Just over one year ago, in a smoky bar after one too many beers, I caved. For the better part of two years, my friend and colleague Trevor Burrows had been encouraging me to start a group blog on sports. He’d become a contributor to Religion in American History and a frequent reader of U.S.…
Later this week, former college football players will walk across the stage at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. They will shake the hand of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, put on new hats, and hold the jerseys of their new NFL teams. Outside of the Theatre, the NFL will hold a “Draft…
As you read this, a mixture of nerves, excitement, and celebration have blanketed Clemson, SC as more than 1,000 collegiate triathletes converge for the 2015 Collegiate Club National Championships. In addition to the high energy, these championships come with a slight name change: from the Collegiate National Championships to the Collegiate Club National Championships. The…
In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, local runner Florence Griffith (who later added the Joyner) burst onto the international scene. The relatively unknown runner earned two silver medals; however, the fame Griffith garnered actually stemmed more from her colorful, four-inch long fingernails and clothing decisions than her speedy feats. Four years later in the Seoul…
By Dunja Antunovic, Guest Contributor In the April 8, 2015, edition of CBS News, anchor Scott Pelley begins “If there is one thing more difficult than breaking into the NFL as a player, it’s breaking in as an official. There are only 119. And breaking in as a woman? Impossible. Until today’s announcement.” The camera cuts…
Starting on July 23, 1967, and lasting for five days, several blocks in the 12th street area of Detroit were the scene of one of the deadliest, costliest, and most transformative urban uprisings in American history. Forty-three people died, 2,509 buildings were looted and destroyed, and the destruction cost some $36 million in insurable property…
Happy Valley (2014). Directed by Amir Bar-Lev. Produced by Molly Thompson, Robert Debitetto, and David Mckillop. A&E Films and Asylum Entertainment Production. 98 minutes. Reviewed by Lindsay Parks Pieper, Adam Berg, and Andrew D. Linden In 2011, a Pennsylvania Grand Jury released information that devastated Happy Valley. The findings alleged that former assistant football coach…
In my last post, I looked at the first game of American Football played in Ireland in Croke Park in 1953 and the Irish reaction to this most American of sporting endeavours. In this post, I will examine the arrival of the skateboard as a mass-market product in Ireland in the late 1970s, as part…
Sport in American History 