History of the Magazine Sports Illustrated

If you say Sports Illustrated today you think of a magazine jam packed with coverage and articles on every possible sport known to man. Many immediately think of the Swimsuit Issue. But whatever comes to mind when you hear the name, Sports Illustrated was not always so well received and it took quite some time for the magazine to catch on.

In the early 1930s and 1940s there were two attempts from different companies called Sports Illustrated that failed miserably. Sometime later a man named Henry Luce who was the patriarch of Time decided that it would be a good idea to start a magazine dedicated to sports. Many of Luce's closest advisors warned him that this was not a good undertaking but Luce felt that the time was right.

After trying unsuccessfully to obtain the rights to the name "Sport" for the magazine, Luce was able to buy the rights to the name "Sports Illustrated" and the first issue came out in August 16, 1954. The first cover had a picture of baseball great Eddie Matthews at bat and the maiden issue has become a rare and valuable collector's item.

For the first 12 years of its existence it looked as though the nay-sayers would be proved right as Sports Illustrated never made a profit. But Luce kept at it and by riding the subsequent wave of spectator sport popularity that followed over the next few years, it would be Luce and the magazine ending up with the last laugh.

Sports Illustrated is known for many innovations in the sports magazine world including the liberal use of color photographs. In fact, because they used so much color the early issues could take six weeks to run off.

Now millions of people subscribe and read Sports Illustrated every month and the magazine has become the standard for sports fans everywhere. Over the years the magazine has earned the nickname of simply "SI" and there is no other sports magazine that has impacted the world as Sports Illustrated has.

As for Luce, he passed away in 1967 but lived long enough to see his idea begin to blossom. With all that Sports Illustrated has gone on to do you just know he is looking down with a big "I told you so" smile adorning his face.

Source: Experience Festivle, Sports Illustrated: Encyclopedia II - Sports Illustrated - History, Experiencefestivle.com