Past Our Prime

The Oklahoma Sooners were the team to beat heading into the 1975 season and the question was… could anyone do it? Barry Switzer’s squad had split the National Championship the year prior with the Trojans of USC, but with most of that team returning, the Sooners were stacked on both sides of the ball and looking to defend their title.

On the cover of Sports Illustrated September 8, 1975, was their fearless quarterback, Steve Davis, who in three years at the helm lost one time in 34 games. Switzer was also on the cover, having not lost a game in his first two seasons as the Head Coach at OU… and on the cover, he was giving Heisman hopeful Joe Washington a big hug as the pre-season ranked #1 Sooners looked to have a 3rd straight season without a loss.

For much of the year, it looked like they were destined to do just that… 8-0 after a win at Oklahoma State, they had outscored their opponents 264-88… and then, out of nowhere, a home loss to Kansas ended their perfect season, and probably a chance at a 2nd straight National Championship.

The backup to QB Steve Davis was a two sport star by the name of Dean Blevins who grew up in Norman, Oklahoma. He started 6 games in his 4 years at OU, and won all 6, but he was a throwing quarterback on a team… that didn’t throw. He got hurt, and was replaced by Thomas Lott who ran the wishbone the way Coach Switzer liked to run it. 50 years later, Blevins might have taken his talents to another school, but he stayed at Oklahoma, and after his playing days were over, he stayed in Oklahoma, becoming both a local and national broadcaster for the next 5+ decades.

Blevins joins us on the Past Our Prime podcast to tell us about his friend and roommate Davis who wasn’t the most talented player except for one thing… he was very good at winning…. 32-1-1 was the Sooners QB. Dean tells us about the special bond he and Davis had and about that horrible night in 2013, when his friend died suddenly in a plane crash in South Bend, Indiana.

Dean also talks about how Coach Switzer recruited him 50+ years ago on a golf course and would end up caddying for the young Blevins a few times in the course of trying too get him to commit to OU. Blevins committed to Oklahoma, and Switzer committed to Blevins… the way he committed to all his players then… and now. Dean gives an inside look to Barry Switzer that many may not be aware of but as the Coach gets close to turning 88, Blevins makes it clear that the relationship formed between Switzer and his players is one that will never be broken. 

And Dean gives an inside look to the complicated relationship between Troy Aikman and Coach Switzer… one that started with Troy coming to Oklahoma before Barry called UCLA’s Terry Donahue and told him he had a QB for him that was destined for the Hall of Fame… When Donahue didn’t call back, Switzer called a 2nd time, and soon Aikman was playing in Westwood. The two would reunite to win a Super Bowl in Dallas before a falling out took place that was displayed in the recent Netflix series, but Blevins has an update on their situation that is 30 years in the making.

And how about that ’75 team with Washington, the Selmon Brothers, Davis and Washington, and a freshman running back named Billy Sims? Did they recover from that loss to Kansas? You bet they did… a win over Michigan in the Orange Bowl secured a 2nd straight National Championship for Switzers Sooners… and Dean Blevins who retired from TV just two months ago after 41 years in the business, is here on the Past Our Prime podcast to tell us all about one of the greatest college football teams of all-time: Switzers Sooners.

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When we last saw a swimmer on the cover of SI in August of 1975, it was Tim Shaw after his dominating performance in Colombia. He won three gold medals in the aquatic championships and easily could have garnered a 4th if his teammate, Bruce Furniss hadn’t jumped the gun and left the block a bit too soon. That cost the U.S. a world record and Furniss a lot of grief. The 18-year old was despondent about his blunder but less than a month later he had a chance to redeem himself… and he did just that…

Once again he anchored the 800m freestyle relay, and this time the result was perfect at the swimming championships in Kansas City… a new world record… and one of three times he touched the wall first in K.C.

"It happens very seldom," he said, grinning through his braces, "but once in a while you get a second chance.”

A year later in Montreal he would win 2 gold medals including in the 200m freestyle… Only three American men have ever won gold in that event… Mark Spitz (1972), Michael Phelps (2008) and Furniss in ’76. 

With shot-putter Brian Oldfield on the cover of SI in September if ’75, Furniss took center stage in the pool and shook off that disappointing meet from a month earlier while showing the sporting world he was ready to be one the of the all-time greats. Now 50 years later, he looks back on a career where he would go on to set 10 world records and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1987.

On the podcast, he recounts the story of what happened in Colombia and afterwards how he went to dinner with his teammates when a waiter asked if they had heard what the American had done to cost them a world record? His brother without missing a beat said, yea… you want to ask him about it? That broke the ice as they all had a good laugh and set him on course to his great swim meet in Kansas City that propelled him to greater things in the Summer Games.

He tells us how his house was robbed in 1980 and the only things taken? His two gold medals… and what he did to try and replicate them is a great story.. And he tells us how in early 2020, he almost died from a cardiac arrest but was saved by his wife and then upon arriving at the hospital induced into a coma all while Covid was beginning to wreak havoc on the world. Once again given a 2nd chance and just like 50 years ago, Bruce Furniss is making the most of it. Listen to one of the all-time greats to ever get in the pool on the Past Our Prime podcast.

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The best team in the NFL in the 60’s was Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. They won NFL Championships in 1961, 1962 & 1965 and the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967. They were littered with future Hall of Famers throughout the roster including Jim Taylor, Forrest Gregg, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderley, Willie Davis, Jim Ringo, Paul Horning and Willie Wood… but the leader of that team was the QB, Bart Starr who guided the team to those 5 titles in 7 years.

The Hall of Fame QB was now back in Green Bay as the coach and GM trying to revitalize an organization that hadn’t seen much success since Starr retired prior to the 1972 season. He didn’t want to be seen as the savior and was not comfortable being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but that’s right where he was on the 25th of August 1975.

For Starr, his 9 years back in Green Bay as the head coach could never replicate what he had done as a player a decade earlier. And that surprised some of his former teammates who thought Starr would have tremendous success as a coach. And that included the man who snapped the ball to Starr for two seasons… The 1965 NFL Championship season as well as the win in the first Super Bowl played against the Chiefs. Bill Curry was as close to Starr as you could be as a player with Starr lining up over center for those two seasons.

Now, 60 years later, Curry looks back on those years playing alongside Starr as a rookie and how the veteran quarterback welcomed him to the team and paved the way for a lifelong friendship. Curry would go on to quite an NFL career himself becoming a 2-time Pro Bowl Center with the Colts and winning not only that first SB with the Packers, but another with Baltimore in Super Bowl 5. And when his playing days were over, he worked with Starr on his staff as an offensive line coach before taking the head coaching job at Georgia Tech in 1980. After 6 years with the Rambling Wreck, he went to Bama and guided the Crimson Tide for three seasons before going to Kentucky for 7 seasons and ending his coaching career at Georgia State in 2012.

Drafted in the 20th round as an undersized center out of Georgia Tech, Curry was a fish out of water in Green Bay in the summer of ’65 until encounters with both Bart Starr and the captain of the defense, Willie Davis changed his life. As Curry puts it, “Unexpected, undeserved, unrewarded acts of kindness change lives.” And they changed his for sure.

He talks glowingly about his time in Green Bay and how he fell in love with the community that is like no there in the country. He tells us on the Past Our Prime podcast how Starr became a mentor and Wiilie Davis a man he came to respect like no other. And he talks about how forgiveness can set you free… something Coach Lombardi did for him on his death bed.

Every once in a while you come across someone who instantly makes your life better. For Curry, that was Bart Starr in 1965. And 60 years later, Curry is paying that forward making an impact on the lives of people he comes in contact with… or in our case, talks with, every day. A powerful, inspirational conversation with a man who was a part of the most legendary football team ever assembled…  The 1960’s Green Bay Packers. Bill Curry on the Past Our Prime podcast. He’s as good as they get.

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The brushback pitch has been a part of baseball since the turn of the Century… the one 125 years ago! The Big Train Walter Johnson hit over 200 batters in his Hall of Fame career… 50 years later, Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale were infamous for drilling guys either on purpose or just having one “get away” as they came inside. It’s a part of the game, and sometimes, it has catastrophic results.

In 1975, Sports Illustrated did a piece on the “beanball” and recounted the story of the only player in MLB history to die from being struck in the head by a pitch… In 1920 Ray Chapman was hit by a Carl Mays pitch and 12 hours later died as a result. The sound of the ball striking Chapman's skull was so loud that Mays thought it had hit the end of Chapman's bat; he fielded the ball and threw to first base.

Now imagine you’ve worked the better part of your life trying to get to the big leagues. Countless batting cages and practices… until you secure a full scholarship to play at a top school, like North Carolina, where you are named All-Conference in 2002. A few months later you get one step closer to fulfilling your dream when the Chicago Cubs take you in the 9th round of the MLB Draft.

For three years, you play minor league ball… Lansing, Daytona, West Tennessee and finally Iowa… the Cubs triple a-team… and then on July 7, 2005, the call is made… Adam Greenberg is a Major Leaguer. Two nights later, in the 9th inning of a game against the Marlins in Miami, Dusty Baker summons Greenberg to pinch-hit. He confidently takes the bat he's been holding onto all game, puts on a helmet and strides to the plate for his first major league at bat. Valerio de los Santos goes into his windup… and less than a half second later… it’s all over.

The pitch hit Adam in the back of his head just under the helmet he had just placed on his head for the first time. He crumbled to the ground with a fractured skull and while on the ground told himself, “Stay alive. Stay alive. Stay alive.” 

He did stay alive, but his Major League career was over. In a flash, all Greenberg had spent his entire life preparing for was gone. The life he had planned… over.

He wouldn’t give up easily, playing in the minors for a half dozen years and being a member of Team Israel in the WBC in 2013. And as it was, his major league career wasn’t officially in the books just yet… the Marlins had other plans. 

An online petition by a fan picked up steam and in October of 2012, the Marlins signed Greenberg to a 1-day contract… he was getting another at bat… Cy Young pitcher RA Dickey said he was going to treat him like the Major Leaguer Greenberg was, and three pitches later, the knuckleballer had struck him out. The greatest strikeout of all-time.

The author of “Get Up: The Art of Perseverance”, Greenberg joins us on the Past Our Prime podcast and recounts as best he can what took place in that first at bat… he tells us how when he was on the ground they asked him questions like “Do you know where you were two days ago?” and Adam said reflexively, “In the minors… and I’m not going back!” It’s a story of courage and determination about a kid who did get up, and stayed alive and battled his way back into the box. 

In an instant Adam Greenberg’s best moment of his life became the worst moment of his life. And yet 20 years later, he refers to it as “The Gift”. You have to hear the full story to know he actually means it.

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Baseball was king in the mid 70’s and 1975 was a banner year for the National Pastime. After a decade in the dumps, attendance was booming all over the league with the Reds drawing a team record 2.3 millions fans, 2nd only to the Dodgers in all of baseball… and it was no surprise that the Red Sox led all AL teams in putting fans in seats with 1.75 million visiting Fenway that season. Those two teams would then square off in a World Series that 50 years later is considered an all-time classic.

Overall baseball drew 29 million fans… its the last time MLB drew under 30 million fans in a full season of play… and soon, teams were regularly attracting 2 million fans to their games annually… in fact, by 2001, 20 of the 30 teams had more than 2 million fans in attendance including both Oakland and Pittsburgh… and 8 had more than 3 million coming through the turnstiles. Baseball was exploding… the days of small crowds were over… and so the powers that be at MLB set their sights on a new generation of fans and how to grow the game for those who couldn’t attend in person.

Enter Dinn Mann… hired by MLB in ’01 to lead the MLBAM division (Advanced Media) the longtime journalist and even longer fan of the game, Mann came to New York with a plan and in the next 15 years, he executed it perfectly. MLB.TV was born, and MLB.com. Oh, and that MLB app on your phone… that too… and before long, the game was being seen, and downloaded, and streamed to the tune of $600 million in revenue per year. 

In other words, MLB hired the right guy. Mann’s infectious attitude helped spearhead a digital revolution on the diamond, and the fans were happily going along for the ride whether it be with their TV, their laptop or their phone. Play ball, play ball and play ball!

Dinn joins us on the Past Our Prime podcast to tell us what was different at the turn of the century compared to 50 years ago and how they used the momentum of an ever increasing fan base to do what many, including Mark Cuban said, was impossible... Baseball was covering baseball… and the fans couldn’t get enough of it. Mr. Mann tells us how he told his crew never tell me how we did things last year… tell me how we’re going to do things this year. He’s a visionary in every sense of the word and as the grandson of the man who owned the Astros and built the Astrodome, Dinn is a lifelong fan of the game. It’s in his blood. And you can hear that passion when he talks about the game of today… how blackouts are the biggest issue for fans and what the owners and players can do to avert a labor stoppage in 2027. And he reflects back on his time at MLB including a morning, afternoon and evening in March of 2015 when he helped create a day where  comedic superstar Will Ferrell donned the cap of the A’s…I mean, White Sox… I meant to say, Dodgers… Mariners, Angels, Cubs, Reds, Giants, Padres and D’Backs in Arizona and played 10 positions for 10 teams in about 10 hours! A great day for baseball… a great day for Dinn Mann… and for the 16 years Mann was at MLB… that happened quite a bit.

If you like baseball half as much as Dinn does, and you want an inside look at how the game got better and can get better, listen up to a man… the Mann… who knows a thing or two about the inner-workings of MLB.

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It’s the Summer of ’75 and the Eagles’ ‘One of These Nights’ is at the top of the charts while the nation is gripped by a movie about a shark directed by a soon-to-be famous director by the name of Spielberg. Despite Jaws keeping the 2-legged creatures out of the ocean the beaches of Southern California are packed with people looking to enjoy some fun in the sun.

That means plenty of beer, young folks wearing as little clothing as possible and plenty of games… Volleyball, badminton and kicking the soccer ball around are staples of the beach scene, but in San Diego, no place combines the trio of sand, suds and scantily clad women as well as the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club which will put on the annual Over the Line tournament once again. Starting in 1953, the OTL has been going on strong for 22 years and Sports Illustrated’s Curry Kirkpatrick got wind of the tourney and set out to see what it was all about.

What he found were plenty of teams that took the tournament very seriously… and an equal number of teams that did not. Over the Line is a softball game that involves 3-player teams and no running, no bases… The object is to hit the ball on the fly over a line about 20 yards in front of the batter and not have one of the the three fielders catch the ball on the fly… three outs per inning, 5 innings in a game… and no throwing beer cans or disrobing completely on the field.

The tournament had gotten so big, and so out of hand, that it could no longer be played on the beach… what started as an 8-team tournament over a weekend turned into 594 teams playing almost 600 games on 18 courts over two weekends of play… the one thing that didn’t change? The drinking and the shenanigans that ensued that the veteran SI scribe Kirkpatrick writes about gleefully. One of the directors of the tournament took umbrage with the portrayal of the tournament saying, “"I get the impression you're looking for wild stuff. We're not a bunch of buffoons conducting an orgy. This is an athletic event.” Shortly thereafter the man was seen attempting to climb through a dog door.

It was a summer of horror in the water thanks to Spielberg, but a ton of fun in the sun on the beach back in ’75 thanks to a bunch of beachgoers who knew how to have a good time and Curry Kirkpatrick relives his time covering the OTL tournament from 50 years ago that continues to this day… on the Past Our Prime podcast.

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While the eyes of the sporting world were on Memphis and the trio of former Dolphins stars Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the U.S. Women’s Open was being played in Atlantic City and the smart money was on Sandra Palmer who would win the 2nd major of her Hall of Fame career, edging out a young amateur by the name of Nancy Lopez who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career herself.

Back in the pack playing in her first US Open was the 1975 LPGA Rookie of the Year… Amy Alcott, fresh out of high school, turned pro at age 18… a day after turning 19 she won her first professional tournament in February of ’75… a year later she won her 2nd of 29 LPGA titles… 5 of them majors including the 1980 US Women’s Open. 

A golf prodigy, Alcott’s parents turned their home… and more specifically their front and backyards, into a golf playhouse for their precocious 8-year old… and before you knew it, she was putting, chipping, and improving her game on her own… until she met a man that changed the course of her life… Walter Keller was her coach her entire career, and he knew Amy was something special the moment he saw her first swing a club.

Alcott herself would go on to a Hall of Fame career that included 3 major wins at the Nabisco Dinah Shore in Rancho Mirage, CA… and in 1988, when Alcott won for the 2nd time, she celebrated by taking a plunge with her caddie in the nearby pond… an iconic moment that has become a tradition for this major tournament on the Women’s tour.

Alcott tells us on the Past Our Prime podcast that she never planned on taking the leap into the pond… it just kind of happened… and a tradition was born… in 1991, she won the tournament for a 3rd time, and with her mom having passed, Dinah Shore agreed to take the dive with Amy into the pond one last time. She tells of how she loved golf from the moment she first laid eyes on it, and that love has never wavered… She recaps her first major win and how she almost fainted from heatstroke late in that tournament, but plowed through to take home the title… 

A member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Alcott reminisces about a time she showed up at La Costa and just happened to play a few holes with arguably the greatest Jewish athlete of all-time… Sandy Koufax…

She is as precocious and fun today as she was when she walked into that golf school 60 years ago and Walter Keller told her mother, “She’s a little racehorse. This girls got talent.” 

He was right.

One of the best to ever do it, LPGA Hall of Fame golfer Amy Alcott on the Past Our Prime podcast.

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The pitchers with the most wins in the 1970’s is a grocery list of Hall of Famers. Gaylord, Carlton, Fergie & Catfish to name just a few… but on the cover of Sports Illustrated July 21, 1975 were two other future Hall of Famers who SI called Baseball’s Toughest Pitchers: Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer.

After they each won the Cy Young Award in 1973, both of these aces suffered through injury-plagued, down seasons in 1974. Palmer was 7-12 in 26 starts while Tom Terrific was 11-11 while throwing the fewest innings of his then 8-year career. 

Healthy again in ’75, the two #1’s were back at the top of their games… and both would go on to win the Cy Young again in 75, the 3rd for Seaver and the 2nd for Palmer who would match Seaver with his 3rd a year later. Palmer would end the decade with 186 wins, the most in the 70’s while Seaver would finish tied for 3rd with 178. They were the best of the best and cementing a resume that would end with both of them in Cooperstown.

Mike Torrez was every bit as tough as the two cover guys. Starting his career with the Cardinals, Torrez came into his own after he was dealt to Montreal in 1971. He won 16 games for the Expos in ’72 and another 15 in ’74… but it was in 1975 when it all came together for the winningest Mexican pitcher of all-time.

Teaming with Palmer, Torrez had a sensational season going 20-9 with a 3.06 ERA over 270 innings of work. He started 36 games and completed 16 of them. It would be his only season in Baltimore but it was one to remember for the righty from Topeka, Kansas. A year later he won 16 games in Oakland before another sensational season in New York with the Yankees. After a regular season that saw Torrez win 17 games, 14 of them in pinstripes, Torrez had an October to remember. And if it weren’t for a historic performance from Mr. October himself, more would remember how brilliant Torrez was in the Yankees World Series win over the Dodgers.

With the series tied at 1-1 heading to Los Angles, Torrez matched up against Tommy John, Torrez went the distance in a 5-3 win over L.A. striking out 9. Just 4 days later, Torrez got the start again and behind Reggie Jackson’s 3 home runs, and another complete game win out of Torrez, the Yankees were champions again… their first title since 1962. Reggie was the MVP of the series but Torrez could have easily won that with his 2 CG wins over Tommy Lasorda’s club.

From there, this tough hombre would go to Boston where he would win more games in his career than any other club in his big league career before ending his 18 year career with Tom Seaver and the Mets and then 2 games with the A’s in 1984. 

But it was the 70’s where he was one of the best, winning 134 games that decade, 15th most in all of baseball, and certainly proving he was one of the toughest pitchers in the game. Looking back on his career, Torrez tells us that Bob Gibson had an integral part in his success, teaching him how to throw his famous slider. Torrez bookends that by sharing how he went to bat for a young Mets pitcher to make the club out of Spring Training, even though it might mean the end of his time in the majors. Torrez told the GM, you gotta let this kid make the team… this kid is ready. This kid was Doc Gooden.

Torrez talks about both Palmer and Seaver as pitchers… about Weaver and Martin as managers. About winning those two games with the Yankees in the Series… and about losing to the Yanks a year later when Bucky Dent hit one over the wall in Game 163. The ups, the downs, the highs and the lows… Torrez went through it all, and tells us all about them… on the Past Our Prime podcast.

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50 years ago Jimmy Connors was at the top of his game and ready to defend his Wimbledon title from a year ago… coming into the finals at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Jimbo hadn’t lost a set to any of his 6 opponents. Arthur Ashe was a huge underdog against the World’s #1 player and in fact, many of Ashe’s friends didn’t attend the match for fear of Jimmy winning convincingly like he had the year prior over Ken Rosewall.

But Arthur had different plans… and a strategy that worked perfectly against Connors… The normally hard-hitting Ashe implemented a softer approach, with lobs and drop-shots that kept Jimmy off balance for much of the match… and when it was all said and done, the 40-1 longshot had pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tennis history in becoming the first black man to become a Wimbledon champion winning in 4 sets, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

Already the first black men to win the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, Ashe cemented his place as a tennis legend with this third and final grand glam victory, this one being the least likely of the three. Ashe would win 76 Singles titles in his career, but only 9 more after his Wimbledon triumph, with his final one coming in September of 1978. 18 months later at the age of 36, he retired from tennis and set his sights on bigger things…

Like changing the world.

The humble athlete wasn’t as vociferous as Muhammad Ali when it came to his stances… but he was every bit as effective in getting his point across. He became an advocate for Civil Rights, stood up against South Africa’s Apartheid, and founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS after contracting HIV from a blood transfusion. He died at the age of 49 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously by President Bill Clinton as well as an award for lifelong contributions to humanitarianism named aptly, the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award in 1993.

His life off the court was more impressive than his Hall of Fame career on the court and was chronicled in the documentary ‘Citizen Ashe’, directed by Rex Miller and Sam Pollard. Miller grew up a fan of tennis and of Ashe and after a chance encounter with Ashe’s widow, Jeanne Moutoussamy, the film had her blessing and Miller’s expertise. The result being a wonderful sports doc that the New York Times said “Ashe’s story certainly has moments of great drama and high tension, but, as a sports figure, he inspired decidedly undramatic sobriquets like 'the gentle warrior.’ This documentary shows you a truer, sharper picture.”

Rex Miller tells us how Ashe came up with the strategy that beat Connors in 75 at Wimbledon and how Connors dropped a lawsuit against Arthur the day after the match in England concluded. He tells the story of how he found lost audio tapes of Ashe, that became the primary voice of his film and a goldmine for a director. He recounts how being recruited by UCLA changed his life and how winning at Wimbledon was the crowning moment of his career which gave him a new sense of credibility and opened up his ability to effect change for the rest of his life.

It’s a show about a tennis player who was much, much more than that. Rex Miller helps tell the story of Arthur Ashe in his film ‘Citizen Ashe’ and he does it again on the Past Our Prime podcast.

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In the summer of ’75 it was becoming clear that something special was happening in Boston. A rookie centerfielder was having a season for the ages. Fred Lynn would lead the Sox to the pennant behind one of the greatest, if not THE greatest rookie season in baseball history. The first year sensation would become the first player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. It culminated in a World Series that 50 years later is considered to be one of the all-time classics with the Sox and the Reds providing thrill after thrill that saw reach a 7th game after Carlton Fisk’s legendary home run over the Monster and off the Pole in left to win Game 6.

It was widely considered the sports story of the year with future Hall of Fame players throughout both rosters. The star power of Rose, Rice, Yaz, Morgan, Fisk and Perez along with Tiant, Lynn, Concepcion, Foster, and Griffey was off the charts… and the Big Red Machine finally prevailed in that game 7 to win the Series.

That was one to remember… the other big story was one we’d like to forget… The Match Race between Foolish Pleasure and the great filly, Ruffian was the talk of the horse racing world and the excitement at Belmont Park was similar to when Secretariat was going for the triple crown at the same track two years earlier… 

After a blistering 1/4 mile, Ruffian had just taken the lead by a neck over the Kentucky Derby winner… in fact, that first 1/2 mile was the only time in Ruffians career she ever trailed in a race… she was running with the boys and holding her own… when she suffered a catastrophic leg injury breaking two bones in her right leg. The great horse continued to run for a bit even on the broken leg as her jockey Jacinto Vasquez tried to bring her to a stop. The jubilant atmosphere came to a sudden stop at the race track and nationwide as the TV audience realized what had just taken place… there was no way to describe it, yet that was the job of Dave Johnson, the track announcer at Belmont… Even he was at a loss for words as the ambulance made its way on to the track to tend to the fallen horse… she would be carted away, and after multiple attempts to save her, the great Ruffian was finally put to rest.

Johnson was off the next two days, but when he returned to work on Wednesday he said there was one word that described everything… 

“Crying”

Everyone was crying. Writers, trainers, guys in the stall… women in the offices… everywhere you went, people were at a loss… In a career that would span over 50 years, it was as tough a day as Johnson can recall.

Now 84, the legendary Horse Racing announcer is still as energetic and exuberant when it comes to the sport he loves. On the Past Our Prime podcast, Johnson shares inside details on that horrific July day when Ruffian rode for the final fatal time… He talks about how the atmosphere at the track was electric and how he thought Ruffian would remain undefeated after beating Foolish Pleasure… but it didn’t happen the way anybody thought it would.

Johnson also reflects on the recent passing of his good friend, D. Wayne Lukas and gives personal insights to what made him such a great trainer… and an even better person. The legendary trainer was 89 years old when he died June 28th… just 16 days after the final horse he trained won a race… Johnson claims his work ethic was second to none and that Lukas was everything that was good about the sport.

“And down the stretch they come!!!”… A legendary call from a legendary broadcaster talking about a legendary horse and a legendary trainer… sounds like a legendary show… and it is…

The Past Our Prime podcast with Dave Johnson… listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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