A More Perfect Union: Five times when sports united America

George Washington was the collar and elbow wrestling champion of Virginia and was also an internationally renowned equestrian. Ben Franklin was an avid swimmer, Abraham Lincoln was an amateur wrestler and Teddy Roosevelt was a boxer who often engaged in literal sparring sessions with White House aides. The games have changed over the years, but athletic competition is woven into the fabric of our nation. What's more, sports have the unique ability to unite us while providing a welcome diversion from daily life. Here are five great examples from the first 250 years of American history of the ability of sports to form a more perfect union. Teddy Saves Football What would we do on ourselves on fall afternoons if there was no college football? Thanks to Teddy Roosevelt, that's a question we don't have to ponder. A report by the Chicago Tribune back in early 1905 offered some grim statistics: 18 football players died and 159 others suffered serious injury in 1904. The majority of these injuries and deaths were incurred by prep school players, and there was serious discussion about banning the game. So Roosevelt summoned coaches and representatives from premier college programs to the White House on Oct. 9, 1905, with the vision of making the game less deadly. By 1906, the intercollegiate conference was formed and several rule changes were made prior to the new season with the goal of curbing the violence on the field. The forward pass was legalized, a neutral zone was created between the offense and defense, and dangerous formations were made illegal. Deaths declined steadily, and the foundation was built for the modern game of football that captures our collective imagination to this very day. Jesse Owens Strikes Gold The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, was supposed to be a showcase for the supremacy of German athletes, but Jesse Owens crashed the party. With Adolf Hitler looking on, Owens won four gold medals, setting Olympic records in each event he competed in. His medals came in the 100m dash, the long jump, 200m sprint and as a member of the 4x100m relay team. Through his astounding performance, Owens advanced the cause of African American athletes while greatly damaging the image of Aryan supremacy that Hitler hoped would be on display during the 1936 Olympics. Owens returned to Germany in 1972 as a guest of the West German government during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Do You Believe in Miracles? Expectations weren't exactly sky-high for the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team at the outset of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. The U.S. team was the youngest team in the field and made up of amateur and collegiate players. Just three days before their first game in group play, the Soviet Union crushed the U.S. 10-3 in an exhibition game. So it was a pleasant surprise for most Americans when the U.S. qualified for the medal round and faced the Soviets in the semifinalists. "Hey, maybe we'll get a bronze medal out of this," was a common thought at the time. While people flocked to their televisions to watch the game, it had already wrapped up by the time the tape-delayed broadcast came flickering through TV sets at 8 p.m. EST. In an age before social media, so most everyone watching the broadcast was shocked when the U.S. pulled out a thrilling 4-3 win over the Soviets. The semifinal game is an iconic underdog story and a source of patriotic pride, so much so that it overshadowed another amazing performance in the gold medal game. The U.S. actually had to rally from a 2-1 deficit to beat Finland 4-2 to win the gold. The Shirt Off Her Back Heading into the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, Mia Hamm was the most recognizable American women's soccer player. By the end of the event, she would be supplanted by Brandi Chastain, who had reconstructive ACL surgeries on both her knees when she was in college. When the U.S. hosted the FIFA Men's World Cup in 1994, soccer fever swept the country. The disappointing performance by the men's national team at the 1998 World Cup was a sign of growing pains, but luckily the U.S. Women's National Team came along to recapture the nation's imagination. The final between the U.S. and China was played in front of 90,000 fans in the Rose Bowl, and the match came down to penalty kicks. After recovering from two surgeries that nearly ended her career, it was Chastain who drilled the game-winning penalty kick to bring the Women's World Cup to the United States. After scoring the goal, Chastain took off her shirt - exposing her sports bra - in celebration, a moment that created an iconic image that appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Chastain's goal and the performance of the U.S. Women's National Team advanced the cause of women's sports while helping the sport of soccer continue its upward trajectory in the United States. "Don't Bounce It" Less than a month after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, life in New York was slowly starting to round back into some semblance of normalcy. The fact that the New York Yankees were battling the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series was a Godsend for a city starving for a diversion from the ongoing recovery work at Ground Zero. Fighter planes were still patrolling the skies over the city as fans gathered at Yankee Stadium for Game 3 of the World Series. Snipers were in place, security was tight and tensions were high as President George W. Bush paced through the bowels of Yankee Stadium preparing to throw out the first pitch. There was a lot of consternation surrounding Bush's decision to throw out the pitch in front of such a large crowd, so much so that Bush was wearing a heavy bulletproof vest under his NYPD jacket. Before he took the mound, Bush got some advice from Derek Jeter, the Yankees' shortstop and captain. Jeter told him to throw the pitch from the mound, not in front of it, and "Don't bounce it. They will boo you." Bush strode confidently to the mound, and not only did he not bounce the ball, he threw a perfect strike. For the country, the moment served as a symbol of resilience that helped bring everyone closer together.