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Past Our Prime

Past Our Prime

Von: Scott Johnston
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Growing up on boxscores, the Game of the Week, and Sports Illustrated, three longtime Sports TV Producers reflect back on the world of sports through the lens of old issues of SI from 50 years ago. Larry Csonka and the Dolphins; Reggie Jackson and The Swinging A's; The Wizard of Westwood; The Golden Bear and Muhammad Ali are just a few of the many heroes showcased weekly by Scott, Bill and Marc on the Past Our Prime podcast. Stay up to date on what happened in the past as they go back in time and return to the glory days of sports week by week, issue by issue of Sports Illustrated starting in January of 1974 American Football Baseball & Softball
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  • 138. Dewey Selmon: Losing Seasons, Lasting Wisdom

    138. Dewey Selmon: Losing Seasons, Lasting Wisdom
    Aug 23 2026
    The August 23, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated — titled "The Buccaneers Come Aboard" — put Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Steve Spurrier on the cover, marking the very first Sports Illustrated appearance for the fledgling expansion franchise. The cover photo, shot by Heinz Kluetmeier, captured Spurrier in action during a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers in Milwaukee. By that point, Spurrier — the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner who'd spent nearly a decade with the San Francisco 49ers — was in his lone season as an NFL player with Tampa Bay, part of Coach John McKay's roster for the winless inaugural 1976 campaign, before Spurrier's playing career wound down and his far more decorated coaching career began. Dewey Selmon was part of that historic inaugural roster alongside Spurrier, joining the expansion franchise as one of its foundational defensive pieces after a standout career at Oklahoma, where he and younger brother Lee Roy anchored back-to-back national championship defenses in 1974 and 1975. While Lee Roy became the Buccaneers' most iconic and decorated player, earning Hall of Fame induction, Dewey carved out his own respected role as a steady, physical presence on the defensive line during those brutal early expansion years, when the winless 1976 Bucs were still searching for any semblance of cohesion under head coach John McKay. Selmon's Tampa Bay tenure placed him squarely within one of the more unusual chapters in NFL history — a team that went 0-14 in its debut season but whose young core, including both Selmon brothers, helped build the foundation for the franchise's eventual playoff breakthrough just a few years later. Dewey joins Past Our Prime to reflect on a career and life shaped by both triumph and hardship, starting with Lee Roy, the No. 1 overall pick who became the face of the franchise. Dewey speaks candidly about what those brutal early losing seasons taught him about resilience and self-knowledge, crediting his eventual Ph.D. in philosophy with giving him the intellectual and emotional framework to endure not just the team's first 26 losses, but the far more devastating loss of Lee Roy himself years later. He reflects on John McKay as exactly the right leader for that moment in franchise history, someone whose steady, wry perspective helped a struggling expansion team survive its darkest days, and he shares warm memories of Steve Spurrier, praising him as both a tremendous teammate and an even better person during those formative Tampa Bay years. All of that and more when the great Dewey Selmon goes Past Our Prime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 Std. und 37 Min.
  • 137. Jean Fugett: NFL Pro Bowler, reporter, lawyer and much more.

    137. Jean Fugett: NFL Pro Bowler, reporter, lawyer and much more.
    Aug 16 2026
    The August 16, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated featured Calvin Hill on the cover under the headline "The Redskins Shop for a Super Bowl," a nod to George Allen's expensive off-season spending spree that brought Hill, John Riggins, Jean Fugett, and Pat Sullivan to Washington in pursuit of a championship. Photographed by Neil Leifer, the cover captured Hill mid-action against the Baltimore Colts, fitting given that his preseason performance against Baltimore was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise rocky exhibition slate for the newly star-studded Redskins. Hill, a former Cowboys standout and Yale product, was seen as the steadiest of Allen's "Rich Four" additions, and the issue captured a Washington team loaded with talent and expectations but still searching for cohesion — a storyline that mirrored the very real growing pains chronicled in that period's Redskins training camp coverage. Jean Fugett was a standout tight end who played for both the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins during the 1970s, part of that same "Rich Four" free-agent class alongside Riggins, Hill, and Sullivan. A graduate of Amherst, Fugett brought a rare dual identity to the NFL — while playing out his option with the Cowboys, he had already begun building a career in journalism, working as a straight news reporter covering Maryland for The Washington Post and even setting up a Black news radio program during his time in Dallas. He left Dallas in part to reconnect with his hometown roots in Baltimore, telling reporters he wanted to "set down some roots" both for himself and his family, and he balanced his NFL career with genuine ambitions in the written word, hoping to communicate directly with Black kids through journalism in a way he felt television news could not. Fugett joins us on Past Our Prime to take us inside the Cowboys and Redskins of the 1970s, sharing firsthand insight on the Roger Staubach–Craig Morton quarterback dynamic under Tom Landry and the strategic thinking behind Dallas's use of the shotgun formation and the famous "Landry shift" up front. He offers a revealing comparison between Landry's buttoned-up, systems-driven approach and George Allen's very different, veteran-trusting style in Washington, giving listeners a rare look at two of the era's most contrasting coaching philosophies from someone who played for both. He also opens up about the remarkable balancing act of his own career, working as a reporter for The Washington Post and CBS News while still an active NFL player, before later attending night classes at George Washington University to earn his law degree while still suiting up on Sundays — all while speaking warmly about teammates like John Riggins, Calvin Hill, Cornell Green, and Herb Adderley. The Redskins-Cowboys rivalry was at its best in the '70s, and Jean Fugett shares, in the only way he can, what it was like to be in the middle of it all on Past Our Prime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 Std. und 27 Min.
  • 136. Mitch Kupchak: Going for Gold

    136. Mitch Kupchak: Going for Gold
    Aug 9 2026
    The August 9, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated closed out the magazine's Montreal Olympics coverage with the headline "Awrright! Bruce Jenner Wins Big" on the cover, capturing Jenner celebrating after his dramatic decathlon victory — a performance that included a world-record total and would go on to define his public identity for decades to come, eventually becoming, in the magazine's own words, "collateral" for a life of endorsements, appearances, and fame. The same issue carried extensive coverage of American athletes across the Games' final events, including a deep look at the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team, which went undefeated en route to gold under Dean Smith, avenging the controversial 1972 loss to the Soviet Union with a disciplined, deliberately low-ego roster that included future NBA standouts like Adrian Dantley, Phil Ford, and Quinn Buckner. Together, Jenner's individual triumph and the basketball team's collective one bookended a Sports Illustrated wrap-up of a Montreal Games defined as much by singular American stars as by unified team performances. Mitch Kupchak was a key contributor to that undefeated U.S. men's basketball team, helping the Americans capture gold under Smith's disciplined coaching. Considered by some critics a consolation choice at center after several bigger-name college stars passed on the Olympics, Kupchak silenced doubters with steady, physical play in the post, part of a deliberately even-tempered, team-first roster. That gold medal launched Kupchak into a lengthy, accomplished NBA career, first as a player who won championships with the Washington Bullets and Los Angeles Lakers, and later as one of basketball's most respected front-office executives as general manager of the Lakers and the Charlotte Hornets. Kupchak joins us on Past Our Prime to reflect on a career loaded with accomplishments, and he tells us that winning gold in Montreal still stands as the number one moment of it all. He credits the demanding, disciplined coaching trio of Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, and John Thompson with preparing him not just for that Olympic run, but for everything that followed, and he opens up about the weight of that 1976 team knowing it had to avenge the U.S.'s controversial 1972 loss to the Soviet Union — a pressure that, once gold was actually secured, made the victory even sweeter. He also shares a warm, personal chapter about being mentored by Jerry West, a relationship that grew from a professional bond into a genuine, lasting friendship. And in one of the show's best stories, Kupchak recounts his father driving back across the Canadian border after the Games, and when a border agent asked if he had anything to declare, his dad beamed and simply said, "Gold." It’s a gold medal show with our final Gold Medal winner from the ’76 Games in Montreal. The great Mitch Kupchak this week on Past Our Prime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 Std. und 48 Min.
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