Championship Stories Steve Marantz

The NBA finals in 1969, Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers, seven games for the title, is recounted by author Leigh Montville, who covered the series as a 25-year-old reporter for the Boston Globe, and wrote about it in his latest book, "Tall Men, Short Shorts."

Since 1925 the Scripps National Spelling Bee has featured some of America's best and brightest students under the age of 15. For the last 20 years students of South Asian/Indian descent have dominated the event and turned it into a cultural touchstone. Harini Logan, 14, of San Antonio, Texas, won the 2022 title and built upon the Indian-American spelling dynasty.

In 1995 Major League Baseball was bruised and battered from the labor war that caused the cancellation of the '94 season. Fans were disgusted. As a prominent member of the union negotiating team, Atlanta Braves star southpaw Tom Glavine was an easy target for public anger. Glavine took his lumps and responded in Game 6 of the 1995 World Series.

Before coronavirus, the 1918-19 Spanish Flu killed between 17 million and 50 million people, including an estimated 675,000 Americans. One who survived it was 23-year-old Babe Ruth as he led the Boston Red Sox to a World Series triumph. World War 1 shortened the 1918 season just as the second wave of deadly Spanish Flu descended.

The 1919 Stanley Cup final was unlike anything before or since. The Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans were valiant opponents, but neither were a match for the pandemic Spanish Flu.

Sophia Popov was ranked 304th among women pro golfers when she won the AIG Women's British Open in August 2020. Her first LPGA victory in 5 1/2 years as a pro came after she was laid low by a debilitating disease and almost quit golf.