Sports Illustrated
Encyclopedia
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 conglomerate Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. Its swimsuit issue
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising....

, which has been published since 1964, is now an annual publishing event that generates its own television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 shows, videos and calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...

s.

History

Two other magazines named Sports Illustrated were started in the 1930s and 1940s, but they both quickly failed. Following these events, there was no large-base general sports magazine with a national following. It was then that Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

 patriarch Henry Luce
Henry Luce
Henry Robinson Luce was an influential American publisher. He launched and closely supervised a stable of magazines that transformed journalism and the reading habits of upscale Americans...

 began considering whether his company should attempt to fill that gap. At the time, many believed sports was beneath the attention of serious journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 and did not think sports news could fill a weekly magazine, especially during the winter. A number of advisers to Luce, including Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....

 magazine's Ernest Havemann, tried to kill the idea, but Luce, who was not a sports fan, decided the time was right.

The goal of the new magazine was to be "not a sports magazine, but the sports magazine." Many at Time-Life scoffed at Luce's idea; in his Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

-winning biography, Luce and His Empire, W.A. Swanberg
W.A. Swanberg
William Andrew Swanberg, , pen-name W.A. Swanberg, was a Pulitzer-Prize-winning American biographer. He is perhaps best known for Citizen Hearst, his biography of William Randolph Hearst. He was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1907 and earned his B.A. at the University of Minnesota in 1930. He...

 wrote that the company's intellectuals dubbed the proposed magazine "Muscle," "Jockstrap," and "Sweat Socks." Launched on August 16, 1954, it was not profitable (and would not be so for 12 years) and not particularly well run at first, but Luce's timing was good. The popularity of spectator sports in the United States was about to explode, and that popularity came to be driven largely by three things: Economic prosperity, television, and Sports Illustrated.

The early issues of the magazine seemed caught between two opposing views of its audience. Much of the subject matter was directed at upper class activities such as yachting
Yachting
Yachting refers to recreational sailing or boating, the specific act of sailing or using other water vessels for sporting purposes.-Competitive sailing:...

, polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...

 and safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...

s, but upscale would-be advertisers
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 were unconvinced that sports fans were a significant part of their market.

After more than a decade of steady losses, the magazine's fortunes finally turned around in the 1970s when Andre Laguerre
André Laguerre
Marc André Laguerre was a journalist and magazine editor, best known as the managing editor of Sports Illustrated from 1960 to 1974, during which time he oversaw the growth in the magazine from a niche publication to become the industry leader in weekly sports magazines...

 became its managing editor. A European correspondent for Time, Inc., who later became chief of the Time-Life news bureaus in Paris and London (for a time he ran both simultaneously), Laguerre attracted Henry Luce's attention in 1956 with his singular coverage of the Winter Olympic Games
Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...

 in Cortina d'Ampezzo
Cortina d'Ampezzo
Cortina d'Ampezzo is a town and comune in the southern Alps located in Veneto, a region in Northern Italy. Located in the heart of the Dolomites in an alpine valley, it is a popular winter sport resort known for its ski-ranges, scenery, accommodations, shops and après-ski scene...

, Italy, which became the core of SIs coverage of those games. In May 1956, Luce brought Laguerre to New York to become assistant managing editor of the magazine. He was named managing editor in 1960, and he more than doubled the circulation by instituting a system of departmental editors, redesigning the internal format, and inaugurating the unprecedented use in a news magazine of full-color photographic coverage of the week's sports events. He was also one of the first to sense the rise of national interest in professional football.

Laguerre also instituted the innovative concept of one long story at the end of every issue, which he called the "bonus piece." These well-written, in-depth articles helped to distinguish Sports Illustrated from other sports publications, and peanuts helped launch the careers of such legendary writers as Frank Deford
Frank Deford
Benjamin "Frank" Deford, III is a senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, author, and commentator for National Public Radio and correspondent for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO....

, who recently wrote of Laguerre, "He smoked cigars and drank Scotch and made the sun move across the heavens...His genius as an editor was that he made you want to please him, but he wanted you to do that by writing in your own distinct way."

Laguerre is also credited with the conception and creation of the annual Swimsuit Issue, which quickly became, and continues to be, the most popular single issue of the magazine each year.

Innovations

From its start, Sports Illustrated introduced a number of innovations that are generally taken for granted today:
  • Liberal use of color photos - though the six-week lead time initially meant they were unable to depict timely subject matter
  • Scouting reports - including a World Series
    World Series
    The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...

     Preview and New Year's Day
    New Year's Day
    New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...

     bowl game
    Bowl game
    In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...

     round-up that enhanced the viewing of games on television
  • In-depth sports reporting from writers like Robert Creamer
    Robert Creamer
    Robert W. Creamer is an American sportswriter and editor. He spent the majority of his career at Sports Illustrated....

    , Tex Maule
    Tex Maule
    Hamilton Prieleaux Bee Maule, commonly known as Tex Maule was the lead American football writer for Sports Illustrated in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.-Career:...

     and Dan Jenkins
    Dan Jenkins
    Dan Jenkins is an American author and sportswriter, most notably for Sports Illustrated.Jenkins was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where he attended R .L. Paschal High School and Texas Christian University , where he played on the varsity golf team...

    .
  • Regular illustration features by artists like Robert Riger
    Robert Riger
    Robert Riger was a celebrated sports illustrator, photographer, award-winning television director, and cinematographer....

    .
  • High school football Player of the Month awards.
  • Inserts of sports cards in the centre of the magazine.

Color printing

The magazine's photographers also made their mark with innovations like putting cameras in the goal at a hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 game and behind a glass backboard at a basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 game. In 1965, offset printing
Offset printing
Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...

 began to allow the color pages of the magazine to be printed overnight, not only producing crisper and brighter images, but also finally enabling the editors to merge the best color with the latest news. By 1967, the magazine was printing 200 pages of "fast color" a year; in 1983, SI became the first American full-color newsweekly. An intense rivalry developed between photographers
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...

, particularly Walter Iooss
Walter Iooss
Walter Iooss Jr. is a professional photographer.He is best known for his work with Sports Illustrated magazine, which has featured his photos on its cover several times and for his portraits of famous athletes such as Michael Jordan, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Ken Griffey, Jr....

 and Neil Leifer
Neil Leifer
Neil Leifer is a photographer and filmmaker known mainly for his work in the Time Inc. family of magazines. He is generally considered the greatest sports photographer in history.- Early career :...

, to get a decisive cover shot that would be on news-stands and in mailboxes only a few days later.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, during Gil Rogin's term as Managing Editor, the feature stories of Frank Deford
Frank Deford
Benjamin "Frank" Deford, III is a senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, author, and commentator for National Public Radio and correspondent for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO....

 became the magazine's anchor. "Bonus pieces" on Pete Rozelle
Pete Rozelle
Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was the commissioner of the National Football League from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world....

, Woody Hayes
Woody Hayes
Wayne Woodrow "Woody" Hayes was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University , Miami University , and Ohio State University , compiling a career college football record of 238–72–10.During his 28 seasons as the head coach of the Ohio...

, Bear Bryant
Bear Bryant
Paul William "Bear" Bryant was an American college football player and coach. He was best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football team. During his 25-year tenure as Alabama's head coach, he amassed six national championships and thirteen conference championships...

, Howard Cosell
Howard Cosell
Howard William Cosell was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these...

 and others became some of the most quoted sources about these figures, and Deford established a reputation as one of the best writers of the time.

Regular segments

Who's Hot, Who's Not: A feature on who's on a tear and who's in a slump.

Inside the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, College Football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

, College Basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....

, NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

, Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, Boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, Horse Racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

, Soccer and Tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 (sports vary from issue to issue) has the writers from each sport to address the latest news and rumors in their respective fields.

Faces in the Crowd: honors talented amateur athletes and their accomplishments.

The Point After: A back-page column featuring a rotation of SI writers as well as other contributors. Content varies from compelling stories to challenging opinion, focusing on both the world of sports and the role sports play in society.

Creative freedom that the staff had enjoyed seemed to diminish. By the 1980s and 1990s, the magazine had become more profitable than ever, but many also believed it had become more predictable. Mark Mulvoy was the first top editor whose background contained nothing but sports; he had grown up as one of the magazine's readers, but he had no interest in fiction, movies, hobbies or history. Mulvoy's top writer Rick Reilly
Rick Reilly
Richard "Rick" Paul Reilly is an American sportswriter. Long known for being the "back page" columnist for Sports Illustrated, Reilly moved to ESPN on June 1, 2008 where he is a featured columnist for ESPN.com and wrote the back page column for ESPN the Magazine...

 had also been raised on SI and followed in the footsteps of many of the great writers that he grew up admiring, but many felt that the magazine as a whole came to reflect Mulvoy's complete lack of sophistication. Mulvoy also hired the current creative director Chrisopher Hercik. Critics said that it rarely broke (or even featured) stories on the major controversies in sports (drugs, violence, commercialism) any more, and that it focused on major sports and celebrities to the exclusion of other topics.

The proliferation of "commemorative issues" and subscription incentives seemed to some like an exchange of journalistic integrity for commercial opportunism. More importantly, perhaps, many feel that 24-hour-a-day cable sports television networks and sports news web sites have forever diminished the role a weekly publication can play in today's world, and that it is unlikely any magazine will ever again achieve the level of prominence that SI once had.

Nevertheless, Sports Illustrated remains the predominant sports publication in print journalism with a consistent weekly circulation topping 3 million per issue.

Sportsman of the Year

Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the Sportsman of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the...

 award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Roger Bannister
Roger Bannister
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister, CBE is an English former athlete best known for running the first recorded mile in less than 4 minutes...

 won the first ever Sportsman of the year award thanks to his record breaking time of 3:59.4 for a mile (the first ever time a mile had been run under four minutes).

Drew Brees
Drew Brees
Drew Christopher Brees is a quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Purdue....

 was the most recent sportsman of the year for 2010. He led the New Orleans Saints to their first Super Bowl win after the 2009 season. Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter is an American baseball shortstop who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. A twelve-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter's clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning have made him a central...

 was Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 2009. Jeter led the New York Yankees to their 27th World Series Title in 2009 while batting .334 in the regular season and taking home the 2009 Silver Slugger and Gold Glove for American League shortstops.

Sportsman of the Century

In 1999, Sports Illustrated named Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

, the Sportsman of the Century, at the Sports Illustrated's 20th Century
20th century
Many people define the 20th century as running from January 1, 1901 to December 31, 2000, others would rather define it as beginning on January 1, 1900....

 Sports Awards in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

.

All-decade awards and honors

  • Top 20 Female Athletes of the Decade (2009)
  • Top 20 Male Athletes of the Decade (2009)
  • All-Decade Team (2009) (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, college basketball, college football)
  • Top 10 Coaches/Managers of the Decade (2009)
  • Top 10 GMs/Executives of the Decade (2009)
  • Top Team of the Decade (2009) (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, college basketball, college football)
  • Top 25 Franchises of the Decade (2009)
  • Major League Baseball honors
  • National Basketball Association honors
  • National Football League honors
  • National Hockey League honors
  • College basketball honors
  • College football honors

Cover history

The magazine's cover is the basis of a sports myth
Sports-related curses
A sports-related curse is a superstitious belief in the effective action of some power or evil, that is used to explain the failures or misfortunes of specific sports teams, players, or even cities...

 known as the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx
Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx
The Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx is an urban legend that states that individuals or teams who appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine will subsequently be jinxed...

. To find the number of times an athlete has appeared on the cover go to:
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/home/index.htm

Most covers by athlete, 1954-2011
Athlete Number of covers
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...

49
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

38
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...

22
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...

23
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school...

17


Most covers by team, 1954-May 2008
Team Number of covers
New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

71
Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

48
Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...

67
Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

46
Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...

45
Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...

44
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

40
Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

37
San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...

33


Most covers by sport, 1954-2009
Sport Number of covers
Baseball-MLB 628
Pro Football-NFL 550
Pro Basketball-NBA 325
College Football 202
College Basketball 181
Golf 155
Boxing 134
Hockey 100
Track and Field 99
Tennis 78


Celebrities on the cover, 1954-2010
Celebrity Year Special notes
Ed Sullivan
Ed Sullivan
Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...

1959 On cover as golfer
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...

1959 Scuba diving
Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

1963 Owner of Cleveland Indians
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...

1964 Wearing a football uniform
Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...

1971 Riding a motorcycle
Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...

 and Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

1977 Promoting the film Semi-Tough
Semi-Tough
Semi-Tough is a 1977 film directed by Michael Ritchie and starring Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Lotte Lenya, Bert Convy, and Brian Dennehy. The plot involves a love triangle between the characters portrayed by Reynolds, Kristofferson and Clayburgh...

Big Bird
Big Bird
Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....

1977 On the cover with Mark Fidrych
Mark Fidrych
Mark Steven Fidrych , nicknamed "The Bird", was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched his entire career for the Detroit Tigers ....

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

1987 Caption on cover was Hot Stuff
Ice Cube
Ice Cube
O'Shea Jackson , better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer,...

1999 On cover with Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...

Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...

2000 Wearing Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

 hat
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...

2009 Caption: Stephen Colbert and his Nation save the Olympics
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...

 and Christian Bale
Christian Bale
Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....

2010 Promoting the film The Fighter
The Fighter
The Fighter is a 2010 biographical sports drama film directed by David O. Russell, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. The film centers on the life of professional boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund . The film also stars Amy Adams as...

Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

2011 Promoting the film Moneyball

Fathers and sons who have been featured on the cover
Father Son(s)
Archie Manning
Archie Manning
Elisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League, playing for the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982, then for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings...

Peyton
Peyton Manning
Peyton Williams Manning is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League . Manning holds the record for most NFL MVP awards with four. He was drafted by the Colts as the first overall pick in 1998 after a standout college football career with the...

 & Eli Manning
Eli Manning
Eli Nelson Manning is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning...

Calvin Hill
Calvin Hill
Calvin G. Hill is a retired American football running back who had a 12-year NFL career from 1969 to 1981. He played for the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns...

Grant Hill
Grant Hill (basketball)
Grant Henry Hill is an American professional basketball player who most recently played for the Phoenix Suns. As a collegian with Duke University and early in his professional career with the Detroit Pistons, Hill was widely considered to be one of the best all-around players in the game, often...

Bobby Hull
Bobby Hull
Robert Marvin "Bobby" Hull, OC is a former Canadian ice hockey player. He is regarded as one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time and perhaps the greatest left winger to ever play the game. Hull was famous for his blonde hair, blinding skating speed, and having the hardest shot, earning...

Brett Hull
Brett Hull
Brett Andrew Hull is a former Canadian-American NHL player and the former Executive Vice President of the Dallas Stars. He is the son of Bobby Hull and nephew of Dennis Hull, both former NHL players. Hull is also known as "The Golden Brett," which is a play off of his father's nickname, "The...

Bill Walton
Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while...

Luke Walton
Luke Walton
Luke Theodore Walton is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . His primary position is at small forward. After the 2010 NBA Finals, Walton and his father Hall of Famer Bill Walton became the first and only father and son to...

Jack Nicklaus
Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus , nicknamed "The Golden Bear", is an American professional golfer. He won 18 career major championships on the PGA Tour over a span of 25 years and is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional golfers of all time. In addition to his 18 Majors, he was runner-up a...

Gary Nicklaus
Phil Simms
Phil Simms
Phillip Martin "Phil" Simms is a former American football quarterback, and currently a television sportscaster for the CBS network. After a standout career at Morehead State University, Simms was drafted in the first round by the New York Giants of the National Football League with the number...

Chris Simms
Chris Simms
Christopher David Simms is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of in the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Texas.Simms has also played for the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers...

Dale Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt
Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was an American race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR...

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
* NOTE: References to "Earnhardt", "he", and "him" refer to the subject of this article, unless otherwise specified. References to his father will include "Sr."...

Cal Ripken, Sr.
Cal Ripken, Sr.
Calvin Edwin Ripken, Sr. was a coach and manager in Major League Baseball who spent 36 years in the Baltimore Orioles organization, also as a player and scout. He played in the Orioles' farm system beginning in 1957, and later served as manager of the parent club, on which his sons Cal Jr...

Cal Ripken, Jr.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Calvin Edwin "Cal" Ripken, Jr. , nicknamed "Iron Man", is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles ....

 & Billy Ripken
Billy Ripken
William Oliver Ripken is an American radio personality for XM Satellite Radio, a studio analyst for MLB Network's "MLB Tonight," and is a former infielder in Major League Baseball from –...

Mark McGwire
Mark McGwire
Mark David McGwire , nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball player who played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is currently the hitting coach for the St...

his son Matt
Drew Brees
Drew Brees
Drew Christopher Brees is a quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Purdue....

his son Baylen
Boomer Esiason
Boomer Esiason
Norman Julius "Boomer" Esiason is a former American football quarterback and current network color commentator. He played for the National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, and Arizona Cardinals before working as an analyst for ABC and HBO...

his son Gunnar
Chuck Liddell
Chuck Liddell
Charles David "Chuck" Liddell is a retired American mixed martial artist and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion. Liddell has an extensive striking background in Kempo, Koei-Kan karate and kickboxing, as well as a grappling background in collegiate wrestling.As of his...

his son Cade


Presidents who have been featured on the cover
President SI cover date Special notes
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

December 26, 1960 First Lady Jackie Kennedy
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...

 also on cover and Kennedy was President-Elect at the time of the cover.
Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

July 8, 1974 Cover came one month before President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 announced he would resign from the Presidency.
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

November 26, 1984 On cover with Georgetown Hoyas basketball coach John Thompson
John Thompson (basketball)
John R. Thompson, Jr. is an American former basketball coach for the Georgetown University Hoyas. He is now a professional radio and TV sports commentator...

 and Patrick Ewing
Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle...

Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

February 16, 1987 On cover with America's Cup
America's Cup
The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...

 champion Dennis Conner
Dennis Conner
Dennis Conner is an American yachtsman, noted for winning the bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and four wins in the America's Cup.-America's Cup:...

Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

March 21, 1994 On cover about the Arkansas college basketball team


Tribute covers (In Memoriam)
Athlete SI cover date Special notes
Len Bias
Len Bias
Leonard Kevin "Len" Bias was a first team All-American college basketball player at the University of Maryland. He was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft on June 17, but died two days later from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose...

June 30, 1986 Died of a cocaine overdose just after being drafted by the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...

Arthur Ashe
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was a professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States...

February 15, 1993 Tennis great and former US Open champion who died from AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

Reggie Lewis
Reggie Lewis
Reggie Lewis was an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Boston Celtics from 1987 to 1993.-Early life:...

August 9, 1993 Celtics player who died due to a heart defect
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...

August 21, 1995 Died after years of battling alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

Walter Payton
Walter Payton
Walter Jerry Payton was an American football running back who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League for thirteen seasons. Walter Payton was known around the NFL as "Sweetness". He is remembered as one of the most prolific running backs in the history of American football...

November 8, 1999 Died from rare liver disorder
Dale Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt
Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was an American race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR...

February 26, 2001 Died in a crash
Death of Dale Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt was an American race car driver who gained fame driving stock cars for NASCAR and winning seven championships. He was involved in a car accident during the last lap of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2001. He was taken to Halifax Medical Center,...

 on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Brittanie Cecil April 1, 2002 Fan killed as the result of being struck with a puck to the head while in the crowd at a Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio, United States. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...

 game
Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...

July 15, 2002 Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

 who died of cardiac arrest
Johnny Unitas
Johnny Unitas
John Constantine Unitas , known as Johnny Unitas or "Johnny U", and nicknamed "The Golden Arm", was a professional American football player in the 1950s through the 1970s, spending the majority of his career with the Baltimore Colts. He was a record-setting quarterback, and the National Football...

September 23, 2002 Baltimore Colts great
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....

 who died from heart attack
Pat Tillman
Pat Tillman
Corporal Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman Jr. was an American football player who left his professional career and enlisted in the United States Army in June 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. He joined the Army Rangers and served several tours in combat before he died in the...

May 3, 2004 Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 player who was killed in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

.
Ed Thomas
Ed Thomas
Ed Thomas was the high school football coach for Aplington-Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, Iowa. On June 24, 2009, Thomas was shot and killed in the football team's weight room. Ed Thomas's killer is Mark Becker, a 2004 Aplington-Parkersburg graduate and one of Thomas' former players...

July 6, 2009 Parkersburg, Iowa
Parkersburg, Iowa
Parkersburg is a city in Butler County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,870 in the 2010 census, a decline from 1,889 in the 2000 census. Parkersburg, although not the county seat, has the highest population of all the cities in Butler County....

 high school football coach that was gunned down by one of his former players on the morning of June 24, 2009.
John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...

June 14, 2010 UCLA Basketball coaching legend who died of natural causes at 99 years of age.

Photographers

  • Robert Beck
    Robert Beck
    Robert Beck may refer to:*Iceberg Slim , writer, real name Robert Beck*Robert J. Beck , scholar of international law and international relations*Robert Nason Beck , pioneer radiologist...

  • John Biever
  • Simon Bruty
  • Bill Eppridge
  • Bill Frakes
    Bill Frakes
    Bill Frakes is an American photographer who has been on the masthead of Sports Illustrated since 1993. In 2008, he cofounded Straw Hat Visuals, a Southern Media Company. Bill was born and raised in the ranch country of western Nebraska...

  • John Iacono

  • Walter Looss Jr.
  • Lynn Johnsom
  • David E. Klutho
  • Bob Martin
    Bob Martin
    Bob Martin may refer to:People:* Bob Martin , Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly* Bob Martin American basketball player* Bob Martin...

  • John W. McDonough
  • Manny Millan

  • Peter Read Miller
  • Bob Rosato
  • Chuck Solomn
  • Damian Strohmeyer
  • Al Tielemans


Spinoffs

Sports Illustrated has helped launched a number of related publishing ventures, including:
  • Sports Illustrated Kids magazine (circulation 950,000)
    • Launched in January 1989
    • Won the "Distinguished Achievement for Excellence in Educational Publishing" award 11 times
    • Won the "Parents' Choice Magazine Award" 7 times
  • Sports Illustrated Almanac annuals
    • Introduced in 1991
    • Yearly compilation of sports news and statistics in book form
  • SI.com sports news web site
  • Sports Illustrated Australia
    • Launched in 1992 and lasted 6 issues **
  • Sports Illustrated Canadian edition
    • Was created and published in Canada with US content from 1993 - 1995. Most of the issues appear to have the same cover except the say 'Canadian Edition'. These issues are numbered differently in the listing. A group of the Canadian issues have unique Canadian Athletes (hockey mostly) and all the Canadian issues may have some different article content. The advertising may also be Canadian centric.
  • Sports Illustrated Presents
    • Launched in 1989
    • This is their tribute and special edition issues that are sold both nationally or regionally as stand alone products. **Originally started with Super Bowl Tributes the product became a mainstay in 1993 with Alabama as the NCAA National Football Champions. Today multiple issues are released including regional releases of the NCAA, NBA, NFL, MLB champions along with special events or special people. Advertising deals are also done with Sports Illustrated Presents (Kelloggs).

    • Launched on July 17, 1997
    • Online version of the magazine and sports site for CNN.com
  • Sports Illustrated Women magazine (highest circulation 400,000)
    • Launched in March 2000
    • Ceased publication in December 2002 because of a weak advertising climate
  • Sports Illustrated on Campus magazine
    • Launched on September 4, 2003
    • Dedicated to college athletics and the sports interests of college students.
    • Distributed free on 72 college campuses through a network of college newspapers.
    • Circulation of one million readers between the ages of 18 and 24.
    • Ceased publication in December 2005 because of a weak advertising climate

See also

  • Sports Illustrated Kids
  • Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
    Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
    The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising....

  • List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover models
  • University of South Carolina steroid scandal
    University of South Carolina steroid scandal
    In October 1988, Sports Illustrated published a lengthy article on alleged steroid abuse in the football program at the University of South Carolina...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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