Leading OFF
Do you believe in miracles? The answer always is, ‘Yes!’
The night started like so many others in newsrooms across the country. By the end, newspapers were scrambling to figure out how to handle the most iconic moment in our nation’s sports history.
It was Feb. 22, 1980. I was working at The Boston Globe as part of the cooperative education program at Northeastern University. The Olympics were being staged about 300 miles away in Lake Placid, New York. Other than Eric Heiden winning five speedskating gold medals, accounting for all but one captured by the United States, the U.S. appeared to be headed toward nothing more than a footnote there, not atypical for the Winter Games then usually dominated by the Soviet Union and East Germany.
Until that night 40 years ago, when everything changed ... another ho-hum Winter Games turning transcendent after a hockey game recognized by Sports Illustrated as the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. A hockey game that inspired an award-winning docudrama and a timeless call in which the question was asked “Do you believe in miracles?”
“Miracle on Ice” was one of those historic nights that so many Americans have a story to tell about where they were the moment ABC play-by-play announcer Al Michaels shouted “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” as the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team stunned the world by defeating the Soviet Union 4-3 in the first game of the medal round.
For me, it was the Globe sports department on a night that started with taking box scores from the local basketball and hockey games over the phone, making coffee runs for the grizzled copy editors and ending with a phone call I will never forget.
With four members of the U.S. team from the Boston area – the second most behind the 13 from Minnesota – including captain Mike Eruzione and goalie Jim Craig, the game was heard live in the newsroom the only way it could that night: through a transistor radio. The television broadcast was scheduled to air late that night on tape delay.
The Soviets had won six of the previous seven gold medals in men’s hockey and were the overwhelming favorites.
The team was comprised of professionals who had been crushing opponents after losing to the U.S. in the 1960 Games, losing just one game in the previous 20 years.
This band of mismatched American collegians led by feisty coach Herb Brooks stood no chance against the Red Army.
The U.S. entered the medal round, having won four games and tied one in the opening round. The Soviets were 5-0, having outscored their opponents 51-11.
The U.S. kept the Soviets within sight, three times falling behind by a goal and each time rallying to tie the score. After making it 3-3, Eruzione put the U.S. ahead 4-3 with 10 minutes remaining.
The countdown was on. The Soviets were relentless, but this group of kids, most barely out of their teens, would not cave. An entire country clung to every word, whether listening live or watching on tape delay.
When it ended, an editor approached me. I was handed the phone number to Eruzione’s parents’ home in Winthrop, Massachusetts. I was told to call it and talk to anyone who would come to the phone.
Eruzione’s sister, Nancy, answered.
Eruzione’s parents were in Lake Placid but his five siblings along with aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces and friends were in Winthrop attempting to keep up with the action in the days long before the internet and social media.
The updates came from all over. A cousin was listening on the third floor of the home. Neighbors drove around with the game tuned into their car radio. Nancy said about five different radios were stationed around the house.
No Twitter. No streaming. No apps. Just good old-fashioned word of mouth ... and rabbit ear antennas.
After speaking to Eruzione’s sister, girlfriend and cousin, I was told to write ... and write fast. My reaction story landed on the front page of the sports section, which was entirely devoted to the greatest game ever, along with the game story written by John Powers.
A pretty big deal for a 21-year-old just hoping to someday get a chance to break into the business.
Two days later, I sat at home watching the U.S. complete the journey with a 4-2 victory over Finland to win the gold medal.
The United States’ victory transcended sports and united the nation. It was a time of political unrest and Cold War tensions. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan two months earlier, leading to the U.S., along with 65 other countries, boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
“For some it was a hockey victory, and for some it was a political meaning ... a shot in the arm,” Eruzione said last week during a call with reporters. “Realizing what we did 40 years ago, I guess we brought a lot of pride back to a country that was looking for something.”
Eruzione and Michaels recalled one of the most memorable nights when it comes to sports in our nation’s history. Michaels said he was assigned the game because he was the only one of ABC’s team of broadcasters at the Olympics who had ever called a hockey game. (He said he had done one.)
“You talk about getting fortunate,” he said. “There were not a lot of miracles on the biathlon course.”
As for Eruzione, four decades later he continues to be approached by people who tell him they remember where they were when “we” won.
“And I always say, ‘We? I didn’t know you were on the team,’ ” Eruzione said. “But people felt a part of it.”