FATHERS’ TIME To celebrate Father’s Day, we look back at some of the best moments athletes have shared with their dads
USA TODAY NETWORK
The world of sports looks strikingly different in 2020 compared to past Father’s Days. Typically we watch the U.S. Open and the NBA Finals. This year we have the RBC Heritage and our favorite basketball stars getting tested for COVID-19.
What doesn’t change, even in 2020, are the many roles a dad plays for his kids: Coach. Cheerleader. Emotional support.
Whether it’s playing catch in the backyard or sharing a hug on the biggest stage, the bond between a father and his kids is magnified in sports.
As we take time to give praise to dads across the world, let’s also look at some of the most memorable moments between a father and his child on the field.
ILLUSTRATION BY JAKE LOVETT / USA TODAY NETWORK, AND GETTY IMAGES
Dale Jr. celebrates with his dad
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won three races in his rookie season, but his win in the Winston AllStar race is most memorable.
Earnhardt Jr., with the benefit of fresh tires after a last-minute pit stop, passed his father with just four laps to go to move into third. Then, with two laps to go, he passed Dale Jarrett and raced to the win, earning him $500,000 and making him the first rookie to win the event.
The celebration after the race was emotional for the Earnhardts, as Dale Sr. quickly changed out of his race gear and ran to the victory celebration to share the moment with his son.
Earnhardt Sr.
Earnhardt Jr.
Griffeys go back-to-back
Already trailblazers — the first in Major League Baseball to play on the same team as father and son — the Griffeys, Ken Sr. and Ken Jr., created an unforgettable moment on Sept. 14, 1990, when they hit back-to-back home runs against the California Angels.
Ken Sr. — batting second for the Mariners at age 40 — took an 0-2 pitch to left-center field to put Seattle up 2-0 in the first inning. Four pitches later, his 20-year-old son, the future Hall of Famer Ken Jr., drove Kirk McCaskill’s 3-0 pitch out of left field, and put the Griffeys in the record books.
The two played together in Seattle in both 1990 and 1991 before the elder Griffey retired after a 19-year career.
Ron Hunter loses his seat
Georgia State men’s basketball coach Ron Hunter was hard to miss in the 2015 NCAA men’s basketball tournament: He was the coach on the stool.
Hunter had ruptured his Achilles tendon during his team’s Sun Belt Conference tournament championship run, leaving him to sit on an elevated stool during the Panthers’ NCAA tournament appearances.
Then, in their first-round game, his son RJ hit a long three with :02 left against No. 3-seeded Baylor, giving No. 14 Georgia State a 57-56 lead. The elder Hunter, so excited by his son’s last-second heave, thrust his arms into the air and toppled from his seat on the sideline. Not to be deterred by the moment, though, he kept celebrating at ground level.
Jordan wins Finals on Father’s Day
Michael Jordan’s Father’s Day moment sadly came without his father.
While leading the Chicago Bulls to three consecutive championships, Jordan’s father, James, was there to celebrate each victory with his son. But on July 23, 1993, James was murdered. He was just 56.
Michael Jordan retired from basketball that year — one of the reasons given was because his father got to see his last game.
After a brief stint in baseball, Jordan returned to the Bulls and capped one of the most memorable seasons in NBA history with an unforgettable moment.
Jordan led the Bulls to their fourth title on Father’s Day — June 16, 1996. Shortly after the Game 6 win over Seattle, Jordan still clutching the game ball, collapsed in tears in the locker room. Alone, overcome by the moment.
“I know he’s watching,” said Jordan during a televised interview after the game. “To my wife and kids, to my mother, brother and sister, this is for Daddy.”
Liukin’s gold-medal moment
In the 2008 Olympics, Nastia Liukin soared above the competition to take home the all-around gold medal, at the time just the third American woman to do so.
Her biggest cheerleader wasn’t far away, it was her coach, Valeri Liukin.
Dad just missed winning the allaround gold in the 1988 Olympics, settling for silver.
“[My father] was so close to winning that all-around gold medal,” Nastia told ESPN The Magazine. “I hope I made up for that. I hope he is as proud of this as I am.”
Nastia would go on to win four more medals — three silvers and a bronze — in Beijing in 2008. Valeri was named coordinator of the U.S. women’s national gymnastics team in 2016. He resigned in 2018.
Derek Redmond at 1992 Olympics
About 150 meters into the second semifinal of the men’s 400-meter sprint at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, British runner Derek Redmond pulled up with an apparent injury — his right hamstring, he would later learn, torn — and fell to the ground.
Refusing assistance from Olympic officials, Redmond got to his feet and began hobbling around the track, determined to finish the race.
As he made the turn into the backstretch, his father, Jim, approached him from behind to help him to the finish. Redmond initially refused the aid, until he realized it was his father, then he put his arm around his dad’s neck and began crying.
The Redmonds proceeded down the final stretch of the track hand-in-hand, as the Barcelona crowd rose to its feet to cheer them on.
“That is the Olympic spirit,” NBC’s Tom Hammond said as the two crossed the finish line.
Tiger wins 1997 Masters
The embrace between the 21-yearold phenom and his father is one of most iconic images from an iconic career. Tiger Woods, fresh off of sinking a 4-foot putt on the 18th hole at Augusta National — clinching the first of five Masters titles in record-breaking fashion — found his father, Earl, in the gallery and locked him in a tearful, jubilant hug.
“It was a touching moment for us as a family,” Woods said in 2017. “It was one of those moments where it just … everybody had melted away and it was just me and my dad. That was pretty special.”
Tiger, now a father himself, shared a similar moment in almost the exact spot with his own kids, Charlie and Sam, after winning the 2019 Masters.