CLEVELAND, Ohio – The year 1926 had a few milestones in the world of sports, from an invention that still exists today in baseball to a famed English Channel swim and more.
Related: 1926: 100 years ago – life in the U.S., entertainment, famous firsts, more
Our annual 100-year lookback dives into the history and record books:
Born in 1926 …
• Hobie Billingsley, longtime esteemed Indiana University swimming and diving coach (he attended Ohio State University)
• Don Carter, one of the greatest bowlers ever
• Chuck Cooper, first African-American to be drafted into the NBA
• Ballplayer-turned-commentator Joe Garagiola
• Major League Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn
• Hall of Fame defensive end Gino Marchetti
• Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe
• Longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno
• Pole vaulter Bob (“The Vaulting Vicar”) Richards, the first athlete to appear on the front of a Wheaties box
• NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle
• Basketball great and then coach Bill Sharman
… died in 1926
• Hall of Fame pitcher Eddie Plank. He died of a stroke at age 50.
• Georges Vezina, whose name adorns the trophy honoring the NHL’s top goaltender. He was 39 and died of tuberculosis.
Auto racing
Frank Lockhart wins the Indy 500. Lockhart, only the fourth rookie to win, captured a rain-shortened race and earned $35,600. Three years later Lockhart, in Daytona Beach trying to set a land-speed record, crashed and died. He was 25.
Baseball
Rosin bags are introduced and become a useful tradition on the pitcher’s mound.
Your hitting leaders are Detroit’s Heinie Manush (.378) and Cincinnati’s Bubbles Hargrave (.353). Hargrave was the first catcher in the modern era to win the honors. The National League winner was not declared until December. League president John Heydler declared Hargrave the winner over two other players – one of whom, Rube Bressler, had a higher average (.357) but played in fewer games. The controversy centered around the league having no defined requisites, like minimum plate appearances.
The New York Yankees’ Babe Ruth (47) and Chicago Cubs’ Hack Wilson (21) lead the American and National leagues, respectively, in home runs.
The Yankees’ Babe Ruth hits three home runs in Game 4 of the World Series. But the St. Louis Cardinals win in seven games in their first World Series appearance.
It’s all Giants in the Negro World Series: The Chicago American Giants beat the Bacharach Giants of Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 11 games – 5-4-2.
Washington’s Firpo Marberry saves 20 games in an era when most starters finished games. (The site almostcooperstown.substack.com calls him “the OG of closers.”)
Cleveland Indians
Cleveland finishes in second place, three games behind the New York Yankees in the pre-playoff American League.
Cleveland’s George Uhle leads the Majors with 27 victories. Uhle is one of the pitchers to claim he invented the slider. He finished the season 27-11.
In a game at Philadelphia, Cleveland’s Tris Speaker – at age 38 – notches his 700th career double. Speaker would finish his career with 792 doubles – a record that stands.
Cleveland’s Dutch Levsen – who earned a degree in animal husbandry from Iowa State University – wins both games of a doubleheader against Boston in August. He is the last pitcher to accomplish the twin wins. Interesting fact: He records zero strikeouts in both games.
Four Cleveland Indians hit over .300, led by George Burns’ .358 average. He leads the Majors with 216 hits and 64 doubles.
Basketball
The Harlem Globetrotters are founded in 1926. They are still going strong; they brought their fun brand of hoops to Cleveland on Dec. 28.
The Cleveland Rosenblums win eight straight games to start the second half, then sweep Brooklyn in three games for the American Basketball League championship. Cleveland’s star player was Honey Russell, who later coached and became a baseball scout who signed Joe Torre.
Boxing
Gene Tunney beats Jack Dempsey and becomes world heavyweight boxing champion. It would set up a famed rematch – one of the sport’s most infamous moments – a year later.
Pete Latzo defeats Mickey Waller to win the world welterweight title. Cartoonist Ham Fisher once met Latzo. The fighter became the inspiration for Fisher’s character “Joe Palooka” in the popular comic strip of the day.
Sammy Mandell beats Rocky Kansas for the world lightweight championship. Three years later, Kansas would lose a lot in the stock market crash and went to work for the city of Buffalo.
Cycling
Lucien Buysse wins the Tour de France. It is the longest TDF in history, covering 3,570 miles over 17 stages.
Figure skating
The 1926 World Figure Skating Championships are held in Berlin: Austrian Herma Szabo wins the fifth and final of her consecutive world titles. Szabo, who began skating at age 2, had a long-running feud with famed skater Sonja Henie, who reportedly was favored by Norwegian judges. Austrian Willy Boeckl wins the men’s title. Andrée Brunet and Pierre Brunet are named world pairs champs. The French couple would emigrate to the United States, where they coached – among others – Carol Heiss Jenkins, longtime Northeast Ohio resident who is in the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame.
Football
Ohio State finishes in the top 10 with a 7-1 record. The Buckeyes’ sole loss is to Michigan, 17-16.
Brown goes 9-0-1 with seven shutouts. And while two-way players were not uncommon, Brown won consecutive games with zeros substitutions against Yale and Dartmouth. They let up no points in those wins.
Alabama edges Washington, 20-19, in the 12th Rose Bowl. It became known as “The Game That Changed the South.” Birmingham News sportswriter Clyde Bolton wrote: “The 1926 Rose Bowl was without a doubt the most important game before or since in Southern football history.”
The Frankford Yellow Jackets are named NFL champions after finishing with the best record, 14-1-2.
The Ottawa Senators beat the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, 10-7, in the 14th Grey Cup. It was the final time a university squad made it to the Grey Cup final.
Golf
The great Bobby Jones becomes the first American amateur to win the British and U.S. Open
titles in the same year. The wins came a few weeks apart.
Walter Hagen defeats Leo Diegel for the U.S. PGA Championship. Diegel is remembered as being the most accomplished Michigan native golfer ever. His unique elbows-out putting technique “with a dramatic bend at the waist became known as ‘Diegeling.’”
Jess Sweetser wins the British Amateur. It was the first time an American-born golfer captured the tournament.
George Von Elm wins the U.S. Amateur, avenging a loss in 1924 to Jones.
Hockey
The National Hockey League approves a franchise in Detroit. The Detroit Cougars eventually would become the Red Wings. The New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks also join the league.
The Montreal Maroons beat the Western Hockey League champions Victoria Cougars, 3 games to 1, to cap the 1925-26 season.
The WHL folds.
Ottawa’s Frank Nighbor wins his second Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship. It was only the second year the annual award was given.
Horse racing
Bubbling Over, ridden by Albert Johnson, wins the Kentucky Derby by five lengths. A month later, he rides Crusader – sired by Man o’ War – to victory at the Belmont Stakes.
John Maiben rides Display to victory at the Preakness Stakes in 1:59.8. The horse, at 19-1 odds, started slowly, gained and won by a head.
Jack Horner, ridden by William Watkinson, wins the Grand National steeplechase race in the United Kingdom. The horse was injured in training after the race and never competed again. Watkinson suffered a fall three weeks later and died.
Take My Tip – at 63-1 odds – wins the Grand Prix de Paris. The horse is owned by James Hennessey, of the famed liquor company.
Ohio
Kent State holds a contest with a $25 prize to select a new name for its teams. “Golden Flashes” wins. But it will take a few years to shake the previous name of “Silver Foxes.”
Running
Paavo Nurmi runs a record 8:25.4 in the 3,000-meter race, then breaks it months later at 8:20.4.
Canadian Johnny Miles wins the first of two Boston Marathons. Miles won by 4 minutes. He died in 2003 at age 97.
Swimming
American Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel, from France to England. She lived to be 98.
Tennis
Britains Leslie and Kitty Godfree become the only married couple to win the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon.
Kitty Godfree wins the singles final, too, defeating Spaniard Lilí de Álvarez.
Frenchman Jean Borotra wins Wimbledon men’s final. He was a bit eccentric, or at least outlandish on the court. Among his antics: On wide shots he’d tumble into the stands and kiss women’s hands.
René Lacoste wins the first of his two consecutive U.S. Open men’s titles. Yes, he was behind the famed Lacoste apparel line with logo of a crocodile, his nickname.
Molla Mallory wins the U.S. Open women’s title at age 42. She remains the oldest U.S. Open singles champion.
Sources
almostcooperstown.substack.com, a-z-animals.com, baseball-almanac.com, baseball-reference.com, basketball-reference.com, biography.com, bornbuffalo.com/rocky-kansas, britannica.com, cfl.ca, The Buffalo News, ebsco.com, gettyimages.com, golfcompendium.com, gordonkirby.com, historyextra.com, hoophall.com, horseracingnation.com, indianapolismotorspeedway.com, infoplease.com, itv.com, kent.edu, lakeplacidolympicmuseum.com, luzernehistory.org, marathonview.net, mghof.org, newspapers.com, nytimes.com, onthisday.com, probasketballencyclopedia.com, sabr.org, silverclubgolfingsociety.com, skateguardblog.com, tennisfame.com, the-independent.com, thisdayinbaseball.com, thisgreatgame.com, tournamentofroses.com, usfdons.com, usopen.org, usracing.com, wimbledon.com.
Previous 100-year lookbacks
1925 and 1925 sports
1924 and 1924 sports
1923 and 1923 sports
1922 and 1922 sports
1921 and 1921 sports
1920 and 1920 sports
1919 and 1919 sports
1918 and 1918 sports
1917 and 1917 sports
1916 and 1916 sports
1915