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370: Basketball Jump Shot Innovator Ken Sailors - With Debbie Sorensen

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Release Date: 11/18/2024

386: The NHL's Unlikely First Season - With Bob Duff show art 386: The NHL's Unlikely First Season - With Bob Duff

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We go North of the border this week for the curious story of the dramatic and chaotic origins of the National Hockey League with hockey historian and long-time Windsor Star sports columnist Bob Duff (""). While today’s NHL is a global powerhouse celebrating over a century of hockey history, its very first season (1917-18) was a near disaster. Born out of a backroom maneuver to oust controversial Toronto owner Eddie Livingstone, the league’s inaugural outing was anything but smooth.  From a player shortage caused by World War I conscription, to the sudden collapse of the...

info_outline 385: Batavia's Baseball 385: Batavia's Baseball "Homestand" - With Will Bardenwerper

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America’s pastime has long been more than just a game - it’s a reflection of the country itself. But what happens when the heart and soul of small-town baseball is threatened by the forces of modern sports economics?  We sit down with New York Times-bestselling author () and former Army Ranger Will Bardenwerper to discuss his new book - a poignant memoir that explores the fate of minor league baseball in Batavia, New York, and what it reveals about the state of America today. Bardenwerper takes us behind the scenes of a declining Rust Belt town’s fight to keep its baseball...

info_outline 384: Basketball's Nomadic Nets - With Rick Laughland show art 384: Basketball's Nomadic Nets - With Rick Laughland

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Strap in and try to keep up, as we attempt to follow the peripatetic 58-year journey of one of the NBA's most wandering franchises - with New York-area sports beat reporter Rick Laughland (""). Today's Brooklyn Nets club began its life in 1967 as the New Jersey Americans - a charter member of the American Basketball Association, playing at the Teaneck Armory.  A year later, they moved to Long Island (LI Arena, then Island Garden, then Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum) to become the New York Nets, winning two ABA championships (1974, 1976) behind superstar Julius Erving.  Absorbed...

info_outline 383: The Original San Jose Earthquakes - With Eric Gouldsberry show art 383: The Original San Jose Earthquakes - With Eric Gouldsberry

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We're positively kvelling over the brand new anthology from this week's guest Eric Gouldsberry - "" - which vividly (and lovingly) portrays the thrilling early days of the original San Jose Earthquakes franchise (1974-84) of the old North American Soccer League, and the transformative impact it brought to the Bay Area's fast-growing Santa Clara Valley. Through his personal journey as a devoted fan and with never-before-seen images captured by his father - "official unofficial" team photographer Ray Gouldsberry - Eric brings to life the magic of a team that ignited an untapped soccer fan base...

info_outline 382: The ABA Players' 382: The ABA Players' "Waiting Game" - With Michael Husain

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After a decidedly meh NBA All-Star Weekend, we rewind back to one of the league's most influential historical tributaries - the American Basketball Association (1967-76) - and the criminally little-known story of how its demise left a generation of pioneering pro players out in the cold. Michael Husain is the writer, director, and co-producer of the groundbreaking documentary - which spotlights the relentless efforts of the determined non-profit , as it fights to help reclaim the overdue benefits and back pay the forgotten star athletes of the ABA were promised as part of their absorption...

info_outline 381: 381: "Selling Baseball" - With Jeff Orens

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We hearken back to baseball's humble beginnings this week, as author/historian Jeff Orens ("") takes us on a journey through the late 19th century, when the game was rapidly evolving from a casual pastime to America's national sport - with two larger-than-life figures at the center of its transformation. In Orens' telling, players-turned-sports-businessmen George Wright (Cincinnati Red Stockings, Boston Red Stockings, Boston Red Caps, Providence Grays, and later, Wright & Ditson Co.), and Albert Spalding (Rockford Forest Citys, Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, and his...

info_outline 380: The MISL's St. Louis Steamers (+ More!) - With Carl Rose show art 380: The MISL's St. Louis Steamers (+ More!) - With Carl Rose

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Ain't no stoppin' us now this week as we lay down the indoor soccer turf and roll out the red carpet for one of the Major Indoor Soccer League's steeliest defenders and long-time St. Louis Steamers fan favorite Carl Rose. Known best for his seven stellar seasons (1979-86) with the MISL's most commercially successful franchise, Rose actually began his pro indoor career along with the debut of the league itself (1978-79) as a member of the inaugural title-winning New York Arrows.   A two-time indoor All-Star, Rose earlier plied his soccer trade outdoors with the Canadian National...

info_outline 379: Baseball's 379: Baseball's "Big Cat" - With Jerry Grillo

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We throw another Duraflame into the hot stove this week for a look back at the sterling, but oddly overlooked career of one of baseball’s greatest "golden age" hitters.  Biographer Jerry Grillo ("") helps us sort out the intriguing story of batting titan Johnny Mize - whose 15-year major league journey playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York version of the Giants and five World Series-winning seasons (1949-53) with the New York Yankees - generated ten All-Star Game appearances, and a plethora of National League titles in home runs (4x), RBIs (3x) and hitting (1939) - despite...

info_outline 378.5: 378.5: "Present At the Creation" - With Upton Bell [ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE]

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[While Tim gets off the mat after a bout with a vaccine-resistant strain of the flu this week, we go back to April 2018 for this classic ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE with the pied piper of classic football history!] Upton Bell grew up at the knee of the National Football League’s second-ever commissioner – his father, the legendary Bert Bell – who not only saved professional football from financial ruin in the aftermath of World War II, but also became one of its greatest innovators.  Originator of the iconic phrase “on any given Sunday,” the senior Bell created lasting contributions...

info_outline 378: US Pro Soccer's 378: US Pro Soccer's "League 1 America" - With Jim Paglia

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Spurred on by a penned last November by (as well as another by Guardian soccer writer Jack Williams ), we delve into the fascinating story of the visionary, yet controversial 1990s American pro soccer league that never was - League 1 America - with its mastermind Jim Paglia.  Born in the wake of the 1989 awarding of the 1994 FIFA World Cup to the United States, League 1 America was an ambitious attempt to reimagine a post-Cup pro soccer league for an American audience that gravitated toward fast-paced, high-scoring sports like football and basketball. Paglia’s vision centered on...

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Author/biographer Debbie Sorensen (Beyond the Jump Shot: The Elevated Life of Kenny Sailors) delves into the story of basketball pioneer Kenny Sailors (1921–2016), one of the most unheralded influencers in both the collegiate and pro game.

Widely credited with popularizing the modern-day jump shot, Sailors first stunned audiences in the early 1940s when he elevated mid-air to shoot over taller defenders - a revolutionary move in an era dominated by set shots. His innovation not only expanded offensive possibilities but also became a fundamental skill in basketball at all levels.  

As a standout player for the University of Wyoming, Sailors led his team to the NCAA Championship in 1943, earning Most Outstanding Player honors. His game-changing jump shot helped transform basketball into the fast-paced, dynamic sport we recognize today. After serving in World War II, Sailors had a successful professional career in the ascendant Basketball Association of America (BAA) - most notably with the Cleveland Rebels and Providence Steamrollers - as well as in the first two years of the NBA (the original NBL-absorbed Denver Nuggets, and BAA-originated Boston Celtics & Baltimore Bullets).

Beyond his contributions on the court, Sailors was an advocate for youth sports and the importance of education, spending decades mentoring young athletes. His legacy is celebrated not only for his role in evolving the sport but also for his character and sportsmanship. Inducted into the National Collegiate Hall of Fame in 2012, Kenny Sailors remains a towering figure in basketball history - though, criminally, still not in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 

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