Facing The Future

THE JAN. 9, 1956, issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED included several features that would look out of place in today's magazine: a calendar for fishermen, a piece on women's resort fashions and, most disturbingly, a photo spread on a Parisian stage show done entirely in mime. (The show was about a steeplechaser, but still.) One section, however, would look familiar to today's reader: the series of little photos showcasing what we called, for the first time, ... THESE FACES IN THE CROWD ....

Fifty years later FACES IN THE CROWD remains part of the bedrock of the magazine, and SI is celebrating it with this special issue. But as FACES enters its second half century, the section, and the coverage of high school sports within it, continues to evolve, thanks to a partnership between SI and takkle.com, a social networking site for high school athletes. At takkle.com high school athletes can post photos, game statistics and video highlights. They can even market themselves to college coaches, who will be able to search the listings when they're seeking out a rangy wide receiver or a sure-handed point guard. Every week starting in January, SI and SI.com will feature a high school video FACE IN THE CROWD, selected from nominations made by SI readers, and that athlete's footage can be viewed at takkle.com. "It's FACES IN THE CROWD come to life," says SI.com managing editor Paul Fichtenbaum.

OF THE SEVERAL hundred faces you'll find in this issue, none display more animation than the seven who passed before the camera lens of Howard Schatz. For his photo essay, which begins on page 48, Schatz, who has shot three SI covers in the last four years, brought athletes into a studio, gave them various scenarios to act out, then shot them in tight close-up. That's essentially what he did with 100 actors for his recent book In Character: Actors Acting, except that this time the imaginary situations all had something to do with sports, and his subjects—Barry Zito, Diana Taurasi, Shannon Briggs, Tedy Bruschi, Richard Jefferson, Christina Kim and Alexander Ovechkin—were not accustomed to displaying their emotions on cue. Schatz says the athletes, so used to projecting a strong front in photo shoots, sometimes needed time and cajoling before they trusted him enough to loosen up and give in to the idea, but in the end they were glad they participated. "They all say, 'I've never had an experience like this,'" Schatz says. "Ovechkin called it the best photo shoot he's ever had."