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
  • 86. Bill Curry: Snapping the Ball to Bart Starr

    86. Bill Curry: Snapping the Ball to Bart Starr
    Aug 25 2025
    The best team in the NFL in the 60’s was Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. They won NFL Championships in 1961, 1962 & 1965 and the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967. They were littered with future Hall of Famers throughout the roster including Jim Taylor, Forrest Gregg, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderley, Willie Davis, Jim Ringo, Paul Horning and Willie Wood… but the leader of that team was the QB, Bart Starr who guided the team to those 5 titles in 7 years. The Hall of Fame QB was now back in Green Bay as the coach and GM trying to revitalize an organization that hadn’t seen much success since Starr retired prior to the 1972 season. He didn’t want to be seen as the savior and was not comfortable being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but that’s right where he was on the 25th of August 1975. For Starr, his 9 years back in Green Bay as the head coach could never replicate what he had done as a player a decade earlier. And that surprised some of his former teammates who thought Starr would have tremendous success as a coach. And that included the man who snapped the ball to Starr for two seasons… The 1965 NFL Championship season as well as the win in the first Super Bowl played against the Chiefs. Bill Curry was as close to Starr as you could be as a player with Starr lining up over center for those two seasons. Now, 60 years later, Curry looks back on those years playing alongside Starr as a rookie and how the veteran quarterback welcomed him to the team and paved the way for a lifelong friendship. Curry would go on to quite an NFL career himself becoming a 2-time Pro Bowl Center with the Colts and winning not only that first SB with the Packers, but another with Baltimore in Super Bowl 5. And when his playing days were over, he worked with Starr on his staff as an offensive line coach before taking the head coaching job at Georgia Tech in 1980. After 6 years with the Rambling Wreck, he went to Bama and guided the Crimson Tide for three seasons before going to Kentucky for 7 seasons and ending his coaching career at Georgia State in 2012. Drafted in the 20th round as an undersized center out of Georgia Tech, Curry was a fish out of water in Green Bay in the summer of ’65 until encounters with both Bart Starr and the captain of the defense, Willie Davis changed his life. As Curry puts it, “Unexpected, undeserved, unrewarded acts of kindness change lives.” And they changed his for sure. He talks glowingly about his time in Green Bay and how he fell in love with the community that is like no there in the country. He tells us on the Past Our Prime podcast how Starr became a mentor and Wiilie Davis a man he came to respect like no other. And he talks about how forgiveness can set you free… something Coach Lombardi did for him on his death bed. Every once in a while you come across someone who instantly makes your life better. For Curry, that was Bart Starr in 1965. And 60 years later, Curry is paying that forward making an impact on the lives of people he comes in contact with… or in our case, talks with, every day. A powerful, inspirational conversation with a man who was a part of the most legendary football team ever assembled… The 1960’s Green Bay Packers. Bill Curry on the Past Our Prime podcast. He’s as good as they get. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 28 mins
  • 85. Adam Greenberg and the pitch that almost killed him.

    85. Adam Greenberg and the pitch that almost killed him.
    Aug 18 2025
    The brushback pitch has been a part of baseball since the turn of the Century… the one 125 years ago! The Big Train Walter Johnson hit over 200 batters in his Hall of Fame career… 50 years later, Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale were infamous for drilling guys either on purpose or just having one “get away” as they came inside. It’s a part of the game, and sometimes, it has catastrophic results. In 1975, Sports Illustrated did a piece on the “beanball” and recounted the story of the only player in MLB history to die from being struck in the head by a pitch… In 1920 Ray Chapman was hit by a Carl Mays pitch and 12 hours later died as a result. The sound of the ball striking Chapman's skull was so loud that Mays thought it had hit the end of Chapman's bat; he fielded the ball and threw to first base. Now imagine you’ve worked the better part of your life trying to get to the big leagues. Countless batting cages and practices… until you secure a full scholarship to play at a top school, like North Carolina, where you are named All-Conference in 2002. A few months later you get one step closer to fulfilling your dream when the Chicago Cubs take you in the 9th round of the MLB Draft. For three years, you play minor league ball… Lansing, Daytona, West Tennessee and finally Iowa… the Cubs triple a-team… and then on July 7, 2005, the call is made… Adam Greenberg is a Major Leaguer. Two nights later, in the 9th inning of a game against the Marlins in Miami, Dusty Baker summons Greenberg to pinch-hit. He confidently takes the bat he's been holding onto all game, puts on a helmet and strides to the plate for his first major league at bat. Valerio de los Santos goes into his windup… and less than a half second later… it’s all over. The pitch hit Adam in the back of his head just under the helmet he had just placed on his head for the first time. He crumbled to the ground with a fractured skull and while on the ground told himself, “Stay alive. Stay alive. Stay alive.” He did stay alive, but his Major League career was over. In a flash, all Greenberg had spent his entire life preparing for was gone. The life he had planned… over. He wouldn’t give up easily, playing in the minors for a half dozen years and being a member of Team Israel in the WBC in 2013. And as it was, his major league career wasn’t officially in the books just yet… the Marlins had other plans. An online petition by a fan picked up steam and in October of 2012, the Marlins signed Greenberg to a 1-day contract… he was getting another at bat… Cy Young pitcher RA Dickey said he was going to treat him like the Major Leaguer Greenberg was, and three pitches later, the knuckleballer had struck him out. The greatest strikeout of all-time. The author of “Get Up: The Art of Perseverance”, Greenberg joins us on the Past Our Prime podcast and recounts as best he can what took place in that first at bat… he tells us how when he was on the ground they asked him questions like “Do you know where you were two days ago?” and Adam said reflexively, “In the minors… and I’m not going back!” It’s a story of courage and determination about a kid who did get up, and stayed alive and battled his way back into the box. In an instant Adam Greenberg’s best moment of his life became the worst moment of his life. And yet 20 years later, he refers to it as “The Gift”. You have to hear the full story to know he actually means it. Listen and download wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 22 mins
  • 84. Talking Baseball with former MLBAM exec. Dinn Mann

    84. Talking Baseball with former MLBAM exec. Dinn Mann
    Aug 11 2025
    Baseball was king in the mid 70’s and 1975 was a banner year for the National Pastime. After a decade in the dumps, attendance was booming all over the league with the Reds drawing a team record 2.3 millions fans, 2nd only to the Dodgers in all of baseball… and it was no surprise that the Red Sox led all AL teams in putting fans in seats with 1.75 million visiting Fenway that season. Those two teams would then square off in a World Series that 50 years later is considered an all-time classic. Overall baseball drew 29 million fans… its the last time MLB drew under 30 million fans in a full season of play… and soon, teams were regularly attracting 2 million fans to their games annually… in fact, by 2001, 20 of the 30 teams had more than 2 million fans in attendance including both Oakland and Pittsburgh… and 8 had more than 3 million coming through the turnstiles. Baseball was exploding… the days of small crowds were over… and so the powers that be at MLB set their sights on a new generation of fans and how to grow the game for those who couldn’t attend in person. Enter Dinn Mann… hired by MLB in ’01 to lead the MLBAM division (Advanced Media) the longtime journalist and even longer fan of the game, Mann came to New York with a plan and in the next 15 years, he executed it perfectly. MLB.TV was born, and MLB.com. Oh, and that MLB app on your phone… that too… and before long, the game was being seen, and downloaded, and streamed to the tune of $600 million in revenue per year. In other words, MLB hired the right guy. Mann’s infectious attitude helped spearhead a digital revolution on the diamond, and the fans were happily going along for the ride whether it be with their TV, their laptop or their phone. Play ball, play ball and play ball! Dinn joins us on the Past Our Prime podcast to tell us what was different at the turn of the century compared to 50 years ago and how they used the momentum of an ever increasing fan base to do what many, including Mark Cuban said, was impossible... Baseball was covering baseball… and the fans couldn’t get enough of it. Mr. Mann tells us how he told his crew never tell me how we did things last year… tell me how we’re going to do things this year. He’s a visionary in every sense of the word and as the grandson of the man who owned the Astros and built the Astrodome, Dinn is a lifelong fan of the game. It’s in his blood. And you can hear that passion when he talks about the game of today… how blackouts are the biggest issue for fans and what the owners and players can do to avert a labor stoppage in 2027. And he reflects back on his time at MLB including a morning, afternoon and evening in March of 2015 when he helped create a day where comedic superstar Will Ferrell donned the cap of the A’s…I mean, White Sox… I meant to say, Dodgers… Mariners, Angels, Cubs, Reds, Giants, Padres and D’Backs in Arizona and played 10 positions for 10 teams in about 10 hours! A great day for baseball… a great day for Dinn Mann… and for the 16 years Mann was at MLB… that happened quite a bit. If you like baseball half as much as Dinn does, and you want an inside look at how the game got better and can get better, listen up to a man… the Mann… who knows a thing or two about the inner-workings of MLB. Download and review wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • 83. Over the Line with Curry Kirkpatrick

    83. Over the Line with Curry Kirkpatrick
    Aug 4 2025
    It’s the Summer of ’75 and the Eagles’ ‘One of These Nights’ is at the top of the charts while the nation is gripped by a movie about a shark directed by a soon-to-be famous director by the name of Spielberg. Despite Jaws keeping the 2-legged creatures out of the ocean the beaches of Southern California are packed with people looking to enjoy some fun in the sun. That means plenty of beer, young folks wearing as little clothing as possible and plenty of games… Volleyball, badminton and kicking the soccer ball around are staples of the beach scene, but in San Diego, no place combines the trio of sand, suds and scantily clad women as well as the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club which will put on the annual Over the Line tournament once again. Starting in 1953, the OTL has been going on strong for 22 years and Sports Illustrated’s Curry Kirkpatrick got wind of the tourney and set out to see what it was all about. What he found were plenty of teams that took the tournament very seriously… and an equal number of teams that did not. Over the Line is a softball game that involves 3-player teams and no running, no bases… The object is to hit the ball on the fly over a line about 20 yards in front of the batter and not have one of the the three fielders catch the ball on the fly… three outs per inning, 5 innings in a game… and no throwing beer cans or disrobing completely on the field. The tournament had gotten so big, and so out of hand, that it could no longer be played on the beach… what started as an 8-team tournament over a weekend turned into 594 teams playing almost 600 games on 18 courts over two weekends of play… the one thing that didn’t change? The drinking and the shenanigans that ensued that the veteran SI scribe Kirkpatrick writes about gleefully. One of the directors of the tournament took umbrage with the portrayal of the tournament saying, “"I get the impression you're looking for wild stuff. We're not a bunch of buffoons conducting an orgy. This is an athletic event.” Shortly thereafter the man was seen attempting to climb through a dog door. It was a summer of horror in the water thanks to Spielberg, but a ton of fun in the sun on the beach back in ’75 thanks to a bunch of beachgoers who knew how to have a good time and Curry Kirkpatrick relives his time covering the OTL tournament from 50 years ago that continues to this day… on the Past Our Prime podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • 82. LPGA Hall of Famer Amy Alcott

    82. LPGA Hall of Famer Amy Alcott
    Jul 28 2025
    While the eyes of the sporting world were on Memphis and the trio of former Dolphins stars Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the U.S. Women’s Open was being played in Atlantic City and the smart money was on Sandra Palmer who would win the 2nd major of her Hall of Fame career, edging out a young amateur by the name of Nancy Lopez who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career herself. Back in the pack playing in her first US Open was the 1975 LPGA Rookie of the Year… Amy Alcott, fresh out of high school, turned pro at age 18… a day after turning 19 she won her first professional tournament in February of ’75… a year later she won her 2nd of 29 LPGA titles… 5 of them majors including the 1980 US Women’s Open. A golf prodigy, Alcott’s parents turned their home… and more specifically their front and backyards, into a golf playhouse for their precocious 8-year old… and before you knew it, she was putting, chipping, and improving her game on her own… until she met a man that changed the course of her life… Walter Keller was her coach her entire career, and he knew Amy was something special the moment he saw her first swing a club. Alcott herself would go on to a Hall of Fame career that included 3 major wins at the Nabisco Dinah Shore in Rancho Mirage, CA… and in 1988, when Alcott won for the 2nd time, she celebrated by taking a plunge with her caddie in the nearby pond… an iconic moment that has become a tradition for this major tournament on the Women’s tour. Alcott tells us on the Past Our Prime podcast that she never planned on taking the leap into the pond… it just kind of happened… and a tradition was born… in 1991, she won the tournament for a 3rd time, and with her mom having passed, Dinah Shore agreed to take the dive with Amy into the pond one last time. She tells of how she loved golf from the moment she first laid eyes on it, and that love has never wavered… She recaps her first major win and how she almost fainted from heatstroke late in that tournament, but plowed through to take home the title… A member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Alcott reminisces about a time she showed up at La Costa and just happened to play a few holes with arguably the greatest Jewish athlete of all-time… Sandy Koufax… She is as precocious and fun today as she was when she walked into that golf school 60 years ago and Walter Keller told her mother, “She’s a little racehorse. This girls got talent.” He was right. One of the best to ever do it, LPGA Hall of Fame golfer Amy Alcott on the Past Our Prime podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 32 mins