Price, Asher. Earl Campbell: Yards After Contact. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. Pp. 344. 12 photos, notes, and index. $27.95 hardcover. Reviewed by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes It is difficult to explain how much Earl Campbell dominated American football in the late 1970s. For roughly three years, he was the player in the sport. In…
By Andrew McGregor Two news stories Monday laid bare the rotten core of American higher education and its unsavory alliance with big-time sports. They speak volumes about the core values of colleges and universities – exploitation – and the anxieties buried deep within administrators who desperately want to continue the status quo, even when it…
Beer, Jeremy. Oscar Charleston: The Life and Legend of Baseball’s Greatest Forgotten Player. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019. Reviewed by Leslie Heaphy Author Jeremy Beer has written the first full biography of one of the greatest baseball players in history, Oscar Charleston. The story is long overdue, and Beer meets expectations, bringing to life…
Shapley, Haley. Strong Like Her: A Celebration of Rule Breakers, History Makers, and Unstoppable Athletes. New York: Gallery Books. Pp. 272. $29.99 Hardcover. Reviewed by Richard Ravalli A scan of social media pages devoted to bodybuilding publications and events will reveal images of heavily built women with accompanying comments that they are “gross,” and that…
By Andrew McGregor “Athletics, as it is conducted in many colleges today, is not even good for the handful,” University of Chicago President Robert M. Hutchins wrote in 1938. He worried about the overemphasis on sports in higher education and what the pressure for athletic profits meant for the welfare of students. “It has been…
Whitney-Wei, Jordan. Katharine Whitney Curtis: Mother of Synchronized Swimming. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2020. Pp. 185. Notes, bibliography, and index. $39.95 paperback. Reviewed by Vicki Valosik In 1912, Katharine Curtis (nee Whitney) became the first woman to swim across Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. Under the headline “Madison has a youthful Annette Kellerman,” a…
Nathanson, Mitchell. Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original. University of Nebraska Press, 2020. Pp. 407. Acknowledgments, bibliography, epilogue, index, notes, photographs, prologue, $34.95 hardback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo. Jim Bouton’s diary of the 1969 major league baseball season may seem tame today, but Ball Four’s release 50 years ago caused a furor. A book…
Editors Note: On March 8, 1971, Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali met in the ring for the first time, ushering in a “Golden Age” of prize fighting that extended well beyond the boundaries of the ring. The following post is excerpted from a chapter in “Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience” (Joshua Farrington et al,…
Gryzbowski, David. Mr. All-Around: The Life of Tom Gola. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2019. Pp 181. Foreword by Bill Raftery, introduction, appendices. Reviewed by Murry Nelson Mr. All-Around: The Life of Tom Gola is a pleasant little book. However, David Gyrzbowski’s biography of Gola is more geared to general readership, especially those with Philadelphia interests,…
By Erin Redihan This summer the Olympic Games return to Tokyo for the first time in fifty-six years, bringing with them some familiar storylines that resemble the news leading up to the 1964 summer contests. The last time Tokyo hosted, the Cold War was not quite raging, but still impacted how the Soviet and American…
Balukjian, Brad. The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife. University of Nebraska Press, 2020. Pp. 280. Author’s note, prologue, epilogue, photographs, notes, $27.95 hardback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo Books about players dealing with life after baseball have provided some memorable reading. The genre has been blessed with Lawrence Ritter’s The…
Editor’s note: Please accept our apology for any inconvenience: The draft copy was posted last night instead of the final version which now appears on our blog. This post is a tribute to Kobe Bryant and first appeared in 2013 as an entry about his life and career in American Sports: A History of Icons, Idols,…
Sarantakes, Nicholas Evans. Fan in Chief: Richard Nixon and American Sports, 1969-1974. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2019. ix+349. Appendix, notes, timeline, bibliographical essay, sources, and index. Reviewed by Russ Crawford Nicholas Evans Sarantakes has written a comprehensive analysis of President Richard M. Nixon’s interaction with the sporting world in Fan in Chief. It is…
Kenny, Kevin. Patty Berg: Pioneer Champion of Women’s Golf. North Carolina: McFarland, 2019. Pp. 205. Appendix, Chapter Notes, Bibliography, and Index. $45.00 softcover. Reviewed by Erica J. Zonder In November 2019, the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s (LPGA) season-ending event, The CME Group Tour Championship, was won by Korean golfer Sei Young Kim. First place was…
Segrave, Kerry. 2019. Women and Bicycles in America, 1868-1900. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing Company, 2020. Pp. 230. 146 photos, notes, bibliography, index. $55.00 paperback. Reviewed by Leslie Heaphy In Women and Bicycles in America, 1868-1900, author Kerry Segrave examines the growing bicycle craze in the late-nineteenth century and its effect women. Although the tricycle started…
