Sports of the 1960s

Baseball

Mickey Mantle • Born on Tuesday, October 20, 1931,

in Spavinaw, Oklahoma.• Mantle was 19 years old when he

broke into the big leagues on April 17, 1951, with the New York Yankees.

• leading MLB in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.

• He received three American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards and played in twenty All-Star games.

• Appeared in 12 World Series, winning 7 of them.

Mickey Mantle

• He holds the records for most World Series home runs of (18), RBIs (40), runs (42), walks (43), extra-base hits (26), and total bases (123).

• He was also the career leader in walk-off home runs, with a combined thirteen, twelve in the regular season and one in the postseason.

Roger Maris

• Maris appeared in seven World Series games.

• He was a two-time American League Most Valuable Player(1960–1961).

• seven-time All-Star (1960–62), and an AL Gold Glove winner in 1960.

Roger Maris• 61 in 61’• Roger Maris hit homer number

61, setting a record that wasn't broken until September of 1998 by Mark McGwire.

• Maris' record stood until September 8, 1998, when the Cardinals' Mark McGwire hit homerun number 62.

• After his ball cleared the fence, McGwire hugged all of the Marises and told them he had rubbed their father's bat for good luck that day.

Boog Powell• Born August 17, 1941 in Lakeland, Florida• First baseman who played for the

Baltimore Orioles (1961–74), Cleveland Indians (1975–76) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1977).

• He was with the Orioles’ World Series Champion teams in 1966 and 1970, the American League Champion teams in 1966, 1969, 1970 and 1971, and the American League East Division Champion teams in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973 and 1974.

• The 4-time All-Star won the American League's Most Valuable Player award in 1970 and in 1964 posted a .606 batting average to lead the American League. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed, playing first base, outfield, and designated hitter.

Willy Mays• The greatest centerfielder of

all time belted 350 home runs during the decade, including 52 in 1965. Willie Mays also led the San Francisco Giants to the ’62 World Series and won an MVP award in ’65. As great a hitter as he was, the “Say Hey Kid” was just as great defensively, winning nine Gold Gloves in the ‘60s.

Basketball

Wilt Chamberlain • American basketball player. • He played for the Philadelphia/San

Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA. He played for the University of Kansas and also for the Harlem Globetrotters before playing in the NBA.

• The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain weighed 250 pounds as a rookie before bulking up to 275 and eventually to over 300 pounds with the Lakers.

• He played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in NBA history.

Wilt Chamberlain• Chamberlain holds numerous NBA all-time

records in scoring, rebounding and durability categories.

• He is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season.

• He also won seven scoring, nine field goal percentage, and eleven rebounding titles, and once even led the league in assists.

• Chamberlain had a successful career, winning two NBA championships, earning four regular-season Most Valuable Player awards, the Rookie of the Year award, one NBA Finals MVP award, and being selected to 13 All-Star Games and ten All-NBA First and Second teams.

• Chamberlain was subsequently chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History of 1996.

Bill Russel

• He led the NBA in rebounds four times, and remains second all-time in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. He is one of just two NBA players (the other being rival Wilt Chamberlain) to have grabbed more than fifty rebounds in a game.

• Though never the focal point of the Celtics' offense, Russell also scored 14,522 career points and provided effective passing.

Bill Russel

• NBA champion (1957, '59, '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '68, '69); NBA MVP (1958, '61, '62, '63, '65);

• All-NBA First Team (1959, '63, '65); All-NBA Second Team (1958, '60, '61, '62, '64, '66, '67, '68); NBA All-Defensive Team (1969); 12-time NBA All-Star (1958-69); All-Star Game MVP (1963); One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996); Olympic gold medalist (1956).

Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell Rivalry

• The two met on the hardwood 142 times in 10 years, including six Eastern Conference Championships (1960, '62, '65. '66, '67, '68) and two NBA Finals ('64, '69). Wilt won the battle of stats, out-rebounding Russell 29-24 per game and scoring 50 or more points against him seven times, including 62 on Jan, 14, 1962, but the final score of that one - Celtics 145, Warriors 136 -- said it all about the rivalry's bottom line: Russell won nine championships to Chamberlain's one.

Football

Jan Stenerud• Stenerud was one of the first

professional football players to be used as a dedicated kicker, because of his excellent "sharpshooting" ball-kicking performance.

• He was one of the first placekickers to use the "soccer style", a technique the Hungarian-born Pete Gogolak had recently introduced in the NFL.

• During his 3 years in the AFL, Stenerud hit 70% of his field goals, compared with a 53% average for the other kickers in the AFL and NFL.

Jan Stenerud• After the 1969 season, Stenerud won

Super Bowl IV with the Chiefs when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-7.

• In that game, Stenerud kicked three field goals, scoring the first 9 points of the game for his team.

• His first, a 48-yarder, would remain the longest field goal in a Super Bowl until January 1994, when the record was broken by the Buffalo Bills kicker Steve Christie in Super Bowl XXVIII.

Dick Butkas• Was drafted in 1965• He was selected to eight Pro

Bowls and was all-league six times.

• In his rookie season, Butkus led the Bears in tackles, interceptions, forced fumbles, and fumble recoveries, and regularly led the team in these categories throughout his career.

Dick Butkas

• Butkus recovered 27 fumbles in his career, a NFL record at the time of his retirement.

• He was one of the most feared players of his era and even appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1970 with the caption "The Most Feared Man in the Game.“

• He had one of his most productive seasons in 1969 with 132 tackles, 84 assists, 3 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries.

• He was forced to retire after multiple knee injuries in 1973

Roger Brown • Brown was drafted in the 4th round, 42nd overall, in

the 1960 NFL Draft out of Maryland Eastern Shore by the Detroit Lions.

• Played in the College All-star game in Chicago vs the Baltimore Colts.

• Played with the original fearsome foursome, with Alex Karras, Sam Williams and Darris McCord.

• He was named the 1962 Outstanding Defensive Lineman in the league, and sacked both Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas for safeties. Tieing an individual NFL record for safeties scored in a single season the first being in 1932.

• He played for the Lions through the 1966 season, then was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. Was known for his performance in the "Thanksgiving Day Massacre" game against the Green Bay Packers in 1962 where he sacked Bart Starr 6 times, including one for a safety.

Hockey

Bobby Orr

• Orr joined the Bruins for the 1966–67 season, his first professional season.

• At the season's start, the Bruins offered him jersey number 5, that of past Bruins star Dit Clapper, but Orr declined and chose jersey number 4.

• Orr made his NHL regular-season debut on October 19, 1966, against the Detroit Red Wings, getting one assist.

• On October 22, he scored his first NHL goal against the Montreal Canadiens. It was a slap shot past Gump Worsley and the Boston Garden crowd gave Orr a standing ovation.

The First Miracle On Ice

• The United States team, made up of amateur and collegiate players and led by coach Herb Brooks, defeated the Soviet team, who had won nearly every world championship and Olympic tournament since 1954.