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Sports History

DC
Game, Set, Match: How Arthur Ashe Made Tennis Accessible in Washington

Game, Set, Match: How Arthur Ashe Made Tennis Accessible in Washington

10/14/2022 in DC by Emma Tanner

In the 1960s, Arthur Ashe paid a visit to inner-city Washington to participate in a “block party” tennis demonstration. The experience left a lasting impact on him. He would return to Washington and, with the help of friends, create a professional tournament in D.C. which would make the sport more accessible to inner-city African Americans.

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Maryland
Jousting Over Maryland's State Sport

Jousting Over Maryland's State Sport

05/20/2022 in Maryland by William Choi

The battle lines were drawn anew early in February 1988. The knights stood together, clad in mail and livery, and braced their lances in readiness. For more than twenty-five years, they had desperately defended their title against the onslaughts of the enemy. Once more, the enemy was in the capitol, and once more the knights of the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association would resist the dishonor of lacrosse becoming the official state sport.

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DC
Washington Hosts the 1969 All-Star Game

Washington Hosts the 1969 All-Star Game

07/09/2019 in DC by Hannah Schuster

Washington, D.C. hosted the 1969 All-Star game at RFK stadium. It was a thrilling event that drew baseball fans together to watch the greats of the MLB, including hometown hero Frank Howard, go head-to-head. But the game also made history as the first, and only, All-Star game to be postponed due to weather. A torrential rain storm disrupted the city's plans, but that didn't stop more than 45,000 fans from coming out to RFK the next afternoon. 

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DC
Lefty Brewer's Ultimate Sacrifice: A Baseball Star Leaves Washington for WWII and Never Returns

Lefty Brewer's Ultimate Sacrifice: A Baseball Star Leaves Washington for WWII and Never Returns

06/06/2019 in DC by Reagan Graney

Scout Joe Cambria of the Washington Senators was in Florida in the summer of 1938, seeking out new recruits for D.C.’s major league baseball team. When he watched Forrest “Lefty” Brewer pitch for the St. Augustine Saints that summer, the scout had no doubt that this was a player who could help turn around the struggling D.C. club. On June 6, 1938, Brewer threw a no hitter in the minor leagues. Exactly six years later he jumped out of a plane over Normandy, France on D-Day.

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DC
The Curious Case of the ABA's Washington Caps

The Curious Case of the ABA's Washington Caps

02/21/2019 in DC by Blake Wilson

For one season the American Basketball Association set up shop in the Nation's Capital, as the defending league champion — and star player Rick Barry — moved from Oakland to D.C.  But almost as soon as the Washington Caps arrived in 1969, they were gone. So why didn't D.C.'s team last?

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DC
"The Splendid Splinter" Comes to Washington

"The Splendid Splinter" Comes to Washington

07/25/2018 in DC by Mark Jones

In the winter of 1969, the Washington Senators baseball club was in transition. After a flirtation with comedian Bob Hope, the team had just been sold to transportation magnate Bob Short. Short, who looked across town and saw the Washington Redskins hire legendary coach Vince Lombardi, was looking for his own splashy hire – “a storybook manager, the kind people dream about” who could be the savior he felt the franchise needed. The answer? Ted Williams.

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DC
The Washington Capitals Could Have Been the Washington Pandas

The Washington Capitals Could Have Been the Washington Pandas

06/05/2018 in DC by Shaune Lee

“Now this is no easy thing — naming a sports team,” Washington Post reporter Bob Addie wrote in the spring of 1973. Naming anything can have complications: the right name is memorable, hopefully catchy, and looks good on jerseys, while a bad name becomes a joke — or worse, an embarrassment. That was why there was such surprise that Abe Pollin, who had recently become owner of the new — and still unnamed — NHL hockey team that was coming to the D.C. area was “toying with the idea of having a contest to name the baby.”

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DC
Bert Shepard: The Washington Senators' "One Legged War Hero"

Bert Shepard: The Washington Senators' "One Legged War Hero"

01/19/2018 in DC by Mark Jones

Is it possible for a man to play Major League Baseball with one leg? Not for most men, but most men aren't Bert Shepard who played for the Washington Senators in 1945 after losing his right leg in World War II.

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DC
Tennis's Original Sister Act: Margaret and Roumania Peters

Tennis's Original Sister Act: Margaret and Roumania Peters

07/13/2017 in DC by Lila Spitz

Decades before Venus and Serena Williams dominated women’s tennis on the WTA tour, the Peters Sisters — Margaret Peters, a.k.a. “Pete", and Roumania Peters, a.k.a. “Repeat” — from Georgetown, were unstoppable champions in the all-black American Tennis Association.

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DC
Iron Mike Calls it Quits in Washington

Iron Mike Calls it Quits in Washington

11/22/2016 in DC by Avi Mednick

Mike Tyson, the so-called "Baddest Man on the Planet," was known for his antics, in and out of the ring, as much as he was known for his boxing ability. While Tyson's sole fight in the nation's capital isn't his most well-known fight, the bout was certainly historic.

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Boundary Stones explores local history in Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland and northern Virginia. This project is a service of WETA and is supported by contributions from readers like you.

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