July 14, 2003 | Volume 99, Issue 2

The Dummy issue of Henry Luce's proposed sports magazine, 140 pages of practice journalism, was completed in January 1954, and copies were distributed to a select list of people within and outside...

Gore was his specialty. He liked to rake his knuckles over an opponent's brow, where the skin was thinnest, and create the old red mask. Blood everywhere. The crowds loved it from Malaysia to...

When he was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals, Johnny Kerr held out for $5,500 on the advice of his roommate at Illinois, who figured something so thoroughly professional as the NBA, which had...

The tradition of paying athletes in trinkets and trophies, as if their glory were diminished by something so base as money, was fading. Pro sports, still seen as a little rough and tumble, a...

Among the stories in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S debut issue, which finally came out the week of Aug. 9, was a vacation guide to trout fishing that President Eisenhower reportedly enjoyed. Also a color...

Fifty years later: A traveler pauses in the airport bar and leans into the evening. Televisions are cocked at all angles, and he looks up from his drink to check the crawl of scores at the bottom...

Baseball

Quality StartRookie Brandon Webb has lifted the Diamondbacks into contention

Brandon Webb isn't the only up-and-comer to make a significant impact in Arizona this season. Here are four others who have filled in admirably for injured regulars (stats through Sunday).

Billy Koch, who signed a two-year, $10.6 million contract with the White Sox in the off-season, had a 5.30 ERA at week's end and was on the verge of losing his closer job. After Koch blew his...

TRADE TALK

How San Antonio RoseDavid Robinson's appearance on the cover could not have been more deserved (High and Mighty, June 23). By picturing Jason Kidd in a Spurs jersey, however, you watered down the...

LETTERS•Please e-mail us at letters@si.timeinc.com or fax us at 212-467-4049. Letters should include the writer's full name, address and home telephone number and may be edited for clarity and space.

Fuelish PleasureWith a timely pit stop, rookie Greg Biff le stole the Pepsi 400 at Daytona for his first Winston Cup win

NASCAR has a long history of Hatfield-McCoy-like feuds. (Richard Petty vs. David Pearson was the nastiest of 'em all.) Here's a look at the big three of '03.

United They StandFree-agent buddies Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne took sizable pay cuts to play together in Colorado

With free-agent center Sergei Fedorov telling the Red Wings last week that he won't re-sign with them, expect Detroit to aggressively fill a position that was already thin. Two centers who may end...

Reading Ernest Hemingway, you always got the feeling that a man was no more than a lace doily until he went to the green hills of Africa and fired upon the big game. So I did.

In the grand tradition of 50-50 sporting propositions, we're commemorating our golden anniversary with a 50-week celebration of sports in America. Each issue from now until July 5, 2004, will...

Few men are more reviled in America than those who cheat at sports. Bill Clinton cheated at golf and on his wife, but the former sin lingers long after the latter has been forgiven. Thus the...

The case of Patrick Dennehy has remained as elusive as the player himself

The Red Wings want Dominik Hasek to end his rambunctious retirement

2Home runs by The Red Sox' David Ortiz in each of Boston's wins last Friday and Saturday, making him the first visiting player to have back-to-back multihomer games at Yankee Stadium.

FIREDFor plagiarizing Caddy-shack greenskeeper Carl Spackler, Roswell (N.Mex.) Daily Record sports editor Gregory M. Jones. In a piece about a golf tournament at the Roswell Country Club, Jones,...

DUPEDInto quitting his job as a defender for the Scottish soccer team Arbroath, 24-year-old Eddie Forrest. On June 23 Forrest signed a part-time contract with the first-division club. The...

It's back! SI's Kieschometer returns to monitor Brooks Kieschnick's quest to forge a career as an outfielder and a pitcher.

Good to be here. Sorry I'm late, but Torii Hunter was arguing with me over a couple of jokes he thought were too inside.

The 48-year-old singer-songwriter from Brooks & Dunn was a buddy of Dale Earnhardt's. The country duo played last week's Dale Earnhardt Tribute concert, which Fox airs on July 10.

JULY 11-24

All-Star changes, Matsui's late surge

What better place than a bridge from which to take the Plunge? Last week we reported that Titans running back Eddie George proposed to R&B singer Tamara Johnson on the Brooklyn Bridge. Now...

It was very thoughtful of the Devil Rays not to win three in a row for so long after manager Lou Piniella said he would dye his hair blond if they did: You don't want Skip looking silly, right?...

David Beckham's July 1 physical exam for Real Madrid was broadcast on pay-per-view TV in Spain.

LANCE ARMSTRONGU.S. cyclist, after suffering minor injuries in a 35-rider pileup on the first full leg of the Tour de France: "It's never good to crash."

Caleb Fetui, AIEA, HAWAIIVolleyballFetui, a sophomore opposite at Hope International University, led his team in total kills (297), kills per game (4.43) and service aces (39) as the Royals won...

Sports have gone populist in ritzy NEWPORT, where events will be in full sail this week

The popular filmmaker on his—and his home state's—love of Providence hoops

Rhode Islanders weigh in on sports*

Serena Williams won another ragged final against sister Venus to defend her Wimbledon title, and Roger Federer bagged his first major with flawless all-court tennis

Golden states: Find 50 years' worth of sports photos, stories and facts culled from the SI archives—and weigh in with your own memories—at si.com/50.

Please note that this is a double issue. The next SI will be dated July 28. For breaking news and scores, go to si.com.

The Yankee with the most reporters and paparazzi on his tail isn't Derek Jeter. It's 29-year-old rookie Hideki Matsui, who's bigger in Japan than Godzilla

Backhand ComplimentVenus Williams earns high stretch marks for this effort during her semifinal match at Wimbledon against Kim Clijsters. Williams won the match despite a painful abdominal strain...

Even as he crushed the Western Open field, Tiger Woods charged that some rivals gain added distance on their drives by using illegal clubs

A GREAT YEAR FOR SPORTS...AND A NEW SPORTS MAGAZINE

Henry Luce leaned forward, puzzled. This was preposterous behavior! The team with a 13-point lead, instead of pressing its advantage, was passing the ball back and forth. It was stalling, icing...

From Yogi to yoga, from Elvis to Eminem, here's what a difference 50 years makes in the way we play

Swarms of yellow bulldozers, puffing and harrumphing, bowled over orange trees and mashed potato fields, just like that. The concrete trucks followed, the sweet swish of their contents...

The search continued within Time Inc. for a new magazine to launch, and in the summer of 1953 Luce, for all his own personal indifference to the games people play, agreed that "the compass needle...

It was popular to assume in 1954 that life was simple: Everybody was focused on work, duty and family. Even celebrities—of which sports stars were still the most reliable, depending as they did...

Dusty Rhodes was not a deep thinker when it came to baseball. When he finally advanced to the major leagues, called up from Rock Hill, S.C., he had yet to absorb the game's strategic subtleties....

The gentlemen at Time Inc.—and they were all gentlemen—were as flummoxed as they were determined when it came to inventing this new magazine. Nobody could get a handle on it, and the buzz outside...

Art Donovan was in Guam with that last wave of Marines when the U.S. unleashed its nuclear might on Japan. His first thought when he heard the news: "Was this trip really necessary?"¶ Coming home,...

It is not possible to get a definitive read on the commercial climate of 1954 from the program sold at the NCAA basketball tournament in Kansas City, but this is interesting: The ad inside the...