1973 SUPERSTARS
In 1948, a Massachusetts high school student named Dick Button went to St. Moritz, Switzerland and captured the Olympic gold medal in men's figure skating. Early the following year, the A.A.U. selected Button as the recipient of the Sullivan Award as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete. Button saw this as incongruous as he knew he was the worst athlete in his prep school class, "I was nonplussed. I was a terrible athlete." This planted a seed in young Button's mind that there must be a way to find the best all-around athlete. Fast forward 25 years, Button has become a Harvard law school graduate and influential television analyst. He started his own production company, Candid Productions, which produced made-for-television figure skating events. Button had been shopping the idea of a professional athletes' decathlon to the three major network sports departments with no success. Button eventually got in touch with Fram Oil Filters who agreed to underwrite half the sponsorship costs. ABC had lost the rights to the NBA, so they needed some weekend sports programming. ABC bought the idea and the first competition was scheduled as a two-hour, one-shot special.
The initial competition was slated to be held in the planned community of Rotonda, Florida. Each of the ten athletes invited would get a quarter acre piece of land in Rotonda worth $8,500 as well as his prize money. Mark McCormack's International Management Group agency represented all of the athletes originally scheduled to appear, the television people had a hand in choosing the competitors and the program was produced by IMG's broadcast wing Trans World International. The idea of selecting the competitors was to select ten athletes from the ten most popular television spectator sports. The ten sports would be baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, auto racing, boxing, tennis, bowling (which was very popular on ABC-TV Saturday afternoons), golf and horse racing. Each of the ten athletes would select seven of ten events to compete in and would be barred from competing in their own specialty. The natural selection for golf was Jack Nicklaus, but he declined feeling that he would not do well. Arnold Palmer declined due to his age. Gary Player was selected and ready to compete. Horse racing's Willie Shoemaker had to back out, so he was replaced with triple Olympic gold medalist Jean-Claude Killy who had just started a new professional skiing circuit. When Gary Player was sidelined due to surgery, Olympic pole vault champion Bob Seagren, who had been lobbying to be included since he had heard about the idea, was invited as the tenth athlete. Seagren was to start competition in the newly formed International Track Association, a professional track and field league, the following month. Ice hockey's initial representative, Stan Mikita of the Chicago Black Hawks, fractured a bone in his heel and was replaced by New York Ranger Rod Gilbert. Once the idea of the competition got out, many athletes like Seagren wanted in. American League MVP Dick Allen's agent contacted the organizers a week before the event, but there was no room as Johnny Bench was already on board.
The competition was scheduled for February 19th and 20th, 1973 and would be broadcast on Sunday, February 25. The developers, Cavanagh Communities Corporation, who had given each athlete a plot of land in Rotonda hosted a banquet for the athletes in the home of their vice-president, Ed McMahon on The Tonight Show. Rotonda had seven golf courses and the athletes were given what seemed to be a sales pitch to buy land in a soon-to-be resort community. Many of the athletes had to attend in the midst of their competitive seasons, including Hayes, Gilbert, Killy and Laver. The prepation of the athletes was varied. Johnny Bench had recently had off-season lung surgery; Elvin Hayes had his nose broken by Jim Barnett of the Golden State Warriors several days earlier and was wearing a large bandage. The one man who was prepared more than any of the others was the one who had never before competed for money.
The competition began with ABC's Jim McKay introducing the "Superstars at the summit." The very first event ever held in Superstars was to provide one the most indelible moments in Superstars history. The swimming heats were the first event to be contested. Each heat was 50 meters, or two laps of the 25 meter pool. The top two finishers in each heat would advance to the final along with the fastest third place finisher. As Revson, Seagren, Killy and Frazier lined up for the start, no one was quite sure what to expect. There had never been the likes of Superstars competition before. The gun sounded and the four athletes dove into the pool. Joe Frazier did what is best described as a belly flop and it became quickly evident that Frazier did not know how to swim. As the rest of the swimmers were in a close competition to win the heat (Revson won it), Frazier was desperately doggie paddling to reach the 25 meter mark and grab onto the wall. Frazier did complete the 50 meters, but in more than double the time of the other competitors. Apparently, he did not realize that he could not swim.
The bike race heats were up next, even though the final was to be the last event of the competition. The bikes were three speed recreational bikes, rather than ten speed racing bikes. Johnny Bench's bike broke underneath him. Even though he was granted a re-race against the clock, he finished 0.8 seconds from qualifying for a spot in the final. Auto racer Peter Revson took the early lead with wins in the first two events, swimming and tennis. Bowler Jim Stefanich won the golf event over Johnny Bench by one stroke, with Rod Laver in close pursuit. Bench won the bowling with an unspectacular score of 131. The final event of the first day was weight lifting. Joe Frazier was the favorite, but he displayed absolutely no technique in lifting the bar from his chest in the top half of a clean-and-jerk. With his footwork uncertain and an asymmetrical grip on the bar, Frazier was only able to muster a lift of 160 pounds, good for second place. Bob Seagren displayed superior technique and captured the weight lifting for the first of his four event victories. Revson led after day one with 23 points to Bench's 21 and Seagren's 17.
Seagren was a surprise winner of the baseball hitting event, while Rod Laver easily won the table tennis event to nobody's surprise. Seagren was barred from the 100 yard dash as it was deemed too close to his specialty, but he did capture the half mile run easily to secure the overall title. Seagren also captured the bike race to extend his margin of victory to 21 points. Seagren took his winning share, his first ever money earned from sport, and promptly bought a new house which had previously been out of the price range of Seagren and his wife, Cam. Seagren's pole vault rival, Steve Smith was unimpressed, "They're just a bunch of guys who have been paid to retire. They've talked to me and so far I'm not interested. If they offer me ten times as much money as Seagren, I might be interested." Smith would compete in the Superstars in 1975 and earn $11,000. Seagren would compete for years to come and earn a total of $206,900.
Reaction was good, especially in terms of television ratings. ABC was more than happy with the telecast, and returned in 1974 with five weeks worth of Superstars. The golf event did not come across well on television and the table tennis was quickly eliminated, being replaced with an event that would become a signature of Superstars, the obstacle course. The idea seemed sure to grow as ABC producer Don Ohlmeyer asked, "How would it be if O.J. Simpson and John Havlicek were added to the list next year." Well, that's exactly what happened, the Superstars was just about to explode.
Rotonda West, Florida
Competition Dates: February 19 & 20, 1973
Air Date: February 25, 1973
Announcer: Jim McKay
| PLC. NAME, SPORT |
TEN |
GOLF |
SWIM |
BOWL |
WL |
BBH |
TT |
100 |
HALF |
BIKE |
TOTAL |
MONEY |
| 1. Bob Seagren, Pole Vault |
0 |
x |
7 |
x |
10 |
10 |
2 |
x |
10 |
10 |
49 |
$39,700 |
| 2. Jean-Claude Killy, Alpine Skiing |
x |
1 |
4 |
x |
3 |
x |
7 |
7 |
2 |
4 |
28 |
$23,400 |
| 3. Rod Laver, Tennis |
x |
4 |
2 |
0 |
x |
x |
10 |
4 |
0 |
7 |
27 |
$13,100 |
| 3. Peter Revson, Auto Racing |
10 |
x |
10 |
x |
3 |
0 |
x |
2 |
1 |
1 |
27 |
$13,100 |
| 5. Johnny Bench, Baseball |
4 |
7 |
0 |
10 |
x |
x |
1 |
x |
4 |
0 |
26 |
$7,800 |
| 6. Elvin Hayes, Basketball |
2 |
x |
x |
4 |
x |
1 |
0 |
10 |
7 |
0 |
24 |
$7,200 |
| 7. Rod Gilbert, Ice Hockey |
7 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
x |
5 1/2 |
0 |
x |
0 |
x |
17 1/2 |
$5,250 |
| 7. Jim Stefanich, Bowling |
1 |
10 |
x |
x |
1 |
5 1/2 |
0 |
x |
0 |
0 |
17 1/2 |
$5,250 |
| 9. Joe Frazier, Boxing |
x |
x |
0 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
x |
1 |
0 |
2 |
12 |
$3,600 |
| 9. Johnny Unitas, Football |
0 |
x |
0 |
7 |
x |
1 |
4 |
x |
0 |
0 |
12 |
$3,600 |
INDIVIDUAL EVENT RESULTS
SWIMMING (50 meters) - heat 1
| 1. Peter Revson |
32.95 |
| 2. Jean-Claude Killy |
33.99 |
| 3. Bob Seagren |
34.63 |
| 4. Joe Frazier |
1:42.05 |
SWIMMING (50 meters) - heat 2
| 1. Rod Laver |
38.77 |
| 2. Rod Gilbert |
41.62 |
| 3. Johnny Unitas |
48.47 |
| 4. Johnny Bench |
dq* (40.30) |
BIKE RACE (quarter mile) - heat 1
| 1. Joe Frazier |
1:24.5e |
| 2. Rod Laver |
1:24.7e |
| 3. Peter Revson |
1:25.0e |
| 4. Jim Stefanich |
N/A |
| 5. Johnny Unitas |
1:44.9e |
BIKE RACE (quarter mile) - heat 2
| 1. Bob Seagren |
1:24.1e |
| 2. Jean-Claude Killy |
1:24.8e |
| 3. Elvin Hayes |
1:34.5e |
| 4. Johnny Bench |
dnf |
BIKE RACE (quarter mile) - re-race
| 1. Johnny Bench |
1:25.8e |
TENNIS
| 1. Peter Revson |
10 |
| 2. Rod Gilbert |
7 |
| 3. Johnny Bench |
4 |
| 4. Elvin Hayes |
2 |
| 5. Jim Stefanich |
1 |
| 6. Bob Seagren |
0 |
| 7. Johnny Unitas |
0 |
| Hayes def. Stefanich |
7-5 |
| Gilbert def. Unitas |
6-0 |
| Bench def. Seagren |
6-1 |
| Gilbert def. Bench |
N/A |
| Revson def. Hayes |
N/A |
| Revson def. Gilbert |
6-1 |
GOLF - 9 holes
| 1. Jim Stefanich |
41 |
| 2. Johnny Bench |
42 |
| 3. Rod Laver |
N/A |
| 4. Rod Gilbert |
52 |
| 5. Jean-Claude Killy |
55 |
SWIMMING (100 Meters) - final
| 1. Peter Revson |
1:18.20 |
| 2. Bob Seagren |
1:20.29 |
| 3. Jean-Claude Killy |
1:26.7e |
| 4. Rod Laver |
N/A |
| 5. Rod Gilbert |
dnf |
BOWLING
| 1. Johnny Bench |
131 |
| 2. Johnny Unitas |
124 |
| 3. Elvin Hayes |
123 |
| 4. Rod Gilbert |
112 |
| 5. Joe Frazier |
108 |
| 6. Rod Laver |
107 |
WEIGHT LIFTING
| 1. Bob Seagren |
170 |
| 2. Joe Frazier |
160 |
| 3. Jean-Claude Killy |
140 |
| 3. Peter Revson |
140 |
| 5. Jim Stefanich |
120 |
BASEBALL HIT
| 1. Bob Seagren |
8 |
| 2. Rod Gilbert |
7 |
| 2. Jim Stefanich |
7 |
| 4. Joe Frazier |
5 |
| 4. Elvin Hayes |
5 |
| 4. Johnny Unitas |
5 |
| 7. Peter Revson |
N/A |
TABLE TENNIS
| 1. Rod Laver |
10 |
| 2. Jean Claude Killy |
7 |
| 3. Johnny Unitas |
4 |
| 4. Bob Seagren |
2 |
| 5. Johnny Bench |
1 |
| 6. Jim Stefanich |
0 |
| 7. Elvin Hayes |
0 |
| 8. Rod Gilbert |
0 |
| Killy def. Stefanich |
21-13 |
| Unitas def. Bench |
22-20 |
| Seagren def. Hayes |
21-10 |
| Laver def. Gilbert |
21-8 |
| Killy def. Unitas |
21-13 |
| Laver def. Seagren |
21-2 |
| Laver def. Killy |
11-0 |
100 YARD DASH
| 1. Elvin Hayes |
11.5 |
| 2. Jean-Claude Killy |
11.7 |
| 3. Rod Laver |
12.8 |
| 4. Peter Revson |
12.9 |
| 5. Joe Frazier |
13.5 |
HALF MILE RUN
| 1. Bob Seagren |
2:22.5 |
| 2. Elvin Hayes |
2:30.0 |
| 3. Johnny Bench |
2:33.3 |
| 4. Jean-Claude Killy |
2:35.0e |
| 5. Peter Revson |
2:36.6e |
BIKE RACE (mile) - final
| 1. Bob Seagren |
3:19.05 |
| 2. Rod Laver |
3:22.6e |
| 3. Jean-Claude Killy |
3:22.8e |
| 4. Joe Frazier |
3:23.7e |
| 5. Peter Revson |
N/A |
e = estimated time
r = Superstars record
N/A = result not available
dnf - did not finish
nm - no mark