Category Archives: History

Donors continue to bring nothing but good news to the University of California, Davis, setting giving records to achieve greater impact during a challenging and tragic year. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the university raised a historic amount in the last fiscal year: a record $269.4 million from 36,016 donors, with an all-time high of 63,650 gifts and pledges.

Our record-breaking fundraising year positions us to build a stronger, greater, more just university, Chancellor Gary S. May said. Thanks to our generous supporters and our resilient community, were one step closer to making the world a better place for all.

UC Davis has raised more than $1.3 billion from 102,156 donors during its current comprehensive campaign, and is ahead of schedule to reach the $2 billion goal. Expect Greater: From UC Davis, for the World is advancing workto prepare future leaders, sustain healthier communities and bring innovative solutions to today's most urgent challenges.

UC Davis Health led the 2020-21 fiscal year giving totals across the university, raising a record $71.4 million. Among the many gifts, a $4 million commitment from entrepreneur and philanthropist Daryl Geweke will establish two Daryl and Opal Geweke Endowed Chairs for Glaucoma one for research and one for care at the UC Davis Health Eye Center.

The Davis campuss top fundraisers include the School of Veterinary Medicine at $36.9 million, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at $30.4 million and College of Engineering at $20.2 million.The Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art had its best fundraising year in history at $7 million.

One notable area of giving was to emergency relief. While the pandemic continues to burden the world, 2,234 donors have supported such funding at UC Davis, which now stands at $345,614. These funds help UC Davis Health experts set the standard for advanced research, testing and treatment, including more than 100,000 COVID-19 tests. Earlier this month, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities recognized UC Davis for these efforts with its first-ever Research Response to Community Crisis Award.

Whether they are one dollar or millions, gifts to UC Davis support areas that mean the most to donors and, in the process, offer students, faculty and the community opportunities to reach their goals.

I am so proud to be part of a community of donors who are giving back to the world more than ever before, said Darryl Goss 83, chair of the UC Davis Foundation Board. Our Expect Greater fundraising campaign has only amplified UC Davis strengths and shown the world that we are leaders in all disciplines.

A gift from Lois 85 and Darryl Goss for a new endowment is among the many notable contributions this year:

We are slowly but surely overcoming one of the most demanding times of our lives and this fundraising record is proof that were going in the right direction, said Shaun Keister, vice chancellor of Development and Alumni Relations and president of the UC Davis Foundation.

The shared generosity of our supporters and their trust in our vision is a dream combination for any university.

The dream is exhibited by impressive philanthropic numbers across the board, starting with the value of the UC Davis endowment, which reached $2.2 billion on May 31. Donors are the most important driving force, including the 54,000 who have given their first-ever gift to UC Davis during the comprehensive campaign.

One donor cohort that set a giving record in the 2020-21 fiscal year is UC Davis employees. Some 2,200 staff and faculty participated in Employee Giving Month in April, donating a total of 3,601 gifts amounting to $257,765 a 21% increase in participation and 28% increase in the number of gifts from 2019. Over the entire year, a record 3,199 employees gave $1.4 million.

Similarly, 1,300 athletics donors gave during what would have typically been UC Davis annual homecoming week, Oct. 12-18. They accepted the Champions Adapt Challenge, a weeklong fundraising effort to drive resources to Intercollegiate Athletics 25 varsity sports programs. Thanks to the generosity of family, friends, fans and alumni, the challenge generated $535,874 in new funding for Aggie sports teams.

Excerpt from:

The Greatest Fundraising Year in UC Davis History - UC Davis

A school-record six former Baylor student-athletes are in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics, as they begin this week (one year late due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Trayvon Bromell (BSED 18, track & field), Brittney Griner (BSED 19, basketball) and John Peers (tennis) are each on Olympic rosters for the second time, while more recent Baylor track stars KC Lightfoot and Wil London (BSED 19) and former basketball all-American Ekpe Udoh (BSED 11) have made it to the Olympics for the first time. Theyre the latest in a long line of Baylor athletes who have represented the green and gold on the world stage, symbolically receiving the torch from Baylor Olympians who came before them, dating as far back as 1904 (the third modern Olympics).

Most fans are aware of the accomplishments of iconic sprinter Michael Johnson (BBA 91), whose four gold medals earned him a spot among historys all-time greats, and more recent stars like three-time gold medalist Jeremy Wariner. But did you know that legendary Baylor track and field coach Clyde Hart (BBA 56) coached athletes who won gold medals in six straight Olympics? Or that Baylors first-ever gold medal was won by basketball player Jack Robinson (BA 49) in 1948?

The following Bears have represented Baylor in the Olympics over the last century-plus, winning 11 Olympic gold medals:

1904 ST. LOUIS GAMES* C.M. King, track and field standing broad jump (silver)* King, track and field standing triple jump (silver)

1948 LONDON GAMES* Jack Robinson, basketball (gold)

1992 BARCELONA GAMES* Michael Johnson, track and field 200 m*Johnson, track and field 4 x 400 m relay (gold)

1996 ATLANTA GAMES* Johnson, track and field 200 m (gold)* Johnson, track and field 4 x 400 m relay (gold)

2000 SYDNEY GAMES* Johnson, track and field 400 m (gold)* Johnson, track and field 4 x 400 m relay*Barbara Petrahn, BBA 03, track and field 400 m (Hungary)

2004 ATHENS GAMES* Bayano Kamani, BBA 02, track and field 400 m (Panama)* Zsolt Szeglet, BSCS 04, MBA 06, track and field 400 m (Hungary)* Jared Theodorakos, BSED 04, baseball (Greece)* Jeremy Wariner, track and field 400 m(gold)* Wariner, track and field 4 x 400 m relay (gold)* Darold Williamson, BSED 11, track and field 4 x 400 m relay (gold)

2008 BEIJING GAMES* Kamani, track and field 400 m (Panama)* Petrahn, track and field 400 m (Hungary)* Wariner, track and field 4 x 400 m relay (gold)* Wariner, track and field 400 m (silver)* Reggie Witherspoon, BA 14, track and field 4 x 400 m relay (gold)

2012 LONDON GAMES* Wariner, track and field 4 x 400 m relay (qualified, but missed games due to injury)

2016 RIO GAMES* Trayvon Bromell, track and field 100 m* Bromell, track and field 4 x 100 m relay* Brittney Griner, basketball (gold)* John Peers, mens tennis doubles (Australia)* Leticia De Souza^, track and field 4 x 400 m relay (Brazil)

2020* TOKYO GAMES* Bromell, track & field 100 m* Griner, basketball* KC Lightfoot, track & field pole vault* Wil London, track & field 4 x 400 m relay* Peers, mens tennis doubles (Australia)* Ekpe Udoh, basketball (Nigeria)

The Baylor family can follow Bromell, Griner, Lightfoot, London, Peers and Udoh in their pursuit of the gold beginning with Friday nights Opening Ceremonies and continuing over the next two weeks.

Sic em, Baylor Olympians!

[^ De Souza competed in the 2016 Olympics shortly before she enrolled at Baylor.][* Held in 2021 due to 2020s COVID-19 pandemic]

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Baylor's history of Olympic excellence to continue in Tokyo - Baylor University

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) The bronze bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest - intended to honor the part he played in Tennessee history - has drawn the ire of protesters and legislators alike since it was placed at the Tennessee State Capitol over 40 years ago.

Forrest was a prominent general of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was also a first-era leader of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 until 1869.

The bust has a long history leading up to Thursday's final vote to have it removed from the Tennessee State Capitol and placed at the Tennessee State Museum.

How to bust got to the CapitolThe first calls for the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest came in 1973. Senate Joint Resolution 54 that year - from late Tennessee Senator Douglas Henry - called for the procurement of the bust, to be placed on display at the State Capitol.

On April 13, 1973, the resolution was approved.

Sculpted by Loura Jane Herndon Baxendale, the bust was installed at the Capitol on November 5, 1978. The installation was completed amid protests against the bust the same day.

In 2010, the bust was moved from its place outside the doors of the House of Representatives to the main corridor between the Senate and House chambers.

Officials call for the bust's removalFollowing the Charleston, S.C. mass shooting in June 2015, a number of Democrat and Republican lawmakers and public officials called for the removal of the Forrest bust. Supporting its removal were Representative Jim Cooper, then-Representative Bob Corker, then-Governor Bill Haslam and then-Senator Bob Corker.

While the 2015 discussions didn't make it far enough to have the bust removed, Haslam once again called for its removal in 2017, after violence broke out at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va. It was at this time that Corker suggested moving the bust from the Capitol to the Tennessee State Museum.

On September 1, 2017, despite the calls to remove it, a state commission voted 7-5 to keep the bust at the Capitol. In December that same year, then-Representative, now-Senator Brenda Gilmore filed legislation to have the bust relocated to the Tennessee State Museum.

Protests against the bust have continued consistently since then. In December 2019, 43,000 virtual signatures calling for the removal of the bust were delivered to Governor Bill Lee's office.

The protests hit a fever pitch again in June 2020 after George Floyd's death. On July 9, 2020, the State Capitol Commission voted 9-2 to have the bust removed, along with the busts of along with busts of Admiral David Farragut and Admiral Albert Gleaves.

From the State Capitol Commission vote, the issue had to be taken up with the state's Historical Commission. The Historical Commission voted 25-1 to have the bust removed March 9.

The final vote to have the bust moved from the Capitol to the State Museum was made Thursday by Tennessee's State Building Commission, approving the removal of the bust 5-2. At the time of writing, it's unclear when the bust will be moved.

WTVF

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A look at the history of the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust at the Capitol - NewsChannel5.com

As Falcons fans, we have plenty of experience being simultaneously excited about something and dreading it with every fiber of our being. A new seven part documentary of sorts about Atlantas favorite deeply disappointing football team is another opportunity to exercise those twin impulses.

Dorktown Presents: The History of the Atlanta Falcons is going to be great. Its from SB Nations Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein, who delivered the fantastic Dorktown Presents: The History of the Seattle Mariners last year. That documentary didnt carry the sheen of ESPNs big-budget documentaries, but it did manage to capture exactly the Mariners in all their weird, star-crossed glory, from their most intense ineptitude to their star-studded heights, which were not as high as you might expect given the talent on hand. If you havent seen it, you should check it out.

When Bois teased a new team-focused series of videos on Tuesday, I had exactly zero information to indicate that it would be the Falcons the duo would chronicle, but a gut feeling it would be. If you were going to dive into NFL teams with bizarre, sometimes wonderful, often tragic histories, youd probably focus on a small set of franchises that include the Lions, Browns, Vikings, Bills and our Falcons. Given this teams recent history and some games I really am getting tired of talking about, they felt like a logical choice for a series thats heavy on graphs, numbers and oddities. Here we are.

It goes without saying that the Falcons have provided plenty of material. A deeply lousy franchise throughout much of the first 30 years of their existence, Atlanta nevertheless hosted Hall of Famers, traded them and sometimes even let them walk in free agency. They had genuinely wonderful seasons that fell short, unbelievably terrible seasons featuring statistically unlikely things, and a lot of this is the first time this has happened in NFL history moments throughout. We love them dearly and were in the midst of preparing for what might be a middle-of-the-road season, but this video series will likely be a much more comprehensive reminder of the weird, dispiriting and thrilling ways this team has operated than youve gotten from things like our season snapshots and Forgotten Falcons series over the years.

Well see exactly when the series lands, but Ill encourage you all to check it out when it does, and well likely put together at least one writeup on it. Joe Ali and Kofie Yeboah from Secret Base will also be making appearances and theyre both gifted story tellers, and longtime SB Nation reporter and jaded, diehard Falcons fans Steven Godfrey (who you may remember from SB Nation Atlanta, if youve been around awhile) will also be contributing. Stay tuned for updates and subscribe to Secret Bases YouTube channel if you havent to this point.

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Secret Base to roll out 7 part Dorktown Presents: The History of the Atlanta Falcons series in August - The Falcoholic

The Olympic Games only come around every four years, but the tradition of the games dates back hundreds of years. For KU, the tradition of competing at the Olympics is rich, with 66 Olympians all-time, including 45 medals.

The first Olympian to hail from KU came in 1904, by the name of Ray Moultan. Moultan competed in track & field in the 60 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters, securing a bronze medal in the 60.

In 1952, the Jayhawks sent nine individuals to the XV Olympiad in Helsinki, Finland in 1952, including Phog Allen, Bill Lienhard, Bill Hougland, Charlie Hoag, Clyde Lovellette, Dean Kelly, John Keller, Robert Kenny and West Santee. Team USA went on to win gold in mens basketball, with seven Jayhawks coming home with the prestigious gold medal.

Most recently. Kyle Clemons won gold in the 4400 meter relay at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janiero. The Jayhawks accounted for seven Olympic qualifiers in 2016.

This year, KU sends another impressive crop of athletes and coaches to the Olympic Games, including Mason Finley, Bryce Hoppel, Gleb Dudarev, Alexandra Emilianov, Christina Clemons, Stanley Redwine, Andy Kokhanovsky and Michael Whittlesey. Of them, Finley is the only repeat qualifier for the Olympic Games, also competing in 2016.

Follow along with the Jayhawks in the Olympics by visiting KUathletics.com and following along with exclusive coverage from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

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History of Jayhawks in the Olympic Games - Kansas Jayhawks

Seventy-five years ago today, at approximately 11:45 a.m. on July 22, 1946, a stolen delivery truck pulled up to the basement service entrance at the front of Jerusalems King David Hotel. Five terrorists from the Irgun Zvai Leumi a Jewish underground organization commonly known as the Irgun exited the vehicle and, disguised as Arab workers, carried seven large milk churns into La Regence, the hotels chic nightclub located in the basement. Each churn contained approximately 50 pounds of high explosive. Fifty-two minutes later the bombs detonated, killing 91 people and injuring 45.

In Norway, on this date 10 years ago, white supremacist Anders Behring Breivik detonated a vehicle bomb under Oslos government quarter, killing eight. He then proceeded to open fire at nearby Utya island, home to the Norwegian Labour Party youth wings summer camp, where he killed 69 people most of them children at short range. Before his attack, Breivik had released a 1,518-page manifesto, railing against multiculturalists and cultural Marxists.

Both the King David Hotel bombing and Breiviks attacks had profound global repercussions. The former helped convince Britain to leave Mandatory Palestine and sparked a new era of publicized terrorism, while the latter played a pioneering role in ushering in an international wave of far-right terrorism. This July 22, accordingly, provides an important reminder of the enduring impact of terrorism and the threat it poses, not just to civilians, but to societal stability and the political status quo. Governments should continue to prioritize counter-terrorism and remain prepared to enact measured responses to acts of political violence.

The King David Hotel Bombing and the Internationalization of Terrorism

Although Menachem Begin commander of the Irgun and a future Israeli prime minister would repeatedly claim that warnings were given to evacuate the King David Hotel, questions remain to this day whether they were ignored or never communicated to the proper authority. The Irguns attack has always been controversial because the facility was not an ordinary hotel, but served as the nerve center of Britains administration of Palestine. It housed Britains military headquarters and government secretariat in the territory, as well as the local offices of Britains intelligence and security services.

Begin made daring and dramatic acts of violence an integral and innovative part of the Irguns strategy. The goal was to attract international attention to Palestine and thereby publicize simultaneously the Zionists grievances against Britain and their claims for statehood. In an era long before the advent of 24-hour cable news and instantaneous satellite-transmitted broadcasts, the Irgun thus deliberately sought to appeal to a global audience far beyond the immediate confines of the local struggle, beyond even the ruling regimes own homeland. Like its nonviolent and less violent Zionist counterparts, the group sought to generate sympathy and marshal support among powerful allies such as the American Jewish community, U.S. representatives and senators, White House officials, as well as among delegates to the fledgling United Nations Organization. In this way, pressure would be applied on the British government to leave Palestine and allow the establishment of a Jewish state there.

The articulation of Begins strategy in his book The Revolt, first published in English in 1951, thus represented an important milestone in the evolution and internationalization of terrorism. Begins example appears to have resonated with other peoples struggling against Western colonial domination and continued occupation of their lands in the decade following World War II. The leader of the anti-British guerrilla campaign in Cyprus, Gen. George Grivas, adopted an identical strategy. The internationalization of Palestinian Arab terrorism that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s also consciously emulated the quest for international attention and recognition that the Irguns own terrorist campaign pioneered a quarter of a century earlier: It was a model that the Palestine Liberation Organization often cited.

The Brazilian revolutionary theorist Carlos Marighellas famous Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, which was essential reading for various left-wing terrorist organizations that arose both in Latin America and Western Europe during the 1960s and 1970s, similarly embraced Begins strategy of provoking the security forces in hopes of alienating the population from the authorities. Whether Marighella had ever consulted or read The Revolt is not known. What is indisputable is that he advocated the same strategy that the Irgun had pioneered over two decades before.

More recently, when U.S. military forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 they found a copy of The Revolt, along with other books about the Jewish struggle and the Irguns transformation from terrorist group pariah to a respectable political party, in the well-stocked library that al-Qaeda maintained at one of its training facilities in that country.

Anders Behring Breiviks Attacks and the Threat of White Supremacist Violence

Breivik, like Begin, sought an international audience. The manifesto he released prior to the attacks was written in English, and he openly termed his attack a marketing operation, designed to draw attention to his manifesto and the ideology it laid out. He also aimed to use his trial as a stage to the world he pled not guilty on account of self-defense, and sought to spread his views through the cameras gathered in the courtroom. He was convicted and sentenced to an extendable 21 years in prison Norways maximum sentence.

Breiviks assault marked the opening salvo in what would become a tsunami of far-right terrorism stretching from Christchurch in New Zealand to Pittsburgh and El Paso in the United States. Breiviks template, including his release of a manifesto and his targeting of multiple locations, has become a model emulated by far-right terrorists across borders and oceans, and he has been canonized as a saint among the far-right online fringe a badge of dishonor he shares with multiple other white supremacist killers. The deadliest far-right terrorist since Breivik, Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant, described Knight Justiciar Breivik as his true inspiration.

In Germany, another July 22 terrorist anniversary provides testament to Breiviks impact: In 2016, a far-right gunman who had featured Breivik in social media profile pictures opened fire in Munich, killing nine. The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior surmised, We can only assume, that [the gunman] purposefully selected the date.

The Counter-Terrorism Challenge: Preventing and Responding to Black Swan Events

The lasting legacies of the King David Hotel bombing and Breiviks attacks are due largely to their combination of death toll and marketing. Both were extremely deadly and both, quite deliberately, captured the worlds attention, in turn publicizing the attackers grievances and radicalizing others to the cause. But there was little else that would have helped us to predict why these two events had such immediate as well as long-lasting impacts.

Both represented black swan events, which are marked by their rarity, impact, and efforts to retrospectively explain them. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb who coined the term explains, A small number of Black Swans explains almost everything in our world, from the success of ideas and religions, to the dynamics of historical events, to elements of our own personal lives.

Some acts of terrorism fade into history, scarcely remembered outside the families of the victims others change the world. The bombing of the King David Hotel and Breiviks assault on Norway did the latter, catalyzing political upheavals and sparking new global trends. Both are important reminders that terrorism will always possess a powerful agenda-setting function and outsized capacity to drive political change. But, perhaps more concerningly, both are evidence that one never truly knows which terrorist incidents will spark the most long-lasting ramifications.

Counter-terrorism, accordingly, is not just a mission to save lives, but is essential to protecting political stability and societal predictability. This is why, at a time when many in America and elsewhere are anxious to close the book on the Global War on Terror, the need for continued vigilance remains vital. New challenges have arisen as older ones abate, and effectively countering terrorism will continue to be a preeminent concern of both domestic as well as international security in the 21st century. After the myriad intelligence failures of the past two decades, strengthening and improving the analytical and predictive capabilities of those agencies and departments charged with our protection will be critical. Better anticipating over-the-horizon threats and managing their outcomes can mitigate the black swan phenomenon that is terrorists stock and trade.

Terrorism analysts enjoy debating the question of whether terrorism is an existential threat. On its own, it is not. Instead, terrorisms impact is defined by the response of governments and citizens. Terrorism has prevailed in the past, but not because terrorists vanquished their foes with car bombs or assassinations, scholars Walter Laqueur and Christopher Wall write. They succeeded when government overreacted or when there was not a government to react, making a terrorist group the entity best positioned to govern and impose laws. In an ironic twist, less immediately damaging attacks than 9/11, including the Oslo attacks of July 22, 2011, may pose greater long-term threats to Western liberal democracy they force domestic audiences to pick sides, complicating cooperation and a nuanced government response, and slowly corroding democracies from within. Maintaining national cohesiveness when confronting individuals who seek to divide societies a goal that in a post-Trump, post-Jan. 6 world has become increasingly difficult is thus particularly vital.

Terrorists have always aspired to change the course of history. And through their calculated acts of violence they seek to have an asymmetrical, disproportionate impact on world events, government policies, and societal peace of mind. Both the bombing of the King David Hotel and Breiviks twin attacks upset the status quo and compelled the targeted governments to rethink their policies. In the Irguns case, the bombing contributed to the complex chain of events that 14 months later led the British government to announce that it was leaving Palestine and to wash its hands of attempting to navigate between Arab and Jewish claims for independence. The attack also sent a powerful message to aggrieved peoples elsewhere that terrorism could influence moribund Western colonial overlords in hitherto unimaginable ways. The Norwegian governments response to Breiviks attacks was far more measured: It implemented targeted changes across several ministries to better address the threat of white supremacist violence, and has avoided major follow-on incidents in the decade since.

Moreover, whereas the King David Hotel bombing marked the beginning of the end of British rule over Palestine and the failure of its security forces to contain, much less defeat, the terrorists, Breiviks attacks highlighted the need for a more comprehensive and holistic approach to counter-terrorism. That type of approach should view threats as more polymorphous than monolithic, and not specific to one region or religion. The fundamental message of both attacks is that effective counter-terrorism requires long-term engagement, patience, national and international unity against extremism, and a commitment to never react to single incidents with an emotional rather than a measured response. Counter-terrorism will thrive when governments and citizens think proactively rather than reactively about societal weaknesses and shortcomings, and do so together.

Counter-terrorism also remains an essential national security priority: The anniversary of the King David Hotel bombing and Breiviks attacks demonstrates the power of even less remembered terrorist acts to create profound and lasting effects.

Bruce Hoffman is the Shelby Cullom and Kathryn W. Davis senior fellow for counter-terrorism and homeland security at the Council on Foreign Relations and a professor at Georgetown University.

Jacob Ware is a research associate for counter-terrorism at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Image: Imperial War Museum

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July 22: A Pivotal Day in Terrorism History - War on the Rocks

Novak Djokovic knows how close he is.

Not just to creating history and becoming the first man to achieve a Golden Slam by winning all four major tennis tournaments and an Olympic singles gold medal in the same year.

Sure, thats on Djokovics mind as he enters the Olympic tournament starting Saturday.

But its the bigger end product that would be the result of such an achievement that is weighing most heavily on him surpassing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to be considered the greatest tennis player ever.

The goal is so great that Djokovic doesnt even want to consider the consequences.

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"I dont want to be part of the debate. I dont want to be compared to anybody," the top-ranked Serb said Thursday. "Its still a very long way to a potential historic achievement.

"I know that there is a lot of things on the line. I know theres history on the line. Im privileged and motivated to be in this position. Ive worked very hard to be here. But lets talk about history if everything goes great here," Djokovic added. "Right now all focus goes to the next challenge."

In Serbia, the debate is already over.

Olympic committee chief of mission Natasa Jankovic introduced Djokovic at the teams news conference as "the most successful tennis player ever."

By winning Wimbledon this month, Djokovic matched Federer and Nadal with his 20th Grand Slam title having opened the year by capturing the Australian and French Opens. He is the only one of them to have won each Slam twice. He is the only one to hold all four major titles simultaneously, something he did over the end of 2015 and start of 2016.

The only tennis player to achieve a Golden Slam was Steffi Graf in 1988.

"Im not in touch with Steffi, but if you can connect her, I would be delighted to ask her how she did it," Djokovic said, recalling how he briefly worked with Grafs husband, Andre Agassi.

"When I was thinking about her (Golden Slam) I didnt think that would be achievable. But right now it seems more and more realistic for me. Of course thats one of the goals and dreams."

Making matters more straightforward for Djokovic is that neither Federer nor Nadal are playing in Tokyo.

But that also was the case at last years U.S. Open, where Djokovic was disqualified for unintentionally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball.

"I have not experienced too many big tournaments in the past 15 years without Roger and Rafa playing," Djokovic said. "So its a little bit strange, to be honest, because Im used to seeing at least one of them."

Djokovic will open against No. 139 Hugo Dellien of Bolivia on the hard courts of the Ariake Tennis Park.

Half of the top 10 mens players are not in Tokyo, with Dominic Thiem, Matteo Berrettini and Denis Shapovalov also missing for various reasons.

"But still, some of the best players in the world are here," Djokovic said. "(Daniil) Medvedev, (Stefanos) Tsitsipas, (Alexander) Zverev, (Andrey) Rublev. Those are the guys are in the top 6-7 in the world and they are the biggest candidates for winning a medal."

Djokovic had openly considered sitting out the Olympics, having won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

In the end, his desire to represent Serbia and achieve something unique was too great.

"Its the most special, most historic sports event in the history of sport," Djokovic said of the Olympics. "Representing your country, being part of a collective team is something that I treasure. Its something that encourages me personally and gives me a lot of confidence and great energy for my own personal performance."

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Djokovic knows 'history is on the line' at Tokyo Olympics - Fox News

One of the first things you see when you show up to Port Orford Heads State Park is a historic lifeboat thats been refurbished, repainted and proudly displayed on a covered wooden platform beside a grassy picnic area.

If only that lifeboat could talk.

The southern Oregon coast destination may boast scenic views in peaceful surroundings, but dont be mistaken: Port Orford Heads State Park has a history thats rife with danger and daring rescue attempts out on the open ocean.

Near the historic lifeboat, visitors will find a few remaining buildings from the headlands time as the Port Orford Lifeboat Station, built in 1934 and manned by the U.S. Coast Guard for nearly four decades. During that time, teams of surfmen kept a lookout for ships in distress, quickly responding to any that wrecked along the rocky coastline.

Today, park visitors can walk the .2-mile Tower Trail to see the site where a lookout tower once stood tall, or the .4-mile Nellies Cove Trail that passes by one the best views in the park: a vista peering south down the coast, overlooking a long concrete structure known as a breakwater that once allowed lifeboats to make it out and back safely.

A historic lifeboat is on display at Port Orford Heads State Park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

A concrete breakwater and old pilings are all that remains of a historic boathouse at the Port Orford Lifeboat Station, now managed as Port Orford Heads State Park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Ocean views are on display on the Headland Trail at Port Orford Heads State Park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

The surfmen only responded to three shipwrecks between 1934 and 1941, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia, reporting no fatalities in the incidents. World War II brought more attention to the Pacific coastline, and with it came more personnel: from 13 to more than 100 members of the Coast Guard. The war also brought some of the most dramatic action they ever saw.

On Oct. 5, 1942, a Japanese submarine torpedoed a U.S. tanker carrying fuel oil north to Portland. The tanker, the Larry Doheny, was rocked by a massive explosion as it passed Cape Sebastian, about 28 miles south of Port Orford. Rescue crews with the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy were able to save 40 people from the sinking ship, though six died.

The Japanese submarine, known as I-25, was previously responsible for an attack at Fort Stevens near Astoria, as well as two failed aerial bombing campaigns along the Oregon coast that used a floatplane tucked away inside the vessel. Destroyers with the U.S. Navy sank the submarine less than a year after the attack on the southern Oregon coast.

Port Orford Heads was quiet after the war, and in 1970 the lifeboat station was decommissioned, bringing an end to the era of the surfmen. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department acquired the land between 1972 and 1985, converting the head into a public park now known primarily for its stunning views.

Ocean views are on display on the Headland Trail at Port Orford Heads State Park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

One of several historic buildings still standing from the Port Orford Lifeboat Station, now managed as Port Orford Heads State Park on the southern Oregon coast.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Ocean views are on display on the Headland Trail at Port Orford Heads State Park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Those who pull off U.S. 101 at Port Orford can make the short side trip up to Port Orford Heads, where a quick walk leads out along the headland looking over the ocean. From the .2-mile Headland Trail, all traces of its dramatic past disappear on warm summer days, the park is perfectly serene.

Like virtually every other state park on the Oregon coast, Port Orford Heads is yet another nice stop for a good view, a short walk or a place to have a picnic lunch. But unlike other stops on the coast, theres a deeper, less peaceful history behind the viewpoints.

The old lifeboat on display is just the beginning of the story.

Port Orford Heads State Park is open dawn to dusk daily; the Port Orford Lifeboat Museum is currently closed due to COVID-19; located on Port Orford Highway, Port Orford; 541-332-6774.

--Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB

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Great views, rugged history make Port Orford Heads a perfect pit stop on the Oregon coast - OregonLive

My role with the team was I was going to be the one that would be on the floor doing all of the spotting, mat moving, board setting, that type of thing, Tracy said. And I was a motivator and inspirer. I think mostly what we needed was calmness because the whole Georgia Dome was a very overwhelming feeling. ... It felt like the roof shaking.

I dont think we had so much like a home-court advantage, by judges or anything like that. The advantage that we had was the energy of the crowd just pulling so hard for each routine.

Right before (Strug) had gone, Dominique Moceanu had fallen on her vault. And so, at that moment down on the floor, we had no idea that we were ahead. I mean, we knew it was close. By that point, we had pretty much taken the lead, but we didnt know that.

I just kept checking the board, checking the board, making sure it was on Kerris setting, making sure it was right. And just looking at Kerri and just giving her the confidence, nodding my head, You can do it. What Bela did, I have to say, was pretty good to just say, You can do it. She had done that vault 50 million times and was very, very good at that vault. She just needed to believe that she could do it. Thats the sense that the crowd, the coaching staff, everybody gave to her was that she could do it.

You were just holding your breath, saying, Stay on your feet because thats all we thought she needed to do was just stay on her feet, which she did.

I feel like the team almost carried her down the runway physically. She could feel them the closest, the girls, because they were right down there in the venue. She could see their faces, and theyre standing together, holding on to each other. And, you know, team energy, team power does a lot of miraculous things.

When she took off for the second vault, her run looked pretty normal, normal speed, normal pace. And when she hit the table, that vault looked almost exactly like the first vault.

All I remember is her saying Ow and grabbing her leg and hopping off. She didnt say anything except Ow. She wasnt the type of personality that went, you know, like, I did it. I got it. That was not her personality.

At that moment, the trainer came out on the floor because obviously, she knew even after the first vault that something wasnt great.

They iced her, taped her, like immediately, because at that point everybody had kind of known that we had won, and (we) did not want her to miss out on that opportunity (to be on the podium).

(Karolyi) had an infectious smile and energy. He came by after they taped her up and picked her up, scooped her up, just like you saw her. When we were announced, he just proudly stood up and walked her out there. He was a huge part of the inspiration of this team.

Seeing those girls standing up there and getting those medals and the flag going up and the anthem being played, like I can see it as if it was yesterday.

It was so much more like this USA feeling than it was gymnastics or anything else. It was just, you know, Oh my gosh, we just did something for the entire country.

Every year, (Tracy, Borden and Phelps) wish each other happy anniversary of the gold medal. A lot of times well trade videos of different routines that they did in the event. And sometimes somebody will post something on Facebook, and then that stimulates me to go back and watch it. If you ever really need some inspiration to keep going or to find some energy and enthusiasm, watching thatll do it.

-Augusta Stone and Trevor Terry completed this interview as students at the University of Georgias Carmical Sports Media Institute.

Read more here:

Eyewitness to History: On the floor for Strugs landing - Atlanta Journal Constitution

In the 1890s, the Big Ten was formed. In that time college athletics has grown to the point where it's no longer just an extracurricular activity, but a giant billion dollar business.

The Big Ten is part of that with its own network and giant television deals and loyal fan bases.

Who wouldn't want to be in the Big Ten?

Well, the University of Chicago for one.

The only former member of the Big Ten that played football was a charter school that joined the league in 1896 but left in 1946. The small university of just more than 16,000 students won 73 conference titles in various sports as a member school.

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Chicago dropped football in 1939 but stayed in the league for a few more years. The league didn't replace them until 1949when Michigan State signed on for Big Ten play.

On Thursday at Big Ten media days, commissioner Kevin Warren implied he was open to the league expanding.

Amid reports that Texas and Oklahoma are exploring joining the SEC,Warren was asked if the Big Ten is considering another round of expansion. He answered that theyare always evaluating.

"I think what we have seen is that we are at an inflection point in college athletics," he said.

Here's a look at football history of Big Ten expansion.

The original members of the Big Ten conference

The first expansion came in 1899 when Indiana and Iowa joined the league.Michigan was briefly exiled in 1907, but rejoined in 1916.

Ohio State became a member in 1912.

Forty-oneyears after Michigan State entered the league, Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1990 but didn't didn't start competing until 1993.

The Nittany Lions won their first Big Ten championship in 1994 during a 12-0 season.

The Big Ten had more than 10 teams in 2011 already, but when Nebraska decided to leave the Big 12, it was the Big Ten that now had 12 teams.

It was confusing for awhile.

Nebraska football, one of the most legendary programs in college football history, went 9-4 in the first year in the league.

The Big 12 is facinganother potential loss with big-name programs Oklahoma and Texas looking to join the Southeastern Conference. But that's a little confusing too.

The last conference growth came in 2014 when Maryland and Rutgers joined the league. Notre Dame also joined, but no, it wasn't football.

It's been a mixed bag. Both schools in football have struggled mightily. Rutgers is on their third head coach since joining the league, while Maryland is on their fourth.

Excerpt from:

University of Chicago is the only team to leave the Big Ten. A history of football expansion in the league - The Columbus Dispatch