Champions Day

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Champions Day (Also known as "Day of Champions" or "City of Champions Day") is a special day that was set aside in 1936 to commemorate a number of sporting victories and accomplishments by Detroit, Michigan natives and teams in the early 1930s, and especially the 1935-36 sports season. This season was called "...the most amazing sweep of sport achievements ever credited to any single city" by the Windsor Daily Star.[1] This sports season featured, among other things, the meteoric rise of Joe Louis in the professional boxing world, the Detroit Tigers winning their first MLB championship,[2] the Detroit Lions winning their first NFL championship,[3] and the Detroit RedWings winning their first NHL championship[4]

April 18 was designated Champions Day in Michigan by the state Governor Frank Fitzgerald, and then specifically for Detroit by the Detroit City Council. Governor Fitzgerald, who is referred to as an enthusiastic sport fan by the Grosse Pointe Review, urged citizens "to pay tribute to the heroes of the sport world who have brought honor and glory to the State and Detroit."[5]

Governor Fitzgerald's Proclamation Letter
Detroit City Council Proclaims Champions Day
Plaque featuring President FDR's signature as well as the signatures of all 48 states in 1936

City of Champions Banquet

The (now defunct) Detroit Times planned a "testimonial" dinner for all the city's Champions to be held that first Champions day. They began selling tickets as early as April 6. A ticket for the dinner cost $3.00. Ads for the dinner indicated that "The banquet will honor all of Detroit's champions, including the Detroit Tigers, Red Wings, Olympics, Joe Louis, Detroit Lions and a score of individual titleholders." [6]

The party was held at the Detroit Masonic Temple. Over 600 fans attended the paid event. "Bud" Shaver, sports editor of the Detroit Times, emceed the event.[1] The celebration was broadcast on the radio station WXYZ-AM in Detroit. Many of the athletes from the team sports gave speeches at the event, however Joe Louis did not speak.[7] Governor Fitzgerald also spoke at the banquet.[5]

The major three sports teams were well represented at the party. The baseball season had just started and the Tigers were in the middle of a home series with April 18 an off day so many of the Tigers were able to appear. Also attending were a large number of RedWings who were still in town having just completed their championship drive. Finally, despite the festivities falling in the middle of off season for football, a number of Lions traveled hundreds, even thousands, of miles to attend the Banquet.[7]

Also attending the dinner were Joseph Carr, president of the NFL and Frank Calder, president of the NHL,[5] Councilmen and the Mayor of Detroit.[7]

Capitol of Sports Gala (Radio Program)

On Sunday, April 19, 1936, Radio Stations WJR and WSPD broadcast a half hour long program dramatizing the events that crowned each of Detroit's champions. Jimmie Stevenson, chief sports announcer of WJR was master of ceremonies. After each dramatization representatives of each branch of the sport spoke. Samuel Benavie conducted an augmented orchestra to provide musical background.

The Toledo News-Bee said this about the program: "Never before in the history of radio have so many famous characters been assembled for one kaleidoscopic broadcast. This will be the champion of sports programs." [8]

City of Champions

Because of the many sporting accomplishments during this time frame, Detroit was given the nickname "City of Champions" by many in the media.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

A wood plaque was also presented to the city by the White House on July 16, 8:00pm in Traverse City during the 1936 Cherry Festival.[15][16] The plaque bears the signatures of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as well as the Governors of all the states in the union (48 at the time). The plaque bears the inscription: "A nation appreciative of those qualities of character essential to success in competitive athletics salutes Detroit, which in this year of 1936 richly merits recognition as the City of Champions."[17] The presentation was broadcast over a national radio chain.[18]

The plaque has figures at the bottom representing a diver (Degener), a power boat racer (Wood), a baseball player (Tigers), a football player (Lions), and a Hockey Player (Red Wings and Olympics). Originally a boxer, representing Joe Louis, was planned to appear on it. However, following Louis's unexpected loss to Max Schmeling June 19 (See: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling) the image of the prize fighter was removed and replaced with the diver.[18][19]

No other city has won the championship games/series for three of the four major North American sports the same sports season.[20] (New York did hold the NFL, MLB, and NHL championships in 1927, but at the time there was no NFL championship game. The championship was determined just on regular season wins and losses.) [21]

Events commemorated

There were a number of individual and team accomplishment during this time, including:

  • 1931: Gar Wood wins the Harmsworth Cup for unlimited power boat racing[22]
  • 1932: Eddie "Midnight Express" Tolan wins two gold medals in the Olympics for sprinting[22]
  • 1934: Newell Banks crowned World Checkers Champion[23]
  • 1935: Joe Louis bursts onto the national boxing scene[22] and is "popularly regarded as [the] uncrowned heavyweight boxing titlist."[24]
  • 1935, August 21: Gar Wood Jr wins National outboard championship.
  • 1935, September: The Dixie Oils, a professional fast-pitch softball team, won "the George H. Sisler Trophy, emblematic of the championship of the United States." [25]
  • 1935, September: Detroir Police Dept. Officer Alfred Hemming wins national police pistol championship; Michigan State Trooper Carlos Hurley wins national revolver championship; Detroit Police Dept. wins the overall national pistol shooting championship.
  • 1935, September 28–29: Walter Hagen captained the U.S. Ryder Cup to a 9–3 victory over the British.
  • 1935, October 7: Detroit Tigers win their first World Series[26]
  • 1935, December 15: Detroit Lions win their first NFL Championship[27]
  • 1935, December 15: Joe Louis win the Associated Press "Most Outstanding Athlete of 1935."
  • 1935 and 1936: Detroit Olympics (minor league hockey) win IHL Championship
  • 1936, April 11: Detroit Red Wings win their first Stanley Cup
  • 1935: Miss Constance O'Donovan and Esther Challova Politzer, national double tennis champions [1]
  • 1936, April 18: First Champions Day. Others honored at the party included:
    • Detroit Athletic Club outdoor swimming team captures the A.A.U. national championship [28]
    • Katherine Hughes-Hallett, Midwest fencing champion [1]
    • Clark Haskins, national A.A.U. 56-pound weight champion [1]
    • Dick Degener, "...recognized by many as the greatest [diver] of all time." [29] 1932 Olympic Games high diving champion.[1]
    • Tom Haynie, national medley swim champion [1]
    • Walter Kramer, rated No. 1 badminton player in the United States.[28]
    • Stroh's bowling team, international match champions.[1]
    • Stan Kratkowski, A.A.U. Champion weight lifter.[5]
    • Bill Bonthron, holder of the 1,500 meter world's track record.[28]
    • Jacob Ankrom, National amateur three cushion billiards Champion, 1935.[28]
    • Harry B. Joy Jr., National 20-gauge skeet shooting Champion, 1935.[28]
    • Herb Mendelson, owner Team Notre Dame, winner of the 1935 President's Cup in Washington D.C. for power boat racing [7][30]
    • William McCorquodale, National A.A.U. 112-pound boxing champion.[28]
    • Jimmy Gilhula, National A.A.U. 220-yard free style swimming champion.

Modern Celebrations

Despite the excitement of the 1935–36 sports season in Detroit, Champions Day was not regularly recognized after the first event. In his book "Detroit: City of Champions," author Charles Avison theorizes that World War II was a primary factor in this amazing story and holiday losing its prominence.

However, in 2012 there was an effort to partially revive the holiday. On April 18, 2012, the Detroit Mayor's office 're-declared' April 18 as Champions Day and entrusted the Detroit Historical Society with hosting this event and future events.

On display at the ceremony were a number of artifacts related to the original Champions Day, "including a wood plaque presented to the city and signed by President Franklin Roosevelt and the governors of the United States in 1936 saluting Detroit as the City of Champions." [31]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Degeer, Vern (20 April 1936). "Sports Gossip". Windsor Daily Star (Windsor, Ont, Canada). 
  2. ↑ "Detroit Tigers Team History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 1 July 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Detroit Lions Playoff History". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 1 July 2013. 
  4. ↑ "Detroit Red Wings Franchise Index". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved 1 July 2013. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Governor Proclaims Saturday, April 18th, Champions' Day". Gross PointeReview (Detroit, Michigan, USA). 16 April 1936. 
  6. ↑ Detroit Times (Detroit, Michigan, USA). 6 April 1936. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "Detroit Fetes Champions with Tigers, Wings and Joe Louis Main Heros". Syracuse Herald (Syracuse, New York, USA). 18 April 1936. 
  8. ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dPBXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CkUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=838%2C4992512
  9. ↑ http://detroit.blogs.time.com/2010/07/09/the-greatest-forgotten-season-in-sports-history/comment-page-1/
  10. ↑ "They Made Detroit City of Champions.". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California, USA). 23 April 1936. 
  11. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/titletown/news/story?id=3427425
  12. ↑ Dallas Morning News, January 24, 1993
  13. ↑ New York Times (New York, New York, USA). 5 April 1936. 
  14. ↑ "Detroit Olympics Thump Windor 8-1 League Finals". Lethbridge Herald (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada). 9 April 1936. 
  15. ↑ http://newspaperarchive.com/traverse-city-record-eagle/1936-06-29/page-26
  16. ↑ http://search.proquest.com/docview/181792743/pageviewPDF/13DD0D1383D53C6E2DA/3?accountid=39473
  17. ↑ File:SignaturePlaque.JPG
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 http://archive.is/20130515211229/http://newspaperarchive.com/wisconsin-state-journal/1936-06-21/page-9
  19. ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RUQbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Nk4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4049,3081736&dq=city+of+champions+plaque&hl=en
  20. ↑ http://search.proquest.com/docview/436451987/13DD0B07EB05DB29C25/1?accountid=39473
  21. ↑ List of NFL champions (1920–69)#APFA.2FNFL champions (1920–32)
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=91
  23. ↑ http://www.checkerschest.com/checkers/banks.htm
  24. ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=b0M2c_1WBrUC&dat=19360413&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
  25. ↑ Detroit News, 12/22/35
  26. ↑ http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1935
  27. ↑ http://www.detroitlions.com/team/history/all-time-results.html
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 "City of Champions, Dynamic Detroit". Detroit Free Press (Detroit, MI, USA). 19 April 1936. 
  29. ↑ Bob Murphy, Detroit Times, 4/19/36
  30. ↑ http://www.thunderboats.org/history/history0171.html
  31. ↑ http://www.positivedetroit.net/2012/04/detroit-historical-society-celebrates.html

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