Sporting Accomplishments

Frank DeFord is one of the few sportswriters who would rather tell us something meaningful about sports as a social and cultural activity than write yet another hagiography or demonology of an athlete. DeFord's talents are on display in this old essay for Sports Illustrated, which succinctly describes why Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a sub-four minute mile, was one of the 20th century's greatest sportsmen. (In this interview in ESPN News, DeFord draws Bannister together with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norkay, the first men to summit Mount Everest.)