Sports Illustrated

6.5 Sports Illustrated.jpg

Title

Sports Illustrated

Coverage

New York

Publisher

Time-Life

Date

August 16, 1954

Subject

Volume 1, number 1

Description

Sports Illustrated is the most successful sports magazine in American history. Time-Life launched it on August 16, 1954, but sales proved disappointing for a decade, because of a disproportionate focus on high-brow sports like golf, polo, and yachting. Circulation skyrocketed with the meteoric rise in popularity of professional football and basketball. New editor André Laguerre began using full-color photography of the week’s sporting events and introduced the now immensely popular annual swimsuit issue.