Ted Turner inherited a billboard company at 24 after his dad killed himself. By the time he died Wednesday at 87, he had founded CNN, built the world's largest bison herd, and handed the United Nations a billion dollars after thinking about it for 48 hours.
In September 1997, at a UN dinner in New York, Turner walked to the podium and pledged the billion with no warning. It was one of the biggest charity gifts ever made. The US had fallen behind on its UN dues. The agency was running on fumes. The Foundation he created has since turned that gift into more than $2 billion for global programs.
CNN almost died in the crib. It launched June 1, 1980 with 1.7 million subscribers, far short of what it needed to break even. Within months, costs doubled and revenues halved. Turner took new loans at 18% interest. The three big networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) called it the "Chicken Noodle Network" and waited for it to fail.
Then the 1991 Gulf War broke out. Bombs started falling on Baghdad on January 17, but other networks lost their feeds within hours. CNN's three had a phone line that held up. They kept broadcasting from a hotel as bombs fell. Turner's instruction to his news chief on the war budget had been four words: "spend whatever it takes." For weeks, CNN was the only network showing the war live. State TV around the world dropped its coverage and rebroadcast CNN's feed. Over a billion people watched. Even the Pentagon got its updates from CNN.
CNN was just the start. Turner bought the Atlanta Braves in 1976, put them on his superstation, and beamed baseball into nearly every home in North America years before they became good. The Braves won the World Series in 1995. He won the America's Cup, sailing's biggest trophy, in 1977. He bought MGM in 1986 for $1.5 billion, mostly for the film library that became Turner Classic Movies. He launched TNT and Cartoon Network. He commissioned Captain Planet, a cartoon about superhero environmentalists, to teach kids about pollution.
Turner started buying ranches in 1987 and never stopped. He ended up with about 2 million acres, more than three times the size of Rhode Island. The bison herd grew to 51,000 head, the largest privately owned anywhere in the world. He started Ted's Montana Grill, a chain serving bison burgers, so the herds could pay for themselves.
He sold his media empire to Time Warner in 1996 for $7.5 billion. The 2001 Time Warner-AOL merger then wiped out about $8 billion of his fortune in 30 months. By his own math, that's a $10 million loss every day for two and a half years.
TIME named him Man of the Year in 1991. He once said: "If only I had a little humility, I'd be perfect."
Darren Woo is a 56-year-old firefighter. He works full-time for the Savannah River Site Fire Department and also volunteers for Columbia County. He's been a caddie at Champions Retreat, about 20 minutes from Augusta National, for six years. He's also a father to five boys.
Two weeks ago, Woo looped for three @RazorbackWGolf players during a practice round at Champions – one of them was Maria Jose Marin. When Marin asked Woo if he'd caddie for her at @anwagolf, Woo jumped at the chance. Behind the scenes, Marin's father, Jose, was giving up the bag, telling his daughter, “I love you with all my heart, but you need someone that knows how to handle a tournament of this level.”
Woo had zero experience at Augusta National, though his calming presence and positivity earned him the loop for Saturday's final round. Arkansas coach Shauna Estes-Taylor said Woo's southern accent was so calming, that one could "meditate to it."
Throughout the final day, Woo encouraged Marin with things such as:
Be confident.
You’re going to work it out.
Give yourself a chance.
Keep your head up.
Breathe.
"He was my greatest support during the whole week and a key to the victory," Marin said.
Woo revealed after Marin's win that he worked a 14-hour shift that ended at 7 a.m. Saturday, less than four hours before Marin's tee time. He also shared that he not only has one granddaughter but he has two more grandchildren on the way.
“Maybe I’ll be lucky enough and have three granddaughters," Woo said, "and they can all grow up to be like Maria.”
Not enough people are talking about how good the two strike approach Dom Smith had in this 3-2 count. Wide stance, low hands, quiet load and body, hands straight to the ball. He knows all he needs is something decently deep or just hard hit. Insane job in a pressure situation
Baseball ✅
Men’s Basketball ✅
Men’s Tennis ✅
Football ✅
Men’s Soccer ✅
Volleyball ✅
Clemson has now mathematically won the 2025/2026 Palmetto Series over South Carolina.