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Past Our Prime

Past Our Prime

By: Scott Johnston
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About this listen

 Growing up on boxscores, the Game of the Week, and Sports Illustrated, three longtime Sports TV Producers reflect back on the world of sports through the lens of old issues of SI from 50 years ago. Larry Csonka and the Dolphins; Reggie Jackson and The Swinging A's; The Wizard of Westwood; The Golden Bear and Muhammad Ali are just a few of the many heroes showcased weekly by Scott, Bill and Marc on the Past Our Prime podcast. Stay up to date on what happened in the past as they go back in time and return to the glory days of sports week by week, issue by issue of Sports Illustrated starting in January of 1974 Baseball & Softball Football (American)
Episodes
  • 89. Curry Kirkpatrick and the '75 US Open

    89. Curry Kirkpatrick and the '75 US Open
    Sep 15 2025
    1974 was a banner year for Jimmy Connors… He entered three Grand Slams and won all three of them. He was ranked #1 in the world and was engaged to Chris Evert. Life was good. But in 1975, things didn’t go quite as smoothly. His engagement to Chrissy was called off… and while he was still the most dominant player in the world, he failed to win a Grand Slam, losing in the finals at the Australian Open to John Newcombe, in the finals at Wimbledon to Arthur Ashe, and now in the finals of the US Open to Manual Orantes. Was this the beginning of the end for Connors? Hardly. He would win 5 of his Grand Slam titles starting in 1976 at the US Open where he would there again in ’78, ’82 & ’83 as well as Wimbledon for a 2nd time in 1982. And who would forget his incredible run at the 1991 US Open at at the age of 39. Curry Kirkpatrick hasn’t forgotten it. He was covering a good portion of Connors and Evert’s careers back when they were the King & Queen of tennis for Sports Illustrated and gives us an inside look at what happened to Jimmy against Orantes in the finals of ’75. A simple reason for the shocking win was the Spaniard was sensational on clay courts, and beginning in 1975, Forest Hills surface was clay for 3 years. Advantage Orantes. Curry also tells us what happened on the women’s side of the draw as Chris Evert was beginning her dominance of tennis… Having won the French Open in 1974 & ’75 as well as Wimbledon a year earlier, Evert added the US Open to her list of achievements… and it was the first of 6 US Open Titles in her storied career as she would win it again in ’76, ’77, ’78, ’80 & ’82. Two of tennis all-time greats were dominating tennis in the 70’s and Curry was there for all of it and joins us on POP to tell us how Orantes almost didn’t even get to the finals and how that loss by Connors was just a blip as he would continue to be a force in tennis for another 15 years! And he tells us how at age 16 “he invented” Chris Evert writing the first major story about her in SI before penning the final installment of her illustrious career in the late 80’s when she retired from the sport. Nobody knows Connors and Evert from the mid 70’s like Curry Kirkpatrick and he joins us for a record 5th time on the show to regale us with great stories of two of tennis’ all-time greats… Jimmy and Chrissy… on the Past Our Prime podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • 88. Dean Blevins and Switzer's Sooners

    88. Dean Blevins and Switzer's Sooners
    Sep 8 2025
    The Oklahoma Sooners were the team to beat heading into the 1975 season and the question was… could anyone do it? Barry Switzer’s squad had split the National Championship the year prior with the Trojans of USC, but with most of that team returning, the Sooners were stacked on both sides of the ball and looking to defend their title. On the cover of Sports Illustrated September 8, 1975, was their fearless quarterback, Steve Davis, who in three years at the helm lost one time in 34 games. Switzer was also on the cover, having not lost a game in his first two seasons as the Head Coach at OU… and on the cover, he was giving Heisman hopeful Joe Washington a big hug as the pre-season ranked #1 Sooners looked to have a 3rd straight season without a loss. For much of the year, it looked like they were destined to do just that… 8-0 after a win at Oklahoma State, they had outscored their opponents 264-88… and then, out of nowhere, a home loss to Kansas ended their perfect season, and probably a chance at a 2nd straight National Championship. The backup to QB Steve Davis was a two sport star by the name of Dean Blevins who grew up in Norman, Oklahoma. He started 6 games in his 4 years at OU, and won all 6, but he was a throwing quarterback on a team… that didn’t throw. He got hurt, and was replaced by Thomas Lott who ran the wishbone the way Coach Switzer liked to run it. 50 years later, Blevins might have taken his talents to another school, but he stayed at Oklahoma, and after his playing days were over, he stayed in Oklahoma, becoming both a local and national broadcaster for the next 5+ decades. Blevins joins us on the Past Our Prime podcast to tell us about his friend and roommate Davis who wasn’t the most talented player except for one thing… he was very good at winning…. 32-1-1 was the Sooners QB. Dean tells us about the special bond he and Davis had and about that horrible night in 2013, when his friend died suddenly in a plane crash in South Bend, Indiana. Dean also talks about how Coach Switzer recruited him 50+ years ago on a golf course and would end up caddying for the young Blevins a few times in the course of trying too get him to commit to OU. Blevins committed to Oklahoma, and Switzer committed to Blevins… the way he committed to all his players then… and now. Dean gives an inside look to Barry Switzer that many may not be aware of but as the Coach gets close to turning 88, Blevins makes it clear that the relationship formed between Switzer and his players is one that will never be broken. And Dean gives an inside look to the complicated relationship between Troy Aikman and Coach Switzer… one that started with Troy coming to Oklahoma before Barry called UCLA’s Terry Donahue and told him he had a QB for him that was destined for the Hall of Fame… When Donahue didn’t call back, Switzer called a 2nd time, and soon Aikman was playing in Westwood. The two would reunite to win a Super Bowl in Dallas before a falling out took place that was displayed in the recent Netflix series, but Blevins has an update on their situation that is 30 years in the making. And how about that ’75 team with Washington, the Selmon Brothers, Davis and Washington, and a freshman running back named Billy Sims? Did they recover from that loss to Kansas? You bet they did… a win over Michigan in the Orange Bowl secured a 2nd straight National Championship for Switzers Sooners… and Dean Blevins who retired from TV just two months ago after 41 years in the business, is here on the Past Our Prime podcast to tell us all about one of the greatest college football teams of all-time: Switzers Sooners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • Bruce Furniss: 2-time Gold Medal Winner

    Bruce Furniss: 2-time Gold Medal Winner
    Sep 1 2025
    When we last saw a swimmer on the cover of SI in August of 1975, it was Tim Shaw after his dominating performance in Colombia. He won three gold medals in the aquatic championships and easily could have garnered a 4th if his teammate, Bruce Furniss hadn’t jumped the gun and left the block a bit too soon. That cost the U.S. a world record and Furniss a lot of grief. The 18-year old was despondent about his blunder but less than a month later he had a chance to redeem himself… and he did just that… Once again he anchored the 800m freestyle relay, and this time the result was perfect at the swimming championships in Kansas City… a new world record… and one of three times he touched the wall first in K.C. "It happens very seldom," he said, grinning through his braces, "but once in a while you get a second chance.” A year later in Montreal he would win 2 gold medals including in the 200m freestyle… Only three American men have ever won gold in that event… Mark Spitz (1972), Michael Phelps (2008) and Furniss in ’76. With shot-putter Brian Oldfield on the cover of SI in September if ’75, Furniss took center stage in the pool and shook off that disappointing meet from a month earlier while showing the sporting world he was ready to be one the of the all-time greats. Now 50 years later, he looks back on a career where he would go on to set 10 world records and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1987. On the podcast, he recounts the story of what happened in Colombia and afterwards how he went to dinner with his teammates when a waiter asked if they had heard what the American had done to cost them a world record? His brother without missing a beat said, yea… you want to ask him about it? That broke the ice as they all had a good laugh and set him on course to his great swim meet in Kansas City that propelled him to greater things in the Summer Games. He tells us how his house was robbed in 1980 and the only things taken? His two gold medals… and what he did to try and replicate them is a great story.. And he tells us how in early 2020, he almost died from a cardiac arrest but was saved by his wife and then upon arriving at the hospital induced into a coma all while Covid was beginning to wreak havoc on the world. Once again given a 2nd chance and just like 50 years ago, Bruce Furniss is making the most of it. Listen to one of the all-time greats to ever get in the pool on the Past Our Prime podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 30 mins
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