SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

'''Sports Illustrated''' is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice.
Its ''swimsuit issue'', which has been published since 1964, is now an annual publishing event that generates its own television shows, videos and calendars.
The magazine's cover is the basis of a sports myth known as the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx.

Contents

History

Innovations

Color printing

Purported creative decline

Sportsman of the Year

Cover history

Writers

Spinoffs

Footnotes

References

External links

History

Two other magazines named ''Sports Illustrated'' were started in the 1930s and 1940s, but they both quickly failed. In fact, there was no large-base, general sports magazine with a national following when ''TIME'' patriarch Henry Luce began considering whether his company should attempt to fill the gap. At the time, many believed sports was beneath the attention of serious journalism and didn't think sports news could fill a weekly magazine, especially during the winter. A number of advisers to Luce, including ''Life Magazine's Ernest Havemann, tried to kill the idea, but Luce, who was not a sports fan, decided the time was right."^[1]
After offering $200,000 in an unsuccessful bid to buy the name ''Sport'' for the new magazine, they acquired the rights to the name ''Sports Illustrated'' instead for just $10,000. The goal of the new magazine was to be "not ''a'' sports magazine, but ''the'' sports magazine." Many at Time-Life scoffed at Luce's idea; in his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, ''Luce and His Empire'', W.A. Swanberg wrote that the company's intellectuals dubbed the proposed magazine "Muscle," "Jockstrap," and "Sweat Socks." Launched on August 16, 1954, it was not profitable and not particularly well run at first, but Luce's timing was good. The popularity of spectator sports in the United States was about to explode, and that popularity came to be driven largely by three things:

★ economic prosperity

★ television, and

★ ''Sports Illustrated''.
The early issues of the magazine seemed caught between two opposing views of its audience. Much of the subject matter was directed at upper class activities such as yachting, polo and safaris, but upscale would-be advertisers were unconvinced that sports fans were a significant part of their market.^[1]

Innovations

From its start, ''Sports Illustrated'' introduced a number of innovations that are generally taken for granted today:

★ Liberal use of color photos - though the six-week lead time initially meant they were unable to depict timely subject matter

★ Scouting reports - including a World Series Preview and New Year's Day bowl game roundup that enhanced the viewing of games on television

★ In-depth sports reporting from writers like Robert Creamer, Tex Maule and Dan Jenkins.

★ High school football ''Player of the Month'' awards.
In 1956, Luce asked Time, Inc. senior European Correspondent André Laguerre to come to New York and help define the magazine's character. Many of the staff had serious doubts that the English-born Frenchman could possibly know anything about American sports, but Laguerre won them over, and during his term as Managing Editor (1960 - 1974), ''SI'' became a model for other middle-class American magazines. One of the first changes was the beginning of a segment honouring unknown athletes called Faces in the Crowd. Its writers developed their own characteristic style by daring to tell people what was important. Many would say that the magazine legitimized sports — and being a sports fan — for a huge segment of the American population. The steady creation of landmark stories (e.g., ''"The Black Athlete — A Shameful Story"'' by Jack Olsen and ''"Paper Lion"'' by George Plimpton) showed that sports fans could be readers, and a generation of sportswriters patterned their own writing after what they read in ''SI''.^[1].

Color printing

The magazine's photographers also made their mark with innovations like putting cameras in the goal at a hockey game and behind a glass backboard at a basketball game. In 1965, offset printing began to allow the color pages of the magazine to be printed overnight, not only producing crisper and brighter images, but also finally enabling the editors to merge the best color with the latest news. By 1967, the magazine was printing 200 pages of "fast color" a year; in 1983, ''SI'' became the first American full-color newsweekly. An intense rivalry developed between photographers, particularly Walter Iooss and Neil Leifer, to get a decisive cover shot that would be on newsstands and in mailboxes only a few days later.^[1]
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, during Gil Rogin's term as Managing Editor, the feature stories of Frank Deford became the magazine's anchor. "Bonus pieces" on Pete Rozelle, Bear Bryant, Howard Cosell and others became some of the most quoted sources about these figures, and Deford established a reputation as one of the best writers of the time.^[1]

Purported creative decline

After the death of Henry Luce in 1967, the creative freedom that the staff had enjoyed seemed to diminish. By the 1980s and 1990s, the magazine had become more profitable than ever, but many also believed it had become more predictable. Mark Mulvoy was the first top editor whose background contained nothing but sports; he had grown up as one of the magazine's readers, but he had no interest in fiction, movies, hobbies or history. Mulvoy's top writer Rick Reilly had also been raised on ''SI'' and followed in the footsteps of many of the great writers that he grew up admiring, but many felt that the magazine as a whole came to reflect Mulvoy's complete lack of sophistication. Mulvoy also hired the current creative director Steven Hoffman. Critics said that it rarely broke (or even featured) stories on the major controversies in sports (drugs, violence, commercialism) any more, and that it focused on major sports and celebrities to the exclusion of other topics.
The proliferation of "commemorative issues" and crass subscription incentives seemed to some like an exchange of journalistic integrity for commercial opportunism. More importantly, perhaps, many feel that 24-hour-a-day cable sports television networks and sports news web sites have forever diminished the role a weekly publication can play in today's world, and that it is unlikely any magazine will ever again achieve the level of prominence that ''SI'' once had.^[1]
Another example of a big change in direction for the periodical is in its capitalizing on alternate covers. The concept took off in the 2000s. There was an alternate issue in fall 2000 for the 2000 World Series. One issue featured Derek Jeter with the heading Subway Series. In January 2004, the controversy over USC and LSU's share of the National Football Championship, resulted in SI creating one issue for the West Coast with USC as champions while the state of Louisiana had an alternate cover with LSU as National Champions. In 2006 alone, there have been three different weeks in which alternate covers have been featured. The August 21 issue featured the College Football Preview and had five alternate covers. The October 23 issue was the NBA Preview and featured three covers with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. The College Basketball Preview was dated November 20 and had five alternate covers.

Sportsman of the Year

Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the Sportsman of the Year award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Roger Bannister won the first ever Sportsman of the year award thanks to his record breaking time of 3:59.4 for a mile (the first ever time a mile had been run under four minutes).
Dwyane Wade is Sports Illustrated's most recent Sportsman of the Year, for 2006. Wade averaged almost 35 points per game during the six game NBA Finals series against the Dallas Mavericks. Tiger Woods is the only athlete to win the award twice.

Cover history

'Most covers by athlete, 1954-2003'

Athlete	Number of Covers
Michael Jordan	49
Muhammad Ali	37
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	29
Magic Johnson	22
Jack Nicklaus	22

'Most covers by team, 1954-2003'

Team	Number of Covers
New York Yankees	61
Los Angeles Lakers	60
Dallas Cowboys	45
Chicago Bulls	44
Los Angeles Dodgers	38
Boston Celtics	37
Boston Red Sox	36
Cincinnati Reds	36
San Francisco 49ers	33
Notre Dame Football	32

'Most covers by sport, 1954-2003'

Sport	Number of Covers
Pro Football	519
Baseball	510
Pro Basketball	302
College Basketball	200
Golf	155
College Football	153
Boxing	134
Track and Field	99
Hockey	83
Tennis	78

'Celebrities on the cover, 1954-2003'

Celebrity	Year	Special Notes
Ed Sullivan	1959	On cover as golfer
Bob Hope	1963	Owner of Cleveland Indians
Shirley MacLaine	1964	Wearing a football uniform
Steve McQueen	1971	Riding a motorcycle
Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson	1977	Promoting the film Semi-Tough
Big Bird	1977	On the cover with Mark Fidrych
Hulk Hogan	1985	Caption on cover was Mat Mania
Arnold Schwarzenegger	1987	Caption on cover was Hot Stuff
Ice Cube	1999	On cover with Shaquille O'Neal
Chris Rock	2000	Wearing Los Angeles Dodgers hat

'Fathers and sons who have been featured on the cover'

Father	Son
Archie Manning	Peyton Manning
Calvin Hill	Grant Hill
Bobby Hull	Brett Hull
Bill Walton	Luke Walton
Jack Nicklaus	Gary Nicklaus
Phil Simms	Chris Simms
Dale Earnhardt	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Cal Ripken, Sr.	Cal Ripken, Jr. & Billy Ripken
Boomer Esiason	Gunnar Esiason

'Presidents who have been featured on the cover'

President	SI Cover Date	Special Notes
John F. Kennedy	December 26, 1960	First Lady Jackie Kennedy also on cover and Kennedy was President-Elect at the time of the cover.
Gerald Ford	July 8, 1974	Cover came one month before President Richard Nixon announced he would resign from the Presidency.
Ronald Reagan	November 26, 1984	On cover with Georgetown Hoyas coach John Thompson and Patrick Ewing
Ronald Reagan	February 16, 1987	On cover with America's Cup champion Dennis Conner
Bill Clinton	March 21, 1994	On cover about the Arkansas college basketball team

'Tribute covers (In Memoriam)'

Athlete	SI Cover Date	Special Notes
Len Bias	June 30, 1986	Died of a cocaine overdose just after being drafted by the Boston Celtics
Arthur Ashe	February 15, 1993	Tennis great and former US Open champion who died from AIDS
Reggie Lewis	August 9, 1993	Celtics player who died due to a heart defect
Mickey Mantle	August 21, 1995	Died after years of battling alcoholism
Walter Payton	November 8, 1999	Died from rare liver disorder
Dale Earnhardt	February 26, 2001	Died in a crash on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500
Ted Williams	July 15, 2002	Boston Red Sox who died due to old age
Johnny Unitas	October 23, 2002	Baltimore Colts great who died due to old age
Brittanie Cecil	April 1, 2002	Fan killed as the result of being struck with a puck to the head while in the crowd at a Columbus Blue Jackets game
Pat Tillman	May 3, 2004	Arizona Cardinals player who was killed in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan.

Writers

★ Marty Burns

★ Frank Deford

★ Michael Farber

★ Karl Taro Greenfeld

★ Ed Hinton (1995-2000)

★ Richard Hoffer

★ Peter King

★ Tim Layden

★ Arash Markazi

★ Jack McCallum

★ Jack Olsen

★ S.L. Price

★ Rick Reilly

★ Steve Rushin (1998-2007)

★ Michael Silver

★ Gary Smith

★ Phil Taylor

★ Gary Van Sickle

★ Tom Verducci

★ Paul Zimmerman

Spinoffs

''Sports Illustrated'' has helped launched a number of related publishing ventures, including:

★ '''Sports Illustrated KIDS''' magazine (circulation 950,000)

★
★ Launched in January 1989

★
★ Won the "Distinguished Achievement for Excellence in Educational Publishing" award 11 times

★
★ Won the "Parents' Choice Magazine Award" 7 times

★ '''Sports Illustrated Almanac''' annuals

★
★ Introduced in 1991

★
★ Yearly compilation of sports news and statistics in book form

★ 'SI.com' sports news web site

★
★ Launched on July 17, 1997

★
★ Online version of the magazine and sports site for CNN.com

★ '''Sports Illustrated Women''' magazine (highest circulation 400,000)

★
★ Launched in March 2000

★
★ Ceased publication in December 2002 because of a weak advertising climate

★ '''Sports Illustrated on Campus''' magazine

★
★ Launched on September 4, 2003

★
★ Dedicated to college athletics and the sports interests of college students.

★
★ Distributed free on 72 college campuses through a network of college newspapers.

★
★ Circulation of one million readers between the ages of 18 and 24.

★
★ Ceased publication in December 2005 because of a weak advertising climate

Footnotes

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References

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External links

★ SI.com

★ Sports Illustrated for Kids

★ SI Mobile Swimsuit

★ SI On Campus

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