Damn it, I came in here to talk about Francis Ouimet.
I’m not actually all that into sports or sporting stories, but in answer to the OP many sports fans here in the UK would be moved to mention the so-called ‘Botham’s Ashes’ test cricket series from 1981, when a cricketer called Ian Botham delivered phenomenal match-winning performances against all odds. In this case, ‘against all odds’ is more than just a figure of speech. In one test match of the series, England (Botham’s team) were officially 500-1 against to win, but amazingly they did win, thanks largely to Botham’s heroic antics. The story of the match, and the way Botham turned a ‘certain’ defeat into an heroic victory, would look ridiculous and far-fetched if it had been made up by a writer of fiction. There’s a good Wiki write-up of what all the fuss was about at the time.
In similar vein, Machester United played in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final, and were actually losing going into injury time. Then they scored twice to win 2-1. I don’t follow ‘soccer’ much, but I happened to be watching towards the end of this match and the look on the faces of their opponents (Bayern Munich) was quite something to see. Again, if created as a work of fiction it woyuld be dismissed out of hand as crazy and lacking all semblance of credibility.
There must be many such stories from the world of sport.
Jasper Maskelyne’s work during WWII is also rather notable. He was a professional magician (from a dynasty of British magicians) who used magical methodology and thinking to help the Allies fool the Nazis. For example he developed innovative camouflage techniques to fool planes into bombing fake targets, and in at least one case managing to create an entire false coastline. I have seen these exploits covered in a few documentaries, but not in a movie. It would probably all seem rather far-fetched if it hadn’t actually happened.
Joan of Ark.
Was this real or fiction? I remember seeing either a documentary or a movie about some WWII POWs in Germany making a PLANE out of crap they found lying around the old church in which they were being held and successfully flying said plane - manned - out over the hedges.
I am thinking it was real … because I was so blown away by the story. If it were fiction I wouldn’t have been blown away.
Anyone know what I’m talking about?
I would second Shackletons exploits.
The 1976 raid on the Entebbe airport by Israeli commandos. You know you’re bad ass when they make a true story movie about you that stars Charles Bronson and a fictionalized movie based on you starting Chuck Norris.
It’s real. It was a Kolditz Strafelager. Pat Reid wrote about it in one of his books, and you can find information on it on the Internet. They built it, but were liberated before they could fly it. One photo of the original exists.
A couple of years ago they build a replica and tried it out – it flew. They made a special for TV, which I think ran on PBS here in the States.
There was also a HIGHLY fictionalized treatment of this for an ABC Movie of the Week back in the early 1970s. It was called The Birdmen, and it had Chuck Connors and a post-Beverly hillbillies Max Baer Jr. in it. In the movie, they flew it away.
The events of United flight 93 during the 9/11 attacks are pretty amazing as well. That is to say they would be if the plane wasn’t, in fact, a cruise missle being piloted remotely by Mossad agents until it was shot down by an American stealth fighter.
ZipperJJ - It’s real.
The PBS program, NOVA, did a documentary - Nazi Prison Escape dealing with that and other escape attempts from Colditz Castle. The POWs built the Colditz glider but didn’t get a chance to use it.
My favorite escape plan, the “I can’t believe that actually happened except for the fact that this source doesn’t do fiction” kind of thing, involved a family escaping from E. Berlin in a homemade balloon.
Ahhh, here it is: Time Magazine, October 1979, The Great Balloon Escape.
And apparently it was two families.
When I was in grade school, I had a paper route. Billy Conn was one of my customers. His boxing career resembles fiction. In 1941 he gave up his light-heavyweight title in order to fight Joe Louis for the heavyweight title. Round after round he out-boxed Louis. It looked like an upset was going to happen. Conn would have been the first boxer ever to move up in weight and win the heavyweight title. Going into the 13th round he was ahead on everyones scorecards.
Coming out of his corner in round 13, he switched his tactics and went for a knockout. Stupid move. He ended up being KO’d by Louis.
They never flew it. Here’s an article. Still pretty neat though.
That’s a good one. Also made into a movie called Night Crossing starring John Hurt.
Pair that with George Mason’s 2006 run to the Final Four*.
I would say Milan winning the Indiana High School Tournament in 1954. Tiny school comes from nowhere to beat the big boys. However, it turns out it was over-fictionalized in the movie Hoosiers. Per wiki: “Milan entered the 1953-54 season as one of the favorites to win the state title, as it returned four starters from the state semifinalists of 1952-53.” (italics mine)
*On a different tack, 2007’s tournament was remarkable for its lack of upsets.
One year after (I thought) GM changed NCAA hoops, there were NO Cinderella teams in the tourney. Only two double-digit seeds advanced (and just one round at that). The Elite Eight had only one team below a 2 seed.
Another vote for Shackleton’s expedition. As I was reading the Lansing book, “Endurance”, not only was I glued to every page, I kept saying to myself "and all this really took place ! " Truly amazing.
Ludovic, you were thinking of the Battle of Maldon, which occurred in the year 991.
The Anglo-Saxon leader was the ealdorman Byrhtnoth.
These are both great, and I wouldn’t even say they’re the most implausible, made-for-Hollywood sports stories in recent memory. The 1980 USA Olympic hockey team over the USSR in the semifinals, and Rulon Gardner over Aleksandr Karelin in the 2002 Olympic Greco-Roman final, are both at least as improbable as the story of Rocky (the film, not the real story that inspired it).
Apollo 13 makes for a pretty good story.
I was going to mention Bligh and the Raid on Entebbe, but the most amazing true sports story I know of is the 1980 vectory by the US hockey team over the Russians in the Olympics.
What about the life story of Moe Berg, a Major League Catcher of middling ability for 15 years who then he became a spy during WWII.
You mean Noah’s wife?