Curator’s Corner

A Worcester, MA native, Richard A. Johnson has served as Curator of The Sports Museum since 1982. A varsity athlete at Lawrence Academy and Bates College, Johnson parlayed his Art History degree and an abiding passion for both sports and cultural history into a celebrated career. Johnson has also authored or co-authored 23 books and served as a consultant to projects and clients including The Boston Celtics, New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Cambridge Seven Associates, WGBH, ESPN, HBO, and The Boston Museum of Science.

Here is Richard Johnson’s “Curator’s Corner” where you will find blog posts written by Richard discussing Boston sports history.

Celebrating History

Ice Time. Earned. – PWHL Boston and the Impact of Women’s Hockey in Boston

By Megan Reynolds

Bobbi Gibb Marathon Pioneer

The Sports Museum Challenge Cup

FLYING HIGH/ THE MASSPORT JETS

Alfreda Harris — Boston’s First Lady of Basketball

Disciples of The Master

The Jet, Boston Braves Center Fielder Sam Jethroe

BAM, Patriot Fullback Sam Cunningham

Chronicle – WCVB Channel 5

Some Red Sox Men for All Seasons and The Great Charlie Berry.

Number 4 turns 75

The 1967 Boston Red Sox

Celtics Hire Bill Russell as first Black Head Coach in NBA History

Celtics Field First All-Black Lineup in NBA History

The First Patriot, Ron Burton

Willie O’Ree: The Jackie Robinson of Hockey

Celtics Select Chuck Cooper as NBA’s First Black Player Drafted

It was 37 years ago…

On January 19, 1986, The Sports Museum mounted a benefit concert at Symphony Hall featuring rock and roll pioneers Bo Diddley and Roy Orbison as well as the Lite Beer All-Stars led by Celtics head coach KC Jones.

Flying High / The Massport Jets

In the early seventies, Boston was the undisputed capitol of the hockey world as the Big Bad Bruins led by Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito captured two Stanley Cups and elevated the NHL to hitherto unprecedented heights.

Prince of our City

At 8:41 PM on a Friday, August 18, 1967, Boston was aglow with the performance of a Red Sox team, that despite being in fourth place, where only 3 1/2 games behind the Twins...

Top Banana

On the night of August 19th 75-year-old left-hander, Bill Lee was warming up in the bullpen for the Savannah Bananas and had just caught a toss from his catcher when he toppled over backward.

The Captain, Bobby Doerr

In 1986 the veterans' committee named former Red Sox captain Bobby Doerr to The National Baseball Hall of Fame making him only the second enshrines, after his teammate and lifelong friend Ted Williams, to have played his entire major league career with the Red Sox.

Mr. Russell

Winning was a magnificent obsession that allowed Mr. Russell a prominent platform from which to advocate for social justice and fairness at a time when such stances weren’t universally embraced by fellow citizens.

The Arrival of Babe Ruth

One Hundred and Eight Years Ago Today, The Babe Joins The Red Sox. Babe Ruth joined us in the middle of 1914, a 19-year-old kid. He was a left-handed pitcher then, and a good one.

Coach Bill Squires

Coach Bill Squires died on June 30 at age 89. He was one of the greats on a par with distance coaching peers such as Bill Bowerman and Arthur Lydiard. He was also a mentor and dear friend.

Pro Football’s Happy Warrior

Billy Sullivan started the Boston Patriots with $8,000, an abundant supply of charm/blarney, and a dogged determination to succeed where five other Boston-based pro football franchises had failed.

Boston’s Consummate Sportsman

It's been 58 years since the Celtics honored Walter Brown in a manner he'd have scotched had he been around to protest the raising of the retired number one banner in his honor on the night of October 17, 1964.

Charles F. Adams

There’s no doubt that Boston Bruins founder Charles Francis Adams shared certain core traits with the best of Boston’s professional franchise owners.

Mr. Patriot

Gino Cappelletti was one of, if not THE greatest football player and goodwill ambassador not enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Great Friday

1998. Once again we find that today's Red Sox home opener coincides with that other Holy Day of Good Friday. Such was also the case in 1998 on a day that headlines proclaimed that beer sales would be prohibited on grounds of the solemnity of the religious holiday. Pretty sure that was a Fenway first.

Of Red Sox Milestones and Three Opening Days of Tony Conigliaro

Funny how certain milestones of Red Sox history are marked in an undeniably cosmic pattern by the careers of two incredible hitters and characters, one a right-handed slugger, the other a lefty.

The KG Factor, Past and Present

The force of nature, the human laser beam that is Kevin Maurice Garnett had an immediate and palpable effect on not only the personnel of Boston Celtics and TD Garden, but the entire city of Boston in the autumn of 2007.

Willie O’Ree / Against The Odds

Consider the formidable obstacles confronting Willie O’Ree in 1958 as he contemplated the possibility of his being the first black player to skate in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Boston, First and Last

It seemed only fitting that the city of colonial martyr Crispus Attucks and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison would be the setting for the integration of at least one major league sport.

The Life and Legend of Cannonball Jackman

While perusing the contents of one of the many banker’s boxes that contained our first archival acquisitions, I came upon a photograph of then Boston Mayor Kevin White presenting a Revere Bowl to Jackman at a ceremony honoring Boston’s greatest athletes as part of Boston’s 350th anniversary celebration in 1970.

Louise Stokes, The Malden Meteor

Just as Jackie Robinson should have broken baseball’s color barrier in the uniform of the Boston Red Sox, Malden’s Louise Stokes should have been America’s first African-American female Olympian at the 1932 Summer Games.

The Best of the Best – Remembering Ray Fitzgerald

One of the few benefits of being quarantined is the opportunity to paw through one’s book shelf and revisit volumes best described as old friends. Such was the case the other day when I spent several hours in the company of legendary Boston Globe sports-columnist Ray Fitzgerald, the recipient of 11 Massachusetts Sportswriter Awards, symbolic of the highest honor bestowed by his peers.

The Promise of Opening Day

As we contemplate the promise of better days to come on what would have been the opening week-end of the 2020 Red Sox season, let’s look back to an opening day held in the midst of the Great Depression.

From Slow Time to Show Time

Long before the National Basketball Association morphed into today's multi billion dollar international conglomerate that trails only FIFA in global scope it struggled to survive in outposts like Fort Wayne Indiana, Providence, Rochester and Syracuse.

The Goal

The dream call for any curator is one in which a donor not only offers a priceless artifact but also shares a wonderful story. Such was the case twenty years ago when a north shore woman called to offer the donation of the net in which Bobby Orr scored the most famous goal in Bruins and possibly hockey history.