Phil Martelli
Phil Martelli spent half his life at Saint Joseph’s University. His father, also Phil, spent nearly as much time as his son in Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse/Hagan Arena. When Coach Phil was told he was going to be in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022, the first person he thought of was his […]
Rollie Massimino
Throughout the glory days of the Big 5, only one team “the 1954 La Salle Explorers with Tom Gola“ had won an NCAA tournament.—————— And that was two years before the City Series was formed. All five schools had advanced to the Final Fours but there remained a constant series of missed and voided opportunities […]
Nikki Franke
Dr. Nikki Franke put the finishing touches on an amazing 50-year career with her recent retirement as Temple University’s head fencing coach. Franke brought national attention to the Owls’ fencing program, and now receives well-deserved recognition for her longevity and coaching prowess with her induction into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. Franke is Temple […]
Art McNally
It is an old-fashioned accountant’s ledger that McNally bought when he was moonlighting as a referee in Philadelphia shortly after his 1946 discharge from the Marine Corps. Every time McNally worked a game, he entered it in The Book. The date, the teams, the site, the fee, even the names of the other officials. McNally […]
Francis “Reds” Bagnell
In the late 1940s, the University of Pennsylvania football team was a nationally ranked independent playing a big-time schedule that included Penn State, Virginia, Wisconsin, and California. The Quakers filled Franklin Field weekly, with home attendance doubling that of the NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles. The star of that Penn team was Francis “Reds” Bagnell, a […]
The Legendary Blue Horizon
The Blue Horizon has the reputation as one of the best places to hold boxing matches in Philadelphia, the USA, or anywhere else, ever. However, it took time for the intimate fight club to attain this standing. With a modest 1,300-seat capacity, the “Blue” was merely a local fight club geared toward smaller bouts. Bigger […]
Ed Bolden
Born in 1881, Ed Bolden ranks among the most important leaders in Philadelphia’s sports history. Bolden devoted most of his life to baseball and provided young Black men with opportunities not available to them in the Major Leagues. Through his work with the Darby-based Hilldale franchise, Bolden made the Philadelphia region a premiere region for […]
Ray Kelly
Raymond Kelly was a stocky, cigarette smoking sportswriter who covered Philadelphia baseball for more than three decades. He was known as “The Dean” of American baseball writers. During his 52-year career with The Philadelphia Bulletin, Kelly rose from a 16-year-old copyboy to a veteran reporter who covered the Philadelphia Athletics from 1948 until 1955 and […]
Keith Allen
Keith Allen’s contribution to the Flyers far outlasted his time as GM. And it continues today. Because of the quality and the color of the Broad Street Bullies team that he put together, the Flyers have fans everywhere, a fact reflected by how much orange you see in the stands when our team is on […]
1983 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers had been bridesmaids long enough, decided 76ers owner Harold Katz in the wake of losing the 1982 Finals. They had fallen to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and the L.A. Lakers in six games, making it the third time in six years that they had been stopped just short of the NBA’s mountaintop. […]