LIFE.com

2 weeks ago | life.com | Bill Syken

Muhammad Ali was much more than a championship boxer. He was also a natural entertainer. In February 1963, a year before he changed his name, “Cassius Clay has the loudest—and most lyrical—mouth in the history of boxing and the fists to back it up.” In March 1963 LIFE photographer George Silk photographed Ali for his fight with Doug Jones at Madison Square Garden, one which was meant to a be a potential stepping stone to a title shot against Sonny Liston.

2 weeks ago | life.com | Bill Syken

In 1974 music critic Jon Landau went to a Bruce Springsteen live show and famously declared that he had seen the future of rock and roll. At that point Springsteen was two albums into his career and still in the process of building his audience. The next year Springsteen released Born to Run, which created so much of a sensation that the rocker appealed simultaneously on the covers of Time and Newsweek. But it was not until the 1980s that Springsteen truly reached peak popularity.

3 weeks ago | life.com | Bill Syken

Golf in the 1960s was defined by the rivalry between two of the game’s titans. On the one side was the wildly popular Arnold Palmer, who came up in the 1950s and was golf’s first superstar of the television age. Then there was Jack Nicklaus, who was ten years younger than Palmer, supremely skilled and aiming to topple The King from his throne. At first Arnie’s Army, as Palmer’s fans were called, treated Nicklaus as the enemy.

3 weeks ago | life.com | Bill Syken

In 1956, just as the age of Elvis Presley was dawning, classical music offered the world its own young superstar—one whose music would make a mark in a different but also enduring way. Pianist Glenn Gould made his debut recording at age 23 with one of the most important classical recordings of the 20th century: his take on J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The record elevated both Gould and what had previously been regarded as a relatively minor piece of the Bach canon.

1 month ago | life.com | Bill Syken

Not only did Rollie Free set the world speed record for a motorcycle back in 1948—he looked darn good doing it. The key to setting the record for Free was cutting down on wind resistance. So when the 47-year-old accelerated his Vincent HRD Black Shadow, he positioned his body to be as horizontal as it could. Also, he wore only swim trunks as he whipped across the hard pack of the Bonneville Salt Flats. His plan worked to perfection, setting a record of 150.313 miles per hour.