Whitney Was Close to Sports World
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By DERON SNYDER
Broadcaster Frank Gifford called it “the most electric moment in sports.” He was referring to Whitney Houston’s stirring performance of the national anthem at Super Bowl XXXV in 1991, just 10 days after the United States went to war in the Persian Gulf.
It was arguably the greatest rendition of the Star Spangled Banner in sports history, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for a nation weary of scud bombs and firefights dominating its TV screens. Word is she had recorded the vocals weeks earlier in a Los Angeles studio, but no one seemed to notice or care — not the 73,000 fans at Tampa Stadium or the 110 million viewers watching the broadcast.
The version was so profound, with patriotic fever running so high, it was released as a single and was re-released after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks a decade later. The anthem remains the best-known sports connection for Houston, who died Saturday at the age of 48, but it’s far from the only one.
An olympiad is among the few sports events that rival a Super Bowl, and Houston enthralled the world during the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. She gave us a long-lasting sports anthem when she performed “One Moment in Time” during the opening ceremonies.
