1959 Pan American Games
The 3rd Pan American Games opened on August 27, 1959 in sunny 90°F (32°C) heat before 40,000 people in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The first Pan American Games held in North America, they were originally scheduled for Cleveland, Ohio, but the U.S. Congress’s decision to cut $5,000,000 in federal funding forced the city to withdraw as host. Chicago, led by Mayor Richard J. Daley, then became the choice of Pan American Sports Organization.
The Games opened at Chicago’s Soldier Field, with 2,263 athletes competing in eighteen sports. Yachting was on the sports program for the first time. Swimming events were held in the Olympic-size pool in Portage Park on the city's Northwest Side. The male athletes’ village was located on the campus of the University of Chicago. The 298 female athletes stayed nearby at the Shoreland Hotel.
Read more about 1959 Pan American Games: Medal Count, Sports
Famous quotes containing the words pan, american and/or games:
“I can’t accept “our nervous age,” since mankind has been nervous during every age. Whoever fears nervousness should turn into a sturgeon or smelt; if a sturgeon makes a stupid mistake, it can only be one: to end up on a hook, and then in a pan in a pastry shell.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“If Shakespeare has not been equalled, he is sure to be surpassed, and surpassed by an American born now or yet to be born.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“In 1600 the specialization of games and pastimes did not extend beyond infancy; after the age of three or four it decreased and disappeared. From then on the child played the same games as the adult, either with other children or with adults. . . . Conversely, adults used to play games which today only children play.”
—Philippe Ariés (20th century)