexico City gunned down an estimated
300-500 students in a Tiananmen Square-type slaughter.
In attempting to “gussie up” the city for the world press that would be covering the Games, the Mexican Army decided to clear the streets of the daily protesters. [The government would later claim that “only” 37 were killed. Most experts now agree on the 300-500 number.] The Army burned the bodies or threw them in the Pacific to keep the world from learning the true story.
When the athletes of the world met a few days later, they walked into an armed camp. The stage was set for Smith, Carlos, and the others.
As the black U.S. track athletes headed to Mexico City, the big question was whether or not they would have an organized or uniform protest. Since they couldn’t agree on whether or not they would all wear black socks or armbands, it was decided that everyone could do their own thing.
1968 was a banner year for the U.S. team. Superstar performances were turned in by the likes of Bill Toomey, Bob Seagren and Dick Fosbury (whose revolutionary “Fosbury Flop” in the high jump was ridiculed until he won the gold). And perhaps the best single performance in the history of track and field was witnessed in Mexico City as well.
Bob Beamon long jumped 29 feet 2 inches in a stupendous effort that has to be seen on video to be believed. Beamon’s leap broke the old record by almost 2 feet! It still stands as the ‘Greatest Percentage Improvement,’ 6.6%, over a world record.
But it was Tommie Smith and John Carlos who garnered most of the attention. In the 200 meters, Smith blazed to the first sub 20-second time, 19.83. Carlos finished third. [Trivia: Peter Norman of Australia was second.] Smith and Carlos then decided to wear black gloves on their right hands in a black power salute as they stood on the awards stand. While Smith later claimed that he was “giving glory to God” and “praying for freedom,” others didn’t see it that way. The move was met by boos, whistles, and just a few muffled cheers.
The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) was furious and, under intense pressure from IOC Chairman Brundage, was forced to act. Smith and Carlos were sent home and banned for life from further competition. Smith said he was rather “pissed,” to put it mildly.
Next up was Lee Evans and the 400 meters. Evans had received death threats and he was contemplating going home. Smith and Carlos convinced him to run. And run he did as he, too, captured gold for the U.S. In fact, the U.S. finished 1-2-3 with Larry James and Ronnie Freeman taking the silver and bronze. The three of them decided to wear black berets, popularized back in the States by the Black Panthers, when they took to the awards stand. However, during the playing of the U.S. national anthem, all three at least took them off.
Evans was shocked to learn that many of his fellow black athletes and the militants back home thought he hadn’t done enough. “Heck, I was the one who received the death threats. They should have tried out for the team and come here and run if they wanted more,” Evans said.
The Games were turning into one miserable, negative experience. The USOC brought hero Jesse Owens in to talk to the athletes and Jesse preached about the virtues of patriotism. Evans said Owens was “pitiful.” Other athletes called Owens an “old Negro.” Owens was crushed by the reaction and wasn’t the same afterwards.
Then along came George Foreman to save the day for America. In a titanic fight, heavyweight Foreman captured the gold medal in a bout against the hated Russian. [For those of you who are too young to remember the Olympics during the height of the Cold War, you missed something.] During his victory celebration, Foreman pulled out a little American flag and waved it as he paraded around the ring, bowing at each corner. Foreman was branded a traitor by the Black Movement and he was startled by the reaction.
“In ‘64, I was a mugger and a thief. Now, I had an opportunity to turn my life around,” said Foreman.
[It was no wonder then that the “hated” Foreman was not a favorite of many blacks in his historic ‘74 fight in Zaire against Muhammad Ali. Ali’s dusting of Foreman helped solidify the Ali legend in more ways than one.]
The ‘68 Summer Games were truly symbolic of the turbulent times in which we lived, not just in America but the World. Tommie Smith felt he wanted simply to do his part when he “saw wrong and tried to right it.” Smith ended up being taken advantage of by his fellow blacks when he returned to the States. At one point he worked in a car wash with his job being to sign autographs for customers who wanted it. Later, he taught and coached at Santa Monica College before retiring.
John Carlos has been a counselor at Palm Springs High School for the past 20 years, having suffered through his wife’s suicide. Evans has coached for years in Madagascar (hey, someone has to do it). Foreman has his Lean Mean Machine, which makes an awesome burger and is highly recommended by the editor. One other sidelight, Professor Harry Edwards of San Jose State was criticized heavily by the militants for not showing up in Mexico City and basically being AWOL for the 3 months leading up to the Games. Edwards claimed he couldn’t attend because of death threats. He was later fired by SJS. [If memory serves me, he’s back there today.]
Finally, I can’t blame Smith et al for acting the way they did. But neither can you condone the mistreatment of Foreman and Owens. The times were different then.
–Brett Favre said he was seeking his outright release or a trade after arriving at Packers training camp. “We’re at a stalemate,” Favre told ESPN. “[Head Coach Mike McCarthy] and I both agreed last night that me being out there is a distraction and will continue to be a distraction. We all know the reason I’m here is because the commissioner reinstated me so we have a lot of things to figure out.”
Probably not. So what the hell do these two, who by now hate each other, discuss for 5 ½ hours? Anyway, we’re all sick of this circus and by the time you read this, Favre will probably have been traded.
–I’ll be addressing this topic briefly in my next “Week in Review,” but there is a real geopolitical twist to the IOC’s charge that seven Russian female track and field athletes tampered with their urine samples and have been suspended. The chairman of the IOC’s medical commission, Arne Ljungqvist, said “I think it is just frustrating to find that such type of cheating – planned cheating – is still going on.”
But look for Russia to blame China.
Interestingly, while the Yankees and Mets are atop the valuation list when it comes to baseball, the Super Bowl Champion Giants are only No. 8 in the NFL, with Dallas, Washington and New England being the top three.
But the Giants figure once they move into their new stadium in 2010, game day revenues should at least double in the first year at the new facility and enable them to move into the top three.
As for the Yankees, in 2007 they led MLB with $327 million in revenues. [Boston was next with $263mm and the Mets were third at $235mm.] But now it’s expected the Yankees could double revenue when they move into their new ballpark next season as ticket prices soar and the television contract does so commensurately.
–Crain’s New York Business also had a list of the highest-paid players at the top five New York area teams.
–Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen admitted to ordering his pitchers to hit batters on purpose. “That’s my job. Protect my players.” Managers aren’t supposed to admit this dirty little secret.
–While baseball investigates whether certain Dominican signees have been shortchanged in their bonuses, I see from Baseball America that 16-year-old Rafael Rodriguez recently signed with the Giants for the largest bonus ever for a Latin American hitter, excluding Cuban defectors, $2.55 million. The highest previous bonus was Wily Mo Pena’s $2.44 million when he was 17 and signed by the Yankees. So someone tell Mr. Rodriguez that if the contract said $2.55 million, he is indeed entitled to that amount and shouldn’t accept only $4,500.
–There have been two tiger assaults in two days in……… Missouri! First, a tiger mauled a volunteer at the Wesa-A-Geh-Ya animal farm in Warrenton. An 800-pound tiger jumped an 8- to 10-foot gate and attacked a 26-year-old man who was trying to clean the tiger’s cage. The Warren County Sheriff said the owners and others at the facility then tried to cover up the incident by cleaning up the site and saying the victim had been attacked by a pit bull. Only later Sunday were authorities told the truth and led to the tiger’s carcass, which had been taken to another property, he said. The victim is going to recover.
At the other spot, Predator World in Branson West, a 16-year-old worker entered a cage with three tigers in an attempt to photograph the tigers for visitors. Bad move. The boy was in critical condition with puncture wounds to his neck.
–Phil W., ACC hoops fan, former sports information director, and in my apprentice program for shark attack hunters, passed along a tale from Topsail Beach, North Carolina. A 14-year-old boy was recovering from injuries to his calf after being bitten by one. Alas, after suffering two 2-inch gashes and a number of puncture wounds, the boy was treated and released.
The thing is the kid must have been on drugs because he didn’t realize he was getting attacked until people around him in the water started screaming “Shark!”
It turns out this wasn’t a great white. Nope, just a group of 3-foot gray sharks who were probably feeding on farm raised salmon purchased at the local A&P and dumped in the ocean by folks who didn’t know better.
But at least it was the second shark attack off North Carolina’s coast this year. An Ohio woman was bitten in the thigh while vacationing in Atlantic Beach.
–So what’s the deal with the gorillas in Congo? I’ve seen various reports but at least 80,000 western lowland apes were suddenly discovered that no one previously knew existed. “This is a very significant discovery because of the terrible decline in population of these magnificent creatures to Ebola and bush meat,” said Emma Stokes, no relation to Emma Peel of Avengers fame.
I’ll say. But 80,000?! [Some say over 100,000.] All I saw was a video of about 20 of them. How could they extrapolate that into 80,000?! And why don’t these gorillas pull off a coup if this is their number. Looking at my world map, they could cut a deal with Zambian officials and then roll into Zimbabwe to take out Mugabe. At least this is what we all hope.
–I suspect that 95% of you or more have read “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” so we note the passing of author Alexander Solzhenitsyn who died the other day at 89.
It was during the closing weeks of World War II that Solzhenitsyn, an artillery captain, was arrested for writing what he described as “certain disrespectful remarks” about Josef Stalin in a letter to a friend, referring to him as “the man with the mustache.” He ended up serving seven years in a labor camp and three more in internal exile. It’s during this time he began to write, memorizing much of it so it wouldn’t be lost if it were seized.
After “One Day…” Solzhenitsyn wrote “The First Circle” and “The Gulag Archipelago” among others that detailed the worst of the abuses of the Soviet state. It led to his expulsion. In 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Price in Literature.
Solzhenitsyn ended up living in Cavendish, Vt. for 18 years but he always yearned to return to his Russia and did so in 1994. Over time he became friends with Vladimir Putin, who Solzhenitsyn praised for Putin’s “restoration” of Russia. Putin was at Solzhenitsyn’s wake.
Top 3 songs for the week of 8/7/71: #1 “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” (The Bee Gees) #2 “Indian Reservation” (Raiders) #3 “You’ve Got A Friend” (James Taylor) …and…#4 “Mr. Big Stuff” (Jean Knight) #5 “Draggin’ The Line” (Tommy James) #6 “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (John Denver) #7 “It’s Too Late” (Carole King) #8 “Beginnings / Colour My World” (Chicago) #9 “What The World Needs Now Is Love / Abraham, Martin and John” (Tom Clay…was a DJ) #10 “Mercy Mercy Me” (Marvin Gaye)
PGA Championship Quiz Answers: 1) 3-time winners: Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus (5); Tiger Woods (4); Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead (3). 2) Bobby Nichols won in 1964, defeating both Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus who tied for second, 3-strokes back.
