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By Jim Caltagirone
For the Mirror
This year marks the 50th anniversary of John Cappelletti's selection for the Heisman Trophy.
That alone made the 1973 college football season something special for Penn State football fans.
Mix in a perfect record and fifth-place national ranking and that season becomes unforgettable.
Most certainly, that same season created lasting memories for John Hicks.
An offensive lineman at Ohio State, he was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, but it's doubtful that many outside Columbus know his place in history without a Google search.
The psychological effect that causes people to easily recall winners and quickly subjugate the also-rans is not specific to sports.
How many people can name the unsuccessful candidates for president of the United States from 1952 to 1972?
Let's make it easier. How about from 1988 to 2008?
Now, try naming the victors.
Not as difficult.
In sports, the mentality is winner-take-all. The champions claim the trophy, fame, glory and a prominent seat in the realm of memory.
Even a valiant performance rarely establishes a losing team as worthy of remembrance.
A plethora of teams that lost in the seventh game of a championship series are mere footnotes to history in professional ice hockey, baseball and basketball.
The Lakers franchise has lost in the finals 15 times, but that eyebrow-raising number is glossed over by an NBA-record-tying 17 championships.
If the losing team is remembered for anything at all, it's usually heartbreak or extraordinary misfortune.
Attempting to beat down a door that was bolted shut by the dynastic Yankees, the Brooklyn Dodgers lost six World Series to the Yankees in the 1940s and '50s, including three series in seven games.
Beyond the Bronx, that futility distinguished the Dodgers as sympathetic figures.
Conversely, only loyal fans wanted to see Minnesota, Denver and Buffalo in repeat Super Bowl appearances as they stretched losing streaks in the championship game to four in 1977, 1990 and 1994, respectively.
Memory can be selective when it comes to losing efforts. Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season home run record in 1961, but Mickey Mantle shares hero status for the pursuit because he was forced from the race in mid-September by a hip infection when he had 53 home runs, seven shy of tying the record.
The 1972 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team fell victim in a different way.
Due to what team member Tom McMillen described as "incompetence combined with complicity, meaning there was a comedy of errors" in the final three seconds of the gold medal game, the Soviet team was handed three opportunities to inbound the ball before finally converting a court-length pass for a game-winning layup.
The injustice of that first-ever loss for U.S. men's basketball in Olympic play has cemented the impression in this country that the Americans were the rightful gold medalists, not runners-up.
Memory storage capacity is not a factor in remembering who places second. People recall with perfect clarity names of former classmates and details of vacations taken many years ago.
We remember winners and champions in sports because our society has long emphasized finishing first. Even the entertainment industry recognizes achievement by presenting awards.
Wouldn't celebrating nominees in each category of the Academy Awards be sufficient? Do we really need to select a winner?
Finishing second is nothing to be ashamed of. Winning just happens to correspond with our way of thinking.
And remembering.
Jim Caltagirone resides in Altoona. He is a regular contributor to Voice of the Fan.