TupaTalk: Why 1895 was a year that would change sports history

I’ve always been amazed about the impact the year 1895 had on the world of sports.

Three giants in the history of athletics — and another almost mythical football character who had a major impact on politics more than 50 years after he died — all opened their eyes for the first time on this earth in that eccentric year.

Babe Ruth and George Halas were born within four days of each other, about 600 miles apart.

Halas sprang to life on Feb. 2, 1895, in Chicago. Just a half week later, Ruth made his mortal debut on Feb. 6 in the Baltimore area.

Later in February 1895, George Gipp became Michigan’s newest citizen.

And, about four months later, Jack Dempsey made the cry of birth in Manassa, Colo.

Halas’ shadow in the NFL landscape still looms gigantic. He was one of the moving forces in creating in 1920 the organization that would become the NFL. Known as “Papa Bear,” he owned the Chicago Bears and coached them through 1967 — stepping away at age 72. Although not the only founder of the NFL, Halas is more identifiable than anyone else with the creation and development of the league.

He also boasted some significant accomplishments as an athlete — the MVP of the 1919 Rose Bowl (in which he recorded a pick-six) and a starter for the New York Yankees in baseball until injury stopped his playing pursuits.

His character was featured prominently in the 1971 TV movie, “Brian’s Song,” and Gale Sayers would sometimes became emotional in a fond way when recalling Halas. I recall when Sayers was honored during a game and he looked up and referred to sharing that honor with both Halas and Brian Piccolo, who had both passed on.

Halas proved to be a difference-maker in another way. In the mid-1960’s, he assigned a black player (Sayers) and a white player (Piccolo) as hotel roommates on out of town games. That decision broke down another cultural barrier and was the catalyst to a wonderful friendship and love and understanding that developed between those two players and other players since.

Ruth had a rough childhood and spent much of it in an industrial school for boys and experienced little family love.

Somehow he found baseball — or baseball found him.

Unknown to many of today’s baseball fans, Babe Ruth started his pro career as a left-handed pitcher. He was always a good hitter, also, but he performed outstanding on the mound.

Some experts have mused he might have been the American League’s best southpaw during first half of the last century.

During his five or six years as a full-time pitcher, he accumulated a 94-46 record, fashioned a 2.28 earned run average, threw 17 shutouts, 35 complete games in a season (1917), and beating Walter Johnson four out of five head-to-head matchups in 1916,

Perhaps most impressively, he set a World Series record with 29.2 shutout innings — which held for 45 years.

But, his bat and his desire to play every day proved too strong to ignore.

In 1919, he began the transition to an every day player.

The rest is well known — including 60 homers in 1927 (in a 154-game season) and 714 career homers.

But, what Babe did on the field constituted only part of his ongoing legend. Although many want to focus on his vices or excesses in eating, alcohol and general partying, he also was a sincere, big-hearted individual that tried to treat those around him with courtesy.

That’s according to legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice, who spent a lot of time with Ruth on the golf course or other informal encounters. Rice described Ruth as just a big-hearted kid, completely sincere about who he was and his love of life.

Ruth died of cancer in 1948.

Gipp became a Notre Dame legend for coach Knute Rockne.

Some believe Gipp might have been one of the greatest pure football athletes ever to play on a college field. He also had good size (6-foot-1, 180 pounds), especially for the era. His career rushing total remained Notre Dame’s record for nearly 60 years.

His extroverted personality and talent made him standout in any crowd. But, he fell sick during his playing days at Notre Dame and died of pneumonia or complications thereto.

On his deathbed, he spoke at length to Rockne. As part of this communication, Gipp told Rockne that one day in the future when Notre Dame was struggling, he wanted Rockne to tell the players “to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper.”

That was in 1920 and Rockne didn’t do that until 1928.

In 1940, Ronald Reagan portrayed the George Gipp character in a movie. During his political career some referred to Reagan as the “The Gipper,” and he, or supporters, would exhort audiences to “Win one for the Gipper,” referring to Reagan. George W. Bush also used this campaign slogan, as a way to honor the then-recently deceased Reagan, in 2004.

Dempsey is one of my all-time favorite athletes.

Rice also befriended Dempsey and covered all of his pro fights.

He recalled how when Dempsey trained, Dempsey hired the toughest sparring partners he could find to toughen him up.

Dempsey also told Rice an observation that’s been reported elsewhere on how, when he was a young fighter, Dempsey said he would have won against a sledgehammer in order to earn the two dollars the winner took home. Dempsey said until someone hasn’t eaten for two or three straight days, they can’t understand what it really means to want to win.

Another famous Dempsey quote came after he lost to Gene Tunney in a championship fight.

“Honey, I forgot to duck,” he told his wife.

Some of Dempsey’s fights — especially when he was scrapping to win and retain the title — are some of the most brutal and rugged in boxing history.

That experience produced another Dempsey quote: “A champion is one who gets up when he can’t.”

Dempsey really elevated the fight game to a new status of respectability and visibility in American culture.

Perhaps part of that was because radio came along when he was reaching the top of his game and the broadcast of fights nationwide pulled in a larger audience.

Just as an aside, Halas and Dempsey both died in 1983 — exactly four months apart.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: TupaTalk: A year that would change sports history