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''Sports Challenge'' is a sports-centered game show that aired in weekly syndication from 1971 to 1979, with a separate version that aired briefly on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
weekends from May 20, 1973 to September 9, 1973.
Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including N ...
was host.
Johnny Gilbert John Lewis Gilbert III (born July 13, 1928) is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various ...
,
Art James Art James (born Arthur Simeonovich Efimchick; October 15, 1929 – March 28, 2004) was an American game-show host, best known for shows such as ''The Who, What, or Where Game'', ''It's Academic''. and ''Pay Cards!'' He was also the announcer a ...
, and John Harlan announced. The show was taped at the KTLA/Golden West studios in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
(known today as
Sunset Bronson Studios The Old Warner Brothers Studio, officially called today Sunset Bronson Studios (formerly known as KTLA Studios and Tribune Studios), is a motion picture, radio and television production facility located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California ...
), with the exception of some shows taped at Metromedia Square. The show's theme throughout its run was an instrumental version of
The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
' "
Get Back "Get Back" is a song recorded by the British rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, and written by Paul McCartney though credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to ...
" by Pat Williams, from his
Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simon ...
album ''Heavy Vibrations''; a different theme was briefly used for the 1977–1978 season, but the original theme replaced it for the show's final season.


Format

''Sports Challenge'' featured two teams of three sports figures representing a sport or a team. In the latter case, the teams could be made up of former players or members of the current team, solely dependent on whom the show's producers were able to book. During the early part of the run, Dick Enberg would read a disclaimer that "''Sports Challenge'' is a game of quick recall, and whether our stars win or lose is not solely based on knowledge, but on how they react to the questions."


Main Game

Four rounds were played. In each round, a film clip was shown, and a toss-up question would be asked about or pertaining to the clip. The first team to buzz in with a correct answer earned 20 points and a chance at scoring more with two 10-point "free throws." If no one answered correctly on the first toss-up, the free throws became toss-ups. On the toss-up, when ringing in, they must answer the question immediately. If they are incorrect or run out of time, the opposing team gets five seconds to confer amongst themselves before answering the question. On a free throw, if the team to which the free throw is assigned is unable to answer correctly within five seconds for 10 points, the other team can steal with a correct answer to pick up 20 points."Brooklyn Dodgers vs. New York Yankees." ''Sports Challenge''. 1971. Some questions about or pertaining to the clip could contain either multiple choice or contain clues.


Classic Round

Partway through the run, the Classic Round was played after the third round before the Bonus Biography. One final film clip was shown, and the question that followed it was worth 30 points.


Bonus Biography

After the 30-point question, the Bonus Biography was played. A silhouette of a famous athlete was shown on-screen, and the teams would have 60 seconds (originally 90 seconds) to figure out who it was based on clues given by announcer Gilbert (although Enberg later took over this duty). The team that answered this correctly earned one point for every second left on the clock. At one point in the show's run, if neither team successfully identified the subject, the subject won a new car. Whoever was in the lead after the Bonus Biography won the game and $1,000 worth of
Voit Voit (official name: "Industrias Voit S.A. de C.V.") is a sports equipment manufacturing company based in Mexico. The company was founded by German Americans, German American entrepreneur William J. Voit (1880–1946) of Worthington, Indiana. Cu ...
(later Rawlings) sporting goods for an announced junior athletic organization. The losing team received $500 worth of sporting goods for the junior athletic organization whom they represented. Occasionally, the Bonus Biography description would be finished by stating the subject's name prior to the expiration of time. When that happened, a single toss-up question would be asked for the remainder of the points."Boston Celtics vs. NFL Hall of Famers." ''Sports Challenge''. Rarely, the Bonus Biography subject would divulge himself prior to taping. In that case, Enberg would ask a question about that subject and read clues to the answer to that question on the clock."Kansas City Chiefs vs. 1951 Los Angeles Rams." ''Sports Challenge''. The show would also use this procedure (without the clock) to break a tie at the end of the Bonus Biography round."Joe McCarthy's Yankees vs. Casey Stengel's Yankees." ''Sports Challenge''. For at least the first few episodes, each participant also received $1 for every point their team scored; By the middle of the first season, no references to any such cash winnings were made. The winning team returned the following week to face a new set of challengers, and continued until defeated. The team of
Tommy Henrich Thomas David Henrich (February 20, 1913 – December 1, 2009), nicknamed "The Clutch" and "Old Reliable", was an American professional baseball player of German descent. He played his entire Major League Baseball career as a right fielder an ...
,
Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...
, and
Lefty Gomez Vernon Louis "Lefty" Gomez (November 26, 1908 – February 17, 1989) was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, Gomez played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1930 and 1943 for the New York Yankees and the Washingt ...
(New York Yankees) set a record for winning the game 8 consecutive times, which was tied once by the team of
Duke Snider Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider (September 19, 1926 – February 27, 2011), nicknamed "the Silver Fox" and "the Duke of Flatbush", was an American professional baseball player. Primarily a center fielder, he spent most of his Major League Baseball (M ...
, Don Drysdale, and
Don Newcombe Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher in Negro league and Major League Baseball who played for the Newark Eagles (1944–45), Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1949–1 ...
(Brooklyn Dodgers) during the show's final season, in 1979.


''The Best of Sports Challenge''

In 1982, Enberg and partners, including
Billy Packer Anthony William Packer (born Anthony William Paczkowski,
Retr ...
and Don McGuire, created "Oh My!" Productions and purchased the ''Sports Challenge'' library, plus the right to produce new shows, from Gerry Gross Productions. Oh My entered an agreement with
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
to air the old shows under the title ''The Best of Sports Challenge'', with updated openings by Enberg. National rights holders, including
MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
and the NFL, challenged Oh My's rights, proving that Gross owed them residual fees, and the shows were taken off after a year. However, some ''Best of'' prints continue to circulate among the reruns still airing today.


Merchandising

In 1973,
Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
released the "Sports Challenge Instant Replay" toy, in which the user would insert a small pre-recorded disc to learn information about a certain athlete or activity. The unit was promoted on-air by Enberg and given to all athletes who competed on the show. Later in the show's run, Scarab released a series of 7"
picture discs The overwhelming majority of records manufactured have been of certain sizes (7, 10, or 12 inches), playback speeds (33, 45, or 78 RPM), and appearance (round black discs). However, since the commercial adoption of the gramophone record (ca ...
, which featured Enberg reading statistics about a famous baseball player, then asking a difficult trivia question about the player. About a dozen records were released.


Episode status

''Sports Challenge'' is believed to be completely intact. Classic Sports Network (now
ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns 20%). The channel was originally la ...
),
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
, and
ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...
have all aired the series in the past.


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, 0198243, Sports Challenge American sports television series 1970s American game shows 1971 American television series debuts 1979 American television series endings First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by MGM Television