From its first issue in September of 1946, SPORT magazine, which preceded the debut of Sports Illustrated by eight years, was an instant hit, rising to well over a million in circulation and featuring the work of the greatest writers and photographers of the era. In particular, SPORT's ground-breaking use of photography captivated a generation of sports fans, many of whom wallpapered their bedrooms with the full-page photos that were the magazine's signature item. When SPORT magazine closed its doors in the summer of 2000, Allen Barra of the Wall Street Journal called it the greatest of all American sports magazines. Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe described SPORT as "an irreplaceable part of the American sports experience."

SPORT was an American cultural icon and, particularly through its first 30 years, its photography was a monthly staple for legions of North American sports fans. The magazine pioneered a brand of behind-the-scenes profiles of the heroes of the day not previously attempted. Integral to the reportage was photography from many of the top shooters of that era, a combination of SPORT magazine staffers, freelancers and wire service providers.

Anchored by the SPORT Magazine Photographic Archive, The SPORT Collection consists of almost a quarter million images -- color transparencies, black and white negatives, vintage photographic prints and news photographs -- covering the world of sports from the 1920s to the 1990s, with the best work concentrated in the '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s. Due to the particular focus on superstars, the archive includes significant files on many Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers across all the major sports. To name just a few: Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, and Frank Robinson in baseball; Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Jim Brown, and Paul Hornung in football; Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and Bob Cousy in basketball; Bobby Orr, Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Bobby Hull, and Gordie Howe in hockey; Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Floyd Patterson, George Foreman and Rocky Marciano in boxing; Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan in golf.

In a 1999 appraisal of the archive done by one of the leading North American fine art photography appraisal houses, the SPORT magazine archive was described as "among the most significant resources for 20th century photographic images of American sports figures in the world."

The collection is based in Toronto, where work to preserve it for future generations is ongoing with the guidance of the highly-regarded Photographic Preservation & Collections Management program at Ryerson University.

For enquiries about The SPORT Collection and SPORT magazine, please contact us by email.

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