USA Sporting Hotchpotch Trivia Quiz

Answer: Walter Payton

Walter Payton (1953-1999) known as "Sweetness" was a running back who played for the Chicago Bears from 1975-1987. In 1979 he was the first player to have caught, rushed and scored a touchdown in the same game.
William Perry was a defensive lineman and played for the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Flyers. He was known as "The Refrigerator" or "The Fridge" mainly because of his huge size.
Joe Namath known as "Broadway Joe" was a quarterback who played for the New York Jets from 1965-1976 and for the Los Angeles Rams in 1977. He later had a career in movies and TV.
Deion Sanders was known as "Prime Time" as he saved his best performances for the big stage. He was the first player to hit a MLB home run and score a NFL touchdown in the same week. He was also the first player to play in a MBL World Series and NFL Super Bowl.

Answer: Joe Gordon

Ted Williams (1918-2002) played his entire 19 year career with the Boston Red Sox (missing 3 years due to WWII in the Navy and Marine Corps). He did win the AL MVP in 1946 and 1949.
Joe Gordon (1915-1978) was a second baseman who played for the NY Yankees (1938-1946) and the Cleveland Indians (1947-1950). He was a World Series winner with the Yankees on 5 occasions. He was the first second baseman to hit 20 HR's in a season and did it several times.
Mort Cooper (1913-1958) was the NL MVP in 1942 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) won the AL MVP in 1939, 1941 and 1947.
Stan Musial (1920-2013) nicknamed "Stan the Man" won the NL MVP with St. Louis Cardinals in 1943,1946 and 1948.

Answer: Hershey, Pennsylvania

The game was played at the Hershey Sports Arena and the Warriors beat the Knicks 169-147. The Hershey Sports Arena was originally built for ice hockey. During the season the Philadelphia Warriors normally played in Philadelphia but some "home games" were played in remote towns to attract new fans.

At the time college basketball was more popular than the professional game. Chamberlain (1936-1999) went to college at the University of Kansas, then two seasons with Harlem Globetrotters before making his NBA debut for the Philadelphia Warriors in October 1959.

He finished his playing career at the Los Angeles Lakers in 1973. His famous No.13 has been retired by the University of Kansas, Harlem Globetrotters, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Answer: Carmen Basilio

Canastota is the home of the International Boxing Hall of Fame which was inaugurated in 1990. Basilio's nephew Billy Backus, world welterweight champion in 1970 is also from Canastota.
Carmen Basilio (1927-2012) was the world champion in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions. After losing the title to Robinson in March 1958 he fought for the title 3 more times but was beaten in each fight.
Gene Fullmer (1931-2015) from West Jordan, Utah beat Robinson for the Middleweight Title on January 2,1957.
Paul Pender (1930-2003) from Brookline, Massachusetts, beat Robinson twice in 1960.
Joey Maxim (1922-2001) from Cleveland, Ohio beat Robinson for the World Light Heavyweight title in June,1952.

Answer: Bobby Jones

Jones, Hogan and Nicklaus all won four US Open's with Irwin winning three. However, it was Bobby Jones who was the first to achieve four victories after Willie Anderson. Bobby Jones won in 1923, 1926, 1929 and 1930. Ben Hogan won in 1948, 1950, 1951 and 1953. Jack Nicklaus won in 1962, 1967,1972 and 1980. Hale Irwin won three in 1974, 1979 and 1990.

Answer: Alydar

Affirmed was the 11th horse to win the Triple Crown in 1978 and each race that year was a thrilling tussle with Alydar. With each race in 1978 Alydar narrowed Affirmed's winning margin from 1.5 lengths (Kentucky Derby), by a neck (Preakness Stakes) and by a head in the Belmont Stakes.
Alydar had success as a stallion with an off-spring, Alysheba winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 1987.Sadly, Alydar had to be put down in 1990 under suspicious circumstances. There was a police investigation and convictions were made.
Pillory won both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes in 1922 but that year it was impossible to win the Triple Crown because the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes were run on the same day.
Gallant Fox won the Triple Crown in 1930 and also sired Omaha the Triple Crown winner in 1935.

Answer: Brian Leetch

Brian Leetch played 18 seasons in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. It was with the New York Rangers and their run for the Stanley Cup in 1994 that he won the Conn Smythe Trophy. Conn Smythe was the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and has his name on the Stanley Cup 8 times. The trophy was first introduced in 1965 with Jean Beliveau (Montreal Canadiens) as the first winner.
Tim Thomas is a goaltender and won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2011 with the Boston Bruins at the age of 37.
Nicklas Lidstrom (Swedish) was the first non-North American and first European to win the trophy in 2002. He played for the Detroit Red Wings for 20 seasons and 4 Stanley Cups.
Steve Yzerman won the trophy in 1998 and played for the Detroit Red Wings, He holds dual citizenship, Canadian and US, however, he was born in Canada.

Answer: Offenhauser

The Offenhauser engine was victorious 27 times between 1935-1976. Fred Offenhauser (1888-1973) and Harry Arminius Miller developed the Miller engine that won 12 Indianapolis 550s between 1922-1938. Offenhauser bought out Miller in 1933 and further developed the Miller into the Offenhauser engine (known as the "Offy"). The last time an Offenhauser powered car raced was in 1982.
Chevrolet have been successful 9 times from 1988-2015 and Ford with 8 victories from 1965-2015. Both the Chevrolet and Ford have a long way to go to be as successful in the Indianapolis 500 as the Offenhauser.

Answer: St. Louis (1904)

At St. Louis only 12 nations participated and the USA had 526 competitors and the other 11 nations could only muster 124 competitors. Only 42 of the 94 events involved other competitors from the other 11 nations. The reasons for the low number of competing nations was the European tension caused by the Russo-Japanese War and the difficulty in travelling to St. Louis from overseas.

Therefore many world class athletes did not attend the games. The USA medal tally was 78 gold, 82 silver and 79 bronze with a total of 239 medals. Los Angeles (1984) had a total of 174 medals (83 gold, 61 silver and 30 bronze). Los Angeles (1932) had a total of 103 medals (41 gold, 32 silver and 30 bronze) and Atlanta (1996) had 101 medals (44 gold, 32 silver and 25 bronze).

Answer: Jimmy Connors

Jimmy Connors won on grass (1974), clay (1976) and on hardcourt (1978, 1982 and 1983). Chris Evert won on clay (1975-76-77) and hardcourt (1980 and 1982). Arthur Ashe won his three grand slam events on grass (1968 US Open, 1970 Australia and 1975 Wimbledon). John McEnroe won four US Open's and all were on hardcourt (1979-1981 and 1984).