Contents

18 The Gold Rush That Failed
In 1961 entrepreneurs cooked up an alphabet soup of new leagues and new teams, but fans held out for quality

22 A Tie That Meant a Victory
New York and Cleveland played each other to a standstill as the Giants won the eastern championship

24 Boys and Girls Together
The golf was good and the manners almost impeccable when leading men and women pro golfers met in Florida

A HOLIDAY SPECIAL: SPORT AROUND THE WORLD

28 Meet B. E. Bensinger, a man who really likes sports
34 The universal beauty and drama of sport
44 Hercules revisited: an interpretation of an old myth
62 A gallery of the world's loveliest sportswomen

73 Charles Goren's Bridge Quiz
The traditional year-end test discloses bidding weaknesses that lead to invisible losses

76 Cram Course for the Bowls
Scouting reports on the five leading bowl games and some helpful hints for the would-be experts

82 Tory Prince of a Balmy Isle
Sir Ronald Tree runs a resort, possibly a last resort of the old English social and sporting life

95 Care to Try Dancing on Ice?
Parke Cummings tells of a delightful sport that anyone of any age can participate in

The departments

14 Scorecard
99 Basketball's Week
100 For the Record
102 19th Hole

Acknowledgments on page 100

Cover photograph by Sum Shaw

SPECIAL HOLIDAY ISSUE
This, our annual year-end magazine, combines the December 25 and January 1 issues. Good cheer!

ILLUSTRATION

18

PHOTO

28

PHOTO

34

PHOTO

44

PHOTO

73

ILLUSTRATION

76

PHOTO

82

PHOTO

Next issue

Our first issue of the new year will be on sale January 4 and will, as always, pay tribute to the outstanding sportsman of the year just past. In addition, it will present some of the unforgettable moments of 1961 in brilliant color photographs and will spotlight some of the finest performers. Fishermen will find five pages of beguiling paintings of angling in Yucatan. Skiers will be offered what we believe is the single most important instructional essay ever published. In the news section we will report on the pro football championship and on the college bowl games. Our cover will not, of course, bear a question mark (below) but instead the picture of an unassuming yet indispensable man.