X-Nico

18 unusual facts about Sports Illustrated


1929 Philadelphia Athletics season

Al Simmons and the 1929-1931 Athletics were the subject of an August 19, 1996 cover-story in Sports Illustrated with the teaser, "The Team that Time Forgot".

1958 Masters Tournament

Sports Illustrated writer Herbert Warren Wind first used the term "Amen Corner" in a story to describe where the critical final day's action had occurred.

1975 NBA Finals

A Sports Illustrated article about the series reported that Washington, which held home court advantage, was given the option of a 1-2-2-1-1 scheduling format due to Golden State's problems or, if they wished, opening on the road and then having Games 2, 3, and 4 at home.

1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Series

Darrell Waltrip won the pole, his first on a superspeedway, and photos from this Pocono race were used in an October story on Waltrip in Sports Illustrated.

2010–11 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season

Kelly Babstock was featured in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd feature in the January 17, 2011 issue (as recognition of breaking several Quinnipiac scoring records).

Anneliese von Oettingen

In 1977 von Oettingen was featured in Sports Illustrated for her work with professional football players.

Battle for the Old Mountain Jug

In the mid-1980s, the series was mentioned as "the best football rivalry you've never heard of" by Sports Illustrated; however since 1985, the series has gotten lopsided with Western Carolina winning only 2 of the last 28 meetings.

Bobby Parks

Eventually, Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated tracked the younger Parks down, discovering in April 2011 that Bobby Jr. had enrolled at NU and was expected to lead the Bulldogs in the upcoming UAAP season.

Bruins–Canadiens rivalry

The 1969 East semi-finals was described by Sports Illustrated as "the most intriguing Stanley Cup hockey series in a decade" as the upcoming Stanley Cup Finals against St. Louis would be considered a "formality".

Edgardo Alfonzo

Alfonzo was part of the infield considered to be among the best infields in MLB history on a cover of Sports Illustrated, along with Rey Ordóñez, Robin Ventura, and John Olerud.

Jeff Sarwer

Magazines such as GQ and Sports Illustrated wrote articles about Jeff and his family, often highlighting their bizarre lifestyle and questioning his safety and chess career under his father's care.

Lance Allred

Also, Allred was ranked as the "Best in the West" at the center position by Pac-West Hoops, and was hailed as a Top 100 Recruit by CNN/Sports Illustrated.

Minki van der Westhuizen

She was featured in the 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007 Swimwear editions of the South African Sports Illustrated magazine and on the cover of GQ.

National Letter of Intent

Seth Davis, a columnist for Sports Illustrated, has suggested that this arrangement is actually disadvantageous to student-athletes, as they have no recourse if an athletics department decides not to admit a player for non-academic reasons; for example, an athletics department could replace a signed recruit with another recruit by claiming that the first one was not admitted for academic reasons.

Palouse Falls

Bradt's media agent released the video footage of him dropping over the falls to Sports Illustrated, who carried it on their website.

Ron Fimrite

Ron Fimrite (January 6, 1931 – April 30, 2010) was an American humorist, historian, sportswriter and author who was best known for his writing for Sports Illustrated.

Sports in Dayton, Ohio

The Dayton Dragons are the first (and only) team in minor league baseball history to sell out an entire season before it began and was voted as one of the top ten hottest tickets to get in all of professional sports by Sports Illustrated.

Vitorino Hilton

In August 2011, Sports Illustrated reported that Hilton was among eight players to be victimised of robbery at their home in the last 18 months.


1971 Nebraska vs. Oklahoma football game

The cover of Sports Illustrated (1971-11-22) published the week of the game included photographs of Nebraska linebacker Bob Terrio and Oklahoma running back Greg Pruitt, nose-to-nose, beneath the headline: "Irresistible Oklahoma Meets Immovable Nebraska.

2006 College Football All-America Team

The 2006 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following All-American Teams: Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, American Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Weekly, CBS Sports, ESPN, College Football News, Rivals.com, and Scout.com.

2008 College Football All-America Team

The 2008 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following All-American first teams: American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Associated Press (AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Walter Camp Football Foundation, The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Weekly, ESPN, CBS Sports, College Football News, Rivals.com, and Scout.com.

Abbas Suan

On August 29, 2005 Suan was featured in an exposé in Sports Illustrated by Grant Wahl into the minorities that play on the Israel national football team.

Al Groh

In the 2007 Virginia Cavaliers preseason, Groh was listed among the five worst coaches in college football by Sports Illustrated columnist Stewart Mandel.

Andre Heidari

He was named First Team All-Pac-12, Sports Illustrated All-American Honorable Mention, and First Team Freshman All-American by Phil Steele.

Bennie Oosterbaan

In 1999, Sports Illustrated published a list of "The 50 Greatest Sports Figures From Michigan" (in all sports), and ranked Oosterbaan fourth on the list behind Joe Louis, Magic Johnson and Charlie Gehringer.

Bill Barich

In addition to The New Yorker, he has contributed to Esquire, Sports Illustrated, American Poetry Review, Salon, Narrative, and other magazines and journals, and he is a Literary Laureate of the San Francisco Public Library.

Bill Plummer

Plummer's career as a backup catcher was profiled in a Sports Illustrated feature story on July 18, 1977 entitled, "Few Things Come To Him Who Waits: The Reds' Bill Plummer plays behind the finest catcher in baseball -- at times." "I've always wondered how Bill would do if he played two months straight," said Pete Rose.

Bonnie Blair

Blair won several prestigious awards, including the 1992 James E. Sullivan Award, the 1992 Oscar Mathisen Award (being the first female winner of this award), the 1992 ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year, and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, along with Johann Olav Koss, in 1994.

Dan Mozes

In an April 19 article from Sports Illustrated.com, writer Stewart Mandel picked Mozes as the most underrated offensive lineman in the class.

David Clyde

Clyde was praised by national publications such as Sports Illustrated and Newsweek prior to the 1973 MLB Draft, and was the consensus among scouts as the best player available in the draft.

East Mecklenburg High School

Joe Posnanski, Class of 1984: author and Sports Illustrated columnist, twice named best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors

Eric Milton

Due to his poor performance and high contract, NPR of Minnesota called him a bust, ESPN named him to their all-overpaid team, and Sports Illustrated named him as the only pitcher on their all bust team, noting he gave up one home run per 11.9 batters.

Ferdie Adoboe

Adoboe was a Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd in 1983, and he is also an answer in the 1984 version of the popular trivia game Trivial Pursuit.

Jabrill Peppers

Sports Illustrated named Peppers one of their "Future Game Changers", a group of fourteen young athletes who are considered to be the brightest talents of their respective sport (such as Sarah Hendrickson, Jahlil Okafor, and Taylor Townsend).

Jason Brilz

Brilz won the Nebraska Class A state championship in 1993 wrestling for Omaha Central High School; a school that was ranked the 10th best athletic program in the nation by Sports Illustrated in 2008.

Jason Peters

After the 2006 season, Sports Illustrated 's Paul Zimmerman debated selecting Peters to his All-Pro team. "I was rooting for the Bills' Jason Peters, whom I would have loved to pick, but he isn't there yet. Very athletic, but not enough of a roughneck."

Jay Porter

Though he never became a starter in Detroit, he was selected by Sports Illustrated in October 2006 as one of the "10 Greatest Characters in Detroit Tigers History," along with Mark Fidrych, Norm Cash, Boots Poffenberger, and Herbie Redmond.

Jonathan Hoefler

Hoefler has designed original typefaces for Rolling Stone Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Esquire and several institutional clients, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and alternative band They Might Be Giants.

Julie Krone

She would go on to make appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the issue of May 22, 1989, one of only eight jockeys so recognized (the others are Willie Shoemaker, Bill Hartack, Eddie Arcaro, Johnny Longden, John Sellers, Robyn Smith and Steve Cauthen).

Katie Hnida

Hnida made more news in mid-February 2004 when she told Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly that she had been sexually molested and abused by some of her Colorado teammates, and raped by one of them.

Kirby Puckett

In the March 17, 2003 edition of Sports Illustrated, columnist Frank Deford wrote an article entitled "The Rise and Fall of Kirby Puckett", that documented Puckett's alleged indiscretions and attempted to contrast his private image with the much-revered public image he had previously maintained.

Lafayette Leopards football

Costanzo was named to Sports Illustrated's All-Pro team on special teams while playing with the Cleveland Browns.

Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball

A 1986 Sports Illustrated article stated, "A Lady Techster is likely to be a good student and a devout Christian, probably favors needlepoint over Madonna tapes on airplanes and fears a drug test about as much as she does an airport metal detector." The same article stated that Hogg's insistence that her players act like ladies gave the team an "almost antebellum image" that was well-suited to a conservative town like Ruston.

Nothing But Nets

Rick Reilly's 2006 column about malaria in Sports Illustrated, wherein he challenged his readers to donate at least $10 for the purchase of anti-malaria bed nets, brought the issue to national attention.

Rich Jackson

Despite the shortened career, Sports Illustrateds football expert, Paul Zimmerman, said that Tombstone Jackson was perhaps the finest overall defensive end and pass rusher he ever saw, a surefire Hall of Famer if he would have had a longer playing career, in a bigger media market.

Rohan Murphy

Murphy has been featured on media such as ABC news, Sports Illustrated, 20/20, and Nike's “No Excuses” campaign.

Seafair Pirates

In 2007, Sports Illustrated was shooting its Swimsuit Issue for 2008 and the pirates appeared in full uniform with model Melissa Haro.

Tequan Richmond

He appeared in magazine ads such as Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, Newsweek, and National Geographic, as well as a national Nestlé print ad.

Tex Maule

Hamilton Prieleaux Bee Maule, commonly known as Tex Maule (May 19, 1915 in Ojus, Florida — May 16, 1981) was the lead American football writer for Sports Illustrated in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Tom Maentz

Maentz and Ron Kramer became known as Michigan's "touchdown twins" and were the first University of Michigan athletes to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Vermont Frost Heaves

The formation of the team was announced in December, 2005 by founding owner Alexander Wolff, a Cornwall, Vermont resident and writer for Sports Illustrated.

Vic Braden

He told Sports Illustrated in a 1976 interview that he once hitch hiked to Detroit to watch Don Budge play Bobby Riggs because he wanted to learn how Budge hit his backhand.

Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna

Sports Illustrated writer Alexander Wolff devoted a chapter of his 2002 basketball book, Big Game, Small World (ISBN 0-446-52601-0), to this rivalry.