Sir Roger’s Run
Today it is as hard to keep up with Sir Roger Bannister’s mind as it once was to keep up with his feet. With the offer of tea and biscuits out of the way, Sir Roger, 82, sits down at the table in the living room of his Oxford flat, takes up his pencil and legal pad and begins his interview. “And what’s your Christian name?” he asks, in perhaps another of his historical firsts, given that he is soliciting this information from a David Epstein of Brooklyn. “There isn’t much about [track and field] in Sports Illustrated anymore, is there?” Nope. (Sir Roger was SI’s first Sportsman of the Year, in 1954, in honor of which he was given a replica of an ancient Greek amphora. He later covered track and field at the ’56 Melbourne Olympics for the magazine.)
SI Investigation Reveals Eight-Year Pattern of Violations Under Jim Tressel at Ohio State
The 58-year-old Tressel benefited from the fertile recruiting grounds of Ohio, but supporters always believed he got the most out of players because he was—as the title of a 2009 book about him declares—More Than a Coach. Under Tressel, the Buckeyes often sat together before meetings or at the start of practice for 10 minutes of “quiet time” to read about virtues such as humility, faith and gratitude. Tressel liked to say that his teams “play as hard as we can play” but also “respect as hard as we can respect.” Yet while Tressel’s admirable qualities have been trumpeted, something else essential to his success has gone largely undiscussed: his ignorance.
Accidental Hero: Beryl Shipley, 1926-2011
The onetime coach at Southwestern Louisiana was vilified for violating NCAA rules, but the author, who grew up in Cajun country, remembers Beryl Shipley for doing something courageous: helping to integrate college basketball in the Deep South
The Wheels of Life
Over the past 33 years, Dick Hoyt has pushed, pulled and carried his disabled son, Rick, through more than 1,000 road races and triathlons, including 28 Boston Marathons. But as time bears down on them, how much longer can they keep it up?
Champagne, Diamonds and Shots in the Dark
Early on Jan. 1, 2007, Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was shot to death after a New Year’s Eve party at a Denver nightclub. The police launched a massive investigation that included multiple interviews with two other Broncos who were at the same club that night. But years would pass before the full story came to light.
‘I’m Glad I Went to Prison’
Nearly seven years after he tried to arrange a murder, former NHL player Mike Danton is studying psychology and finally piecing his life together. “When Danton jumped off that jailhouse bunk bed with a terry-cloth noose around his neck, it was no halfhearted suicide attempt. ‘I absolutely wanted to die,’ he says. But the strands of towel ripped, unable to support his 190 pounds. Danton landed on the ground and stared at the names he’d written on the wall, tears puddling next to him. He took his survival as a sign. ‘I’m not religious, but I realized that if I was supposed to die that day, I would have.'”
What Was He Thinking?
Jake Plummer never went to Tampa Bay, of course, just as he never offered his services to any other NFL team. Upon retiring in March 2007, he held a press conference at the Denver Athletic Club. Grasping a lectern, he told a crowd of reporters that he was “running away from the game” but not in “fear or fright.” He credited his teammates for his success, invoked his friend Pat Tillman and pointed to his chest and promised that “there will not be a jersey with an NFL patch here.” He said he was excited to move on and “take on new challenges,” because “life is grand, life is exciting.” Then, without taking questions, Plummer bid goodbye and walked down the hall to play a doubles handball match with his brother Eric.
The Man of the Hour
Roger Goodell, sandy-haired and fit at 51, is the steward of the multibillion-dollar NFL juggernaut, having attained the job he dreamed about back in college. Over the first 4½ years of his tenure, he’s had to address numerous crises: Spygate; player discipline, most notably in the Michael Vick case; an epidemic of concussions; and the problem of how to keep players from maiming each other on the field. All the while, one thing has loomed very large over the commissioner: the shaky labor deal he inherited.
The Case Against Lance Armstrong
The FDA’s investigation, directed by agent Jeff Novitzky, is focused on whether Armstrong was involved in an organized doping operation as a member of the team sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), an independent agency of the federal government. In light of this criminal inquiry involving the greatest Tour de France rider of all time, SI reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and interviewed dozens of sources in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S. Because the case could potentially involve accusations that are more than a decade old, SI also examined doping allegations against Armstrong throughout his career as a pro cyclist, discovering information that is reported here for the first time.
The Boy Who Died of Football
Three days after he collapsed from heatstroke at practice in 2008, 15-year-old Max Gilpin became one of at least 665 boys since 1931 to die as a result of high school football. Here’s what made his case different: The Commonwealth of Kentucky tried to prove Max’s coach had a hand in killing him.