Category: history

Oklahoma’s win streak ends at 121

4 consecutive national team titles. 121 straight victories — the third-longest winning streak in NCAA history for all sports.

The Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team’s historic run came to a close on Saturday night inside the State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. The Sooners were narrowly edged in the team finals by the Stanford Cardinal, 415.222-414.556. …

“It was an amazing run,” said OU head coach Mark Williams. “It’s hard to have a streak of victories over such a long period of time and we were a little off tonight.” …

Sooner Sports

Stanford upsets Oklahoma to win Championships

Unbelievable.

https://twitter.com/katharineumm/status/1119792970155352064

1. Stanford 415.222
2. Oklahoma 414.556
3. Nebraska 407.489
4. Michigan 406.354
5. Illinois 405.358
6. Penn State 399.725

After 5 of 6 rotations it looked like the Sooners had their 5th title in a row locked up. It goes to show anything can happen in Men’s Gymnastics.

Congratulations STANFORD.

shocker – Yul wins 2019 Nissen-Emery

OK. The vote was probably unanimous.

A bigger question is where Yul stands with the top male College gymnasts of all time.

Mark Williams’ secret

“People want to know the secret of Oklahoma gymnastics, the secret of Mark Williams,” said Guard Young, who competed for Williams on the U.S. National Team from 2000 to 2004. “Well, it’s just that the guy is a workhorse. His work ethic is second to none.”

In Williams’ own words, he has no secret.

“I don’t think there’s a secret,” Williams said candidly. “I think there’s a formula.” …

Winning formula: How OU coach Mark Williams became one of the winningest coaches in men’s gymnastics history

2017

History of the Ball Pit

Gymnastics foam pits were first. Ball pits soon after.

The invention of the ball pit (or “ball crawl,” as it was first dubbed) is widely attributed to Eric McMillan.

… In 1971, he was appointed chief designer of Ontario Place, an ambitious project that included a park, theme park, and the world’s first IMAX theater on newly built artificial islands just off the Toronto waterfront. Ontario Place was a visionary project, but it was missing something.

Striving for a more kid-friendly environment, the designer created The Children’s Village, a massive playground unlike any other, where youngsters could climb huge rope nets and soft pyramids, crawl through hanging tunnels, and jump on an enormous air mattress. “The Children’s Village opened in July 1972 …

McMillan did not install a ball pit in Toronto, however.

According to McMillan, that honor belongs to the ball crawl he installed in 1976 at SeaWorld Captain Kids World in San Diego, another of a handful of theme parks McMillan designed …

A brief history of the ball pit

How the indoor playground became a staple in our safety-obsessed culture

Oklahoma wins #116 in a row

8th consecutive Conference title.

Click PLAY or watch OU highlights on Twitter.

Yul won the AA.

Maria Filatova – 1979 Floor

The legend joins IG magazine’s Hall of Fame this year.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Miss Val tribute video

This is really well done. Thanks to all those from UCLA history who participated.

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

Patti Rope – 1976 Bars

Patti was coached by her parents, Don and Benita Rope. In 1972 they founded Cambridge Kips Gymnastics Club.

In February of 1976, with the Olympics approaching, the Romanian team, including Nadia Comenici, stayed in Cambridge to train with the Kips for a week at Glenview Park S.S. The culmination of the week was a two-day Canada-Romania meet, hosted by the Kips at the Kitchener Auditorium. It was at that meet that Nadia received the first perfect 10, a benchmark for what was to come at the Olympics not long afterward.

At Montreal two Russian gymnasts approached Patti asking if she could help them get their ears pierced. They all piled into the Rope van and went downtown. The two Russians? Nelli Kim, and a young girl by the name of Elvira Saadi, destined one day to become coach of the Kips and of Canadian champion Yvonne Tousek.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

via Fans of Canadian Gymnastics

Rope finished 27th at Montreal, the highest-ever placing at an Olympics by a Canadian female gymnast at the time …

Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame