In February of 1975, fans in the NHL had to do a double take when they looked at the standings. That's because alongside the Montreal Canadiens and the defending champion Flyers was a rag-tag group of castoffs who scored just often enough to give their goalie a lead, and he would do the rest. Rogie Vachon and the L.A. Kings were playing inspiring hockey and were on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week 50 years ago. After winning three Stanley Cups in Montreal, Vachon was now in his 4th season in Southern California and the 5'7 goaltender was bigger than ever as fans began to really notice they had something special as the last line of defense at the Forum in Inglewood. "Save, Vachon!" was a common phrase heard numerous times a game from Bob Miller, the voice of the Kings and a special bond between Rogie and the fans of L.A. was formed. He would go on to be the first player in Kings history to have his number retired in 1985 and 30 years later, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Despite never winning a Cup after his playing days in Montreal ended, Vachon made a lasting impression on Los Angeles as both a player and a General Manager. In 1988, under the ownership of Bruce McNall, Vachon was instrumental in making one of the biggest deals in sports history acquiring Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers. The Great One was now in L.A. and the NHL was about to explode on the West Coast. Hear how this hockey lifer who played as a kid with the grown ups and slept in the car when they would go grab a beer afterwards came from a rural farm in Canada and ended up being a member of royalty in L.A. The Kings Rogie Vachon on this weeks Past Our Prime podcast. Listen and subscribe to the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest Past Our Prime podcast takes us to the heartland and the beginning of the changing of the guard in college basketball. 1975 would be the last season for John Wooden and his UCLA dominance, and the Indiana Hoosiers were set to claim their spot atop the college basketball world. They would go 31-1 in '75 and follow that up in 1976 with a perfect 32-0 and the first National Championship for Bobby Knight. In 1975, the Hoosiers had 4 All Big-10 players in Kent Benson, Quinn Buckner, Scott May and Steve Green... and yet on the cover of that February 3rd issue 50 years ago was none other than John Laskowski... The Super Sub. The senior guard from South Bend was the first guy off the bench for Coach Knight and a main reason for the teams success. Half a century later, he still can't believe he was the guy on the cover of SI. But Laskowski was emblematic of what his coach was preaching. A team-first attitude where you left your ego at the door and went to work doing whatever was needed to win. And they won a lot... 37 consecutive Big-10 wins in fact, still the most ever in conference play... by a large margin. Laskowski went on to play in the NBA, and then was an analyst for Hoosiers basketball for years and he says much of that is because of the legendary Knight. Much more than just a coach to Laskowski, Bobby Knight was a mentor and an impactful man for the rest of his life until his death in 2023. He negotiated Laskowski's NBA deal with the Bulls, helped him get his TV job for IU and got him into the movie Blue Chips starring Nick Nolte. Laz tells us about a side of The General we rarely saw... He tells us about an assistant on that team that went on to become the all-time winningest coach in college basketball history... and he tells us about how Notre Dame rescinded their scholarship offer to him and how devastating that was to him before it turned into a blessing of a lifetime. It's a great talk with a great guy that was the first one off the bench for Coach Knight and on the cover of SI in 50 years ago today but in the POP starting lineup. The Super Sub---John Laskowski on the Past Our Prime podcast. Give it a listen wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue became a cultural phenomenon in the mid 70's thanks in large part to supermodel Cheryl Tiegs who was on the cover in 1970, 1975 and again in 1983 becoming the first model to be on the cover three times. She went from a shy midwestern gal to living in New York City as one of the top models in the world thanks in large part to those 3 covers for SI. But her most famous shot was probably the fishnet suit she wore in 1978. Lets just say not much was left to the imagination and a star was born. In 1989, Sports Illustrated celebrated the 25th anniversary of the swimsuit issue with a 306 page layout that celebrated the woman over the years that made the popular publication what it was... a must see event that arrived in your mailbox in the middle of January to the delight of most men, young and old, and to the chagrin of mothers and wives across the land. Kathy Ireland was on the cover of that 1989 SI and once again, Cheryl Tiegs was a part of it... one of 9 times she appeared in the iconic issue. Curry Kirkpatrick wrote the corresponding piece of Tiegs in 1989 and remembers her as breathtaking in her early 40's as she had been 19 years earlier when she first was on a cover for Sports Illustrated. Kirkpatrick recalls when he first met Cheryl in her penthouse in New York City... and exactly what she wore as they strolled through the Big Apple to grab lunch on the Upper East Side. It was the only time the SI writer ever worked on the swimsuit issue and it's one he never forgot. He tells us on the show how Tiegs became the first SI model to become a huge celebrity and how she wasn't a fan of being in the spotlight. He recollects how Cheryl became a full fledged business-woman and paved the way for future models to be more than just a beautiful woman. And he tells how in the end, he received a hand-written note from Cheryl telling him she loathed the article Curry wrote of her in that 1989 issue. Why? Hear for yourself on the Past Our Prime podcast. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and hear a great tidbit of how the Uptown Girl, Christie Brinkley, and husband Billy Joel, were purposely left behind at the airport one year by the woman who ran the entire project, Julie Campbell. It's one for the ages, on the POP podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1975, the Steelers were on the verge of greatness. They had just beaten the Vikings to win their first Super Bowl Championship and Terry Bradshaw adorned the cover of Sports Illustrated after leading Pittsburgh to the big win in Super Bowl IX. For legendary broadcaster Curt Gowdy, it was one of 9 Super Bowls he called to go along with 13 World Series and 8 Olympic Games. Nine years later, in 1984, a young Dan Roche walked into a radio station owned by Gowdy in Lawrence, MA looking to break into the sports media business. There was no opening for the Syracuse student but Rochie hung around and did whatever was asked. Unbeknownst to him, that decision changed the course of his life. Now, 40 years later, the WBZ-TV anchor and reporter has covered 9 Super Bowls of his own during the Brady-Belichick dynasty... he covered the Red Sox 4 World Series Championships as well including the one in 2004 that ended the Curse... and he's done it all in his hometown of Boston. And it all started at WCGY where Dan met his future wife, and started a career in sports that has seen him cover the teams he grew up idolizing, including the Red Sox whose play-by-play announcer was.... Curt Gowdy. In the late 80's Danny worked for the ole Cowboy who gave Rochie some advice he never would forget... hear how Gowdy changed Roche's life and followed Dan from afar as his career began to take off. How Dan uncovered a lost tape that revealed how Ted Williams announced his retirement... before Gowdy called the Splendid Splinter's final amazing at bat. It's a look back at one of the greatest sportscasters in American history through the lens of a student, an employee, a colleague... and a dear friend. Dan Roche on the one-of-a-kind Curt Gowdy on the Past Our Prime podcast. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris McCarron burst onto the scene in 1974... he won his first race in February of that year... and 546 more the rest of the year... setting an all-time record at the time. And he was just getting started. He would go on to be in the winner's circle an astonishing 7,141 times amassing over $264 million dollars in earnings... the most ever. Born in Boston, McCarron was introduced to America when Frank Deford wrote a feature on him in Sports Illustrated in January of '75... and from there, Chris rode into history. He won the Kentucky Derby in '87 on Alysheba, and again in '94 on Go For Gin. He won the Preakness twice as well as the Belmont twice. 5 times he won the Breeders Cup Classic. And in 1984, he rode John Henry for the final 14 times of the legendary horses career, when at the age of 9, he won horse of the year. In 1977, he took his talents to the West Coast and Santa Anita and was part of the greatest pack of jockeys ever to ride at the same time. Willie Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Eddie Delahoussaye, Gary Stevens, Kent Desormeaux, Sandy Hawley, Alex Solis, and Pat Valenzuela... and McCarron more than held his own, winning 21% of his races in his storied career. Now, 20+ years removed from the saddle, McCarron joins us on the Past Our Prime podcast to talk about that feature in SI... what Deford wrote about him that he didn't care for... how his older brother Gregg, also a jockey, called his parents and said Chris was too scared to ride horses... how it felt to win the Derby with Alysheba and how John Henry did the impossible at age 9. He's part of horse racing royalty. A king in the Sport of Kings. Join us for a trip around the track with an all-time great... Chris McCarron on the POP podcast. Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Steelers and Raiders were two of the great teams in the NFL in the 70's... but in January of '75, neither had asserted their dominance just yet. That was about to change. Pittsburgh was heading to Oakland a week after the Silver and Black had dethroned the two-time Super Bowl Champion, Miami Dolphins in a classic game known as "The Sea of Hands". Now John Madden's team had to take on a Steelers team that was about to come into it's own... and they started that with a dominant performance against Oakland. The Raiders were used to being the ones who were punching their opponents in the face, but not this time. It was a tough loss for Oakland and for Pro Bowl linebacker Phil Villapiano. A man of many words couldn't explain what happened to his team that day 50 years ago and still has a tough time putting into words what took place that Sunday so long ago. Starting with the Immaculate Reception in '72, Villapiano and the Steelers had a history of meeting up when it mattered most with the winner often headed to play in the Super Bowl. That was the case in January of '75 and Villapiano tells us what it was like to go up against those incredible Pittsburgh teams... how his friendship with Franco Harris started with their parents and lasted over 50 years until Franco's death in 2022... what it was like to play for John Madden... and go drinking with John Matuszak. And he talks about finally getting over the hump, and winning it all in Super Bowl XI. Villapiano is a master talker and storyteller who epitomizes what the NFL was like in the 70's... tough, sassy, outrageous and fun... Football at its absolute best and Phil V was right in the middle of it... like always. Listen in on a great conversation about a great time in the NFL with Phil Villapiano on the Past Our Prime podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Past Our Prime podcast is heading into season 2 but before we look back to the future lets look ahead to the past. There were plenty of great stories in sports from 1974 starting with the Miami Dolphins repeating as Super Bowl champions behind SB MVP Larry Csonka who joined us for our 3rd episode. A week later, the UCLA Bruins 88-game winning streak ended at the hands of Notre Dame and former Bruins team captain and later their head coach Larry Farmer joined us to talk about that fateful day before joining us a 2nd time when his friend and teammate Bill Walton died suddenly this past May. And from there, we just took off... in April of 1974, Hank Aaron set the all-time record for Home Runs by hitting one out in Atlanta. That ball was caught by his teammate, Tom House who joined us to talk about Henry, and a great story about a no-hitter by Nolan Ryan when he was the pitching coach for the Rangers. Jenny Fulle became the first girl to play Little League, Johnny Rutherford won the Indy 500, Hall of Fame goaltender Bernie Parent led the Flyers to a Cup and Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan joined us for one of three times to talk about the Celtics winning it all in '74. Mike Eruzione and the Miracle on Ice. Ali beats Frazier and Foreman. Tommy John has surgery. The Oakland A's make it 3 straight. Jimmy Connors is #1 in the world and engaged to Chrissy Evert. Jennifer Chandler and John Kinsella both win gold medals. Evel Knievel is jumping over any and everything. JK MccKay and Anthony Davis are leading USC to a national title and Rocky Bleier returns from Vietnam to win the first of 4 Super Bowls with the Steelers. It was an amazing year in sports 50 years ago and we cover it from start to finish with the help of Curry Kirkpatrick and Hall of Famers Joe Delamielleure, Rick Barry and Nancy Lieberman who caps off the year talking about her friend and mentor Muhammad Ali, the 1974 Sportsman of the Year. So, before we get on to 1975, take a look back at what took place 50 years ago in '74. It was a year to remember, and that;s just what we did on the Past Our Prime podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He started the year by beating Joe Frazier in Superfight II to avenge his loss to Smokin' Joe from three years earlier. 9 months later, in the Rumble in the Jungle, he shocked the world by knocking out George Foreman to once again become the Heavyweight Champion of the world. So how did Muhammad Ali cap off this eventful year? By being named the 1974 Sports Illustrated Man of the Year. It wasn't just the two iconic fights that cemented his place in boxing history, but the way Ali did it. Seven years after being stripped of his belt for refusing to partake in the Vietnam War, Ali made the comeback of all comebacks, beating two of the most feared heavyweights of his, or anyone's time. Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman idolized the Greatest as a child from afar until a chance meeting at a banquet brought them together in 1979 and for the next 37 years, the two were as tight as tight can be, with Muhammad playing a vital role as a mentor and friend of Nancy's until Ali's death. Now, this trailblazer for women in sports, Nancy talks about the impact Muhammad had on her life and how she is attempting to pay it forward each day to honor him; How the Ali and Foreman families have come together 50 years after the famous fight in Zaire in a show of strength and peace and how George's biggest regret was not being able to congratulate Muhammad for his win between the two. There are too many stories to tell but Nancy does her best to bring a side of Ali only a few got to witness, and she shares that side with us on the Past Our Prime podcast. Join us for a look into "The Greatest" that we've never heard before wherever you get your podcasts and make sure to hit that subscribe button if you wouldn't mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Golden State Warriors were picked to finish last in the Pacific Division before the 1974 season tipped off. They had the best record in the Western Conference. After defeating both Seattle and Chicago to advance to the NBA Finals, they were picked to get destroyed by the Bullets. Instead, they did the destroying... sweeping Washington in 4 games to win the Championship. And they were led by their captain, Rick Barry, who capped off a great season by taking home the NBA Finals MVP. Sports Illustrated noticed what was going on out by the Bay in December of '74 and put Barry on the cover and 50 years later, one of the greatest players in NBA/ABA history is joining us on the POP podcast to talk about that team, what being captain meant to him, how he started shooting free throws underhanded and why his sons wouldn't do the same. He tells of a great story of when he skipped school to go see a New York Giants game and met Willie Mays and how they became friends later in life and wore #24 in honor of his boyhood idol. Barry has opinions on most everything from comparing players from different eras to Wilt Chamberlain to the pick-n-roll. He's brash and energetic and entertaining, just like he was when he starred in the NBA/ABA half a century ago. One of the greatest to ever lace 'em up Barry is just as good with a mic in his hand as he was a basketball...and that's what he loves talking about most. Listen to one of the best to ever play on the Past Our Prime podcast wherever you get your shows and make sure you give us a follow and a review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Notre Dame was up 24-0 in the 2nd quarter over the USC Trojans. The defending champion Irish were in complete control. Only a late first half TD pass from Pat Haden to Anthony Davis kept ND from a perfect first half. Even then, the Trojans couldn't convert on the PAT. At halftime, USC Coach John McKay said he needed his team to make a play and that "It's not illegal to block on kick returns." His team heard Coach McKay, and on the kick to start the 2nd half Davis took the ball in his end zone and 100 yards later, after a few good blocks, was in the end zone again to make it 24-12... and from there, the greatest 16 minutes and 31 seconds in football history was taking off. USC would score 35 points in the 3rd quarter alone, with Davis scoring 4 touchdowns in the amazing 55-24 comeback win over their rivals. Anthony Davis was a star back at Tailback U. Archie Griffin won the Heisman Trophy but possibly AD would have won it had the voting not taken place prior to this game. In his career at SC, Davis won 5 National Championships... 2 as a running back, and 3 as a switch-hitting centerfielder. He was a 2-sport stud... the kind Nike could really get behind. And AD would know as he was the first running back to ever wear the shoes in a game. In fact, the win over Notre Dame was the 2nd time he wore the not-yet-famous brand of sneakers. And to think... this wasn't Davis' best game ever against Note Dame. Nope. Two years earlier USC beat the Irish 45-3 behing 6 touchdowns by Anthony Davis. A truly remarkable talent and we sit down with him for a 2nd time this week on the Past Our Prime podcast. Please listen wherever you can and don't forget to subscribe to the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices