Sports Hero of the decade

For the first half of the century few events captured the global imagination like heavyweight boxing. Rocky Marciano's was a name they conjured with. Born in Brockton Massachussets, Marciano's story was torn from the script of an old black-and-white movie. A failed baseball player he was drafted into the army in 1943 and provoked by an army camp bully into boxing. He beat the bully, won the tournament and went on dreaming about baseball. In 1947 he accepted his fate and became a pro boxer, winning 42 consecutive fights including a memorable title win when, having been knocked down twice, he knocked out the legendary Jersey Joe Wolcott in the 13th. He returned in 1956 unbeaten in his pro career, having won 43 of his 49 fights by knockouts. He died in a plane crash 13 years later.