Favorite nicknames

Dollar Bill Bradley

 

William James Brown
“I’m square as an ice cube and twice as cool.”

 

“Downtown” Ollie Brown of the Phillies, who I am just going to guess begat the name for Downtown Julie Brown of MTV fame.

 

Roberto “Rocky” Balboa

 

I thought he was Robert, not Roberto.

 

Racing division...

IndyCar: Vuky, Super Tex, Parnelli, The Gas Man, Lone Star J.R., On The Gas, Jigger, King Hiro, The Ovalmeister, Spiderman, Big Al, Little Al, Sea Bass, The Mayor of Hinchtown, The Flying Dutchman, Lionheart, Taku
NHRA: The Snake, The Mongoose, Cha Cha, Big Daddy, Grumpy, Brute Force
NASCAR: Fireball, Gentleman Ned, The King, The Silver Fox, Banjo, Wonder Boy, The Intimidator, Jaws, The Rooster, Ironhead, Bono, Bootie, The Bandit, Handsome Harry, Charging Charlie, Coo Coo, Fatback, Chocolate, Fonty, The Turtle, The Iceman, The Ironman, Awesome Bill, Pops, The Rushville Rocket, Rowdy, The Man in Black, Slugger, Smoke, Suitcase Jake, Tiny, Zippy, The Alabama Gang, Mr. Excitement, Shrub

 

And Dick Trickle, who didn't need no goddam nickname.

 

Cliff Levingston was known to some as "Good News" (as opposed to Marvin "Bad News" Barnes), but when he was with the Hawks, his teammates called him "House".

That was short for "Brick House," a reference to his nonexistent shooting touch.

 

Reminds me of Stump Mitchell (given name Lyvonia), who had a nice career as a scatback/kick returner for the Cardinals.

 

Been meaning to post this since I ran across it awhile ago. When Blood was named one of the charter members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, a Sports Illustrated reporter hung out with him and basically wrote down everything Blood said as he told stories.

IS THAT YOU UP THERE, JOHNNY BLOOD?

The ledge story is one of those stories. It was the ledge of coach Curly Lambeau he was standing on, and Blood came through the window to ask Lambeau for an advance on his pay.

 

There's also a story of, I think, Rabbit Maranville doing the same thing with the ledge, and I think I may have mixed them up.