Football fans voted St. Louis' victory as the "best Super Bowl ever" according to a CNNSI.com poll. The Rams won the NFC Championship again in the 2001 season and returned to Super Bowl XXXVI. Baseball history was made in St. Louis' Busch Stadium in 1998 when St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire hit a record seventy home runs during a single season. In 1906, Saint Louis University quarterback Bradbury Robinson threw the 1st forward pass in the history of football. It was caught by tight end Jack Schneider. The Women's International Bowling Congress was started in St. Louis in 1916. In 1920, St. Louis-born George H. Walker put up a trophy for competition between US and British golfers. The Walker Cup, contested every other year, is still one of golf's most prestigious prizes.

St. Louis is recognized as 1 of the most active sports centers in the country. St. Louisans are noted for their support of the baseball Cardinals, the hockey Blues, the NFL's Rams, the indoor soccer Ambush and Steamers and local university teams. The Aces team tennis franchise expanded St. Louis' sports offerings. Minor league franchises include the Frontier League's River City Rascals baseball club, the International Basketball League's St. Louis Swarm and the United Hockey League's Missouri River Otters. Racing fans find their thrills with an impressive schedule of auto racing at Gateway International Raceway. Amateur soccer and boxing programs in St. Louis are known throughout the USA. And, in 2001, baseball's Frontier League welcomed the Gateway Grizzlies to the area.

In 1994, St. Louis hosted the United States Olympic Festival (USOF) which was called "outstanding" and the "best ever" by US Olympic Committee officials. The St. Louis festival broke twenty USOF records including total attendance in excess of 515,000 people and total event ticket sales at more than $2.84 million.

Some of the most successful athletes in the world were raised and trained in the St. Louis area: Jimmy Connors, former Wimbledon and U.S. Open tennis champion and number one player in the world; Olympic medalist in distance running; Marty Hogan, Craig Virgin, world racquetball champion; Michael and Leon Spinks, World Heavyweight boxing champions; Hale Irwin, former U.S. Open golf champion; Ivory Crockett, former world sprinting champion; Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic track and field star; and baseball's Yogi Berra, 3-time American League Most Valuable Player.

This article is in 4 parts. This is part 1. 1 2 3 4

America East Conference. The conference began in 1979 as a men’s only basketball conference. America East has now became one of the most comprehensive National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I conferences in the USA.

The prototype of the mountain bikes were first developed in Marin County, Ca., north of San Francisco in 1977.  Otis Guy, Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze and Craig Mitchell were the earliest designers, builders and promoters.