Sports-p7

Sports Of The 1950’s Ben

The 1952 Summer Olympic Games were held in Helsinki. At those games, the Russians participated in the Olympic games for the very first time. The 1952 Winter Olympic Games were held in Oslo, Sweden and it was there that the Canadian ice hockey team won their seventh straight gold medal out of eight Olympic games. The 1956 Summer Olympic Games were held in Melbourne, Australia. This was the first Olympic games in which all the athletes entered the stadium for the closing ceremony. The 1956 Winter Olympic Games were held in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The Canadians lost to the Soviets, ending their gold-medal winning monopoly.

During the Cold War the All American Girls Professional Baseball League was still going on, because girls loved to play the sport and it also gave them something to do. Also in boxing, Rocky Marciano was the heavyweight champ of the 1950’s. Other All American sports like baseball and football helped give great opportunities for the soon to be rising stars like Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Juan Marichal, Jim Brown, and Frank Gifford.

The Dodgers Stories The Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees played each other in the World Series in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953 and the Dodgers lost each time and earned the nickname “Dem Bums.” But finally in 1955 “Dem Bums” beat the Yankees in the World Series. Unfortunately for the Dodger’s, luck ran out and they had to play the Yankees once again and lost, and in 1958, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to be the L.A. Dodgers.

Up until the 1950’s, tennis was a “White Man” sport. In the 1950’s Althen Gibson became the first African American woman to win two consecutive Wimbledon singles titles in a row, in 1957 and 1958. Willie Mays Willie started his career in 1951, entering the Major League at the age of 20. He also won the Rookie of the Year award with 20 Home Runs, 68 RBI’s and amazing fielding skills. In 1954, Mays won the MYP award with 110 RBI’s, 41 home runs, and a .345 batting average. He retired in 1973 with 660 home runs, four World Series appearances, 24 all-star game appearances, and 2 MVP awards. Hands down, Willie Mays was one of the best Major league players ever.

http://library.thinkquest.org/J0111064/50sports.htm

http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade50.html#SPORTS

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/olymppicstimeline.html

Decades of The 20th Century the 1950’s From the Korean War to Elvis pages 28-31 Stephen Feinstein © 2000 Enslow Publishers Inc. Berkeley Heights NJ