Sports in American Life : A History

by Davies, Richard O.

• ISBN13: 9781405106481
• ISBN10: 1405106484
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-25
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This richly documented book traces the evolution of American sports from the colonial period to the present, when sports have become fully integrated into the political, social, cultural, and economic fabric of the nation. The narrative is organized around the argument that sports have been a significant social force throughout much of the history of the United States, providing Americans with a venue in which major cultural and social issues have been debated, contested, and, in some notable instances, resolved. Extensively illustrated and accessibly written, this text is ideal for undergraduate courses in sports history.

Author Biography

Richard O. Davies is University Foundation Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is the author or editor of twelve books, including America's Obsession: Sports and Society Since 1945 (1994), and Main Street Blues: The Decline of Small-Town America (1998), which was named one of the top 25 books in American History by Choice. Although his publications range widely over the history of twentieth-century American history, he has in the past decade established himself as one of the leading scholars in the growing field of American sports history.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xxi
Games the Colonists Played	1	(20)
The English Heritage	2	(1)
The Commoners at Play	3	(4)
The Games of the English Gentry	7	(1)
The Puritan Reaction	8	(2)
Games in Colonial New England	10	(4)
Games of the Southern Elite	14	(3)
Sporting Life of the Colonial Working Class	17	(2)
The Revolutionary Era	19	(2)
The Emergence of Organized Sports, 1815--60	21	(21)
Sports in the Early National Period	22	(3)
The Democratization of Racing: the Trotters	25	(2)
Racing by Land and Sea	27	(4)
The Formative Years of Prizefighting	31	(6)
Baseball: the Creation of ``America's Game''	37	(5)
``This Noble and Envigorating Game''	42	(20)
The Early Professional Era	44	(3)
Henry Chadwick and a Game of Numbers	47	(2)
Growing Pains	49	(3)
Early Years of the Professional Game	52	(4)
Emergence of the Modern Game	56	(2)
The 1880s: A Decade of Rancor	58	(4)
The Formative Years of College Football	62	(21)
The Early Years of College Athletics	63	(1)
Football American Style	64	(2)
Yale and the Creation of Football	66	(5)
Football Moves West	71	(3)
Football As Spectacle	74	(3)
Football in Crisis	77	(6)
Sports and the Emergence of Modern America, 1865--1920	83	(26)
Boxing Enters the Mainstream	84	(6)
Sports and Social Class	90	(5)
The Early Years of Women's Sports	95	(3)
Strong Bodies and Devout Souls	98	(4)
America's Greatest Athlete	102	(3)
Organized Play for the Modern Era	105	(2)
Interscholastic Sports	107	(2)
Baseball Ascendant, 1890--1930	109	(25)
The 1890s: Years of Discord	110	(2)
Ban Johnson and the American League	112	(2)
The Cyclone and the Georgia Peach	114	(4)
Calling the Shots: the Manager	118	(2)
The Federal League Challenge	120	(2)
Crisis: Gamblers Fix the World Series of 1919	122	(4)
The Babe	126	(4)
Baseball's Golden Age	130	(4)
``An Evil to be Endured,'' Sports on Campus, 1920--50	134	(27)
The Essential Myth of Big-Time College Athletics	135	(3)
Football: Driving the Bus	138	(1)
Football's Golden Age: the Twenties	139	(4)
Knute Rockne and the Making of Notre Dame Football	143	(4)
The Second Challenge to Big-Time Football	147	(4)
``Playing Nice'': the Demise of Women's Athletics	151	(4)
Hoop Dreams	155	(3)
Hoop Nightmares	158	(3)
Sports in an Age of Ballyhoo, Depression, and War, 1920--45	161	(32)
Gee-Whiz: Sports Journalism During the 1920s	162	(3)
Heroes for a Heroic Age	165	(6)
Boxing Becomes Respectable	171	(4)
Babe: the Texas Tomboy	175	(6)
Baseball's Long Slump	181	(6)
Seabiscuit: Sports Star for the Depression Era	187	(3)
Baseball During the War Years	190	(3)
America's Great Dilemma	193	(35)
Racism Shapes American Sports	194	(2)
The ``Fight of the Century''	196	(3)
Separate and Unequal: the Negro Leagues	199	(5)
Out of the Cotton Fields of Alabama: Jesse and Joe	204	(6)
Jackie	210	(5)
In the Shadow of Jackie Robinson	215	(3)
Gentlepeople and Sanctimonious Hypocrites	218	(3)
The Baron and the Bear	221	(7)
Television Changes the Face of American Sports	228	(24)
The Formative Years of Sports Television	229	(3)
Tale of the Tube: Boxing	232	(3)
Professional Football Comes of Age	235	(3)
Pete and Roone	238	(4)
The NFL and the AFL Make Peace	242	(1)
Super Sunday and Monday Night	242	(4)
ESPN: All Sports, All the Time	246	(6)
College Sports in the Modern Era	252	(31)
The Sanity Code Is Scuttled	253	(1)
Creation of a Cartel	254	(2)
Emphasis and De-Emphasis	256	(2)
Woody and the Bear	258	(5)
Deceit and Deception: the NCAA and Gender Equity	263	(7)
Criticism of Major College Sports	270	(7)
Television and the Triumph of Commercialized College Sports	277	(3)
The Knight Commission Report	280	(3)
Play For Pay	283	(34)
A Tale of Two (Football) Cities	283	(3)
Urban Rivalry, Redevelopment, and Promotion	286	(3)
The Travails of Baseball	289	(5)
Baseball's Labor Disputes	294	(4)
Reaping the Spoils: the NFL and the World of Parity	298	(6)
The Wondrous World of Magic, Larry, and Michael	304	(5)
Always Turn Left: NASCAR Takes the Checkered Flag	309	(7)
Struggling To Be Major League	316	(1)
Do You Believe in Miracles?	317	(31)
The Cold War Shapes the Olympics	321	(8)
Television Transforms the Olympics	329	(5)
The Games Must Go On	334	(4)
To Boycott or Not To Boycott	338	(5)
The Triumph of Professionalism	343	(2)
Athens and Beyond	345	(3)
The Persistent Dilemma of Race	348	(30)
``I'm the Greatest''	350	(5)
Boycott, Backlash, and Beyond	355	(2)
A New Era in Race Relations	357	(5)
Hank Aaron Catches the Babe	362	(2)
Can White Men Jump?	364	(4)
Tiger	368	(4)
Sister Act: Venus and Serena	372	(6)
``Only In America!''	378	(32)
Triumph of the Swoosh	380	(4)
The World of Jimmy the Greek	384	(4)
The Tragedy of Pete Rose	388	(3)
The Demise of Boxing	391	(7)
Whatever It Takes	398	(8)
Under a Cloud: Barry Bonds Chases Hank Aaron	406	(4)
The Democratization of Sports	410	(32)
Community Cauldron: High School Sports	410	(6)
Conflicting Views of Youth Sports	416	(7)
Golf's Golden Age: Arnie, the Super Mex, and the Golden Bear	423	(7)
Billie Jean Sparks a Revolution	430	(4)
The Comeback Kids	434	(4)
Viva America! America's Soccer Women	438	(4)
Epilogue	442	(6)
Notes	448	(25)
Index	473