Name the person whose silhouette is used for the NBA’s logo and give his connection to Memphis.
Jerry West, former General Manager of the Memphis Grizzlies
What was the name of the first Memphis Negro baseball team?
Memphis Red Sox formed the western anchor of Southern black baseball from the 1920s through the demise of the Negro Leagues. For the greater part of the 1920s the club played in the Negro National League. At times the team played independently or in the Negro Southern League, but in 1937 the Red Sox became charter members of the new Negro American League.
What Memphis-born sportswriter coined the phrase “it doesn’t matter whether you won or lost, but how you played the game"?
Grantland Rice
What current Tennessee professional NFL football team started play in Memphis?
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the then-Houston, Texas, team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. The Oilers won two AFL championships before joining the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL merger. The team relocated to the state of Tennessee in 1997, first playing in Memphis for one season before moving to Nashville. For two seasons, they were known as the Tennessee Oilers before changing their name to Titans in 1999.
What Memphis-born professional baseball player was the only catcher to lead the national league in triples, was catcher on three world series championships and is currently a broadcaster on FoxSports network?
Tim McCarver
Can you name the significance of the Overton Park Junior Open and the Overton Park Municipal Golf Course located in Memphis, TN?
Overton Park Junior Open is the oldest continually run junior golf tournament in the world. It is held annually at Overton Park Municipal Golf Course which is the third oldest municipally owned golf course in the country. The second oldest is Martin Luther King Riverside Park, also located in Memphis, TN.
What famous college football coach coached his last football game at the Liberty Bowl Stadium in 1982?
Paul Bear Bryant, University of Alabama
The first competitive round in the PGA of a score of 59 (18-hole score) was shot in Memphis on June 10, 1977. Can you name the player and the course?
Al Geiberger at Colonial Country Club
What former US President scored a hole-in-one on June 8, 1977 at Colonial Country Club.
Gerald Ford, Hole #15
Can you name the man who gave up his career as a dentist, joined the PGA tour in the 1940s and later won 40 professional tournaments?
Cary Middlecoff who during his playing career won 40 professional tournaments, including the 1955 Masters and U.S. Open titles in 1949 and 1956 and later developed a reputation as one of the best of the early golf television commentators. He won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average in 1956. He played on three Ryder Cup teams: 1953, 1955, and 1959. In 1986, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
What is the name of the only one-armed professional baseball player who got his start playing for the Memphis Chicks?
Pete Gray, #14 of the Memphis Chicks was 30 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 17, 1945, with the St. Louis Browns.
What 1996 Olympic gold medalists for the United States in the women’s 4x400-meter relay lives in Memphis, TN?
Rochelle Stevens who was also part of the team that won the silver medal in the same event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
What player, known for getting a single major league game in 1905 for the New York Giants, later played for the Memphis Chicks?
Archibald Wright “Moonlight” Graham whose story was popularized by Shoeless Joe, a novel by W.P. Kinsella, and the subsequent 1989 film Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner and featuring Burt Lancaster and Frank Whaley as older and younger incarnations of Graham. After playing in the minor leagues through the 1907 season, “Doc” Graham completed his medical degree and began practicing medicine in Chisholm, Minnesota.
What famous professional wrestler was lured to Memphis with the proposal of wrestling Jerry “The King" Lawler on April 12, 2007?
Terrence Gene Bollea, better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan. But due to contractually reasons, Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight, formerly known as Big Show. Hulk Hogan defeated Paul “The Great” Wight at PGM Clash of Legends when he picked up and body slammed Wight and pinned him following the leg drop.
Can you name the native and current resident of Memphis who has created an international name for himself in the world of racquetball?
Andy Roberts climbed the ranks to become one of the most dominant professional racquetball players of the 1990s. His career has spanned three decades. From college, Roberts went on to capture a National Doubles title in 1985, a National Singles title in 1988 and a U.S. Olympic Festival singles win in 1991. He was named to the U.S. National Team for eight consecutive terms (1985-1991) and lost only one match in eight years. Roberts was named racquetball “Athlete of the Year” by the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1988, ’89, ’90 and ’91. He was a national Sullivan Award nominee in 1988, ’89, ’90 and ’91, and the USRA “Male Athlete of the Year” in 1988, ’90 and ’91. Roberts went on to play professional racquetball for 11 years and was never ranked below No. 4 in the world.
Before horse racing was outlawed in Memphis, what derby was larger than the Kentucky Derby?
The Tennessee Derby, held on the fairgrounds in Memphis, TN, during the early 1900s.
Who was the first major leaguer to bat in a night game?
Memphis native Lou Chiozzo, Cincinnati, 1935.
Can you name the only official scorekeeper to be killed during a baseball game?
Memphian Stanton Walker, scorekeeper for the Memphis Chicks, was killed in 1902 while sharpening his pencil with a knife when a foul ball hit his hand and plunged the knife into his chest.
Name the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Show Jumping Dressage and Eventings winner.
Melanie Smith Taylor who lives in Memphis where she raises and trains thoroughbreds for polo, hunter/jumpers and pleasure.
Can you name the event in Memphis that brings more than 800 horses from all over the world?
The Germantown Charity Horseshow which is the largest horseshow of its kind in the country.
Name the professional angler and outdoors legend who has for over 30 years delivered fishing advice on television.
Bill Dance, resident of Collierville, TN
Which college basketball team held the record for the longest home-court winning streak in 2007?
University of Memphis Tigers
What is the name of the 32-story stainless steel arena that was home to the Memphis Grizzlies from 2001-2004?
The Pyramid – which is also the third largest pyramid in the world.
The Memphis Redbirds are the AAA affiliate of what major league baseball team?
The St. Louis Cardinals
What is the largest sanctioned bridge league headquartered in Memphis?
National American Contract Bridge League
Name two outdoor world championships that are held annually in the Memphis region.
The National Championship Bird Dog Field trials held in Grand Junction, Tennessee and the World Championship Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart, Arkansas.