Category: Sports

Joe Paterno

The oldest college football coach in America is still six months younger than Roscoe Bartlett. At 82, Paterno has been facing repeated calls for his retirement for over a decade. Unquestionably, his coaching skills have declined over the years, and he has not won a national title for 22 years. All of his losing seasons have occurred after he turned 74 years of age. More recently, he has turned over increasing responsibilities to his assistant coaches, becoming more of Chairman of the Board than a CEO of his football program.

Our National Anthem

Frederick's Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner after watching American troops get shellacked by a British bombardment of Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. The flag that remained flying, and that inspired Key, is now one of the most cherished possessions of the Smithsonian. Actually, Key only wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner; the music itself is from The Anacreontic Song, a drinking song popular in London. Woodrow Wilson liked it enough to order it played by military bands, and Congress passed legislation making it the National Anthem in 1931.

Bob Mathias

The "World's Greatest Athlete", Bob Mathias, was born four years after Roscoe Bartlett. Mathias won the Olympic decathlon in the 1948 games in London when he was just 17 years old. After the gold medal, he enrolled at Stanford where he played fullback. He once returned a Frank Gifford kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and led his team to the 1951 Rose Bowl. The following year he won a second gold medal in the decathlon at the Helsinki Olympics.

After graduating from Stanford, Mathias was drafted by the Washington Redskins, but never played professional football. Instead, he toured the globe for the State Department as a Good Will Ambassador. In 1966, he won the first of four terms as a Congressman from California. Bob Mathias died two years ago.

Johnny Unitas

Johnny Unitas was a scrawny high school quarterback from Pittsburgh who couldn't even pass the entrance exam at the University of Pittsburgh. When he was offered a scholarship at the University of Louisville, he weighed just 145 pounds. In his four years at Louisville, the football team never had a winning season, and in his senior year he finished second on the team with only 527 yards passing. He was drafted in the seventh round by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he failed to make the team.

The Baltimore Colts gave Unitas a second chance, and in the fourth game of the season he was pressed into service when the starting quarterback broke his leg. Unitas promptly threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown. On his second play, he lost a fumble. And yet he played on. During the last game of yet another losing season in his career, he threw a touchdown pass. It was the first of 47 consecutive games in which he threw for a touchdown, an NFL record. The next year, the Colts posted their first winning season, Unitas led the NFL in passing, and was honored as the league's Most Valuable Player.

The next year, Unitas led the Colts into "The Greatest Game Ever Played". The game was played in Yankee Stadium 50 years ago. Twelve of the players and three of the coaches are now enshrined in the Hall of Fame. At the end of regulation, the Colts and the Giants were tied, and for the first time in history, the teams played into overtime. After the Giants were forced to punt, Unitas led the Colts on an 80 yard drive to win the game.

When Johnny Unitas died six years ago he was younger than Roscoe Bartlett.

The Washington Redskins

One of the oldest teams in the NFL, the Washington Redskins, is younger than Roscoe Bartlett. The Redskins were founded in 1932 by George Preston Marshall as the Boston Braves. The following year, the team started playing in Fenway Park, and were renamed the Redskins. But the team was never popular in Boston, and moved to Washington in 1937.

In their first season in Washington, the Redskins drafted Sammy Baugh in the first round of the draft. Baugh led the Redskins to the NFL Championship in his rookie year. When he retired after the 1952 season, he held 13 NFL records, 4 of which still stand today. Besides being a great quarterback, he was the greatest punter of all time. Baugh is still the only punter to average over 50 yards per punt in a season. He launched three punts that sailed over 80 yards.

Incredibly, the Redskins were the last team to integrate. It was not until 1962 that the Redskins signed an African-American player, wide receiver Bobby Mitchell. Mitchell was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 25 years ago.