BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: Champions

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: Champions:

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[1] SIPGCH_090209_008.JPG	[2] SIPGCH_090209_063.JPG	[3] SIPGCH_090209_094.JPG
[4] SIPGCH_090209_112.JPG	[5] SIPGCH_090209_120.JPG	[6] SIPGCH_090419_012.JPG
[7] SIPGCH_090419_021.JPG	[8] SIPGCH_090419_028.JPG	[9] SIPGCH_090419_044.JPG
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPGCH_090209_094.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
2. SIPGCH_090209_112.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
3. SIPGCH_090209_120.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
4. SIPGCH_090419_012.JPG: Americans are passionate about sports. Whether it's baseball or boxing, hockey or horse racing, we delight in celebrating the triumphs and record-breaking feats of each new generation of champions and measuring their achievements against the performances of earlier athletic stars. Regardless of our ages or backgrounds, we share a common bond as sports fans when we experience the exhilaration of hard-fought victories or the disappointment of heart-breaking defeats. Through it all, we draw inspiration from the lives and achievements of our nation's great sports figures, whose competitive spirit and dogged pursuit of excellence mirror our own struggles and aspirations. With this selection of paintings and sculpture from its collection, the National Portrait Gallery salutes a diverse mix of legendary individuals whose impact has extended beyond the ring, the court, and the diamond to become a part of the larger story of the vibrant life and culture of our nation.
5. SIPGCH_090419_021.JPG: Ty Cobb, 1886-1961 A ferocious competitor who "played every game as if it were the deciding contest in the World Series," Detroit Tigers centerfielder Ty Cobb was one of the greatest all-around performers in baseball history. During his twenty-four years in the majors (1905-28), the hot-tempered "Georgia Peach" terrorized opponents with his precision hitting and aggressive base running in an era dominated by powerful pitching. Always a threat to take the extra base, the agile Cobb perfected the hook slide and set a lifetime stolen-base record of 892 that held for nearly fifty years. His batting record was even more impressive. Hitting .320 or higher for twenty-three consecutive seasons, he captured twelve American League batting titles and posted a towering lifetime average of .367 that remains unequaled. In 1936, Cobb was the first player voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Joseph F. Kernan, 1916
6. SIPGCH_090419_028.JPG: Walter Camp, 1859-1925 The undisputed "Father of American Football," Walter Camp introduced the innovative rule changes that transformed English rugby into a uniquely American game. Camp was a stellar player on the Yale football squad (1876-82), but his off-the-field contributions to the emerging sport were of even greater importance. A member of the Intercollegiate Football Association's rules committee for forty-eight years beginning in 1877, Camp spearheaded the initiatives that reduced teams from fifteen to eleven players and created the key position of quarterback. He instituted the line of scrimmage, suggested a system of downs to govern possession of the ball, devised the present-day point system, and is credited with developing the distinctive gridiron pattern of the playing field. In short, no one proved more influential than Walter Camp in shaping the structure of the modern game. Albert W. Hampson, after an unidentified photographer, c 1960 after 1925 photograph
7. SIPGCH_090419_044.JPG: Joe Louis, 1914-1981 American boxing great Joe Louis began his pro career in 1934 and quickly eliminated a series of opponents with his devastating knockout punch. Widely expected to take the 1936 heavyweight title, Louis was stunned by his defeat at the hands of German champion Max Schmeling. When he reentered the ring against Schmeling in 1938, far more was at stake than a world heavyweight crown. Schmeling came to the contest as Adolf Hitler's champion of Aryan supremacy while Louis, the first African American boxer to win the enthusiastic support of black and white Americans alike, was embraced as democracy's standard-bearer. Louis struck like lightning when the fight began. Staggering Schmeling with a sequence of tremendous blows, he took only 124 seconds to claim one of the sweetest victories in boxing history. As reporter Heywood Broun rightly observed, Louis had "exploded the Nordic myth with a boxing glove." Betsy Graves Reyneau, 1946
8. SIPGCH_090419_050.JPG: Ely Culbertson, 1891-1955 Josephine Dillon Culbertson, 1898-1956: During the 1920s and 1930s, the glamorous husband-and-wife team of Ely and Josephine Culbertson succeeded in transforming bridge from a parlor game into an international phenomenon. Already accomplished players when they married in 1923, the duo enjoyed spectacular success on the tournament circuit with their unconventional bidding methods and playing strategies pioneered by Ely. When contract bridge was introduced in 1926, Ely seized the opportunity to establish himself as the new game's foremost expert and practitioner. After launching The Bridge World magazine in 1929 and publishing his bestselling Contract Bridge Blue Book the following year, Culbertson partnered with his wife to score victories in a series of high-profile matches at home and abroad. The unprecedented media coverage of these contests made the Culbertsons international celebrities and ignited a contract bridge craze that remained unabated for more than a decade. Nikol Schattenstein, c 1960
9. SIPGCH_090419_057.JPG: Ely & Josephine Dillon Culbertson (detail)
10. SIPGCH_090419_067.JPG: Robin Roberts, 1926- In 1950 the pitching heroics of right-hander Robin Roberts carried the Philadelphia Phillies to their first National League pennant in thirty-five years. Roberts was in his second full year in the majors when the usually lackluster Phillies made a strong bid for the league championship. But as the baseball season drew to a close, Philadelphia suddenly began to falter. With a pitching staff in disarray, it fell to Roberts to reverse the downward spiral. He started five times in the last eight days of the season and in the final game defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in ten innings to clinch the pennant for the Phillies. In the years that followed, Roberts proved to be Philadelphia's mainstay. Posting six consecutive seasons of twenty or more victories (1950-55), Roberts's consistency and pinpoint control made him one of the era's best pitchers. Henry Koerner, 1956 Time cover, May 28, 1956, gift of Time magazine
11. SIPGCH_090419_086.JPG: Roger Maris, 1934-1985 The New York Yankees had high hopes for Roger Maris when they acquired him in a trade in 1960, and the pull-hitting right fielder did not disappoint them. In his debut game with the Bronx Bombers, Maris exploded with two home runs, a double, a single, and four runs batted in. By the season's close he owned the American League's Most Valuable Player award and a Gold Glove. But if Maris's first season in Yankee pinstripes was promising, the 1961 season saw the promise fulfilled. After a slow start in April, Maris suddenly found himself in a home run derby with teammate Mickey Mantle that put both players in contention to overtake Babe Ruth's single-season record of sixty homers. It was Maris who prevailed, and on the final day of the season, he entered the record books with home run number sixty-one. Robert Vickrey, 1961 Unpublished Time cover
12. SIPGCH_090419_090.JPG: Mickey Mantle, 1931-1995 Roger Maris, 1934-1985 For more than three decades, Babe Ruth's single-season tally of sixty home runs in 1927 stood as baseball's most hallowed record. But when a home-run duel ignited between Yankee teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in the summer of 1961, many fans found themselves rooting for Mantle to beat the Babe's mark. Since joining the ball club in 1951, the switch-hitting Mantle, with his huge swing and phenomenal power, had been widely regarded as the heir to such Yankee titans as Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Now, with four home-run titles and baseball's Triple Crown to his credit, Mantle seemed the natural choice to outdistance the newcomer Maris in the race for Ruth's record. The contest remained neck and neck until September when, sidelined by an infection, Mantle ended his quest at fifty-four home runs, while Maris powered ahead to a new record of sixty-one. Russell Hoban, 1961 Unpublished Time cover, gift of Time magazine
13. SIPGCH_090419_100.JPG: Juan Marichal, 1937- A high-kicking right hander with a blistering fastball and phenomenal control, Juan Marichal made his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants in July 1960 by hurling a legendary one-hit shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies. Marichal's unorthodox, catapult-style delivery and his arsenal of sliders, curves, screwballs, and change-ups left batters shaking their heads. As Pittsburgh Pirates great Roberto Clemente observed, "It doesn't matter what he throws; when he's got it, he beats you." One of the best pitchers in baseball throughout the 1960s, Marichal surpassed the twenty-game-victory mark six times between 1963 and 1969, and ended the decade with a total of 191 wins. It was not until 1972 that he experienced his first losing season. In 1983 Marichal became the first Latin American player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame via the regular selection process. Gerald Gooch, 1966 Time cover, June 10, 1966, gift of Time magazine
14. SIPGCH_090419_109.JPG: Casey Stengel, 1890-1975 Casey Stengel built his reputation as one of baseball's greatest managers by guiding the New York Yankees to ten American League pennants and seven World Series championships in just twelve seasons (1949-60). But it was during his stint as the charismatic shepherd of the fledgling New York Mets (1962-65) that Stengel earned a place in the hearts of baseball lovers everywhere. Unable to budge his hapless team from the National League's cellar, Stengel nonetheless helped the Mets amass legions of loyal fans, thanks to his memorable quips, his tireless zest for the game, and his confident prediction that "the Mets are gonna be amazing." Rhoda Sherbell, 1981 cast after 1965 original
15. SIPGCH_090419_114.JPG: Casey Stengel (detail)
16. SIPGCH_090419_119.JPG: Casey Stengel (detail)
17. SIPGCH_090419_137.JPG: Casey Stengel (detail)
18. SIPGCH_090419_141.JPG: Jack Nicklaus, 1940- No golfer to date has come close to matching Jack Nicklaus's towering record of tournament victories. Nicknamed the "Golden Bear" for his blonde hair and stocky build, Nicklaus combined superb athletic talent with keen strategic ability and phenomenal powers of concentration to prevail in twenty major championships between 1959 and 1986. Named Rookie of the Year in 1962, Nicklaus kicked off his pro career with several dramatic wins, including his upset of favorite Arnold Palmer at the U.S. Open. In the years that followed, his tally included three more U.S. Open titles, along with five PGA championships, three British Open crowns, and an unprecedented six Masters trophies, the last of which he captured by a single stroke at the age of forty-six. That triumph prompted the New York Times to declare that Nicklaus was "the best player of his time." Russell Hoban, 1962 Time cover, June 29, 1962
19. SIPGCH_090419_152.JPG: Jim Brown, 1936- It is little wonder that Cleveland Browns star fullback Jim Brown was sometimes likened to Superman. During his pro football career (1957-65), Brown's strength, speed, and agility made him all but unstoppable as he powered his way over, around, or through his opponents' defenses. As one lineman noted ruefully, the only way to tackle Brown was "to hold on and wait for help." Brown's versatility also made him a constant threat. Besides exceeding the 1,000-yards-rushing mark for seven out of nine seasons and ultimately scoring more than 100 rushing touchdowns, Brown caught passes, returned kickoffs, and even threw the ball for an occasional touchdown. Although his NFL game, season, and career rushing records have now been surpassed, experts continue to rank Brown as one of the greatest ball carriers of all time. Henry Koerner, 1965 Time cover, November 26, 1965
20. SIPGCH_090419_164.JPG: Bill Hartack, 1932-2007 Driven by an intense determination to win, jockey Bill Hartack was one of horse racing's fiercest competitors for more than two decades. Making his riding debut in 1952 at the age of nineteen, he wasted no time in compiling a record for veterans to envy. Hartack was the winningest jockey on the circuit for three consecutive years (1955-57), and in 1957 he became the first to top the three-million-dollar mark for purses won in a single season. That same year, he claimed his first Kentucky Derby victory, a feat he would repeat four times over the next eleven years, earning praise as one of the greatest derby winners of all time. Never satisfied with anything less than a trip to the winner's circle, Hartack pushed himself and his mounts relentlessly. "I only know one way to ride," he declared, "and that's all out." James Ormsbee Chapin, 1958 Time cover, February 10, 1958
21. SIPGCH_090419_175.JPG: Bobby Hull, 1939- Bobby Hull sparked professional hockey's huge popularity boom in the United States in the 1960s with his electrifying displays of power and speed on the ice. Nicknamed the "Golden Jet," this fair-haired dynamo got his start with the National Hockey League's Chicago Black Hawks in 1958, and two seasons later led the team to its first Stanley Cup since 1938. Utilizing his superb upper-body strength, Hull turned the slap shot into the game's most devastating offensive weapon and routinely sent the puck streaking into the net at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. An excellent skater with legendary quickness, Hull was equally effective whether on defense or on the attack. In a sport known for rough play, he eschewed violence, noting, "When you hit back, it's just for your own self-satisfaction. I get mine from putting the puck in the net." LeRoy Neiman, 1968 Time cover, March 1, 1968
22. SIPGCH_090419_193.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight On July 4, 1919, challenger Jack Dempsey met reigning champ Jess Willard in an eagerly awaited bout for the heavyweight championship of the world. Having demolished a series of opponents to earn a shot at the crown, Dempsey was a decided underdog in the matchup with Willard, who was five inches taller and fifty-eight pounds heavier than his opponent and considered unbeatable. Yet when the two boxers met before a capacity crowd, the contest was brief and brutal. In the opening round, Dempsey (in white trunks) unleashed a torrent of punishing blows that felled Willard seven times. By the end of round three, Willard was finished, and Dempsey was the new champion. He defended his title until 1926, when he lost to Gene Tunney. More than twenty years after upsetting Willard, Dempsey commissioned James Montgomery Flagg to commemorate the historic heavyweight contest. Basing his composition on photographs taken during the fight, Flagg produced this mammoth painting in which the crouching Dempsey bobs and weaves his way to victory. Flagg also pictured a number of celebrities at ringside, including satirist Damon Runyon and cartoonist Rube Goldberg. On November 14, 1944, the painting was unveiled at Jack Dempsey's Broadway bar and restaurant, where it occupied a place of honor until the popular watering hole closed in 1974. Notably absent at the unveiling was Jess Willard, who wired Dempsey, saying, "Sorry I can't be there. But I saw enough of you 25 years ago to last me a lifetime." James Montgomery Flagg, 1944
23. SIPGCH_090419_199.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
24. SIPGCH_090419_204.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
25. SIPGCH_090419_207.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
26. SIPGCH_090419_218.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
27. SIPGCH_090419_223.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
28. SIPGCH_090419_229.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
29. SIPGCH_090419_231.JPG: Dempsey-Willard Fight (detail)
30. SIPGCH_090419_244.JPG: Cast of Jack Dempsey's fist: Jack Dempsey's punching power was legendary, and even led to the fanciful claim that his gloves had been loaded with plaster of paris when he pummeled Jess Willard in the pair's historic 1919 heavyweight bout. While there was no denying the strength of his knockout punch, Dempsey was quick to point out, "It's when you hit the man that counts, not just how hard." This cast memorializes the powerful fist that meted out punishment to a host of Dempsey's opponents.
31. SIPGCH_090419_266.JPG: Byron Nelson, 1912-2006 In 1945 golfer Byron Nelson accomplished a feat that remains unequaled to this day. During that single season of professional play, he captured an astonishing eighteen tournament titles-a tally all the more remarkable because it included eleven consecutive victories. But Nelson's impact on his sport was not limited to rewriting the record books. Besides winning nearly every major title between 1937 and 1946, he is widely credited with developing the modern golf swing at a time when clubs with steel shafts were replacing the more flexible hickory-shafted models of an earlier era. By harnessing the strength of his lower body to power both his take-away and his downswing, Bryon unleashed prodigious drives that were breathtaking in their accuracy. After setting an enviable standard for others to follow, the golfer dubbed "Lord Byron" retired from professional play at the age of thirty-two. Evertt Raymond Kinstler, 1974
32. SIPGCH_090419_278.JPG: Arnold Palmer, 1929- With his thrilling brand of "go for broke" play and his charismatic appeal, Arnold Palmer propelled professional golf to unprecedented heights of popularity in the 1960s. After capturing his first Masters trophy in 1958, Palmer went on to win three more Masters titles, a U.S. Open, and two British Opens over the next six years. Such a string of victories was impressive by any measure, but it was Palmer's amazing ability to surge from behind to overtake the leader in the final round of play that helped make him an overwhelming favorite with the public. At a time when televised coverage of the pro tour was in its infancy, Palmer succeeded in making golf an exciting spectator sport for home audiences as well as for the legions of fans known as "Arnie's Army" who turned out to follow their hero from tee to green. Paul C. Burns, 1979
33. SIPGCH_090419_288.JPG: Reggie Jackson, 1946- One of baseball's great sluggers and larger-than-life personalities, Reggie Jackson hit 563 career home runs and helped carry his teams to seven World Series championships from 1973 to 1981. While Jackson's regular season play was far from average, his postseason performances were spectacular. In his 1973 World Series debut, Jackson was a key factor in the Oakland A's victory over the New York Mets, producing five extra-base hits and driving in six runs to collect MVP honors for the series. But Jackson's exploits in the 1977 World Series proved even more remarkable. Playing this time for the Yankees, he belted three consecutive homers off three Dodgers pitchers in the deciding game of the series to propel New York to its first world championship in fifteen years. Jackson's heroics earned him the moniker "Mr. October"-a fitting tribute to his postseason brilliance. Howard Rogers, 1974 Time cover, June 3, 1974
34. SIPGCH_090419_310.JPG: Yogi Berra, 1925- Hailed as the catcher who "stopped everything behind the plate and hit everything in front of it," Yogi Berra was a standout performer on the New York Yankees' roster through eighteen remarkable seasons of play (1946-63). His fielding and hitting helped propel the Bronx ball club to fourteen pennants and ten World Series championships, and earned him a place on the All-Star team for fifteen consecutive years. Berra's self-effacing good humor has made him one of baseball's most endearing characters, and classic "Yogi-isms"-such as "It's d�j� vu all over again"-have become part of the nation's vocabulary. Rhoda Sherbell, 2000 cast after 1973 original
35. SIPGCH_090419_316.JPG: Jimmy Connors, 1952- When Jimmy Connors burst onto the pro tennis scene in 1972, he quickly shattered the game's time-honored decorum with brash, bad-boy behavior that led Time magazine to dub him "The Hellion of Tennis." But while Connors's court antics and temperamental outbursts proved offensive to many, his skills with a racket were undeniable. Combining quickness, power, and enormous competitive drive with a double-fisted backhand, devastating ground strokes, and a great service return, Connors became the dominant men's singles player of the mid-1970s. Only twenty-one when he won his first U.S. Open championship, he would capture a total of five U.S. Open singles titles between 1974 and 1983, along with two Wimbledon singles crowns. Ranked among the world's top-ten players for sixteen years (1973-88), Connors was still competitive at thirty-nine, when he made it to the semifinals of the 1991 U.S. Open. Barron Storey, 1975 Time cover, April 28, 1975
36. SIPGCH_090419_330.JPG: Muhammad Ali, 1942- Cat's Cradle: When Muhammad Ali proclaimed "I am the greatest," it was hard not to agree. Just twenty-two years old when he stunned the boxing world by upsetting heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in 1964, Ali (born Cassius Clay) would become the first three-time winner of the heavyweight crown. A consummate showman whose braggadocio and rhyming banter captivated the public, the fleet-footed and graceful Ali was mesmerizing as he confounded opponents with his unorthodox boxing style. Ali was also a potent force beyond the ring. In 1967 he became a symbol of conscience to many when he was convicted of draft evasion and stripped of his title after refusing military induction on the basis of his religious beliefs. The Supreme Court later overturned the conviction, and Ali battled back in the ring to regain the heavyweight title in 1974. Henry C. Casselli Jr., 1981
37. SIPGCH_090419_344.JPG: Billy Martin, 1928-1989 Billy Martin was always a wild card. As an infielder with the Yankees in the 1950s, he contrasted average regular-season play with postseason sparkle that produced World Series victories for New York in 1952 and 1953. Unfortunately, the combative behavior that cost Martin his job with the Yankees in 1957 remained a liability as he later bounced around the league. After retiring from play in 1961, Martin switched to managing and built a reputation for his ability to turn underperforming ball clubs into winners. Named Manager of the Year on three occasions, Martin won five division titles, two American League pennants, and one World Series championship with the five franchises he piloted. Despite his successes, Martin's volatility on and off the field made it difficult for him to keep a job, and his serial firings by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner became legendary. Richard Hess, 1981 Time cover, May 11, 1981
38. SIPGCH_090419_351.JPG: Bill Shoemaker, 1931-2003 Only four feet, eleven inches tall and weighing just ninety-eight pounds, Bill Shoemaker was one of horse racing's smallest and lightest jockeys; he was also one of the most successful riders in the history of the sport. During a career than spanned four decades, Shoemaker tallied more than 40,000 starts and 8,833 winning rides, with repeat victories in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. Just twenty-three when he won the derby crown in 1955, Shoemaker was fifty-four when he rode to his fourth and final derby victory in 1986. Unlike some jockeys who whipped and harried their mounts to the finish line, "The Shoe" was admired for his ability to guide his horses through his skillful use of the reins and bit. As a contemporary observed, "If one needed the blueprint for the perfect jockey, [Shoemaker] would be it." Zbigniew Nyczak, 1994
39. SIPGCH_090419_359.JPG: Larry Bird, 1956- Wayne Gretzky, 1961- In the late winter of 1985, the cover of Time magazine featured this double portrait of basketball star Larry Bird and hockey great Wayne Gretzky. The image ran with the headline "Simply the Best," and in the accompanying article, the magazine described the pair as athletes whose excellence had "transcended the competition." The praise was certainly well deserved. During twenty-one years of professional play, Gretzky recorded more goals, assists, and total points than any hockey player in history and was named to the All-Star team eighteen times. As for Bird, his achievements with the Boston Celtics included three Most Valuable Player awards, appearances in twelve All-Star games, and a points-scored record that placed him among the leading scorers of all time. Through the brilliance of their play, Bird and Gretzky both dominated and defined their respective sports for a generation of fans. Bart Forbes, 1985 Time cover, March 18, 1985
40. SIPGCH_090419_370.JPG: Arthur Ashe, 1943-1993 Armed with superb natural talent, a keen competitive spirit, and poise that set him apart from his rivals, Arthur Ashe made his way from the segregated playground courts of his youth to the pinnacle of the tennis world. Rated among the world's top-ten players while still in college, Ashe reached the number-one ranking in spectacular fashion in 1968. After capturing the U.S. amateur title, he served an astonishing twenty-six aces in the final to become the first African American man to claim the U.S. Open championship. Ashe went on to record multiple tournament victories, including his memorable triumph over Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon in 1975. Following a heart attack that forced his retirement in 1980, Ashe dedicated his energies to humanitarian causes. He became a leader in the fight against AIDS in 1992, after revealing that he had contracted the virus through a transfusion. Louis Briel, 1993
41. SIPGCH_090419_377.JPG: Arthur Ashe (detail)
42. SIPGCH_090419_385.JPG: Carlton Fisk, 1947- A tenacious competitor with an impressive work ethic, Carlton Fisk was one of major league baseball's most capable and durable catchers. During twenty-four seasons in the American League (first with the Boston Red Sox and later with the Chicago White Sox), Fisk caught a record-setting 2,226 games and posted home-run tallies that ranked him among the top-hitting catchers of all time. Fisk's accomplishments were all the more remarkable because he repeatedly overcame career-threatening injuries. In 1975, after battling back from reconstructive knee surgery and a broken arm, Fisk gave Red Sox fans a never-to-be-forgotten thrill in the sixth game of the World Series when he drilled a twelfth-inning home run to win the game. Fisk always demanded the best not only of himself but of his teammates. As he once observed, "You don't play baseball. . . . You work at it." Susan Miller-Havens, 1993
43. SIPGCH_090419_395.JPG: Nolan Ryan, 1947- With a fastball that topped 100 miles per hour and an equally devastating curve, hurler Nolan Ryan bedeviled batters in both leagues over the course of twenty-seven years in the majors. Drafted by the Mets in 1965, Ryan helped the New York ball club to its first World Series championship in 1969, but was later traded to the California Angels after struggling with his control. The move agreed with Ryan. His earned run average dropped, his strikeout numbers soared, and he astonished the baseball world by pitching four no-hitters in three years (1973-75). Ryan went on to play nine seasons with the Houston Astros before rounding out his career with the Texas Rangers. By the time he retired in 1993, Ryan not only had a total of seven no-hitters to his credit but owned the all-time strikeout record with 5,714. Ruth Munson, 1994-97
44. SIPGCH_090419_406.JPG: Nolan Ryan (detail)
45. SIPGCH_090517_05.JPG: Oscar Robertson, 1938-: Few players in basketball history have rivaled the talent and versatility of the NBA All-Star known to fans as "The Big O." Averaging upwards of twenty-five points per game during fourteen stellar seasons with the Cincinnati Royals (1960-70) and the Milwaukee Bucks (1970-74), Oscar Robertson amassed a career record of 26,710 points to become the top-scoring guard of all time. His superb playmaking and rebounding skills coupled with his phenomenal ability to sink baskets from virtually anywhere on the court, made him both a defensive weapon and an offensive threat. Although some of his achievements have since been equaled or exceeded, Robertson continues to hold one of the most remarkable records in all of pro basketball, for he is the only player ever to have double digit averages in scoring, rebounding, and assists-a "triple-double"-throughout an entire season. Russell Hoban, 1961 Time cover, February 17, 1961
46. SIPGCH_090517_15.JPG: Byron Nelson, 1912-2006 In 1945 golfer Byron Nelson accomplished a feat that remains unequaled to this day. During that single season of professional play, he captured an astonishing eighteen tournament titles-a tally all the more remarkable because it included eleven consecutive victories. But Nelson's impact on his sport was not limited to rewriting the record books. Besides winning nearly every major title between 1937 and 1946, he is widely credited with developing the modern golf swing at a time when clubs with steel shafts were replacing the more flexible hickory-shafted models of an earlier era. By harnessing the strength of his lower body to power both his take-away and his downswing, Bryon unleashed prodigious drives that were breathtaking in their accuracy. After setting an enviable standard for others to follow, the golfer dubbed "Lord Byron" retired from professional play at the age of thirty-two. Evertt Raymond Kinstler, 1974
47. SIPGCH_090517_23.JPG: Oscar Robertson (detail)
48. SIPGCH_091017_03.JPG: Tommy Lasorda, born 1927 Tommy Lasorda's six decades with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers establishes his claim that when he bleeds, he bleeds Dodger blue. Lasorda began his career as a pitcher with the Concord Weavers in 1945, served three years in the army, and was drafted by the Dodgers. He made his major-league debut in 1954, pitching two seasons for the Dodgers and one for Kansas City. In 1961 the Dodgers signed him as a scout, then manager, for their farm teams, and in 1973 he became their third-base coach. Lasorda became manager of the Dodgers in 1976 and won two World Series championships (1981, 1988), four pennants, and eight division titles, retiring in 1996. In 1997 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Lasorda came out of retirement to manage the U.S. baseball team in the 2000 Olympics and led them to a gold medal over the heavily favored Cuban team. Everett Raymond Kinstler Oil on canvas, 2009
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Description of Subject Matter: "Champions" -- A salute to the dynamic American sports figures whose impact has extended beyond their sports and made them a part of the larger story of our nation. A lively combination of portraits, artifacts and memorabilia and video will enhance the exhibition. Video clips of the famous athletes in the exhibit are narrated by Michael Wilbon of ESPN and The Washington Post
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