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45th Anniversary of Woodstock: What was Happening in the Sports World?

This week marks the 45th anniversary of one of the most iconic moments in American pop culture history. The original Woodstock Festival took place over the course of four days during the summer of 1969.

Performers included Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, among many others who were popular during the counter-culture movement of that era.

To this day, it is still considered the ideal example of protest against societal norm and the establishment.

Back in 1969 when Woodstock took place, there was a whole heck of a lot happening around the world of sports. In the spirit of remembering this important part in American history, we figured it made sense to check in on exactly what we happening in the sports world.

Ohio State Defeats USC in Rose Bowl

Led by head coach Woody Hayes, the Buckeyes defeated USC by the score of 27-16 to grab the National Championship. Trojans running back O.J. Simpson uncharacteristically turned the ball over two times, with one of them resulting in an Ohio State touchdown. President-elect Richard Nixon was on hand for the festivities and was sworn into office less than three weeks later.

Joe Namath’s Guarantee Comes True

New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath set the football world in fire by guaranteeing that his upstart AFL team, the New York Jets, would defeat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts of the National Football League in Super Bowl III. Despite a less-than-stellar overall performance from the quarterback (17-of-28, 206 yards and zero touchdowns), Namath made good on the guarantee.

Taking a 7-0 lead into the half, New York put up three consecutive second-half field goals to grab a 16-0 lead before Baltimore’s Jerry Hill put the Colts on the board for the first and only time late in the fourth quarter. Prior to the New York Giants defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, this was considered the biggest upset in professional football history.

Texas Beats Arkansas in College Football’s “Game of the Century”

It took place in early December and the winner was going to be odd-on favorites to take home the National Championship. Arkansas, led by head coach Frank Broyles, came into the game with a perfect 9-0 record. They took a 14-0 lead in into the fourth quarter before Texas, ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time, scored on the opening drive of the final stanza and added a two-point conversation to pull to within six.

Arkansas would drive the ball down the field on the following possession, but quarterback Bill Montgomery was intercepted in the end zone. A fourth-down conversion in the final minutes of the game by the Longhorns put the ball inside the Razorbacks 15. Two plays later, Jim Bertelsen scored the game-winning touchdown.

The controversy that this game brought with it overshadowed the game itself. President Nixon, who was in attendance, declared that he would be handing out the National Championship trophy to the winner of the game. This didn’t sit well with Penn State officials, who wanted to wait until the bowl games to decide the champion. In a sign of the times, Penn State turned down an invitation to play in the Cotton Bowl against Texas because of the segregation issues currently going on in the state.

Texas would end up beating Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl with Penn State outlasting Missouri in the Orange Bowl. This controversy has long stood as one of the primary argument in favor of a playoff system, which coincidentally will begin this year in college football.

Then Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, who was a staunch republican at the time, had this to say about Nixon four years later at a commencement speech.

How could Nixon know so much about college football in 1969 and so little about Watergate in 1973?

Mickey Mantle Announces his Retirement

After what would end up becoming a Hall of Fame 18-year career, Mantle announced his retirement from MLB immediately prior to the start of the 1969 season. He was coming off a 1968 campaign that saw him hit just .237 with 18 homers. Mantle, one of the greatest players in the history of the game, was dealing with numerous injuries at the time of his announcement. Later that year, the Yankees would hold “Mickey Mantle Day” in order to pay tribute to the all-time great. They ended up finishing the 1969 season with an 80-81 record.

UCLA Defeats Purdue for the College Basketball Nataional Title

The Bruins, led by John Wooden, won their third of what would eventually become seven consecutive National Championships. Greats such as Lew Alcindor and Curtis Rowe were among the players that starred on this team that ended the season with a 29-1 record. UCLA defeated the Boilermakers by 20 points in the tournament final.

Montreal Canadiens Continued Domination on the Ice

Montreal won its fourth Stanley Cup title in five years with a dominating four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues, in which they outscored the losing team 12-3 in the series.  Yvan Cournoyer led the team in goals with 43, while Jean Beliveau put up a team-high 49 assists. Overall, Montreal would win a total of 10 Stanley Cups in a 15-year span from 1964-1978. This is still considered the single greatest stretch of success for a NHL team in the history of the league.

The Miracle Mets

The New York Mets, who had put up losing seasons in their first seven years as a MLB franchise, weren’t expected to do much heading into 1969. With former great Gil Hodges manning the bench, this team put up the most surprising season in the history of the game. They won 100 regular season games before defeating the Baltimore Orioles in five games in the World Series.

Tom Seaver won the Cy Young Award after earning 25 regular season victories. The Mets, who had been in the basement of the National League East for the vast majority of  their history, were 9.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs in mid August. They went on to win 38 of their final 49 games to finish eight games up on Chicago when the regular season drew to a conclusion. It remains one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of baseball. The Mets would earn just one trip to the playoffs over the course of the next 16 years.

The Seattle Pilots

Yes, this was once a Major League Baseball team. Looking to build off growing interest in baseball in the west coast, MLB approved Seattle for an expansion team for the 1969 season. Unfortunately, less than 700,000 fans showed up to games that season and the franchise was forced into bankruptcy. The team moved to Milwaukee during spring of 1970, becoming the Brewers. How many of you actually knew this story? I didn’t think so. The Kansas City Royals and Montreal Expos were also expansion teams in 1969.

Let’s leave you with two great clips from the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.

Photo: PBS.org

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