Dave Does History

In the summer of 1936, under the shadow of swastikas and the watchful gaze of Adolf Hitler, two American sprinters lined up for a race that would shake the foundations of Nazi propaganda. Everyone remembers Jesse Owens crossing the line first. Few recall who finished second.

Ralph Metcalfe, a man shaped by grit, faith, and speed, ran the race of his life in Berlin. But his story didn’t end on that track. He would go on to serve in World War II, mentor young athletes, and become a U.S. Congressman who challenged the powers that be, even within his own party.

In today’s episode of Dave Does History, we remember a man who never let second place define him. His legacy stretched far beyond the finish line. This is the story of Ralph Metcalfe, the fastest man to ever lose, and one of the finest to ever serve.

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On today's episode of Dave Does History, we're pulling up a chair at a Deadwood poker table and watching the final moments of one of the West’s most iconic figures. James Butler Hickok, known to the world as Wild Bill, wasn’t looking for a fight that day. He was just trying to win a hand.

He had no idea that someone had already decided to end the game, permanently.

But who was Wild Bill really? Beneath the pistols and portraits, was he a hero, a fraud, or something far more complicated?

We’ll explore his rise from canal brawler to Union scout, his time as a lawman in Kansas, and the long, slow slide that brought him to that fateful chair in Saloon No. 10. The legend says he died with aces and eights. The truth might hold something even more valuable.

Stay with us. The hand has been dealt, and the story’s just getting started.

In 1963, the battle over civil rights reached a boiling point, and President John F. Kennedy stood at the edge of a political cliff. For years, he had played it safe, balancing ideals with cold electoral math. But that year, something shifted.

From the fire hoses of Birmingham to the death of Medgar Evers, the moral weight of the moment pressed hard. Kennedy stepped forward with a national address that called segregation a “moral issue” and backed it up by sending landmark civil rights legislation to Congress, knowing it might cost him politically.

This episode of Dave Does History dives into that critical year, exploring what pushed JFK to act, how he navigated political minefields, and why his civil rights stance in 1963 still echoes today. It’s the story of a president, a movement, and a nation being pulled, sometimes kicking and screaming, toward its better self. Let’s take a look back.

On this episode of Dave Does History, we turn our attention to a man who stood his ground when the entire Union line was collapsing. General George Henry Thomas, The Rock of Chickamauga, isn't a name you hear as often as Grant or Sherman. But maybe you should.

Born in Virginia and raised in the slaveholding South, Thomas made the unthinkable decision to stay loyal to the Union. His family disowned him. His peers turned their backs. But on the battlefield, he delivered victories that shaped the course of the war.

This story hits close to home for me. Exactly 100 years before I was born, Thomas was holding Horseshoe Ridge, facing overwhelming odds and refusing to back down.

It’s a legacy of quiet strength, of principled resolve, and of a man who didn’t need applause to do what was right. This is the story of the Union’s forgotten giant.

On this episode of Dave Does History, we travel back to 1863 and uncover the story behind the Treaty of Box Elder, a forgotten agreement born from bloodshed and broken under the weight of legal fine print.

Signed just months after the Bear River Massacre, this treaty promised peace and relief to the Northwestern Shoshone, a people left destitute after U.S. troops slaughtered hundreds of their kin. But what seemed like a gesture of goodwill quickly unraveled into one of the most egregious betrayals in federal Indian policy.

In this episode, we explore the events leading up to the treaty, the legal double-cross that followed, and the century-long fight for recognition and justice. This is not just a story of land and law. It is a story of survival.

Stay with us as we dust off the forgotten pages of western history and give voice to those long denied their place in the record.

In this episode of Dave Does History on Bill Mick Live, we head into the winter of 1775, a moment when America stood at the edge of decision but hadn’t yet taken the leap. The muskets had fired at Lexington and Concord. The King had declared the colonies in rebellion. But most Americans still clung to the hope of reconciliation.

That changed with the arrival of one powerful pamphlet. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense didn’t just argue for independence. It shattered illusions and gave people the courage to imagine something new.

In this hour, Dave breaks down how the burning of Falmouth, the creation of the Navy, and Paine’s words lit the fire that would become revolution. Through vivid storytelling and sharp insight, we see how a few pages of plainspoken truth helped transform hesitant subjects into determined patriots.

It wasn’t polite. It wasn’t easy. But it was, in the truest sense, common sense.

On this episode of Dave Does History, we saddle up for one of the strangest spectacles ever to grace the American sporting landscape: Donkey Baseball. That is right. In towns across the country during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, people paid good money to watch their neighbors try to play ball while riding reluctant, ornery donkeys.

What started as a Depression-era gimmick turned into a fundraising sensation and a cultural curiosity that left laughter in its wake. Today, we are revisiting this dusty corner of small-town Americana to explore how it worked, why people loved it, and what it tells us about a generation that found joy in the absurd.

It is the story of stubborn animals, brave volunteers, shredded uniforms, and community spirit wrapped in slapstick chaos. So grab your glove, mind the hooves, and get ready for a wild ride into the wonderfully weird world of Donkey Baseball.

In today’s episode of Dave Does History, we journey back to a summer day in 1900, when Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped onto a platform in Bremerhaven and let loose one of the most infamous speeches in modern imperial history. As German troops prepared to sail for China to join the fight against the Boxer Rebellion, the Kaiser delivered what has come to be known as the "Hun Speech." It was fiery, reckless, and meant to inspire fear. Instead, it handed Germany a nickname that would haunt it through two world wars.

We’ll explore the background of the speech, what Wilhelm actually said, and why his choice of words landed with such historical force. Did his reference to Attila’s Huns really cause the British to brand Germans with that epithet in World War I? Or is the story more complicated than that? Join us as we unpack a few hundred words that echoed for decades.

In the summer of 1958, the United States quietly launched a small satellite that carried a very big secret. Explorer 4 wasn’t just another science mission. It was part of a classified effort to understand what happens when nuclear weapons are detonated in space.

Designed by Dr. James Van Allen’s team and launched aboard a Juno I rocket, Explorer 4 became the first satellite to observe both natural and artificial radiation belts surrounding Earth. It flew during the covert Operation Argus tests, where atomic bombs were exploded high above the atmosphere.

While the public heard little about it at the time, Explorer 4 helped define the dangers and possibilities of space-based warfare. In this episode of Dave Does History, we look back at the mission, the Cold War urgency behind it, and how one tumbling, short-lived satellite changed how we understood space and what we might one day do with it.

Wyoming has always held a special place in my heart. It is one of those rare places that still feels untamed, where the sky stretches without apology and the land remembers everything. If life ever lines up just right, I’d love to settle there, not just visit, but stay and listen to what the wind has to say.

In this episode of Dave Does History, we’re heading back to July 25, 1868, when the Territory of Wyoming was officially established. But this story begins long before the ink dried. We’ll explore the ancient peoples who walked this land, the explorers who couldn’t believe what they saw, and the trails that cut through it all.

We’ll look at conflict, cattle, and the surprising radicalism of giving women the vote. Wyoming wasn’t born with a bang, but with a slow, stubborn confidence.

The kind that still echoes in her canyons today. Let's saddle up.