My Personal Sports World - 1946-50

This blog is a continuation of my own psychological, historical, experiential life with the World of Sports. This period of my life now adds the beginning of television to radio, newspaper, movie newsreels, and my own experiences.

I got an Honorable Discharge from the United States Navy on June 26, 1946 and came back to my home in LaSalle, Illinois.  It was time to recreate my life in sports and scholarship.

I attended Illinois Valley Community College from 1946 to 1948 (Associate Degree) and Northern Illinois University from 1949 to 1950 (Bachelor Degree). 

I had been a pinsetter at the Westclox factory lanes during my senior year in high school so I returned there taking the position of Assistant Manager. I bowled there and at the Pla-Mor Lanes in LaSalle. My person record n sports for the years 1946 to 1950.  

Bowling 

I bowled in the Major Leagues and my averages were 185 to 188. My high game was 268 and my high series was 675. I was one of the high  average bowlers in the Northern Illinois University Men’s Bowling League for two years.

Basketball

I was a guard on my team at Illinois Valley Community College. 

Softball 

I was the third baseman for the La Salle Merchants Team in the City League and for the LaSalle-Peru WillWalt Team in the Northern Illinois Fastball League.

Baseball

I was the second baseman for the Utica Yanks Semi-Pro Baseball Team.

Game Changers in Sports History- 1946-1950 

Althea Gibson, United States  (1927  - 2003)

Althea Neale Gibson was an American professional golfer and tennis player. A sharecropper’s daughter, she was one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis.

In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam event, the singles crown at the French Championships (now the French Open) in 1957. In total, Gibson won five Grand Slam singles tournaments.

Four-time U.S. National singles titlist, Alice Marble lobbied vigorously for Gibson’s inclusion into the U.S. event. In the July 1950 issue of American Lawn Tennis magazine, Marble said, “If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of players, then it’s only fair that they meet this challenge on the courts.”

In 1964, Gibson at the age of thirty-seven became the first black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. While she broke course records during individual rounds in several tournaments, Gibson’s highest ranking was twenty-seventh in 1966, and her best tournament finish was a tie for second place at the 1970 Buick Open. Gibson was the first African American woman named Athlete of the Year by the AssociatedPress. She was inducted into the South Carolina, Florida, and New Jersey Sports Halls of Fame, the International Women’s Sports Halls of Fame, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Francina Blankers-Koen, The Netherlands  (1918 - 2004)

Francina Blankers-Koen was the star athlete at the 1948 Summer Olympics winning four gold medals. She had made her Olympic debut representing the Netherlands as a high jumper in  the 1936 Olympics. World War II deprived her of competition when she was at her peak. In the 1948 Summer Olympics,  she won the 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and relay and probably would have won more medals but at that time women were limited to three individual events.  She set world records at eight different track and field competitions – the 100 yards, 100m, 200m, high hurdles, high jump, long jump, pentathlon, and 4x110 yard relay.

Mildred Ella (Babe) Didrikson Zaharias,  United States  (1911 - 1956) 

Although women were not encouraged at this time to participate in sports,  Babe Didrikson became recognized nationally as one of the  greatest athletes of the 20th century. She was a great success in softball, swimming, and track and field, and she is best known for her achievements in golf.

A standout baseball player, she acquired the nickname “Babe” in reference to Babe Ruth. From 1930 through 1932, she was a member of the women’s All-America basketball team. During the same period she won eight events and tied for a ninth event in the national championship competition in track and field. In the 1932 Women’s Amateur Athletic Association (AAU), competing as a team by herself, Didrikson won six individual events and the team title.

At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles Didrikson won the 80-metre hurdles and the javelin throw but was deprived of a third gold medal in the high jump because she had used the unorthodox Western roll to achieve the highest jump; she was awarded the silver medal instead. Didrikson began playing golf exclusively in 1934. She won the U.S. Women’s Amateur tournament in 1946. The next year she won 17 straight golf championships, including the British Ladies Amateur, of which she was the first American holder.

In 1948 and 1950 she won the U.S. Women’s Open, In 1950,Didrikson Zaharias helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She underwent colon surgery in 1953 and made a great comeback, winning her third U.S. Open by 12 strokes. She won four tournaments in 1954 and  two more in 1955, the last of her career. She was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2021.

Sports News 

Television had a start in the late 1950s but viewers, such as my family, still relied on other sources for their regular and sports news. We got the news of the 1948 Olympic Games by radio, newspaper, and movie newsreels. Long-distance telephone lines and telegraph services were used to assist the press in communicating the news to the public. Television would not make its Olympic debut until 1956. One name we heard and saw was  Francina Blankers-Koen for her four- for-four medals.