Sports' Craziest Year

If eminent historian Arnold Toynbee ever gets around to analyzing 1954 in one of his impressive volumes, he'll probably set it down as a rather unimportant, and not too interesting year. But in the world of sports, these have been twelve of the screwiest, thrill-packed months ever.

It has been a crazy, upside down year in which the unexpected became the expected and the impossible, almost commonplace. The fans loved every minute of it and professional bookmakers by the hundreds disappeared into the limbo of bankruptcy.

The greatest thrill of the year came in track. Man had chased the four minute mile for more than a quarter of a century. It was as awesome as the speed of sound, and many thought it would never be broken. But early in 1954, the impossible was accomplished by two different men on opposite sides of the world. Britain's Roger Bannister broke through first, with a 3:59.4. Most experts expected that time to stand for years, but the ink was hardly dry in the record books, when Australia's John Landy set a new, though unofficial, mark of 3:58.

In August the two men met in what was called the "Mile of the Century" at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia. Bannister won the race with a 3:58.8 and Landy placed with 3:59.6. In 1953 the four minute mile had been a golden dream; in 1954 a man ran the mile in less than four minutes, but failed to win the race.

The European games and a London-Moscow meet offered a preview of what the world could expect from the U.S.S.R. in the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. The Russians dominated almost every event, but Chris Chataway saved some British face in the second meet, by beating Soviet sailor Vladimir Kuc, and establishing a new world record, in the 5000 meter race (slightly over three miles).

In the European games, Chataway had pressed Kuc to a surprise victory and new world's record over Czech runner Emil Zatopek, just as he had paced Bannister and Landy to record miles. It was typical in this crazy year, that the man who had gained greatest fame by always running second should win first honors in his last meeting with his Russian rival, and set a new world mark of his own.

In baseball, the unbeatable Yankees won more games than in any of their last five, victorious seasons, but they were beaten just the same. Cleveland did it by setting an American League record with 111 wins. Then the Indians went into the World Series and left the bookies sitting in the bleachers with lour straight losses.

The Giants came from a fifth place finish in '53 to win the National League Pennant. They entered the Series an 8 to 5 underdog and proceeded to take four out of four. Durocher and company could do no wrong: Willie "Say, hey!" Mays was a pleasure to watch and a pinch hitter named Dusty Rhodes seemed to score runs every time they handed him a bat.

The exciting new Milwaukee team walked off with every box office record around, and after the season ended, the powers-that-be decided to move the Philadelphia A's to Kansas City, which may spark that city with similar magic next year. Joltin' Joe DiMaggio won and lost Marilyn Monroe -- big news to fans who never read the sports pages.

It would have taken a ball of the very finest crystal to predict early in 1954 that neither Ben Hogan or Sam Snead would receive any consideration for golfer of the year. That honor really belongs to two men, Ed Furgol and Bob Toski, both relative unknowns at the year's beginning. Furgol, with a withered left arm, copped the National Open, and little Toski (5'8", 126 pounds) was the leading money winner, and world champion at the rich Tam O'Shanter tourney.

More traffic probably crossed the English Channel this year in grease and swimsuits than in ships. Everyone from the Shiek of Araby to Chief Dan Seagull tried to get into the act. Florence Chadwick, the first woman to ever make the crossing by grease-and-suit, decided to try Lake Ontario this summer. She found the water too cold and choppy, but a 16 year old Toronto girl named Marilyn Bell, who'd gone along just to get her bathing suit wet, stuck it out for the full 32 miles, and 20 hours and 57 minutes after leaving Youngstown, N. Y., crawled onto the beach in Toronto. A Canadian company, who'd sponsord Chadwick's swim with a guarantee of $10,000 if she made it, quickly regrouped their publicity men when they learned that Florence had quit but an unknown kid was still swimming. They paid Marilyn the ten grand instead, and proud Canadians heaped the girl with gifts and prizes that eventually brought her total winnings to $50,000. And the Canadian government, also very proud of their little Marilyn, declared she could keep it all, tax free.

Johnny Saxton upset bolo punching welterweight champ Kid Gavilan, and the next morning while "The Keed" was crying "Fix!", Saxton mumbled his way out of a jail sentence for several hundred dollars worth of unpaid traffic tickets. Saxton's lawyer explained in court that his defendant had fought a lousy fight, though winning, because he'd been so worried about the coming jail sentence. The sympathetic magistrate gave Saxton his second unexpected decision of the week and Johnny went home a free and very happy champion.

Aging Ezzard Charles had his finest evening in a June bout with champion Rocky Marciano, and almost became the first heavyweight to ever regain the title. But in a September rematch, The Rock handled ex-champ Charles handily and it became obvious that unless '55 turns out to be a year of even bigger surprises than '54, Marciano will remain at the top of the heavyweight division for some time to come.

College football went through its second season of single-platoon ball with so many upsets the Monday morning quarterbacks were taking up canasta instead. Illinois and Michigan State, last year's Big Ten co-champions, were rated among the top ten teams in the nation at the beginning of the season, and picked to repeat as conference champs. With the season two-thirds over, both teams were in the Big Ten cellar, and Illinois was still looking for its first conference win.

Notre Dame was top team in the nation after impressive-wins in its first two games, then Purdue upset the Irish 27 to 14. To keep the season typical, it was one of the few games the Boilermakers won all season long.

In the Southwest Conference, Texas had to hand its favored position over to an upcoming Arkansas team. Arkansas also upset Mississippi, picked by many early season prognosticators to go unbeaten and rate tops in the country.

Rice had Rapid Richard Moegle, last year's Cotton Bowl hero, but it managed to follow the upset trail by losing to Wisconsin and S.M.U.

California looked in September like a contender for the Pacific Coast championship and seemed a cinch for a bid to the Rose Bowl. But Oklahoma beat them in their first game, and after that came defeats from Ohio State, Oregon, U.S.C., and U.C.L.A. Meanwhile, U.C.L.A. was piling up scores that sounded more like basketball than any game played on a gridiron: 61 and 72, to their opponents' 0.

It's the upsets and surprises that keep all sports so exciting and that made 1954 just a little more exciting than any sports year in a long, long time.