02-06-2018, 11:27 AM
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#1156
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gelding
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,883
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clocker
It will be interesting to see if Trump continues the "tradition" of inviting the Super Bowl champs to the White House.
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That tradition is bonafide, so you can drop the quotes
Quote:
The tradition of sports teams visiting the White House dates to at least Aug. 30, 1865, when President Andrew Johnson welcomed the Brooklyn Atlantics and Washington Nationals amateur baseball clubs. Ulysses S. Grant played host to the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1869. The first World Series championship team feted at the White House is believed to be the 1924 Washington Senators, who visited Calvin Coolidge at the executive residence the following year.
John F. Kennedy was the first president to welcome the NBA champions, when the Boston Celtics visited in January 1963, and the Indiana University men's basketball team is believed to be the first NCAA champion to visit the White House when it was hosted by Gerald Ford in April 1976.
It was a short trip for the 1924 World Series champion Washington Senators to visit the White House. Griffith Park, the Senators' home field, stood about two miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Courtesy Library of Congress
The first Super Bowl champion to visit was the Pittsburgh Steelers, who joined the World Series-winning Pittsburgh Pirates in a dual ceremony with Jimmy Carter in February 1980.
It was Ronald Reagan, however, who made the practice of honoring championship teams at the White House a regular occurrence. Reagan had a cooler full of popcorn dumped on him by New York Giants linebacker Harry Carson, evoking the team's famous Gatorade celebration, in February 1987. The following year, Reagan threw a pass to Washington wide receiver Ricky Sanders.
The Pittsburgh Penguins became the first Stanley Cup champion to visit when they met George H.W. Bush in June 1991.
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