Chris Berman
SportsCentury (1999)
Season 1
SportsCentury is an ESPN biography program that reviews the people and athletic events that defined sports in North America throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1999, ESPN counted down the Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century, selected from North American athletes and voted on by a panel of sports journalists and observers, premiering a new biography highlighting each top athlete every week throughout the year. The episodes for the top two athletes, Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, appeared on a special combined edition broadcast on Christmas Day on ABC. The top two names were announced in no particular order, and the final positioning was announced at the conclusion of the two episodes. An additional list of numbers 51-100 were announced on the ESPN SportsCentury website. Themed specials such as Greatest Games, Greatest Coaches, Greatest Dynasties, and Most Influential Individuals were premiered throughout the year, as well as six SportsCenter of the Decade programs. After the initial run was complete, the episodes were rerun at various times on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. The original plan for the series was to expand to include #51-#100. Ultimately, the series featured nearly every athlete from #51-#100, and numerous other personalities, especially those who were recently deceased, or notable for more recent accomplishments.
Released Jan. 21, 1999
Episode 30 min
None+
Genres: Biography, Documentary, History
Keywords: imdb.acronym-in-title
Network: ESPN Classic
Country: United States
Languages:
English
S1E0 - Casey Stengel
Oct. 3, 2000, midnight
S1E1 - 1900-49
The SportsCentury begins with this two-hour reflection of the major sports events that endeared themselves to the American conscience in the first half of the 20th Century. Dave Anderson, Dick Schaap, and Curt Gowdy sit around newspaper offices as the ""hosts"" in this newsreel-type retrospective.
Jan. 21, 1999, midnight
S1E2 - No. 50 -- Chris Evert
Jan. 22, 1999, midnight
S1E3 - No. 49 -- O.J. Simpson
Jan. 29, 1999, midnight
S1E4 - No. 48 -- Pete Sampras
Feb. 5, 1999, midnight
S1E5 - No. 47 -- Edwin Moses
Feb. 12, 1999, midnight
S1E6 - No. 46 -- Eric Heiden
Feb. 19, 1999, midnight
S1E7 - No. 45 -- Bill Tilden
Feb. 26, 1999, midnight
S1E8 - SportsCenter of the Decade: 1950s
March 9, 1999, midnight
S1E9 - No. 44 -- Bobby Jones
March 12, 1999, midnight
S1E10 - No. 43 -- Julius Erving
March 19, 1999, midnight
S1E11 - No. 42 -- Sandy Koufax
April 2, 1999, midnight
S1E12 - No. 41 -- Wilma Rudolph
April 9, 1999, midnight
S1E13 - No. 40 -- Lawrence Taylor
April 16, 1999, midnight
S1E14 - No. 39 -- Walter Payton
April 23, 1999, midnight
S1E15 - No. 38 -- Ben Hogan
April 30, 1999, midnight
S1E16 - No. 37 -- Mickey Mantle
May 7, 1999, midnight
S1E17 - SportsCenter of the Decade: 1960s
May 21, 1999, midnight
S1E18 - No. 36 -- Oscar Robertson
May 14, 1999, midnight
S1E19 - The Greatest Coaches of the Century
May 22, 1999, midnight
S1E20 - No. 35 -- Secretariat
May 21, 1999, midnight
S1E21 - Most Influential People in Sports
Counts down the ten non-athletes who left the greatest impact on the sports world in the 20th Century. Profiles include: Walter O'Malley, Branch Rickey, Pette Rozelle, David Stern, Roone Arledge, and Marvin Miller.
May 23, 1999, midnight
S1E22 - Greatest Dynasties
The teams that dominated their sport–the New York Yankees, Boston Celtics, Montréal Canadiens, UCLA Bruins, Notre Dame Fighting Irish–are profiled. So are the Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Bulls, and San Francisco 49ers.
May 30, 1999, midnight
S1E23 - No. 34 -- Lou Gehrig
May 28, 1999, midnight
S1E24 - No. 33 -- Mark Spitz
June 4, 1999, midnight
S1E25 - Greatest Games
June 5, 1999, midnight
S1E26 - No. 32 -- Johnny Unitas
June 11, 1999, midnight
S1E27 - No. 31 -- Bobby Orr
June 18, 1999, midnight
S1E28 - No. 30 -- Larry Bird
June 25, 1999, midnight
S1E29 - SportsCenter of the Decade: 1970s
July 9, 1999, midnight
S1E30 - No. 29 -- Arnold Palmer
July 2, 1999, midnight
S1E31 - No. 28 -- Red Grange
July 9, 1999, midnight
S1E32 - No. 27 -- Jerry Rice
July 16, 1999, midnight
S1E33 - No. 26 -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
July 23, 1999, midnight
S1E34 - No. 25 -- Joe Montana
July 30, 1999, midnight
S1E35 - No. 24 -- Sugar Ray Robinson
July 30, 1999, midnight
S1E36 - No. 23 -- Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Aug. 6, 1999, midnight
S1E37 - No. 22 -- Joe DiMaggio
Aug. 20, 1999, midnight
S1E38 - SportsCenter of the Decade: 1980s
Sept. 17, 1999, midnight
S1E39 - No. 21 -- Gordie Howe
Sept. 3, 1999, midnight
S1E40 - No. 20 -- Ty Cobb
Sept. 17, 1999, midnight
S1E41 - No. 19 -- Martina Navratilova
Sept. 24, 1999, midnight
S1E42 - No. 18 -- Bill Russell
Oct. 1, 1999, midnight
S1E43 - No. 17 -- Magic Johnson
Oct. 8, 1999, midnight
S1E44 - No. 16 -- Ted Williams
Oct. 8, 1999, midnight
S1E45 - No. 15 -- Jackie Robinson
Oct. 15, 1999, midnight
S1E46 - No. 14 -- Hank Aaron
Oct. 29, 1999, midnight
S1E47 - No. 13 -- Wilt Chamberlain
Oct. 29, 1999, midnight
S1E48 - No. 12 -- Carl Lewis
Nov. 5, 1999, midnight
S1E49 - No. 11 -- Joe Louis
Nov. 19, 1999, midnight
S1E50 - No. 10 -- Babe Didrikson
Dec. 3, 1999, midnight
S1E51 - No. 9 -- Jack Nicklaus
Dec. 3, 1999, midnight
S1E52 - No. 8 -- Willie Mays
Dec. 10, 1999, midnight
S1E53 - No. 7 -- Jim Thorpe
Dec. 10, 1999, midnight
S1E54 - No. 6 -- Jesse Owens
Dec. 17, 1999, midnight
S1E55 - No. 5 -- Wayne Gretzky
Dec. 17, 1999, midnight
S1E56 - No. 4 -- Jim Brown
Dec. 24, 1999, midnight
S1E57 - No. 3 -- Muhammad Ali
Dec. 24, 1999, midnight
S1E58 - No. 2 -- Babe Ruth
Dec. 26, 1999, midnight
S1E59 - No. 1 -- Michael Jordan
Dec. 26, 1999, midnight
S1E60 - SportsCenter of the Decade: 1990s
March 26, 2000, midnight
S1E61 - Yogi Berra
Oct. 13, 2003, midnight
S1E62 - Derek Jeter
Oct. 17, 2003, midnight
S1E63 - Brian Piccolo
A profile of the late Brian Piccolo, the 1964 ACC Player of the Year at Wake Forest and later a member of the Chicago Bears, where he formed a friendship with Gale Sayers that was depicted in the 1971 film “Brian's Song.” Piccolo died of cancer in 1970.
Nov. 2, 2001, midnight
S1E64 - Brian Piccolo
Nov. 2, 2001, midnight
S1E102 - No. 50 - Chris Evert
Jan. 22, 1999, midnight
S1E103 - Joe DiMaggio
July 10, 2000, midnight
S1E104 - Willie Mays
July 25, 2000, midnight
S1E105 - Billy Martin
Aug. 7, 2000, midnight
S1E106 - Don Larsen
Oct. 23, 2000, midnight
ESPN Classic
30 min/ep
30 min
Jan. 21, 1999
May 31, 2005, midnight
Ended
NR
Action
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