Category:
Sports
Sports
Renske Quax, 2-year-old billiards prodigy
It's impressive that this kid could hold a cue stick well enough to hit the ball at the age of two, let alone sinking shots. That's more coordinated than the 2-year-olds I've known.I couldn't find any media references to him after 1953. So I'm assuming that he didn't grow up to be a billiards pro.
Miami Herald - Nov 13, 1952
Info from Life magazine (May 18, 1953):
Barely a head taller than the billiard table in his grandfather's cafe in Haarlem, Holland, Renske Quax has played the game since before his second birthday last September, and is getting better by the day. His shots are set up but he holds his cue properly, chalks it as incessantly as a pro and is a miniature whiz at massé shots. After a good shot he applauds himself in mimicry of the cafegoers who stop in to watch him play. But when his game is off he throws tantrums, climbs on the table or starts tossing the balls around.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 03, 2023 -
Comments (3)
Category: Sports, Children, 1950s
Gloucester Cheese Roll Winner
The annual Gloucester Cheese Roll contest involves chasing a wheel of cheese down Cooper's Hill. The winner of this year's women's race was Delaney Irving of Canada. She won despite getting knocked unconscious while running (falling) down the hill.I had the chance to visit Cooper's Hill about ten years ago (not during the cheese roll, unfortunately), and I can attest that it's very steep — much steeper than it appears on videos such as the one below. The idea of trying to run down it seems suicidal to me.
More info: The Guardian
(Thanks to Gerald Sacks!)
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 31, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Sports
People Hunting
A version of 'the most dangerous game' that ends with licks and cuddles rather than death.
Montreal Star - Feb 2, 1976
Some searching turned up Walter Gilbey's old webpage on the Internet Archive, where he discussed what he called the "Isle of Man Bloodhounds Drag Hunt." A drag hunt (so I learned) is the term for a hunt in which bloodhounds chase after a person who is carrying something aromatic, such as aniseed. However, their noses are so good that they can (and often do) simply follow the scent of the person.
As of 2015, this Isle of Man Bloodhounds Drag Hunt was still taking place. See the March 2015 issue of the Isle of Man magazine (pgs 108-109).
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 16, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Sports, 1970s
Lying Start
I've never seen a race start like this. I'm assuming the "lying start" must no longer be practiced.This is a racing start in Germany. The German enthusiasm for things military is even in evidence at a sports meet held in the Berlin Tiergarten Stadium recently by the Sport-Union of the German Officers Union. Competitors in the 100-meter dash are seen at the start of the race as they made a "lying-start," in accordance to the military form of field service. 7/10/33
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 10, 2023 -
Comments (5)
Category: Sports, 1930s
Milk-Drinking Contest
1928: Manly competition at the Hoover Vacuum Cleaner Company's employee picnicA milk drinking contest, conducted in the good old fashioned way, right out of a nursing bottle with a rubber nipple
Omaha Evening Bee-News - May 28, 1928
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 09, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Sports, 1920s
Mystery Illustration 110
Why is this lad soaking his feet?The answer is here.
Or after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 05, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Sports, 1950s
The boxer who knocked himself out
According to boxing lore, back in the 1930s C.D. "Bigboy" Blalock of Louisiana State University managed to accidentally knock himself out, with his own punch.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Feb 12, 1973
I've managed to confirm that C.D. Blalock was, in fact, a boxer on the LSU team (see clipping below). Apparently he was the heavyweight champion of the southeastern conference in 1934. But I can't find any contemporary coverage of his self-knockout. Which seems odd. I would have thought the press would have given something like that plenty of coverage.
Alexandria Daily Town Talk - Apr 2, 1932
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 26, 2023 -
Comments (0)
Category: Sports, 1930s
Sydna Yokley, Rodeo Prodigy
Sydna--seen here in a 1939 LIFE magazine feature--debuted on the rodeo circuit at age 12. She had an outstanding career (see her FIND A GRAVE obit) but died young--under the hooves of her favorite horse.
A nice write-up of her life here.
A 1977 retrospective feature here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 13, 2023 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Regionalism, Sports, North America, Twentieth Century
Egg Blowing
According to Life magazine (Dec 15, 1952), in the early 1950s the sport of egg blowing (Eieren Blazen) was all the rage in Holland.
The rules of the game:
The game is played with an empty eggshell, windpower and a billiard table with two goal nets at each end. Each team has five players, one of whom acts as goalkeeper. Other team members sit along the sides. The referee places the eggshell in the center of the table and after that it is a blowing free-for-all to get it into the opposing team's net. Players must sit on their hands throughout the game and must keep from touching the egg with their lips. Breaking these rules gives the opposing team a free blow at the goal.
I can't find any references to the game beyond this one article in Life.
I can see why it would be an amusing game at parties. But probably not appropriate for the age of Covid.
"Players and spectators go into convulsions of laughter as a woman blows so hard at egg that she blows out her false teeth on the table"
Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 03, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Sports, Eggs, 1950s
Chess Football
Patent No. 5558335. Pretty much like regular chess, but inside a simulated football stadium.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 12, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Sports, Patents
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