South American countries felt slightly underrepresented in the Olympic Games, and decided to make something with more local flavor. In a 1924 meeting during the Summer Olympics in Paris, representatives from Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba agreed to hold a more regional, Central American Olympics-like event. Two years later, Mexico City hosted the first one, then Havana, until a proposal went out to invite all of the Americas, including the United States.

On this day, February 25, in 1951, Buenos Aires, Agentina held the first ever Pan-American Games. The event was originally scheduled for 1940 but postponed greatly by WW II. After a second meeting in 1948 revived the idea, the games were set.

The United States did well in the 1951 competition, with the basketball team winning all six games and attracting an overflow crowd to an exciting gold-medal match against the host country. Argentina picked up the most medals overall: 68 gold and 154 total.