In 2020, I was discussing books and records and athletic feats online with my mate Vic in the USA when he pointed me to a book which was new to me. It was first published in New York by Hart Publishing in 1969 and quickly became a best seller, with 5 editions published between 1969 and 1970. Vic very generously sourced a second hand copy of the original hard copy 1969 edition and posted it across to me.
The name says it all - a book of Incredible Athletic Feats. Benagh was by that stage a well known sports reporter and editor for Sports Magazine and Newsweek and the publisher of a number of similarly themed books. The book contains 225 sporting profiles, each 2-3 pages, and each with its own illustration by Frank Cramer. It was the sort of book that would have appealed to any sports buff, be that person a child or a seasoned follower of the game. Each entry had to have one thing in common - it had to be an astonishing physical feat. Some were purely sporting (eg boxing, running, throwing, etc) but some were of a non-sporting endurance nature (surviving a life raft at sea for 133 days). Some even featured Australians
- Thomas Norris skipped 22,806 times in 2 hours in Sydney in 1937
- Alf Dean landed a 2,664 pound shark with a hook and rod off Ceduna in 1959
- Don Bradman score3d 452 runs in a first-class cricket game in Brisbane in 1930
- Noah Young ran a mile in 8:30 with a man on his back in Melbourne in 1915
- William Franks swung an indian club 17.280 times in an hour in Newcastle in 1934
- Paul McManus waterskied barefoot for an hour and a half in Sydney in 1967
- Alick Wickham made the greatest high dive in history (200 feet) in Melbourne in 1918
Many of these feats were precursors to The Guinness Book of Records first published in 1951. It is no surprise the Benagh became one of the editors of this publication for a number of years. He continued the theme of this book with other similar publications, including
- Incredible Baseball Feats
- Incredible Olympic Feats
Most of his books are still for sale in second hand format - see for example https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/jim-benagh/667103/.
Benagh was born in 1937 and, as far as I know, he is still alive.
The book is wonderful stuff and has not aged at all over the years. The selection of feats is wideranging and very well thought out. All are worthy of inclusion. It is not the sort of book that you read in a single setting. Rather, you have it on the coffee table, pick it up every now and then and read a couple of the profiles and then, if the spirit so moves you, you move to your computer and start to research the feat or the person in greater details.
Thanks Vic...I have enjoyed the read and still have it on the coffee table.
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