I ended last week’s Bleacher Views with a question about what unique sports double was accomplished by Eddie Eagan — a long time ago?
The answer is that Eddie is the only athlete to win a gold medal in both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. In the 1920 Summer Games at Antwerp, Belgium, Eagan claimed boxing gold as the light heavyweight champion. Twelve years later at the1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York, Eddie was a member of the winning U.S. four-member bobsled team, driven by Billy Fiske. Clifford Gray and Jay O’Brien were Fiske and Eagan’s teammates.
Eagan was born in April of 1897 in Denver, Colorado and became quite a scholar as well as an all-around athlete. He graduated from Yale in 1921 and later studied law at both Harvard and Oxford (in England) — three colleges known for high-caliber academic students. Eagan served with the U.S. Army, fighting on several fronts, during World War II, attaining the rank of Colonel and earning numerous military decorations.
On October 13, 1954, Eddie Eagan was one of five former Olympic champions to be honored on the television show, “I’ve Got a Secret.” He died in June of 1967 at age 70.
Mike Drooger of Edgerton, Gary Hildebrandt of Mountain Lake and Jim Riess of Pine City all emailed me the correct answers about Eagan’s unique accomplishments. Riess was a rural mail carrier in Fulda from 1987-1998 and was involved in coaching football, wrestling and Legion baseball.
I recently had a chance to watch the movie “Greater” following the life (and death) of Arkansas football star Brandon Burlsworth, who joined the Razorbacks as a “walk on” in 1994 and finished his career as an All-American offensive guard in 1998.
A dedicated team leader, who had always wanted to play for Arkansas, Burlsworth was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts and was positioning himself for an NFL career. But, tragically, Brandon was killed in a car accident in April of 1996 at age 22.
The story of his overcoming obstacles and setbacks as he climbs ‘up the ladder’ and makes the team is similar to “Rudy” — but much more spectacular. Ruettiger only gets to dress for one game and gets in on a couple of plays at the end of Notre Dame’s 1975 game versus Georgia Tech. Burlsworth becomes a three-year starter and a team captain, excelling on the Razorbacks offensive line.
I would highly recommend “Greater,” which stars Christopher Severio as Brandon Burlsworth and was produced as a biographical sports film in 2016. “Rudy” hit the movie theaters in October of 1993.
More recently, I was able to watch some of Game 7 of the 1952 World Series played at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Broadcasters Mel Allen and Red Barber set the stage for one fine baseball game between the two rivals who played each other a total of seven times between 1941 and 1956.
The Yankees won six of those series — beating the Dodgers in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953 and 1956. The Dodgers won in 1955, Brooklyn’s most memorable year.
The ’52 series was a back-and-forth affair with the Dodgers winning Games 1, 3 and 5, while the Yankees came out on top in Games 2, 4 and 6. It should have been Brooklyn’s turn to win Game 7. But the Yankees prevailed, 4-2, as second baseman Billy Martin made a spectacular catch which preserved New York’s lead and thwarted a late rally by the Dodgers.
Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizutto, Johnny Mize, Gil McDougald and Yogi Berra were among the Yankee stars, while Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and Carl Furillo were some of Brooklyn’s best in ’52.
Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, Eddie Lopat and Johnny Sain did most of the pitching for the Yankees in the ’52 World Series, while the Dodgers countered with Joe Black, Carl Erskine, Preacher Roe and Billy Loes.
Casey Stengel managed the Yankees and Chuck Dressen was the Dodgers’ skipper.
Games 6 and 7 of that 1952 World Series, were broadcast on NBC and sponsored by Gillette. They are believed to be the longest surviving full game broadcasts of World Series action.
