Hey, this is Steve White, the host of this day in sports history.

The situation in western North Carolina remains dire for so many who lost everything.

There are many who still are without power and water.

Some are trapped by washed out roads with incredible people using horses and mules.

To reach those who have no way out, consider a donation to the western North Carolina Red Cross or another local charity that's doing work to help those affected by by Hurricane Helene.

Ive put links in the show notes if you would like a few suggestions.

Thanks.

And now heres todays episode.

Dion says lets play two the Zamboni machine makes its debut and the World Hockey association premieres its this day in sports history.

A member of the Sports History Network, its October 11 and on this day in 1992, Deion Sanders pulled off one of the most incredible feats professional sports.

In fact, maybe the only correlation is in music and what Phil Collins did for Live Aid.

Deion Sanders was playing for both the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Braves at this point.

The Braves were in the National League Championship Series against Pittsburgh, a series that we will certainly talk about in a few days.

And the Falcons were getting ready for a game in Miami in the week leading up to any NFL game.

There's a lot of time spent on the practice field in the film room getting treatment, but Deion was not there.

Games one and two of the National League Championship series were in Atlanta on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the Braves winning both of those.

Sanders did not see any action in game one and had one at bat in game two.

Games three, four and five were in Pittsburgh.

Game four on Saturday night saw the Braves take a three one series lead.

Sanders came in as a defensive substitute in the 7th, and again he had only one at bat.

The game ended just before midnight, and within a half hour deion had hopped into a limo off to the airport.

He and an entourage boarded a plane provided by Nike and they were wheels up in a few minutes.

They landed in Fort Lauderdale at 04:00 a.m.

and he headed to the team hotel, where he got a little bit of sleep before jumping on the team bus and heading out to the stadium.

Falcons head coach Jerry Glanville was not overly happy about Deion's double duty this particular week.

He understood what he was trying to do, but he would have certainly liked to have had his all pro cornerback at practice, Glanville shocked the pre game locker room when he announced, Deon, you're not starting.

You come in here without practicing all week and fly in on a helicopter.

I'm not starting you.

The place went silent.

But Glanville was not an idiot.

He knew he couldn't keep Deion on the bench long, and he didn't.

After the first Dolphins offensive play, Glanville turned to him, told him that his punishment for missing practice was over and he could go play.

He didn't do anything spectacular in the game, but he did return a couple of kicks and even played a little bit of offense, catching a pass for nine yards.

Miami won 20 117, and it was time now for Deion to get moving back to the airport.

Wheels up in Miami, wheels down in Pittsburgh at 07:45 p.m.

his limo to the stadium got him there 15 minutes before the first pitch.

He wasn't in the starting lineup, but that wasn't as big a shocker as earlier in the day.

Braves general manager John Schierholz was also not a big fan of Deion's double dip.

With a playoff roster of only 25 players, Scherholtz said he would have left prime off the post season roster if he'd known that his plans were to play for both the Falcons and the Braves ahead of time.

Manager Bobby Cox was okay with it but did not insert Sanders into the game, and the Braves lost seven to one.

Deion wasn't happy about not playing, and despite the herculean effort to be in two places at once, he made a point of saying that he didn't play two games in two different sports in two different cities on the same day.

He merely suited up for two.

On this day in 1991, it was Chip Beck becoming just the second player in PGA history to card a 59 in an official PGA Tour event.

It was the third round of the Las Vegas Invitational, and at 6900 yards, it was about 300 yards shorter than the course that Al Guy Burger had pulled the feet 14 years earlier.

Beck had 13 birdies and five pars on the par 72 course to become the second mister 59 on this day in 1954.

Well, I'll be honest with you, I am not exactly sure it was this day.

But it was around this day that the Boston Bruins became the first team in the NHL to use a Zamboni machine to resurface the ice.

Now, the reason I say it was this day is this was the date of their home opener for the 5455 season, so it seems like a good chance that this was the date.

Frank Zamboni had come up with a working prototype for the original Zamboni by 1949.

And while that early model was a repurposed farm tractor and would be a far cry from what you see in today's NHL rinks.

The basic functioning of the machine is still the same, and the Bruins were the first team to see the value in it and put it into good use.

And speaking of hockey, on this day in 1972, it was the debut of the World Hockey association.

The Ottawa Nationals opened up the new league with a home game in the Civic center against the Alberta Oilers on this night.

The game was televised nationally in Canada, which was good because not many other people were going to see it.

The Oilers had only managed to sell about 400 season tickets, and there was a worry that not all of those would show up.

It wasn't going to look very good on television.

So the marketing team got to work and decided to offer free tickets to any kid that came with an adult, not one for one.

It could be ten kids with one adult.

It worked to an extent.

About 2000 paying adults showed up with about 3000 kids running around the arena wreaking havoc.

The Oilers beat the Nationals seven to four, and the WHA was off and running for its seven year run.

Now, one story to tell from the WHA that I picked up from Ed Willis book, the Rebel League, is about Ottawa Nationals goalie Gilles Graton.

He did not play in this game.

He wasn't even with the team yet, but he did join the organization a few weeks later, and he was one of those characters that helped define the wha.

He was, let's just say, a bit quirky.

He earned the nickname Gratuni the loony for his eccentricities, such as his belief in past lives.

He said he'd been reincarnated several times and could provide details of his previous earthly iterations in chronological order.

He'd been a landowner in 17th century Spain.

He'd been in Egypt during the times of the pharaohs and said he'd been an advisor to one of them, and he talked about being a mayan priest.

No word on whether he performed any sacrifices in his previous life.

His quirks also ran to the more annoying, such as pleading that he couldn't play in a game because his ribs still hurt from a spear wound that he said was from a battle 300 years in his past, or quitting the game during the second intermission because he'd faced enough shots, he said, and he was going back to the hotel.

And sometimes when the action around the net got a little too hectic, he whispered to himself, dead fish.

And then he collapsed to the ice, pretending he'd passed out.

But when he wasn't letting his quirkiness interfere with his goaltending.

He was pretty good.

And he led the Nationals on a surge that season, making the playoffs in year one as the fourth best team in the east.

Time now for today's nothing to do with sports.

Did you know the first remote controls to change the channel were for radios?

Philco released a mystery control in 1939.

Thats all ive got for you today.

Thanks for stopping by and giving this episode a listen.

And again, if you are inclined to help those in western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helenes devastation, ive put a few links in the show notes.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Ill be back tomorrow with another edition of this day in sports history.