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Past Our Prime

Past Our Prime

De : Scott Johnston
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 Growing up on boxscores, the Game of the Week, and Sports Illustrated, three longtime Sports TV Producers reflect back on the world of sports through the lens of old issues of SI from 50 years ago. Larry Csonka and the Dolphins; Reggie Jackson and The Swinging A's; The Wizard of Westwood; The Golden Bear and Muhammad Ali are just a few of the many heroes showcased weekly by Scott, Bill and Marc on the Past Our Prime podcast. Stay up to date on what happened in the past as they go back in time and return to the glory days of sports week by week, issue by issue of Sports Illustrated starting in January of 1974 Base-ball et softball
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    • 77. Pele: Coming to America

      77. Pele: Coming to America
      Jun 23 2025
      Growing up in the 70’s, soccer was barely a footnote when it came to the sports culture here in the States. The North American Soccer League was trying to compete with the other leagues, but the game just didn’t have the appeal that it does in much of the world. It lacked the star power that other sports had. Until… In 1975, the New York Cosmos signed Edson Arantes do Nascimento, the Brazilian superstar known across the globe simply as… Pele. That’s right, Pele was coming to America… North America, NYC, The Big Apple… and with it, soccer was about to experience a boom in the U.S. Michael Lewis was just a young sports reporter looking to get a beat covering one of the four sports he grew up loving… Baseball, football, basketball, and hockey… Soccer wasn’t on that list. Not even close. But the young scribe was given a shot to cover the Rochester Lancers of the NASL… and his career and life were never the same. Over 50 years later, he’s written 9 books on the sport, including Soccer for Dummies and Alive and Kicking: The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. That opportunity to cover the NASL allowed Michael to get a firsthand look at what he calls the biggest “BANG” for soccer in the United States: the arrival of Pele. He tells us how the global sensation arrived with no ego as an ambassador to the sport that saw him win 3 World Cups for Brazil in 1958, 1962, and 1970. He went from the pinnacle of the sport to a fledgling league, and did everything he could to bring attention to the sport he was famous for playing… Famous everywhere except maybe in the States…. But that was about to change. Pele was a man of the people, and that was apparent everywhere he went. He would talk with the guys in the kitchen of the restaurant as he was about to be introduced at his inaugural press conference in America. He would sign autographs for hours and give the jersey off his back to fellow players. In 1977, he led the Cosmos to the Soccer Bowl, winning in the quarterfinals in front of almost 78,000 fans at Giants Stadium before winning the Soccer Bowl in Oregon three weeks later. After the match, Brazilian journalists on hand to cover their famous countrymen carried him on their shoulders and paraded him around the locker room in jubilation at the conclusion of the superstar’s incredible career. Michael Lewis was in that locker room and says almost 50 years later it’s still the most amazing postgame celebration he’s ever witnessed. Next summer, Lewis will cover his 14th World Cup… and when the finals of that tournament are played at Met Life Stadium, right where Giants Stadium used to stand, his career will have come full circle to when a young reporter was given a beat he didn’t really want… and set him on a course that changed his life and gave him the opportunity to cover the greatest player and ambassador the sport has ever known… Pele. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review if you wish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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      1 h et 27 min
    • 76. Leo Ullman: Survivor... Collector.

      76. Leo Ullman: Survivor... Collector.
      Jun 16 2025
      The Ryan Express was rolling along in June of 1975 as Nolan Ryan had just thrown the 4th no-hitter of his career while pitching for the California Angels. The flame throwing righty was doing things nobody had ever seen before, and would continue to do until his bionic arm finally gave out while with the Rangers in 1993. 27 seasons, 5,714 strikeouts, and 7 no-hitters later, Ryan finally was put out to pasture where he continued to be a success in whatever he did… and people noticed. One such person was Leo Ullman who two years after Ryan threw the final pitch of his Hall-of-Fame career purchased 11 Nolan Ryan baseball cards at a $1 a piece… and so began the largest collection of Nolan Ryan memorabilia that has been assembled. Saddles, cleats, bats, balls, if it had Nolan Ryan’s name attached to it, Ullman purchased it, eventually amassing close to 15,000 different items in a collection that now resides at Stockton University in New Jersey. Ullman wanted the entire collection to stay input, so instead of it going to the Hall of Fame where they might have picked over the items in the collection, he kept it intact at the campus in Galloway Township. A lawyer by trade, Ullman is also an author, having written a book about his collection titled, ‘Nolan Ryan, The Largest And Most Unique Collection Of All Things Nolan Ryan, The Greatest Power Pitcher Of All Time.” But that’s not the only book Mr. Ullman wrote. ‘796 Days: Hiding as a child in occupied Amsterdam during WWII and then coming to America’ is the story of Leo as a 3-year old when he was taken in by a couple and hidden in their attic for over 2 1/2 years during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. The Dutch resistance put his parents in a different house and it wasn’t until the war was over that young Leo was reunited with his birthparents… who survived without knowing if their little Leo had as well. Leo comes on the Past Our Prime podcast and tells us the similarities between his life’s story and that of Anne Frank’s. He would later go on to become a Director and Chairman of the Anne Frank Center USA and tells us that his war-parents brought him to stay with them knowing they could be executed if the Jewish boy was found for one reason… “It was the right thing to do.” His parents would emigrate to the States and settle in Brooklyn and 8-year old Leo would fall in love with Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers. A few years later the team would break Leo’s heart and leave for Los Angeles, but Leo’s love for baseball never waned. At some point, his allegiance turned to the Mets and years later, when Mets owner Steve Cohen heard of Leo’s story, he invited him to throw out the first pitch at a game… Leo recalls how, much like a former Mets pitcher by the name of Nolan Ryan, he bounced the pitch in the dirt much to his chagrin. But he refused to let his time in that attic define him. Instead, he joyfully tells us how he spent time with the Mets in a fantasy camp years ago and still keeps in touch with his fellow Mets buddies… At age 86, Leo has gone from the nightmare of the Holocaust to a Mets Dream Week… and in between, put together the largest collection of Nolan Ryan collectibles of all-time. It’s been quite the life for Leo and he tells us all about it on the Past Our Prime podcast… Give us a listen and drop us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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      1 h et 19 min
    • 75. Bob Kalsu: An American Hero

      75. Bob Kalsu: An American Hero
      Jun 9 2025
      When Rocky Bleier went to Vietnam he had just finished his rookie season with the Pittsburgh Steelers… wounded in action, Rocky would return to the States and begin a long and arduous rehabilitation. Doctors told him if all went well, he should be able to walk again… but Rocky was having none of that. He was determined to make it back to the NFL… He missed the entire 1970 season and made it back to the Steelers roster in 1971, eventually helping Pittsburgh win 4 Super Bowls as the team of the 70’s. His time in Vietnam is chronicled in the June 9, 1975 issue of Sports Illustrated with Bleier featured on the cover. Bob Kalsu was in the same 1968 NFL Draft as Bleier, chosen by the Buffalo Bills in the 8th round after being an All-American tackle at the University of Oklahoma… and much like Bleier, he too left the NFL after his rookie season to fight in Vietnam. The difference is, Kalsu never came home. On July 21, 1970 a blast took his life and made him the only active duty NFL player to die in the Vietnam War. It also left his wife, Jan Kalsu, a widow, and a single mother of two children. A daughter, and a son, who was born two days later after the father he would never meet was killed in action. Jan gave birth to Bob, Jr. and was informed of the death of her husband while at the hospital giving birth to their son. Bob was the Buffalo Bills rookie of the year in 1968. He was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his service… but at the age of 25, his life was cut short, and Jan was left on her own to raise their two children. And that’s just what she did. 55 years later, Jan is still telling the story of her late husband, Bob Kalsu. How they met, how it was love at first sight, and how they planned to get married in Miami after the Orange Bowl until the head coach at the University of Oklahoma, Chuck Fairbanks, put an end to that. They did get married — after the Orange Bowl — and Bob soon went from being an only child to having 4 brothers-in-law and another 4 sisters-in-law. Jan says Bob loved being part of a big family and took to it with ease and grace. On the Past Our Prime podcast, Jan recounts how she and her 1-year old daughter Jill met with Bob in Hawaii while he was on leave and how he loved his little girl. But she also recalls how loud noises could bring him from a deep sleep back into enemy territory and for a second, understand what her giant of a husband was going through while he was away. Jan says the Bills never forgot Bob and put his number 61 in their Wall of Fame on his birthday 25 years ago. The mother of two, and grandmother of nine lives a happy life in Oklahoma and tries not to play the ‘what if’ game when it comes to Bob. He made a commitment to serve, and, being a man of his word, he honored that commitment, and Jan’s Catholic faith helped her deal with his decision, and the tragic results of it as best she could. It’s a powerful talk with a normal woman who went through a very abnormal time and 55 years later, can talk with pride, laugh with ease, and reminisce about a man, a husband, a father, and a soldier… who just happened to also be a football player. Before there was Pat Tillman, there was Bob Kalsu… hear his story from the woman who knew him best of all… his wife, Jan Kalsu on the Past Our Prime podcast. Please give us a listen and download and share the show… and a review never hurts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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      1 h et 36 min

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