October 15, 1949: Hibernian's "Famous Five"

October 15, 1949: For the 1st time, Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond start as a forward line for Hibernian Football Club of Edinburgh, Scotland. They become known as The Famous Five. "Hibs" defeat Dumfries club Queen of the South 2-0.

Smith had been playing for Hibs since 1941. Johnstone, Reilly and Ormond had joined in 1946, and the four of them had helped Hibs win the Scottish league title in 1948. Turnbull joined the next season, and, together, they won the league in 1951 and 1952, just missing the title in 1950 and 1953.

Johnstone left right before the 1955-56 season, and helped Manchester City win England's FA Cup that season, the only real success any of them had with any other club. That same season, as something of a "last stand," the remaining four played for Hibs in the 1st European Cup, and reached the Semifinals, before losing to French club Stade Reims, led by the great Frenchman of Polish descent, Raymond Kopa.

Reilly left in 1958, Smith and Turnbull in 1959, and Ormond in 1961. Turnbull managed Hibs from 1971 to 1980. Ormond managed perhaps the best Scotland national side ever, into the 1974 World Cup. He managed Hibs' Edinburgh arch-rivals, Heart of Midlothian, a.k.a. "Hearts," before replacing Turnbull as a caretaker manager of Hibs in 1980.

Ormond died in 1984. The others were still alive and on hand when Hibs opened the rebuilt north stand at their Easter Road stadium in 1995, renamed the Famous Five Stand. Reilly was the last survivor of the Famous Five, living until 2013.

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October 15, 1949 was a Saturday. In English soccer, the North London team I would eventually support, Arsenal F.C., traveled to Ayresome Park, and played Middlesbrough F.C. to a 1-1 draw. Arsenal would win the FA Cup in that 1949-50 season.

In American football, these were some of the college games played that day:

* Number 1 Notre Dame beat Number 4 Tulane, 46-7 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

* Number 2 Army beat Harvard, 54-14 at Harvard Stadium in Boston. 

* Number 3 Oklahoma beat Kansas, 48-26 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.

* Number 5 Minnesota beat Number 11 Ohio State, 27-0 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Number 6 North Carolina beat Wake Forest, 28-14 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

* Number 7 Michigan were upset by Northwestern, 21-20 at Dyche Stadium (now Ryan Field) outside Chicago in Evanston, Illinois.

* Number 8 Kentucky beat The Citadel, 44-0 at McLean Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.

* Number 9 University of California beat Number 12 University of Southern California, 16-10 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California.

* Number 10 Southern Methodist University (SMU) were upset by Rice University, 41-27 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* Number 18 Navy were upset by Wisconsin, 48-13 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

* Columbia University lost to the University of Pennsylvania, 27-7 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* Fordham University of The Bronx beat the University of Scranton, 33-13. Scranton didn't have a home field, and so the game was played at the stadium of Dunmore High School in nearby Dunmore, Pennsylvania. (The night before, New York University had lost to Georgetown, 21-6 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.)

* And in New Jersey, Princeton beat Brown, 27-14 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton; while Rutgers lost to Syracuse, 21-9 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

The baseball season ended 6 days earlier, when the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 to win the World Series. The NBA season opened 14 days later. Two games were played in the NHL. The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 at the Montreal Forum. And the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a 4-4 tie at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings were not scheduled.

May 20, 1953: The Coronation Cup Final

May 20, 1953: The Final of the Coronation Cup, a soccer tournament celebrating the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, is held -- but not in England, as had been expected.

There were 8 teams invited, 4 from England and 4 from Scotland. This was an unusual chance for them to test themselves against a team from "another country," as the European Cup had yet to be instituted.

The Scottish teams were: Rangers Football Club of Glasgow, who had won Scotland's Division One and Scottish Cup, "The Double"; Hibernian Football Club of Edinburgh, who had finished 2nd to Rangers in the Scottish league, and had won it in each of the 2 preceding seasons; Aberdeen Football Club, who had lost the Scottish Cup Final to Rangers; and Celtic Football Club, Rangers' Glasgow arch-rivals, although the real reason they were invited is that they had won the Empire Exhibition Trophy in 1938, the closest thing this tournament had to a previous edition, making them, in a way, the "defending champions."

The English teams were: Arsenal Football Club of North London, who had just won England's Football League Division One; Manchester United Football Club, who had won it the season before; Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, who had won the League in 1951 and were runners-up to United in 1952; and Newcastle United, who had won the Football Association Cup in 1951 and 1952.

Each Quarterfinal featured an English team against a Scottish team. Many had hoped for a Final between the 2 newly-crowned Champions, Arsenal and Rangers. But both went down in the Quarterfinals: Celtic beat Arsenal, 1-0; and Man United beat Rangers, 2-1. Newcastle beat Aberdeen, 4-0; and Hibernian and Tottenham played to a 1-1 draw, with a replay going 2-1 to "Hibs" over "Spurs."

That left 2 teams from each country, and so the Semifinals were also set up to both be England vs. Scotland. But the Final would not be that way: Celtic beat United, 2-1; and Hibs beat Newcastle, 4-0. So the Final would be played not at England's national stadium, Wembley Stadium in West London; but at Scotland's national stadium, Hampden Park on the South Side of Glasgow.

Each team represented the Irish people, and, by extension, the Catholic people in their respective cities: Celtic against all-Protestant Rangers in Glasgow, and Hibernian, or "Hibs" in a far less controversial rivalry in Edinburgh with mostly-Protestant Heart of Midlothian, or "Hearts." Thus, the 117,060 people who crammed into Hampden on May 20 may have been the most Irish crowd ever on the island of Great Britain.

In those days, most teams used a 2-3-5 formation, with 5 forwards. And Hibs had a line known as "The Famous Five": Outside right Gordon Smith, inside right Bobby Johnstone, centre forward Lawrie Reilly (also their Captain), inside left Eddie Turnbull, and outside left Willie Ormond. They often dazzled opponents into submission.

But Celtic had a stout defense, led by centre halfback and team Captain John "Jock" Stein. (And that's pronounced "Steen," like Bruce, not "Stine," like R.L. and most Jewish people with the name "Stein.") Jock would lead Celtic to the next season's League title, and then win 10 of them, and the 1967 European Cup, as their manager.

And the defense he led completely shut the Famous Five down. In the 20th minute, Neil Mochan scored for Celtic. They hung on until inside right Jimmy Walsh put the game away in the 87th. Celtic won, 2-0. Until the 1967 European triumph, this was arguably their greatest victory, partly because it was unexpected.

This tournament was a one-off. There were no Coronation Cups for the Coronations of King Edward VII in 1902, King George V in 1911, or King George VI in 1937. (UPDATE: Nor was there one for that of King Charles III in 2023.)

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May 20, 1953 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-8 at Yankee Stadium. They trailed 8-7, but tied the game in the 8th. In the 9th, Gene Woodling singled Billy Martin home with the winning run. Joe Collins hit a home run. Mickey Mantle went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Yogi Berra appeared as a pinch-hitter, reached base on a force play, and scored. Allie Reynolds was the winning pitcher, in relief of Eddie Lopat.

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 16-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The wind was blowing out: Home runs were hit by Monte Irvin, Alvin Dark and Davey Williams of the Giants; and Dee Fondy and Roy Smalley of the Cubs. (His nephew, also named Roy Smalley, would also become a major league shortstop.) Willie Mays was unavailable, due to serving in the Korean War.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Jackie Robinson went 2-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. This was the Braves' 1st season in Milwaukee, and, with County Stadium inside, but on the edge of, the City of Milwaukee, they had already surpassed their entire previous season's worth of home attendance in Boston.

Dodger owner Walter O'Malley had seen the future, and it was surrounded with 12,000 parking spaces, away from poor people who didn't go to ballgames anyway. (Except, many of them did.)

* The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Del Wilber won it with a home run in the bottom of the 14th inning. Ted Williams was unavailable, due to serving in the Korean War.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The former Shibe Park had just been renamed.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Former Yankee Frank "Spec" Shea outpitched Bob Feller.

* The Cincinnati Redlegs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 14-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. This was the 1st of 7 seasons in which the Reds officially used the Redlegs name, because they were cowed into submission by the "Red Scare."

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-6 at the original Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The former Sportsman's Park had just been renamed. Stan Musial went 3-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Ralph Kiner did the same thing, but in defeat.