Welcome to this biweekly newsletter, written by me, Corye Perez Beene, Ph.D. I am a United States History Professor and certified “sports nut.” I find the sports stories from the past to the present that celebrate the Awesomeness of American Sports.
Thank you for your support! I am so appreciative of YOU being here 😃
Follow me on Twitter: @HistoryBeene or LinkedIn: coryebeene
My blog: awesomeamericanhistory.com
Good Matt Punting
Football punters dont get much attention since you hope to not see them if your offense does their job and scores a field goal or touchdown. You hold your breath to make sure they get a clean punt and they dont shank it! Matt Araiza of San Diego State is getting quite the buzz since his punt last month of 86 yards! Yes, I typed that correctly: 86 yards! Watch it below:
He’s averaging 54.0 yards per punt! This is better than both the NCAA average of 51.0 in college and 51.4 in the NFL. It is clear Araiza is redefining the position but I would love to see him go in the first round of an NFL draft! That hasnt been done since 1978!
Golden Girl
“Age is just a number.” You hear this quote all the time but Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins is showing us what that means! Julia is 105 years old and just set a track and field world record in the 100m. Competing at the Louisiana Senior Games last week, she ran 1:02:95. Watch her in action:
Mascot by Land, Sea, Sky or huh?
I love me a good graph or chart. Here is a great one from fivethirtyeight.com on all of the mascots of the NBA, WNBA, NFL, NHL and MLB teams. I had no idea there were this many “make believe” characters!
Who did it worse?
We have seen some tacky, ugly, wrinkle-your-nose-at it uniforms over the years. Insidehook.com took the time to rate the 20 “so bad its good” uniforms. Here is my pick for the worst uniform (sorry Vancouver fans):
And the winner is…
If you build it they will come
The International Women’s Baseball Center is hoping to create a museum and educational center for girls and women in baseball. Spearheaded by 93 year-old Maybelle Blair, a former player in the (AAGPL) All-American Girls Professional League (made famous by the Tom Hanks/Madonna/Geena Davis movie A League of their Own), to honor the women that played in the 1940s and 1950s.
Listen to a Panel discussion on the League here, featuring Ms. Blair and Dr. Kat Williams, who wrote a book about the AAGPL:
Follow them on Twitter: @IWBC4Me
The movie A League of their Own will be getting an Amazon series soon. Filming began this summer and I have consulted on the show for historical accuracy. I look forward to seeing it!
Here is some original footage of the women in action:
Duck and Run
My husband is an NJCAA Hall of Fame Track and Field/Cross Country Coach. He has coached several Olympians, of which I have written about in the past(see HERE and HERE). How did I wind up marrying a guy who coaches running since I DESPISE running! It is against my religion!
So when I saw this story about Wrinkle the Duck running in the New York City Marathon, I have to say I was in a FOWL mood! Wrinkle conDUCKted himself much better than I would have if I was in a marathon (not in a million years!). This was the most adorable competitor in the race I have deDUCKted! I look forward to seeing Wrinkle be proDUCKtive again in another race! (sorry there are so many words that have *duct* in them - couldnt resist!)
Thank you for reading! Are you looking for a speaker for your next event or conference? I would love to share some sports history with your audience! Email me at historybeene@gmail.com