Sports Insight - a 1973 survey on athletes endorsement value

[APerno]

.

This 1973 survey of athletes' endorsement value . . .

. . . has only three fighters on it (four, if you count Wilt Chamberlain, who almost fought Ali once.)

. . . has Muhammad Ali at (a low) #03 in the 'how well known' category, but his slide to a #189 ranking in the 'admiration and respect for talent' category is even more surprising. (I thought Ali would be number one in the 'how well known' category.)

. . . of the top six in the 'trust' category,' five are baseball players, with one golfer. Why did people trust baseball players?

. . . has other surprises as well; of course look for OJ.

2,500 participants chose from 200 athletes

[Kalan]

That’s nice but I don’t believe that “poll” for a minute… I wouldn't pay a dollar for those results.

Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Kofax, Arnold Palmer, Yogi Bera, and Johnny Bench are not trusted much at all???
But snidely Howard Cosell is trusted greatly???
And “like as a person” I don’t believe either. How can you not like Willie Mays and Yogi Berra???
And why would the least liked be Stan Musial and Johnny Bench???

It also seems the wrong folks were hired for their endorsements as far as the ones I remember from the day.

[BoxBuzz]

Kalan,

You've misunderestimated the stat sheet. Read it again....carefully.....and THEN give your opinion.

Perhaps this is the issue.....you don't take your time to reflect on the information before you.......and then you give your opinion.

This example goes far in explaining many of your assessments.

[BoxBuzz]

Hey Aperno......any reason Joe Dimaggio's name isn't there? I think he was selling "Mr Coffee" during this time....and might compete with Stan as "Most Trusted".....wouldn't you think?

Or was he passe by that time?

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- The depths of dum appear to be fathomless between you two.

Typical poll in that the details of the beast are only hinted at, but it must've been mailed to TIMES subscribers with at least 200 sports names, prob asking for a top 25 ranking from the pool with being well known the ranking from which the other assessments were tabulated.

Musial was long retired, hence last, but obviously remembered for undeniable talent and man on the street integrity. Ali had faded after being whooped by Frazier who's still solid after being whooped by Big George , never popular because he waved the American flag when he won gold in Mexico City.

Kinda explains the NY psyche of the day, and yeah, DiMaggio still solid. Willie near his end and Mick past his, still highly regarded. Wilt in his last year buried on the west coast to Times readers was never liked for being smarter than they . Like the boss man country song in the day, Wilt just tall, that's all.

I'm thinking respondents got paid 500 bucks to answer such a pain survey that returned $6000 apiece to the Research firm as the marketing firms used the results to set the value of sports celeb services.

[APerno]

Hey Aperno......any reason Joe Dimaggio's name isn't there? I think he was selling "Mr Coffee" during this time....and might compete with Stan as "Most Trusted".....wouldn't you think?

Or was he passe by that time?

Good question - I have no follow up information on the survey. - I wonder if the sports' figures (agents) had to pay to be part of the survey? Did sports figures in 1973 have agents? Maybe DiMaggio didn't need to show sponsors he was viable; he was already Mr. Coffee (as you point out) and his agent saw no gain in paying to have him in the survey. I can see where the survey people would try to gain from both ends, sponsors would pay for the information, sports figures pay to be part of the information.

[Tony1244]

Some surprises to me. I thought Mark Spitz was better liked. Mantle and OJ being so admired is a great example of how wrong the masses usually are.

To spit in the pool and say "Mark spits in the pool," was considered grade A+ humor in the day among us 12 year olds. God, we thought that was funny.

[Ambling Alp II]

Mantle was no saint but he was a decent guy. OJ fooled a lot of people. I remember the "Spits" jokes as well.

[Ambling Alp II]

Hey Aperno......any reason Joe Dimaggio's name isn't there? I think he was selling "Mr Coffee" during this time....and might compete with Stan as "Most Trusted".....wouldn't you think?

Or was he passe by that time?

Good question - I have no follow up information on the survey. - I wonder if the sports' figures (agents) had to pay to be part of the survey? Did sports figures in 1973 have agents? Maybe DiMaggio didn't need to show sponsors he was viable; he was already Mr. Coffee (as you point out) and his agent saw no gain in paying to have him in the survey. I can see where the survey people would try to gain from both ends, sponsors would pay for the information, sports figures pay to be part of the information.

DiMaggio is in there. He is between Berra and Koufax.

[Tony1244]

Mantle was no saint but he was a decent guy. OJ fooled a lot of people. I remember the "Spits" jokes as well.

My bro in law is a Mantle fanatic to the point he named his cat Mickey. My negative assessment is based on hearing that he was a very unfriendly when drunk, which was often. If just that, it obviously pales in comparison to OJ's antics.

[DaveyMac]

cool find!

[APerno]

Hey Aperno......any reason Joe Dimaggio's name isn't there? I think he was selling "Mr Coffee" during this time....and might compete with Stan as "Most Trusted".....wouldn't you think?

Or was he passe by that time?

Good question - I have no follow up information on the survey. - I wonder if the sports' figures (agents) had to pay to be part of the survey? Did sports figures in 1973 have agents? Maybe DiMaggio didn't need to show sponsors he was viable; he was already Mr. Coffee (as you point out) and his agent saw no gain in paying to have him in the survey. I can see where the survey people would try to gain from both ends, sponsors would pay for the information, sports figures pay to be part of the information.

DiMaggio is in there. He is between Berra and Koufax.

Thanks for the heads-up - the name on the list that confuses me is Dizzy Dean - I am surprised he was still alive in '73 - I find it had to believe, that as a product shill, he was still viable .

[APerno]

[BoxBuzz]

Yeah...very funny someone stuck Dimaggio's name in it after I made my comment......otherwise, I missed something.....

And cmon....what are the odds of that?


Yeah....I really did miss his name.....cripes.....I need thicker glasses.

[Kalan]

Kalan,

You've misunderestimated the stat sheet. Read it again....carefully.....and THEN give your opinion.

Perhaps this is the issue.....you don't take your time to reflect on the information before you.......and then you give your opinion.

This example goes far in explaining many of your assessments.

I was being facetious BuzzBox, but it went over your head as usual... I understood the poll perfectly... It's obvious People didn't like Ali and Cosell because they were the most egotistic men on the planet... This is why Mayweather didn't get endorsements and Pacquiao got a ton of endorsements --
until he started talking about God and sexuality and lost 30-million in endorsements almost overnight...

Cosell was such a fibber he even told many people he had a long professional boxing career under the name of Solly Krieger.. Cosell thought he looked like Krieger -- and Krieger died young at the age of 55, so he thought he could get away with it.

George Foreman was the most commercially successful boxer ever... He understood image creation and really worked hard at it.

[APerno]

George Foreman was the most commercially successful boxer ever... He understood image creation and really worked hard at it.

Back in the late '80s when Big George was beginning his comeback I was being survey by something called the 'People Panel.' It was an extensive survey I answered once a month for a year, supplemented with intermittent phone calls. It included both products and people. At the end of the year the survey company was quite generous with a gift, and then they cut me off (even though I wanted to continue.)

That entire year one of the people surveyed was George Foreman. He appeared every month in the survey; he must have been paying big bucks to get back numbers he could negotiate with. I made damn sure he got great numbers from me, consistently over the year, giving him the highest possible scores in every category.

I suspect his come back was a well plan promotion that from the get-go included more than just boxing.

[Tony1244]

Kalan,

You've misunderestimated the stat sheet. Read it again....carefully.....and THEN give your opinion.

Perhaps this is the issue.....you don't take your time to reflect on the information before you.......and then you give your opinion.

This example goes far in explaining many of your assessments.

I was being facetious BuzzBox, but it went over your head as usual... I understood the poll perfectly... It's obvious People didn't like Ali and Cosell because they were the most egotistic men on the planet... This is why Mayweather didn't get endorsements and Pacquiao got a ton of endorsements --
until he started talking about God and sexuality and lost 30-million in endorsements almost overnight...

Cosell was such a fibber he even told many people he had a long professional boxing career under the name of Solly Krieger.. Cosell thought he looked like Krieger -- and Krieger died young at the age of 55, so he thought he could get away with it.

George Foreman was the most commercially successful boxer ever... He understood image creation and really worked hard at it.

Foreman was absolutely commercially and psychologically brilliant in his comeback. He basically admitted ducking fighters as being "Too tough," no one had ever done that before. "Its not true I fight people coming right off a respirator. I fight them 2 weeks after coming off a respirator." It went something like that; brilliant stuff. Instead of being defensive about his weight, he ate cheeseburgers during press conferences and talked about belly bopping opponents. As RFK once said, "shine a light on your accusations."

I don't remember the Cosell/Krieger story. I'll look it up. Cosell was a big guy though but likely couldn't fight is way out of a paper bag.

Regarding Pacquio, its not a good idea to talk about God, politics, or sex if you want endorsements.