106 OCTOBER 2019 THE ATLANTIC Illustrations by GRAHAM ROUMIEU
Q:
What is the most
significant sports
victory of all time?
pic Games in Berlin. A
black American’s victory
humiliated Adolf Hitler
and produced a dark reac-
tion from American society.
Owens was not invited to the
White House to meet Presi-
dent Franklin D. Roose-
velt for recognition of his
accomplishments, nor was
he allowed to go through
the main entrance of the
Waldorf- Astoria to attend a
gathering in his honor.Michael Clemmons,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Tommie Smith and John
Carlos coming in fi rst
and third in the 20 0 -
meter race at the 196 8
Olympics. It enabled their
iconic Black Power protest,
derailed their lives, created
a national contro versy, and
inspired more people than
any other 20 seconds in
sports history.Tommy Tomlinson, sports
journalist and author, The
Elephant in the Room
The 1926 Rose Bowl:
Alabama 20, Washington 19.
There was a time when the
South wasn’t good at college
football. This upset win gave
the region a post–Civil War
identity. Southern schools
grew to have the best teams,
the biggest stadiums, the
deepest rivalries. Credit (or
blame, if you prefer) that one
game 93 years ago.
Roberto González
Echevarría, author, The
Pride of Havana: A History
of Cuban Baseball
Two come to mind: the U.S.
ice-hockey victory over
the Soviet team in 1980
(the “Miracle on Ice”), and
Muhammad Ali’s knock-
out of George Foreman at
the “Rumble in the Jun-
gle,” in 1974. The American
hockey team was amateur,
the Russian one much less so,
and Ali, with his opposition
to the Vietnam War and bra-
zen declaration that black is
beautiful, represented a new
spirit in the culture emerging
in the ’60s.J. A. Adande, director
of sports journalism,
Northwestern University,
and panelist, ESPN’s
Around the Horn
There was a moment at the
end of Texas Western’s
victory over Kentucky in
the 1966 NCAA men’s-
basketball championship
game when it wasn’t just a
sporting event; it was a chap-
ter in the civil-rights move-
ment. For the fi rst time, a
basketball team with an all-
black starting lineup won the
title over an all-white team. In
a picture captured by the pho-
tographer Rich Clarkson, the
faces of the Kentucky players
and coaches show a recogni-
tion of an irreversible change.READER RESPONSES
Michael Mims, Clanton, Ala.
Jesse Owens’s four gold
medals at the 1936 Olym-Glenn Huberman,
Miami, Fla.
The Major League debut
of Jackie Robinson, on
April 15, 1947, with the
Brooklyn Dodgers. He broke
baseball’s color barrier, and
after tolerating racist taunts
throughout his career, he
was enshrined in the Hall of
Fame in 1962.Frank D. Rugienius,
Philadelphia, Pa.
The New York Jets’ Joe
Namath guaranteed an
upset victory over the Bal-
timore Colts in Super
Bowl III, in 1969; the Jets
delivered. This game set the
stage for the National Foot-
ball League to become the
dominant sports organiza-
tion in the United States.Adriana Delia Collins,
San Francisco, Calif.
Passing Title IX in 1972,
which prohibited sex dis-
crimination in any education
program, including sports,
that receives federal aid.David Drexler,
Wilmington, Del.
The upset victory of the South
Africa Springboks over the
New Zealand All Blacks in
the 1995 Rugby World Cup
fi nal. It provided the glue
that held a newly united
country together.THE BIG QUESTION