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While Kracken left professional boxing with a record of 10 wins and seven losses, Louis became one of the first African-American heroes in the United States.
What most people don’t know is that Louis was also a big part of breaking professional golf’s color barrier, when he appeared in a PGA event under a sponsor exemption.
1939—The Luckiest Man on The Face of the Earth
No sports event will ever match what happened at Yankee Stadium in 1939.
On this date, the “Iron Horse,” Lou Gehrig, made the speech that rocked the baseball world.
On Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium, an ailing Gehrig stood before thousands and thousands of fans and made one of the most poignant speeches in baseball history. After he was done, the audience stood up and applauded for two full minutes. The usually happy-go-lucky Babe Ruth came up to the visibly shaken Gehrig and hugged him.
The New York Times called the speech “one of the most touching scenes ever witnessed on a ball field.”
They would retire his number four at the stadium that day, making him the first person in Major League Baseball to ever have that honor.
While Independence Day is a big day in American history, it’s also a pretty big day in sports history. Several events that changed the face of sports happened on this date, as well as one big event that, had it not happened, we might not have all the events mentioned here today.
Happy Fourth of July, everyone.
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