lesm

Chapter 13 The Rise and Decline of Organized

Women’s Sports

Babe Didrikson: Triumph and Struggle

1930-1932

• Broke 5 separate records for track and field events

• American, Olympic, or world records

Winning 34 of 88 amateur and pro golf tournaments

Reportedly:

• 170 bowling average

• 75 yard football punt

• Close to world records for short distance swimming

Babe Didrikson: Triumph and Struggle

1932 – Hired as a stenographer at Employers Casualty Company of Dallas

• Dallas-based Golden Cyclones – 1932

• Spot on the company basketball team

• Sent her as a 1-woman team to AAU track and field championship

• 6 Gold Medals in 3 hours, broke 4 world records

• Weeks later at 1932 Olympics (Los Angeles)

• 3 Gold Medals in javelin, 80-meter hurdles, and high jump

• Undoubtedly could have won more

Babe Didrikson: Triumph and Struggle

Even as a national sensation, she faced growing criticisms….

• Early years kept her distance from conventional femininity

• Cut her hair short

• Refused to wear makeup

• Publicly making statements about her disdain for traditional female activities

“Muscle Moll”

• Image of a disreputable woman focusing on strength rather then conventional female charm

• Public perception was she was unhappy/unfulfilled because she didn’t attract men

• “DON’T BE A MUSCLE MOLL”

Hazel Walker: Creating Professional Opportunities

The Midwest and South was more supportive of female athletic activities

• Women’s colleges continued to discourage competition

1930’s explosion in women’s softball teams

• 1934 – Amateur Softball Association

• Championship play for both men and women

Hazel Walker- Born 1914

• Started playing basketball shooting an object into a rain-barrel hoop

• Famously would rise an hour before the school bus came to run a mile and eat/refuel afterwards as training for basketball

Hazel Walker: Creating Professional Opportunities

Tulsa Business College

• Secretarial and Bookkeeping Skills

• Business Colleges frequently sponsored basketball teams

• Tulsa Stenos 1934 AAU Championship

Little Rock, AR

• Worked as a bookkeeper, but helped organize a series of AAU teams sponsored by local companies

• Lion Oil

• Dr. Pepper

• Lewis & Norwood Insurance

• As leader of the Flyers she earned 3 more AAU championships in 1937, 1940, and 1941

Hazel Walker: Creating Professional Opportunities

All American Red Heads – 1946-1949

• Barnstorming

Hazel Walker’s Arkansas Travelers

• 6 ½ months a year

• Double Headers

• 11-12 games a week at times

Combination of showmanship and skill

• Ballhandling tricks, comedic and flirtatious routines

Off the court adhered to the conventional middle-class femininity

• Curl their hair, wear makeup, dress in skirts or tailored slacks

• Everything had to be “perfect”

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMeQ4yRvGrc

Historically Black Colleges Nurture Female Athletes

African American communities were eager to celebrate racial excellence in any form, and often warmly supported women’s athletic accomplishments

• Black colleges were vigilant about their female students reputations

Black Women’s basketball reached its peak with Philadelphia Tribunes

• Semi-Pro team sponsored by Philly’s African American newspaper

Historically Black Colleges Nurture Female Athletes

Ora Washington

• Left Virginia as a teen for Philadelphia

• Found work as a maid, spent much time around the local black YWCA

“Queen Ora”

• A few short years later….

• 1925-1937 (8 national titles & 12 national doubles titles)

• U.S. Lawn Tennis Association would not admit African Americans until 1948

• Could not play Helen Willis “Queen Helen”

• AAU Basketball would not admit African Americans until 1955

All-American Girls WWII bring change to the professional sports world

• 1944 “Sporting News” reported that only 40% of the MLB rosters were in the league in 1941

Philip K. Wrigley

• 1943, All-American Girls Baseball League

• Kenosha, WI

• Racine, WI

• South Bend, IN

• Rockford, IL

• 108-game schedule

• 176,000 fans

$10 fine for ejection/$50 fine for appearing “unkept” in public

The GPBL survived 11 years between 1943-1954

Rah Rah Rah

As women’s sports shrank, a new role for women gained strength

• 1890’s “Yell Captains, Yell Leaders, or Yell Masters”

• 1920’s – wore school sweaters and slacks

• Megaphones and synchronized yells

• Symbolized the carefree undergraduate that lived for campus social events, but not academics

• 1920’s – Females get involved with a familiar cultural reaction

• 1938 – Advocates admit that girls are more magnetic in appearance

Chapter 10 The Age of Sports Heroes

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

The 20th century’s first transformative athletic hero also proved its most controversial

• 1908 – Heavy Weight Championship

• Reining ideology of white supremacy troubled many whites

• Radiant Smile/Potent Charisma had him both likable and potentially dangerous

• Shunned for color

• Skill, charm, AND earning potential won others over

• Defeated Australia’s Tommy Burns for the 1908 title

• “Drawn the color line”, pursued after Burns all over the globe

• $30,000 – Burns (win or lose)

• $5,000 – Johnson

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

Search for a “Great White Hope” to beat the “Black Menace”

• Ex-champions, fight promoters, newspapermen

James J. Jeffries

• Out from retirement to take on the black menace and “restore athletic superiority to the white race”

• Jeffries was knocked out in the 15th round, which was an outcome that was never doubted (Reno, NV)

• Why so long of a fight for a sure thing?

Riots break out across the country, many injured, at least 8 lose their lives

“A Word to the Black Man"

“Do not swell your chest too much. Do not boast too loudly…Remember you have done nothing at all. You are just the same member of society today you were last week… You are on no higher plane, deserve no new consideration, and will get none… No man will think a bit higher of you because your complexion is the same as that of the victor in Reno”

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

Johnson fanned those flames with his behavior to opposing whites and black leaders

• In the ring, while smiling broadly, he badgered, taunted, and jeered his white opponents

• Loved the “high life” and the expensive things it offered

• Flashy Dress

• Night Clubs

• Fast Cars

• White women (Married 3, and slept with many others)

1912 – Local and state government barred video footage of Johnson-Jeffries fight

1912 – Johnson gets charged with violating the “Mann Act” of 1910

• Belle Shreiber, prostitute of Chicago fancy club

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

1913 – Chicago jury found Johnson guilty, and sentences to 1 year and 1 day in prison

• Springs bail for Europe, South America, Cuba (loses fight in Cuba to Jess Willard)

1920 – Johnson returns to USA and serves prison sentence

• Served his time at Fort Leavenworth Prison (Leavenworth, Kansas)

2018 – President Trump pardons Johnson for 1913 crime https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo- way/2018/05/24/614114966/legendary-boxer-jack-johnson-gets- pardon-105-years-after-baseless-conviction

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Boxing enters its “Golden Age”

• Highest plateau of popularity (Tex Rickard)

• Prewar years, gate receipts never exceeded $300,000

• 1920’s Tex Rickard promoted 5 consecutive million-dollar gates

• Promoted new Heavy Weight Champ, Jess Willard after his victory over Jack Johnson (supposed thrown fight)

Needs a new boxing hero to replace the uncharismatic Willard..

• 6’1” Jack Dempsey to face 6’6” Willard

• Victory creates instant fame for Dempsey as the “giant killer”

• Publicity stunts to increase likability and athletic dominance

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Dempsey-Willard fight launched Rickard into the nation’s premier sports promoter with John Ringling (silent partner in the lease of MSG)

Rickard promoted a variety of attractions unequaled by any other palace of entertainment in the world

• Boxing

• Wrestling

• Circuses

• Horse Show

• Six-day bicycle races

• Rodeos

• Professional Hockey

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Dempsey appealed to the new members of “high society” and “proper” women, due to the growing popularity of prizefighting among the wealthy

Highly publicized matches made Dempsey a “rags to riches” story

• Enjoyed the life of a celebrity ($500,000 annual salary) endorsement deals

• 3 years without a fight

Rickard feared that a Dempsey loss would hurt the sport

• Decline in money at event gates

• Inspire racial incidents (similar to Johnson and Jeffries) between different races

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Rickard settled for a second-rate fighter in Gene Tunney to challenge Dempsey

• 1926 – “Battle of the Century” Which Tunney wins based on points

• Philadelphia’s Sesquicentennial Stadium (Sess-quis-centennial)

• 1927 – “Fight of the Century” Controversial win that heightened Dempsey’s fame in defeat

• Legendary “long count”

• Chicago’s Solider Field

• $2M gate

• 104,000 attendants

• 50 million Americans listen through 73 stations connected to NBC radio network

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OeeCfbahwQ

Helen Willis: “The American Girl”

Helen Willis: “The American Girl”

1922 – Helen Willis (age 16) travels from California to compete in the East Coast’s summer tournaments, including the National Women’s Singles Championship (now the U.S. Open)

• Makes it to the finals in the East Coast’s summer tournament (loses to Molla Mallory)

• Days later at another tournament, comes within points of beating Mallory

• Ends the season ranked #3 of American women tennis players

1923 – returned East to win the national title, becoming the second youngest player to do so

1927 – Wins her first Wimbledon, losing only a single set during the tournament

• “Queen Helen”

Helen Willis: “The American Girl”

In keeping with the less traditional-bound society of the American West, men and women played largely on equal terms (California)

• First time we are seeing men and women's sport of equal importance

• California women became known for their hard-hitting game and focused concentration

• Common for top California women to practice against men

• Younger girls start getting involved in the game

• Female stars to look up to

• Willis gets first racket at age 8

Helen Willis: “The American Girl” Tennis remained an amateur endeavor, different than the lucrative sporting professions of baseball, boxing, and golf

• Forbidden to make money from their talents, prizes or endorsements

• Private clubs could “sponsor” players or “reimburse” for “travel expenses”

When Willis returned with a gold medal from 1924 Paris Olympics she was given a brand-new……

• Not for her tennis skills, but the splendid publicity she brought her home state…

Pioneer the new version of athletic womanhood

• Balance of force/aggression with conventional femininity

• Contrasted the scandalous “young flapper”

• Long braided hair

• No makeup

• Conservative length skirt

Babe Ruth: Extraordinary Success

Babe Ruth: Extraordinary Success

Saw himself as a classic American success story

• Encouraged the idea that he was an orphan

• “Bad Kid” who smoked, chewed tobacco, and engaged in petty thievery

• Was sent to the St. Mary’s Industrial Home for Boys

• Spent 12 years at St. Mary’s where his fondness for the bat and ball got him signed into baseball in 1914

“The greatest thing about this country is the wonderful fact that it doesn’t matter which side of the tracks you were born on, or whether you’re homeless or homely, or friendless. The chance is still there. I know.”

Babe Ruth: Extraordinary Success

1914 – Signed a professional contract with the International League (minor league)

1914 – Boston Red Sox purchase George Herman Ruth as a left handed pitcher

• 1919 – Hit an amazing 29 home runs

1920 – Traded to NY Yankees

• 1920 – Recorded a stunning 54 homeruns

• More than any other major league roster combined

Babe Ruth: Extraordinary Success

• https://www.biography.com/video/babe-ruth-full-biography-2252336336

Chapter 11 Baseball’s Golden Age

America’s Greatest Pastime

What does the term “Pastime” mean?

Baseball’s Golden Age

Until the 1950’s, no other sport seriously challenged baseball’s supremacy as the “national pastime”.

1910-President Taft establishes the tradition of the president throwing out the first ball

• Quite a difference from the games that struggles to gain respect and credibility amongst the masses

The game continues to grow despite major events in history

Wars, Great Depression, and Scandal

Baseball’s Coming of Age

Baseball becomes the country’s most entrenched and mature professional sport amongst many different people

• Multiplicity of ethnic, racial and religious groups

• Common denominator was baseball

Baseball supporters credit the American game with a significant role in building social solidarity

• What do you think?

Baseball’s Coming of Age The fans adore the physical traits and the behavior of the games players

Baseball marketed their “characters” and it helped grow even more so

• Bugs, Babe, Rube, Wahoo Sam, Mugsy, Chief, Muddy, Kid, Hod, Dummy, Dutch, Stuffy, Gabby, and Hooks

The players seemed to take the special delight in spicing up the game with comedy and the unexpected… added theatrics to the game

• Detroit Vs. Cleveland (late innings, tied up)

• Herman “Germany” Schaefer

• On 1st, and Davy Jones on 3rd

• Signals (Double Steal)

• “Let’s Try it Again!” – bloodcurdling warrior cry

Baseball Rule (5.09(b)(10))

"After he has acquired legal possession of a base, he runs the bases in reverse order for the purpose of confusing the defense or making a travesty of the game. The umpire shall immediately call 'Time' and declare the runner out"

Ty Cobb Tyrus “Ty” Raymond Cobb, long time start of the Detroit Tigers played a career that spanned 24 years from 1905-1928

• Highest lifetime batting average (0.367)

His dazzling speed and recklessness on the bases terrorized opponents

• Baseball was a form of warfare

• “When I played ball, I didn’t play for fun”

• “It’s no pink tea”

Baseball had an understanding that brawls were meant to be verbal warfare

• Spikes, Fists, Bat, Tongue (verbal lashings)

All efforts to intimidate his opponents and disrupt their game

Ty Cobb

Never became a popular hero like Babe Ruth

Almost everybody thoroughly disliked him, including his own teammates

• Evoked fear and respect, but never affection

• Never had a close, personal friend amongst the big-league players or managers

• He ate alone

• Roomed alone

• For years at a time didn’t speak to or acknowledge certain members of his team

Fans everywhere came out to see the rampaging Cobb

• Partially in awe of his ability

• Also in hopes of witnessing a brawl where Cobb was the victim

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNt3DAd1xv0

Chicago Black Sox Scandal

1919 World Series was fixed

• Worst team scandal in the history of American sport

• “The Benedict Arnolds of baseball”

• The country’s outrage showed how far baseball had come

In retrospect, the scandal shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise

• Why?

Later evidence reveals that eight Chicago player had taken money from gambling to “throw” the World’s Series (World Series)

• Players took $5000-$10,000 in cash which was more than most yearly ball salaries

• Grand Jury records “disappear” after 7 of the 8 players admit to the sums they received

• A later trial between Joe Jackson and Charles Comiskey, the confessions “mysteriously” reappear in possession of Comiskey’s attorney

Chicago Black Sox Scandal

At the trial in 1921, all players abandon their initial confessions

• After a few hours of deliberation, the jury acquits all the players, plus two gamblers

• Spectators in the court rejoice and the men celebrate their victory at the local restaurant

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the new Commissioner of Baseball

An Age of Team Dynasties

From the start of the 20th century, the clubs located in the largest cities enjoyed better records than those in smaller cities…

• Why do you think that is?

1900-1952

• New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs won 30 of 52 Nation League pennants

• After new owners bought the NY Yankees and acquired Babe Ruth, they proceeded to win 20 of the next 32 flags

An Age of Team Dynasties

Most Successful Small-Market Franchise in 20th century

• Any guesses?

Branch Rickey managed to offset some of the advantages enjoyed by big-city clubs, by avoiding expensive player purchases

• The Farm System

By 1940 their farm system had 32 clubs and 700 players

• Won 9 league championships between 1926-1946

Made a great deal of money developing and selling players to larger city clubs

Class Activity – The Farm System

Google “(Your Favorite MLB Team) minor league teams”

• Triple – A

• Double – A

• Class – A Advanced

• Class – A

• Rookie League

CUBS

White Sox

Cardinals

U.S. – Caribbean Connections

Thrived in the Caribbean Basin during 1930’s-1940’s

• Exchange of players between U.S. and Latin American countries

• Light skinned players identified with other groups

• Native American Indian

• Claimed European credentials

• Players with African ancestry that was too visible played on the Negro League teams

U.S. – Caribbean Connections

U.S. players also traveled south

• Cuba and Dominican Republic played their pro ball season in the winter

Mexican League played in the summer

• 1937 – began to compete for U.S. teams for talent

Jorge Pasquel (oil tycoon)

• Offered more money to African American players than they could make in the Negro Leagues

“We live in the best hotels, eat at the best restaurants, and can go anywhere we care to.” – Willie Wells

“You would be really thirsty and see a water fountain and look above for the ‘White Only’ sign, and there was none.” – Bill Cash

Chapter 12 The Intercollegiate Football Spectacle

The Age of Crisis

1890-1913

• College Football’s existence is threatened due to heated conflicts with:

• Injuries

• Deaths

• Eligibility

• Recruitment

• Payment to players

“The spirit of the American youth, as of the American man, is to win, by fair means or foul”

What was the English way as previously discussed?

The Age of Crisis

“Tramp Athlete”

James J. Hogan (27 year old captain of the Yale team)

• Free Tuition

• Free suite in the swanky Vanderbilt Hall

• $100 Scholarship

• 10-day paid vacation to Cuba

• Monopoly of American Tobacco Company products on campus

The Age of Crisis

Power is taken away from the students, and is gained by the university faculty/administration

• Players like to win

• Paid coaches need to win

Athletics is starting to be ran more like a business than a student/amateur sporting activity

• Paid Players

• Non-student players

The Age of Crisis Greatest Outcry

• Deaths and Injuries “Flying Wedge/Trick V” and other lethal formations

• Bloodied Heads

• Broken Limbs

• Unconscious Players

Teddy Roosevelt

• Supporter of vigorous athletics and the father of a Harvard football player

• Invited a select group to the WH “to get them to come to a gentlemen’s agreement not to have mucker play”

• http://www.cc.com/video-clips/bodctu/drunk-history-teddy-roosevelt-saves- football

The Age of Crisis

After another death of a player, NYU president Henry B. McCracken called together a group of university presidents who decided to form a new rules committee

• Intercollegiate Athletics Association (IAA)

• National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

This change revoked the power of Walter Camp and allies in the game of football

NCAA gave the power to colleges to formulated standards of conduct and to create rules committees

Formation of Conferences

Governing the game was tricky

• In theory, the college should have been able to establish a level playing field by joining together, establish a set of common rules and imposing harsh penalties on one another’s violations

• Continued allegiance to amateurism

• NOT a commercial enterprise

As a result, many colleges turned to regional associations or conferences to bring cohesion to the game

Formation of Conferences

1895 – Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives

• Western Conference

• B1G TEN

“King Football”

Beginning in the 1920’s, attendance at college games doubled, and gate receipts tripled $$$

• Construction of colossal stadiums from Ohio to California

• 1920 – only one stadium held 70,000 spectators

• 1930 – seven held more than 70,000 spectators

• National press of college football more than doubled

• Newsreel companies offered film footage in theaters of the previous Saturday’s game

• Dozens of games on radio, 48-full length films, football stories in circulation magazines

“King Football”

Small cities that hosted football programs reached the highest levels of fandom

• Lack of significant history, great civic monuments, or remarkable physical scenery only made this bond with college football stronger

The “Big Three”

• Harvard

• Yale

• Princeton

Influential sports writers could generate great exposure for an unknown school if they played and even won against one of the Big Three

“King Football”

Style of play mirroring the culture of the regions from where they came

• Midwest – Rock-’em, sock-’em style of power football (running game)

• Southwest – Wild West Shootout Spirit (passing game)

• Deep South – Defensive game from the spirit of the antebellum Old South

The media “played up” the regional style of play, but it was actually dictated primarily on weather conditions, not culture of the region.

“King Football” Football programs gave states or groups a sense of national identity and pride

• Alabama – 3 National Championships between 1923-1931

• Alabama Governor Bibb Graves

• “We have been hampered industrially by an unfair picture the world seems to have of Alabama as a state of undersized, weak people from the swamp lands full of malaria and tuberculosis

• Army/Navy Football

• Fandom fueled by recent WWI and WWII gave birth to a national following of supports of the military

• Those who wore khakis in the war supported Army, bellbottoms supported Navy

• After WWII, Big Three de-emphasized football, whereas the Army/Navy game became the event to tune in for.

• 2017 – Army/Navy Game Intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tjhw- 0H6FI&feature=emb_logo

“King Football”

Which team had the largest boom of fan support in the 1920’s?

Roman Catholics (minority) had something to rally around amongst the Protestant majority in America

The Football Coach as Hero

Unlike baseball where players reached the highest level of heroism, in football it was the coaches

• Heroic status flowed, largely to the belief that good coaching made the difference between victory and defeat

• The stakes involved and importance in coaching, football coaches typically made more money than the highest paid professors

Knute Rockne

• Embodied the narrative of the self-made man

• Norwegian immigrant

• Protestant among Catholics (later converted)

• ND Student/Player -> Chemistry Professor -> Assistant Coach -> Head Coach

Continuing Controversies

Most football fans worried little or not at all about the commercial or semi-professional character of the game

A small, but loud group of intellectuals were voicing their opinion of education and athletics

• Purpose of college/university?

• Student Amateurs with little regard for academic qualifications or performance

• Athletes leaving college early for the Pro’s (Red Grange)

• Scholastic aspects were secondary to on field victories and financial success

The most intellectual schools started de-emphasizing football and their importance