Sports in America! 1950 - 1959

The booming decade following World War II saw many advances in sports and the continued integration of people of other races into major sports leagues. A lanky Oxford University medical student broke the four-minute-mile record, the first African American won a U.S. Open singles title, and the color barrier broke in the National Basketball Association. 1950–1959, Second Edition explores this decade of sports, presenting full-color and black-and-white photographs and further resources for interested readers.
Highlights include:
- African-American players Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, Chuck Cooper, and Earl "Big Cat" Lloyd break the color barrier in the National Basketball Association in 1950
- Bobby Thomson hits "the shot heard round the world" to win the 1951 National League pennant for the New York Giants
- In 1954 Roger Bannister, a medical student at Oxford University, becomes the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes
- Boxer Rocky Marciano defeats challenger Archie Moore in 1955 to end his career as the undefeated heavyweight champion
- Althea Gibson becomes the first African American to win the U.S. Open singles title in 1957
- Alan Ameche and Johnny Unitas lead the Baltimore Colts to the 1958 NFL championship in "the Greatest Game Ever Played."