March 7, 1970: The Agony of Defeat for Vinko Bogataj

March 7, 1970: Vinko Bogataj achieves an unusual kind of fame, and he doesn't even know it. And it wasn't by winning. It was by losing, disastrously.

The 22-year-old native of Brezovica, in what is now the independent nation of Slovenia, was competing for Yugoslavia in the World Ski Flying Championships in Oberstdorf, in the Bavarian Alps of what was then West Germany, on the border of Austria. (Such was the nature of the multiethnic, multireligious Yugoslavia that Bogataj's hometown was closer to Oberstdorf than it was to the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade, now in Serbia.)

The event was covered by American network ABC, for its program Wide World of Sports, even though there were no American competitors. The show's introduction was narrated by the show's host, Jim McKay, and written by Stanley Ralph Ross, who later wrote for the TV shows Batman and The Monkees, and co-created the 1975-79 Wonder Woman TV show:

Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport: The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat, the human drama of athletic competition! This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!

Going into the March 21, 1970 broadcast, the scene used to symbolize "the agony of defeat" in their opening montage was of a downhill skier falling. Perhaps this was foreshadowing. That day, they broadcast the World Ski Flying Championships, contested 2 weeks earlier. 

A light snow had begun falling at the start of the competition, and by the time Bogataj was ready for his third jump on the Heini Klopfer Hill, the snow had become quite heavy. Midway down the inrun for his jump, Bogataj realized that the conditions had made the ramp too fast. He attempted to lower his center of gravity and slow his jump. Instead, he lost his balance completely, and hurtled out of control off the end of the inrun, tumbling and flipping wildly, and crashing through a light retaining fence near a crowd of spectators before coming to a halt.

ABC's announcer was Bud Palmer, a Princeton graduate who played for the early New York Knicks before moving into broadcasting. He said, "Lot of speed on that track now. Look out! Look at him go! Oh! Oh, baby! What a terrible fall!"

Bogataj suffered a mild concussion and a broken ankle, and was competing again 6 weeks later. By that point, WWOS had begun using Bogataj's fall to represent "the agony of defeat" in the opening montage, a decision made by coordinating producer Dennis Lewin. The show kept that sequence as such until the end of its run in 1998.

When the show was preparing to celebrate its 20th Anniversary in 1981, they found him in Lesce, Slovenia, and invited him to come to America -- not an easy thing to do, since Yugoslavia was a Communist country. He was long retired from competition, a ski instructor, a forklift operator, and a painter, and had no idea that he was famous in America. When he was introduced at the anniversary dinner, he got a longer standing ovation than anyone -- even Muhammad Ali, who asked him for his autograph.

In 1991, for the show's 30th Anniversary, while on his way to an interview with Wide World of Sports about the incident, he got into a small automobile collision. His first line to the reporter was, "Every time I'm on ABC, I crash."

Vinko with one of his paintings

In his own country, he became known for his painting. He married and had 2 daughters. As of March 7, 2022, he is still alive.

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March 7, 1970 was a Saturday. Actress Rachel Weisz was born.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 111-104 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Billy Cunningham scored 36 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for the Sixers. But the Knicks got 29 points from Willis Reed, and 25 from Dave Stallworth.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the San Diego Rockets, 134-126 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Cincinnati Royals beat the San Francisco Warriors, 121-119 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California.

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The Washington Capitols beat the Denver Rockets, 144-128 at the Washington Coliseum. Rick Barry scored 45 points for the Caps.

* The Dallas Chaparrals beat the Kentucky Colonels, 129-124  at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas. Louie Dampier scored 55 points for the Colonels. But the Chaps, who became the San Antonio Spurs in 1973, got 34 from Manny Leaks and 33 from Glen Combs.

* And the Carolina Cougars beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 116-102 at the Loyola Fieldhouse in New Orleans. Bob Verga scored 41 for the Cougars.

There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 5-5 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Yes, The Spectrum hosted both the NBA and the NHL on the same day.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins and the St. Louis Blues played to a tie, 2-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 8-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Oakland Seals (for the time being, their arch-rivals), 5-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers were not scheduled.