Hello Goodbye

Today we are looking at two events that have nothing in common other then the day of August 5. On August 5, 1937 Herb Brooks, junior was born at Saint Paul, Minnesota. His claim to fame as we all know was his olympic experiences. He was the last player cut from the 1960 United States Olympic hokcey team. That team went on to the gold medal. He played on the 1964 and 1968 teams. His biggest claim to fame was when he was coach of the 1980 team. The "Miracle on Ice" team. The underdog team that took America and the Olympics by storm at time we needed something to be proud of.

The other August 5 event was in 2002 and the death of Francis D. Hearn. Hearn was very well known by his nickname "Chick". Hearn was a very well broadcaster for the Los Angeles Lakers. Hearn started broadcasting for the Lakers in 1961 and was still going strong before his death. He suffered injuries in a fall at his home and died a few days later. Hearn and his wife were about to celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary.

Tomorrow we will look go back once again and look at a Texas League game.

A Long No-hitter

On August 4, 1971 one of the greatest ever pitching performances in the Texas League was made. Thomas Walker of the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs pitched a 15 inning no-hitter against the Albuquerque Dodgers at All-Sports Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.



Walker would make the majors the follwing year with the Montreal Expos. The Spurs replaced the following year by the Texas Rangers. The Albuquerque Dodgers were also replaced, gy the Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League. The Texas League continued to march on as a strong AA league. Today the league continues on developing players by the dozens for the Majors.



Tomorrow we will look at Herb Brooks and Chick Hearn.

Important Basketball Milestone

On August 3, 1949 the National Basketball League announced its end. The league had merged with the three year old Basketball Association of America. The Dayton, Ohio and Hammond, Indiana Clubs from the National Basketball League folded. The Indianapolis, Indiana and Providence, Rhode Island Clubs from the Basketball Association of America also folded. A new club from Andersen, Indiana was admitted joining the other six new clubs from Denver, Colorado; Moline-Rock Island, Illinois-Davenport, Iowa; Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Syracuse, NY and Waterloo, Iowa, a new Indianapolis, Indiana club was also added. Of all the new clubs two of them survive today. The Tri-Cities Club now resides in Atlanta as the Hawks. The Syracuse Club now resides in Philadelphia as the 76ers. The mergered organization and its 18 clubs changed their name to the National Basketball Association.

Tomorrow we will look at a 1971 no-hitter.

A Football First

In 1973 as the football world started their training camps a rude surprise greeted the National Football League. On August 2, 1973 the World Football League announced its existance and its roster of 12 clubs. The teams announced were: Anaheim, CA; Birmingham, AL; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Honolulu, HI; Jacksonville, FL; New York, NY; Portland, OR; Toyko, Japan; Toronto, Ontario and Washington, DC.

This was not the line up that hit the playing field the following year when the games started. Several changes were in fact made. The Toronto, Ontario club was transferred to Memphis, TN. The Washington, DC club was transferred to Orlando, FL. The Toyko, Japan club was transferred to Houston, TX. Once the league hit the playing field the real fun began as clubs continued to move for the 1 and a half years the league was on the playing field.

There is nothing wrong with more sports choices, however without proper planning the efforts go to waste and the history books. Tomorrow we will look at changes on the basketball court.

Musical Cities

It would be very easy for an Air Force veteran like myself to take time off from writing about sports history to write about the day in 1907 when the unit that would one day become the United States Air Force was formed.

I remain faithful to sports history and tell you about the Porterville Comets. Okay so they were the Ensenda-Riverside, Riverside-Porterville, Porterville Comets. How is that you ask? We let me explain. The club was a member of the 1952 Southwest International League. The league was formed as 10 club league by a merger between the Arizona-texas League and the Sunset League. After one season, the Arizona-Texas League clubs voted to return to their own league. The five remaining clubs needed a sixth club for the league. A solution was found in putting together an all negro club. The team was originally set up as the Ensenda-Riverside club. The club wouuld play week nights in Riverside, California and weekends 200 miles south in the Baja California Norte city of Ensenda. when early attendence figures from Mexico were poor at best, that half of the franchise was transferred 200 miles the other way to the City of Porterville, thus Riverside-Porterville. When attendence figures from Porterville looked much better then those in Riverside, the club was transferred north full time. Even then the team struggled at the gate.

On August 1, 1952 the end came and the club was forced to fold. the end of the season saw the end of the league as well. It was a noble experiment however it was not enough. Fortuneately experiments like this are no longer neccessary to get a good gate for a team. Granted some of the distractions at your local minor league teams game will sometimes make you wonder.

Tomorrow we will look at a football first.