Source: "One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, An Unlikely Coach, And a Magical Baseball Season", by Chris Ballard, 2012, Hyperion

Championship Stories

Episode 18: 1971 Macon High Ironmen

primary source: "The Longest Shot: Jack Fleck, Ben Hogan, and Pro Golf's Greatest Upset at the 1955 U.S. Open", by Neil Sagebiel, Thomas Dunne Books, 2012

Episode 17: 1955 U.S. Open

Sophia Popov was ranked 304th among women pro golfers when she won the AIG Women's British Open in August 2020. Her first LPGA victory in 5 1/2 years as a pro came after she was laid low by a debilitating disease and almost quit golf.

Episode 16: 2020 Sophia Popov, LPGA British Open

The 1919 Stanley Cup final was unlike anything before or since. The Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans were valiant opponents, but neither were a match for the pandemic Spanish Flu.

Episode 15: 1919 Stanley Cup and Spanish Flu

Before coronavirus, the 1918-19 Spanish Flu killed between 17 million and 50 million people, including an estimated 675,000 Americans. One who survived it was 23-year-old Babe Ruth as he led the Boston Red Sox to a World Series triumph. World War 1 shortened the 1918 season just as the second wave of deadly Spanish Flu descended.

Episode 14: 1918 Boston Red Sox

In 1995 Major League Baseball was bruised and battered from the labor war that caused the cancellation of the '94 season. Fans were disgusted. As a prominent member of the union negotiating team, Atlanta Braves star southpaw Tom Glavine was an easy target for public anger. Glavine took his lumps and responded in Game 6 of the 1995 World Series.

Episode 13: 1995 Atlanta Braves

In September 1964 the St. Louis Cardinals ignited a legendary run to a pennant and world championship, led by ace right-hander Bob Gibson. Delmar Givehand, 13, took an unforgettable train ride from Omaha to St. Louis to watch history unfold.

Episode 12: 1964 St. Louis Cardinals

African refugee Akoy Agau lifted Omaha Central High to four state championships from 2010 to 2013. But his signature moment came against a vaunted national power, Oak Hill Academy, when it journeyed to Nebraska in February 2013. Nebraska had never seen a high school basketball game like this one, nor a player like Akoy Agau.

2013 Omaha Central High

In 1986 Jack Nicklaus was 46 and in the sunset of his fabulous career. Nicklaus was six years removed from his last major championship and had won just twice since 1980. So when the Masters got underway at Augusta National, he wasn't given much of a chance, least of all by Atlanta Constitution golf writer Tom McCollister. But when Nicklaus read what McCollister wrote his blood boiled and his competitive hackles rose. What happened in the final round is one of golf's most glorious and improbable legends.

1986 Masters

In sports the action on the field is usually what matters. But for 15 seconds in 1989 the action beneath a field was what mattered. Game 3 of the 1989 World Series between the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants was upstaged by a massive earthquake in northern California.

1989 Oakland A's

The 1963 Loyola Ramblers helped change the face -- and color -- of college basketball in winning the national championship with four African-American starters. Guest Lew Freedman, author of "Becoming Iron Men: The Story of the 1963 Loyola Ramblers", recounts how Loyola confronted the racism of the civil rights era, and how it prevailed in a dramatic final against defending champion Cincinnati.

1963 Loyola Ramblers

It’s November 2004 in Siler City North Carolina. Siler City is a small town -- population 7500 -- in the center of the state. Poultry processing drives its economy. Siler City’s high school, Jordan-Matthews, is about to play for the boys state soccer championship. Now, to be clear, high school championship games are commonplace. They happen every year, in 50 states. But this one is different. It’s different because of the coach of the Jordan-Matthews team. His name is Paul Cuadros, and when the 2004 season is over he will write a book about it. Cuadros’ book will be about more than soccer. It will be about the Latino immigration that transformed Siler City, and much of America, at the millennium. It will be about the young Latino immigrants who played on his team. His book will be called “A Home on the Field” and it will provide a window on the issue that most perplexes America in the second decade of the 21st century.

2004 Jordan-Matthews High School

It’s Saturday, July 24, 2004.   Boston's Red Sox are 52 and 44, second in the AL East, 9 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees.  The Sox are loaded with talent, but so far they've lacked a spark.   The night before, at Fenway Park, the Yankees won, 8 to 7.  It’s starting to look like 2004 will be another season without a championship.  The 86thth since 1918 when the Sox won their last World Series.  The 85th season since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000.  When they fell under the Curse of the Bambino. But wait.  Before the game there’s a band on the field:  The Dropkick Murphys.  The Dropkicks  cut loose with a punk Irish baseball song called "Tessie."  So what happens? A bench-clearing brawl, that's what.  And Bill Mueller's two-run walk-off home run gives the Sox an 11-10 win. At the time nobody credits the turning point of the season -- and Red Sox history --  to "Tessie."  But in hindsight, all these years later, how could you not?

2004 Boston Red Sox

The Philadelphia Flyers of 1973-74 were known as the Broad Street Bullies. Their nickname tells you what they’re most remembered for. The '74 Flyers never met an opponent they didn’t want to beat up; their logo should have been a clenched fist. They also had a coach, a center, a left wing and a goaltender who would make it to the Hall of Fame. But the '74 Flyers elevated goon hockey to a new level. The Bullies broke noses, filled seats, grabbed headlines, and paved the way for an unprecedented era of brawling in the NHL. They also won a Stanley Cup.

1974 Philadelphia Flyers

The sum of a championship team is greater than its parts. Never was that more true than with the Detroit Pistons of 2004. What they had was a team ethic, a belief in themselves, and a coach who insisted basketball should be played, in his words, “the right way”. They became known as the ‘Goin to Work’ Pistons -- which suited blue-collar Detroit just fine.

2004 Detroit Pistons

A podcast about famous, infamous and almost famous champions and their moments in history. For more information go to championshipstories.com

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Championship Stories

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