Sports Challenge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sports Challenge was a sports-centered game show that aired in weekly syndication from 1971 to 1979, with a separate version airing briefly on CBS in 1973.
Dick Enberg was host. Johnny Gilbert, Art James, and John Harlan announced.
Contents |
[edit] Format
Sports Challenge featured two teams of three athletes, each of whom represented a sport or a team of the past (or present, depending on who the producers were able to book).
[edit] The First Four Rounds
Four rounds were played.
In each round, a film clip was shown, and a toss-up question would be asked about it. The first team to buzz in with a correct answer earned 20 points and a chance at scoring more with two 10 point questions (called "extra points"). (If no one answered correctly on the first toss-up, the extra point questions became toss-ups.)
After the fourth round, one final film clip was shown, and the question that followed it was worth 30 points.
[edit] Bonus Biography
After that question, the "Bonus Biography" question was played. A famous athlete was shown on-screen (silohuetted), and would have 60 seconds (originally 90) to figure out who it was based on clues given by announcer Gilbert (although Enberg later took this over). The team that answered this correctly earned one point for every second left on the clock.
Whoever was in the lead after the Bonus Biography won the game, $1000 worth of Voit sporting goods for a charitable organization of their choice, and $1 for every point they scored.
The winning team played until they were beaten.
[edit] Notes
- The team of Tommy Henrich, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle (New York Yankees) set a record for winning the game 8 consecutive times. This record was tied once before the show left the airwaves in 1979.
- Sports Challenge has aired in reruns on ESPN, ESPN 2, and ESPN Classic.
- The show's theme throughout its run was an instrumental version of "Get Back" by Pat Williams, from his Verve Records album "Heavy Vibrations"; a different theme was briefly used during the 1976 season, but was quickly dropped.
