Sports in American Life

Richard O. Davies is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he teaches courses in 20th Century American History, American Ideas and Values, and History of Sports. Among his most recent books are Rivals! The Ten Greatest American Sports Rivalries of the 20th Century (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), Sports in American Life: A History (Blackwell, 2007), Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life (2001), and Main Street Blues: The Decline of Small-Town America (1998).

List of Illustrations xi Preface xiv Acknowledgments xx 1 The Emergence of Organized Sports, 1607 1860 1 Games in Colonial New England 2 Recreations in Southern Colonies 4 The Revolutionary Era and Beyond 8 The Democratization of Racing: The Trotters 10 Racing by Land and Sea 12 The Formative Years of Prizefighting 15 Baseball: The Creation of America s Game 20 2 Baseball: "This Noble and Envigorating Game" 24 The Early Professional Era 25 Henry Chadwick and a Game of Numbers 29 Growing Pains 30 Early Years of the Professional Game 33 Emergence of the Modern Game 36 The 1880s: A Decade of Rancor 38 3 The Formative Years of College Football 41 The Early Years of College Athletics 42 Football American Style 43 Yale and the Creation of Football 44 Football Moves West 49 Football as Spectacle 51 Football in Crisis 54 4 The Modernization of American Sports, 1865 1920 60 Prizefighting Enters the Mainstream 61 Sports and Social Class 65 Strong Bodies and Devout Souls 68 America s Greatest Athlete 72 Organized Play for the Modern Era 75 Interscholastic Sports 77 5 Baseball Ascendant, 1890 1930 79 The 1890s: Years of Discord 80 Ban Johnson and the American League 81 The Cyclone and the Georgia Peach 83 Masters of Strategy 85 The Federal League Challenge 88 Crisis: Gamblers Fix the World Series of 1919 90 The Babe 94 Baseball's Golden Age 98 6 Playing Nice: Women and Sports, 1860 1945 102 The Early Years of Women's Sports 103 The Demise of Women s Athletics 107 Helen and Trudy: America s First Women Sports Stars 109 Babe: The Texas Tomboy 111 Women Play Hardball: The Peaches and the Chicks 115 7 "An Evil To Be Endured": Sports on Campus, 1920 1950 118 The Essential Myth of Big-Time College Athletics 119 Football: Driving the Bus 121 Football's Golden Age: The Twenties 122 Knute Rockne and the Making of Notre Dame Football 125 The Second Challenge to Big-Time Football 130 Hoop Dreams 133 Hoop Nightmares 135 8 Sports in an Age of Ballyhoo, Depression, and War, 1920 1945 138 Gee-Whiz: Sports Journalism during the 1920s 139 Heroes for a Heroic Age 141 Boxing Gains Respectability 144 Baseball s Long Slump 148 Seabiscuit: Sports Star for the Depression Era 153 Baseball during the War Years 155 9 America's Great Dilemma 157 The "Fight of the Century" 158 Separate and Unequal: The Negro Leagues 162 Out of the Cotton Fields of Alabama: Jesse and Joe 166 Jackie 171 In the Shadow of Jackie Robinson 175 Gentlepeople and Sanctimonious Hypocrites 177 The Baron and the Bear 180 10 Television Changes the Image of American Sports 185 The Formative Years of Sports Television 186 Tale of the Tube: Boxing 188 Professional Football Comes of Age 191 Pete and Roone 193 Super Sunday and Monday Night 196 ESPN: All Sports, All the Time 200 11 College Sports in the Modern Era 204 The Sanity Code Is Scuttled 205 Creation of a Cartel 206 Emphasis and De-Emphasis 207 Woody and the Bear 208 Criticism of Major College Sports 213 Revenue vs Reform: An Unresolved Contradiction 220 College Sports as Big Business 223 12 Play for Pay 227 A Tale of Two (Football) Cities 227 Urban Relocation, Redevelopment, and Promotion 230 The Economics of Organized Baseball 232 Baseball s Labor Disputes 237 The Magic of Parity: The National Football League 240 The Wondrous World of Magic, Larry, and Michael 243 Always Turn Left: NASCAR Takes the Checkered Flag 247 Struggling To Be Major League 253 13 Do You Believe in Miracles? 255 The Cold War Shapes the Olympics 258 Television Transforms the Olympics 264 The Games Must Go On 268 To Boycott or Not To Boycott 271 The Triumph of Professionalism 273 Athens and Beyond 276 14 The Persistent Dilemma of Race 278 "I'm the Greatest" 280 Boycott, Backlash, and Beyond 284 Breakthrough: A New Era in American Sports 286 Hank Aaron Catches the Babe 293 Can White Men Jump? 295 Tiger 298 Sister Act: Venus and Serena 303 15 Playing Nice No Longer: Women's Sports, 1960 2010 308 Deceit and Deception: The NCAA and Gender Equity 309 Titanic Rivalry: Connecticut and Tennessee Basketball 314 Billie Jean Sparks a Revolution 319 Viva America! World Cup Winners 322 "You've Come a Long Way Baby!" Or Have You? 326 Title IX at Forty 328 16 "Only in America!" 331 Triumph of the Swoosh 332 The World of Jimmy the Greek 336 The Tragedy of Pete Rose 338 The Demise of Boxing 342 Iron Mike and the King of Boxing 344 Whatever It Takes 347 Under a Cloud: Barry Bonds Chases Hank Aaron 353 17 The Democratization of Sports 357 Community Cauldron: High School Sports 357 Youth Sports 361 Golf 's Golden Age: Arnie, the Super Mex, and the Golden Bear 366 The Comeback Kids 370 "Sidewalk Surfing" and the Rise of "X-treme" Sports 375 Epilogue 382 Notes 387 Index 407