Fifties Fade Into New Era
Bv Gabby Wilson
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of three articles reviewing the past decade and ending with a glance at the future.
The '50's was a hey-day for the record breakers, as records fell almost every day. This was also the era in which the rules-makers began to experiment with the sports.
In basketball they widened the free-throw lane and they took the ball away if you stood behind this lane when bringing the ball in. Then they decided to let the player stand behind the lane if he wanted.
The present decade is going to have to do some high stepping to keep up with the deceased fifties.
They also thought that a change in rules governing the free throws might speed up the game, so began a long line of changes in free throw rules.
So many rules have gone into effect during this period that the basketball fan of the forties has a hard time understanding the game.
They even talked of raising the goal to 12 feet.
But the rule changes occurred in other sports, too.
Football widened the field and the goal posts, added a two-point extra-point and changed the substitution rule so many times that the mere fact that it wasn't changed this year rated large headlines in many papers.
Baseball was probably the stabest of all the sports. The catcher's box was narrowed and the bonus-baby rule was changed a half a dozen times. But other than that baseball remained baseball.
Track stayed as it had always been. The mile run was still a mile long and the hundred-yard-dash was still a hundred vards long.
But it wasn't the rule changes that made it a great decade for sports. It was the men who played the sports, the men who drew the fans through the turnstiles.
Joe's 8 Title Bouts
CAMDEN, N. J. — (UPI) — Jersey Joe Wallecott in eight world heavyweight championship bouts, six times as the challenger. He challenged Joe Louis twice, Ezzard Charles three times (winning the title from him in 1951), and Rocky Marciano once.
We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.—George Bernard Shaw.
The Top Male Athletes of these years were; 1950 Jim Konstanty, '51 Dick Kazmaier, '52 Bob Mathais, '53 Ben Hogan, '54 Willie Mays, '55 Howard (Hopalong) Cassady, '56 Mickey Mantle, '57 Ted Williams, '58 Herb Elliott, '59 Ingemar Johsson
This was the decade for basketball which started out with stars like Bob Cousy and George Mikan. Then the trend for the big boys started. Bevo Francis of Rio Grande College was the first, towering high over the others at six-foot nine. Bevo dropped in 116 in one game.
The other big men began to follow. The grand daddy of all the big boys came along, Wilt the Stit Chamberlain. Now the little back court men stood around six-four and the five footer exited from basketball.
So ended the fifties, with Cousy and Chamberlain.
In baseball a flock of young stars began to appear. Men like Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Herb Score, Willie Mays, Luis Aparicio, and Whitey Ford all became great stars.
But then the old timers weren't setting around twiddling their thumbs either Ralph Kiner, Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider, Ted Kluszewski, Warren Spahn, Robin Roberts, and Ted Williams kept slugging away as the youngsters rode the benches around the mairies.
Thursday, Jan. 14, 1966 University Daily Kansan Page 5
Then there was the team that ruled baseball through the decade, the New York Yankees. And let us not forget two pitchers who ruled over the batters in perfect games. Don Larsen was the first to throw a perfect game in the World Series. Harvey Haddix, the first man to throw a perfect game for 12 innings.
In track the four-minute mile was run, there was a 17-foot pole vault, a 60-foot shot put, and a seven-foot high jump.
The boxing world saw a race to fill the shoes of Joe Louis. Ezzard Charles, Joe Walcot, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, and Ingemar Johansson all took turns holding down the crown.
Golf lost its old pros, such as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and Carry Middlecoff and the youngsters began to take over.
Through these years wrestling became a bigger and more profitable farce. But all in all these have been some of the best years these sports have even seen.
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