October 3, 1974: Curt Gowdy's "The Way It Was"

October 3, 1974: The Way It Was premieres on PBS. Sportscaster Curt Gowdy, taking advantage of the nostalgia wave for the 1950s -- and earlier times, since the films Paper Moon and The Sting had recently brought interest in the 1930s back -- hosts a talk show from Las Vegas, inviting the stars of famous sports occurrences to talk about their big moments. The theme song is "Happy Days Are Here Again."

To be fair, he invites players from both sides. The pilot episode featured the 1951 New York Giants vs. Brooklyn Dodgers playoff for the National League Pennant, "The Bobby Thomson Game." Both Thomson, who hit the deciding home run, and Ralph Branca, the pitcher who gave it up, were among the invited guests.

Curt Gowdy

The series ran through 1978. These were the events covered:

In baseball: The World Series of 1946, 1947, 1948, 1954, 1956, 1960 and 1975 (easily the most recent event covered); the Thomson Game; an overview of the Negro Leagues; and a 3-part overview of the Yankee Dynasty, 1949 to 1964.

In football: The NFL Championship Games of 1940, 1950, 1952, 1958 and 1960; the 1946 Army-Navy Game; the 1963 Rose Bowl; the 1964 USC-Notre Dame game; the 1968 Harvard-Yale game.

In basketball: The 1957 and '58 NBA Finals, the 1962 NBA Finals, and the 1968 UCLA-Houston "Game of the Century."

In hockey: The 1954 Stanley Cup Finals.

In boxing: Joe Louis' fights with Tony Galento in 1939 (the furthest-back event covered), Billy Conn in 1941 and 1946, and Jersey Joe Walcott in 1947 and 1948; the Rocky Graziano vs. Tony Zale trilogy of 1946 to 1948; the Sandy Saddler vs. Willie Pep quadrilogy of 1949 to 1951; and the 1951 "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" between Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta.

In horse racing: Citation's run to the 1948 Triple Crown, and the 1955 match race between Swaps and Nashua. Admittedly, getting interviews with the horses' jockeys and trainers was easier than getting them with the horses themselves, since horses can't talk. At least Nashua was still alive at the time.

And in track and field: The 1960 Olympics, where he interviewed Wilma Rudolph and Jesse Owens. Owens, the hero of the 1936 Olympics, covered the 1960 Olympics as a journalist.

In every one of these cases, Gowdy also interviewed one of the broadcasters for the event, who recreated their calls. These included baseball announcer Ernie Harwell, football announcer Bill Campbell, and boxing announcer Don Dunphy.

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October 3, 1974 was a Thursday. Baseball was between the regular season and the Playoffs. Football was in midweek. And it was too early for the basketball and hockey seasons. So there were no scores on this historic day.