Nicknamed “Broadway Joe,” the leaping athlete you see in this image was a massive icon in 60s football. The quarterback was known for leading his team to victory in Super Bowl III and turned his talents to sports broadcasting and acting. Probably a good thing because, while his feats of athleticism were incredible, he was also known for being injured on a worryingly frequent basis, particularly in the latter part of his career.
Along with the incredible heights, he was able to leap to, Namath was known for his powerhouse of an arm: the perfect combination for a quarterback. Everyone has a weakness, though and, for Broadway Joe, it was his knees. Given how weak they were, powerful jumps like the one you see in this picture were, sadly, a rarity.
Don't Mess with Vasily Alexeyev
This is a photograph of Russian weightlifter, Vasily Alexeyev. He wasn’t as big as most super heavyweights, so when he was just starting up, his trainer would encourage him to add more weight in order to gain more strength. Vasily Alexeyev trained with a personal coach until 1968.
This photograph was shot in 1970. Remarkably, he was able to clean & jerk 500 pounds in official competition, the first man ever to do so in that year. He set a total of 80 world records and is considered to be the greatest weightlifter in history.
A Strange Trio
This crazy picture features a massive Arnold Schwarzenegger looking like a kid swinging on the arms of Andre the Giant and Wilt Chamberlain. It was shared with the world by a Reddit user who goes by the handle qw1k1lv3r. We’ll leave you to piece together what that spells out. Attached to the picture was this message: “André the Giant was known to pay for his meal, regardless of whether he was the host or the guest. As Arnold Schwarzenegger was about to pay for the meal, [he] found himself being physically lifted, carried back to his table, and deposited in his seat by Andre, who stated emphatically, ‘I pay.’”
Arnie actually popped up on the Reddit thread to confirm this story, explaining, “This story is basically true. It is missing Wilt Chamberlain’s involvement, which was never paying and then acting like he had planned to pay this time, and helping Andre carry me all the way outside to drop me on a car.” And here’s another piece of Arnie trivia you’ll love: the star actually pops up on Reddit threads pretty regularly, usually offering advice to people who are just starting with exercise. How sweet is that?
A Star Among His Fans
At first glance, this picture looks like it’s nothing more than a shot of a packed crowd of sports fans. Yet, if you look closer, there’s a gem hidden in that sea of humanity. Can you spot the grinning visage of Babe Ruth in the middle of the crowd? Ruth was like no other sports star in so many respects. As it turns out, being happy to mingle with many fans was yet another way the brilliantly talented baseball legend stood out from his colleagues.
This photo was taken in 1926, a season that would go down as Ruth’s most successful. Perhaps he knew something his competitors didn’t? Maybe joining the crowd and soaking up their frenetic energy somehow charged his batteries up, allowing him to outshine the teams he came up against.
Climbing Up the Goal
Well, well, well. What do we have here? The year is 1968; the time is right after a match between Italy and Yugoslavia. As you can see, the Italian fans are excited because of their team's victory, so they are climbing up the goal.
Is that safe? Probably not. But is it fun? We bet that it is. This picture truly captures the WC spirit. And amazingly, this wasn't even a World Cup match. It was the final of the European Championships, which is basically the World Cup, but only for European nations. So yeah, Italy won the final and the fans went nuts.