A hundred years ago, the most famous athlete in America was a horse. But Dan Patch was more than a sports star; he was a cultural icon in the days before the automobile. Born crippled and unable to stand, he was nearly euthanized. For a while, he pulled the grocer's wagon in his hometown of Oxford, Indiana. But when he was entered in a race at the county fair, he won -- and he kept on winning. Harness racing was the top sport in America at the time, and Dan, a pacer, set the world record for the mile. He eventually lowered the mark by four seconds, an unheard-of achievement that would not be surpassed for decades. America loved Dan Patch, who, though kind and gentle, seemed to understand that he was a superstar: he acknowledged applause from the grandstands with a nod or two of his majestic head and stopped as if to pose when he saw a camera. He became the first celebrity sports endorser; his name appeared on breakfast cereals, washing machines, cigars, razors, and sleds. At a time when the highest-paid baseball player, Ty Cobb, was making $12,000 a year, Dan Patch was earning over a million dollars. But even then horse racing attracted hustlers, cheats, and touts. Drivers and owners bet heavily on races, which were often fixed; horses were drugged with whiskey or cocaine, or switched off with "ringers." Although Dan never lost a race, some of his races were rigged so that large sums of money could change hands. Dan's original owner was intimidated into selling him, and America's favorite horse spent the second half of his career touring the country in a plush private railroad car and putting on speed shows for crowds that sometimes exceeded 100,000 people. But the automobile cooled America's romance with the horse, and by the time he died in 1916, Dan was all but forgotten. His last owner, a Minnesota entrepreneur gone bankrupt, buried him in an unmarked grave. His achievements have faded, but throughout the years, a faithful few kept alive the legend of Dan Patch, and in Crazy Good, Charles Leerhsen travels through their world to bring back to life this fascinating story of triumph and treachery in small-town America and big-city racetracks.
Inundated with offers, Gretzky's agent Gus Badali added Michael Barnett to Number ... took time to visit the set of the popular television show M*A*S*H, ...
... Roger Neilson formany years,”Olczyknow remembers, “and as soon asI stepped into the room he bluntly toldme that the trade had been Neil Smith'sdeal.
Before the deal could be completed , however , the player's union voiced its ... Todd Walker left as a free agent and was replaced by Mark Bellhorn ...
TODD BERTUZZI DISGRACES HOCKEY All-Star right-winger Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks lost ... The case generated a great deal of media attention.
Subsequently, Savard and the team issued a standard “we will deal with this ... Describing the trade, Todd colorfully termed the blunder as “a full-scale ...
Nineteen-year-old captain Al Fortin, who had been playing for Notre Dame for four years, blocked a field goal attempt to preserve the standoff.
The special plays section, featuring many of the book's 450-plus Xs and Os diagrams, will be especially popular among coaches seeking the out-of-bounds and last-second plays that work when the game is on the line.
There was a three-way tie at 85 with Mclaughlin, Kenneth Monteagle of San Francisco, and R. Walker Salisbury of Salt lake city, a four-time Utah amateur champion. an 18-hole playoff was required after the match play was finished. after ...
... Franklin D., 18, 43,147,157 Roper, Jim, 289, 292, 293 Rose, Mauri, 184,204, 207 Rubirosa, Porfirio, 348 Rum, 55, 56 Russell, D.C. “Fat,” 200, 204, 205, 224, 277m Ruth, Babe, 7, 359 Salisbury, North Carolina, 107, 109 Samples, Eddie, ...
The 2010 winner was 28-year-old Brendan Hall and his crew in Spirit of Australia.