The Superstars (2009 Edition)
''The Superstars'' was a televised sporting event featuring ten top athletes from ten different sports competing in events that were not their own. The idea was developed by Dick Button who shopped the idea to all three U.S. television networks. The show was sold to ABC which aired it as a two-hour ABC Sports special in the winter of 1973. By the end of 1973, a similar event appeared in Great Britain and within a few years, separate competitions were being held in nearly a dozen countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden. The U.S. version grew to encompass women, entire sporting teams and celebrities and lasted off and on for three decades, from 1973 until 2003. It was briefly revived in 2009. Overview Bob Seagren, an Olympic pole vault gold medalist, was the first winner. However, it was heavyweight champion boxer Joe Frazier who nearly stole the show. In the very first event, the 50 meter swimming heats, Frazier nearly drowned, and only ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sports Entertainment
Sports entertainment is a type of spectacle which presents an ostensibly competition, competitive event using a high level of theatre, theatrical flourish and extravagant presentation, with the purpose of entertainment, entertaining an audience. Unlike typical sports and games, which are conducted for competition, sportsmanship, physical exercise or personal recreation, the primary product of sports entertainment is performance for an audience's benefit. Commonly, but not in all cases, the outcomes are predetermined; as this is an open secret, it is not considered to be match fixing. History The term "sports entertainment" was coined by the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) chairman Vince McMahon during the 1980s as a List of marketing terms, marketing term to describe the industry of professional wrestling, primarily to potential advertisers, although precursors date back to February 1935, when ''Toronto Star'' sports editor Lou Marsh described professional wrestling a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lynn Swann
Lynn Curtis Swann (born March 7, 1952) is an American former football player, broadcaster, politician, and athletic director, best known for his association with the University of Southern California and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He served on the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition from 2002 to 2005. In 2006, he was the Republican nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania. Swann was born in Alcoa, Tennessee. He attended USC and played football as a wide receiver of the USC Trojans, where he was a consensus All-American. He is regarded as one of the most popular and one of the greatest wide receivers of his generation. He was drafted by the Steelers in the first round of the 1974 NFL Draft. With the Steelers, Swann won four Super Bowls, was selected to three Pro Bowls, and was named MVP of Super Bowl X. Swann was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. Early life Swann was born March 7, 1952, in Alcoa, Tennesse ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ann Meyers
Ann Meyers Drysdale (born Ann Elizabeth Meyers; March 26, 1955) is an American former basketball player and sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and the professional levels. Meyers was the first player to be part of the U.S. national team while still in high school. She was the first woman to be signed to a four-year athletic scholarship for college, at UCLA. She was also the first woman to sign a contract with a National Basketball Association team, the Indiana Pacers (1979), for $50,000. Her USA World Champion team member Lusia "Lucy" Harris-Stewart was technically the first and only woman to be drafted by an NBA team—the New Orleans Jazz's seventh-round pick in 1977—though she never intended to attend tryouts. Denise Long, from Iowa, was the first woman to be drafted by an NBA team—the San Francisco Warriors' thirteenth-round pick in 1969—but the NBA commissioner voided the pick because the Warr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's hoop (a basket in diameter mounted high to a Backboard (basketball), backboard at each end of the court, while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A Field goal (basketball), field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the 3 point line, three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (Overtime (sports), overtime) is mandated. Players advance the ball by bouncing it while walking ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anne Henning
Anne Elizabeth Henning (born September 6, 1955) is a retired American Speed skating, speed skater. She grew up in Northbrook, Illinois, and started in short track speed skating, but then, like many short track speed skaters before and after her, switched to long track speed skating. In 1971, 15-year-old Henning won silver at the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships, ISU Sprint Championships, the forerunner of the World Sprint Championships. During those championships, she set new world records in both her 500 m races. In 1972, Henning broke the world records on the 500 m and the 1,000 m, which made her the favorite on those distances at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Sapporo. During her 500 m race against Sylvia Burka at those Olympics, Henning was obstructed at the crossing by Burka, but she still set the fastest time and a new Olympic record (43.70). In her re-skate, which she was allowed to take according to the rules, she improved her t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Speed Skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. In the Olympic Games, long-track speed skating is usually referred to as just "speed skating", while short-track speed skating is known as "short track". The International Skating Union (ISU), the governing body of competitive ice sports, refers to long track as "speed skating" and short track as "short track skating". An international federation was founded in 1892, the first for any winter sport. The sport enjoys large popularity in the Netherlands, Norway and South Korea. There are top international rinks in a number of other countries, including Canada, the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Belarus and Poland. A Speed Skating World Cup, World Cup circuit is held with events in those coun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jason Sehorn
Jason Heath Sehorn (born April 15, 1971) is a former American football cornerback who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants from 1994 to 2002 and St. Louis Rams in 2003. He played college football at the University of Southern California (USC). Early years Sehorn was born in Sacramento, California. He played only one year of high school football at Mount Shasta High School in Mount Shasta, California. College career Sehorn played his first two years of college football at Shasta College, a junior college in Redding, California, where he was a standout wide receiver, kick returner and punt returner. He then played two years at the University of Southern California, where he was moved to safety due to an abundance of talent at wide receiver. Professional career Sehorn was drafted in the second round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the New York Giants, and spent most of his career playing cornerback for them. After back-to-back successful ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dave Johnson (decathlete)
David Allen Johnson (born April 7, 1963) is a former Olympic decathlete from the United States. A native of Montana, he grew up in Missoula and Corvallis, Oregon. He was part of Reebok's " Dan & Dave" advertising campaign, with fellow decathlete Dan O'Brien, leading up to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, where he won a bronze medal in the decathlon. After retiring from competitive athletics he became a school teacher and administrator, serving as athletic director of Corban University in Salem, Oregon starting in 2009. Johnson accepted a position as Director with thFellowship of Christian AthletesOregon in June 2012. On November 14, 2012, Johnson resigned from Corban to devote more time to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He now coaches pole vault & hurdles at South Salem High School. Early life David Johnson was born in Missoula, Montana. As a child he attended C. S. Porter Elementary School and later attended Sentinel and would have graduated from Big Sky Hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Willie Gault
Willie James Gault (born September 5, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the fastest NFL players of all-time, Gault was a member of the Bears team that won Super Bowl XX. He was also a member of the U.S. Olympic team that boycotted the 1980 Olympics. Gault played college football at the University of Tennessee from 1979 to 1982. He led the Vols in all-purpose yardage as a sophomore, junior and senior, and was named to the All-American team in 1982. He still holds numerous school kickoff return records.Individual Career Records , UTSports.com. Retrieved: August 8, 2013. Gault married his high school sweetheart, writer/author/actress Dainn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Herschel Walker
Herschel Junior Walker (born March 3, 1962) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia. Walker played college football at the University of Georgia, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a junior. He spent the first three seasons of his professional career with the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL) and was the league's MVP during its final season in 1985. After the USFL folded, Walker joined the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, earning consecutive Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors from 1987 to 1988. In 1989, Walker was traded to the Minnesota Vikings, which is regarded as one of the most lopsided trades in NFL history and credited with establishing the Cowboys' dynasty of the 1990s. He was later a member of the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants before retiring with the Cowboys. Walker was i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American Football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or passing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins. American football evolved in the United States, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Track And Field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events. Track and field is categorized under the umbrella sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running and racewalking. The foot racing events, which include sprints, middle- and long-distance events, racewalking, and hurdling, are won by the athlete who completes it in the least time. The jumping and throwing events are won by those who achieve the greatest distance or height. Regular jumping events include long jump, triple jump, high jump, and pole vault, while the most common throwing events are shot put, javelin, discus, and hammer. There are also "combined events" or "multi events", such as the pentathlon consisting of five events, heptathlon consisting of seven events, and decathlon consisting of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |