When Sports Were King

[Music] foreign [Music] so oh to be back in the days when sports were king that rollicking raucous era that started with the end of world war one and ended with the start of the 1930s the betting was livelier and luckier the horses ran faster the jockeys were braver more so it seemed through memories rosie more than 30 years have passed since this time of greatest champions and loudest acclaim this period that has come to be known as sports golden age no other horse even approached in glory the amazing man of war in 1920 big red as a three-year-old met sir bart his closest rival sir martin had won the triple crown the season before but you think his usual job was pulling an ice wagon from the way manowar finished all by himself that year big red broke a record in eight of his 11 races losing only once in his fabulous career and then because of a bad start manowar became a racing legend earl sandy was the golden age's greatest jockey here's one of his most thrilling trials the match raced between zev and in memoriam in 1923 that's sandy trailing on the outside on zelda winner of the derby and belmont states watch sandy still on the outside catch in memoriam at precisely the right moment imramorian's returning surge is too late as they've already crossed the line and zeb sandy up is the winner in 363 starts earl sandy racing's tiny titan of the 20s finished in the money an amazing 60 of the time red grains were the most famous of football players that's grange carrying now with the elusive zigzag style that earned him the title the galloping ghost as half back for illinois red was named all america in 1923 24 and 25. here's a touchdown by the best broken field runner of all time the most colorful of footballers in the most colorful of era's red grains among coaches one still stands alone notre dame's newt romney rock trained his teams tirelessly and fired them with inspiration against the best in the country his fighting irish chalked up an almost unbelievable hundred and five victories against only 12 defeats and five ties the name notre dame became a gridiron byword rockne himself here with his pretty daughter did more to popularize football than any other man in 1930 at south bend a tremendous crowd greeted the return of newt rockney's fifth unbeaten team a few months later he was dead killed in an airplane crash these are the last pictures of the beloved rock taken as he taught a few fundamentals to his son jackie in tennis little bill johnston and big bill tilden fought through the 20s big bill usually won but that was no discredit to johnston for tilden has been voted the greatest tennis star of the century in 1921 president harding turned out to see him play on the white house court tilden dominated his game for 10 straight years and won seven national championships tilden r norris williams johnston and vince richards the big four helped keep the davis cup in america for seven consecutive years here they are in action together in 1926 as bill tilden makes one of his infrequent bobbles and registers deep dismay they were tops antennas in the golden age marla mallory met mary brown in 1921 a quarter of a century before gussie moran's lace trim tennis panties suzanne langland france's wimbledon winner was an interested spectator as mallory the defending champion battled back after losing the first set the long-skirted miss brown champion from 1912 to 14 finally netted to defeat and mrs mallory had number six of her eight national crowns she took on langlin in august of 21. it was a real grudge match for malory felt that england had slighted her at wimbledon the american of norwegian birth tore into her french opponent [Music] after a single cent suzanne langland was finished the fallen world champion was led sobbing from the court in one of sporting history's most dramatic moments in 1922 a 16 year old girl in pigtails appeared on the tennis scene within a year allen wills was queen little miss poker face group quickly into a serene but determined lady though always feminine and unruffled helen wills could drive the ball harder than any other woman she won seven national titles and eight wimbledon championships and upon occasion this poker face could display a rare but beautiful smile most carefree of golf champions was walter hagen here returning with the british open crown in 1928. the hague lived high and practiced little but still won 11 major titles he was welcomed by another true son of the fun-loving 20s mayor jimmy walker jean sarazen teed off at the boy wonder of 1922 nose dived then re-emerged with shots like this one the time between major championships for gene was nearly a decade but the gallery never deserted him in 1932 his comeback and putting were sensational sarason won the british and u.s open and the place in golfing's hall of fame all this and money too this present smiling young man stands above all other golfers any place anytime today a quarter of a century after his last great triumph few have not heard of bobby jones bobby jones won his first title when he was nine at 21 he captured his first national crown born he went to pile up a never equaled 13 major championships in 1930 he bowed out with victory in the british open the british amateur the us open the u.s amateur golfing's one and only grand slam what a jones could do so could a smith especially if his first name happened to be half [Music] bobby jones is still the only golfer to score a grand slam a vast crowd jammed times square in 1921 as the giants battled the yankees in new york's first subway series the golden age dawned with the giants on top under iron-willed john mcgraw the giants beat the upstart yanks in 1921 and shut them out in 1922 then under yankee owner jake rupert and manager miller huggins the pendulum swung the other way lou gehrig appeared briefly in the yanks lineup in 1923 the year of their first world championship in 1925 larapin liu became first baseman and remained in the lineup for 14 years playing in a record 2 130 straight games in boston in 1918 there was a young pitcher named babe ruth whose record of 29 consecutive scoreless world series innings still stands but ruth had an even more remarkable ability as a hitter of home runs in 1919 for the red sox he set a new mark of 29 homers while hurrying 17 games his pitching days were over the babe was sold to the yankees to begin the career of developing four baggers it was to make him the most powerful beloved and acclaimed of all sports heroes his 60 homers in one season is unequal while his lifetime total of 714 has never even been approached [Applause] presidents hailed the sultan of swan as did kings and commoners but he remained a big friendly kid as prize fighter or football player the babe was always good for a chuckle the happy go-lucky symbol of a happy go-lucky age the world is not apt to see his like again [Music] above all he was the idol of the youngsters who saw in this orphan who rose to the heights the culmination of all their sandlot dreams babe ruth was not only mr baseball he was mr athlete mr golden twenties mr america the king of sports when sports were [Music] king