Cahn, Susan K. Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Women’s Sport (2nd edition). Urbana, Chicago, & Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2015. Pp. xiii+395. Notes, index, and black and white photographs. $95 hardcover, $25 paperback. Reviewed by Colleen English Susan Cahn’s first edition of Coming on Strong, originally published in 1994, serves as a…
By Adam Park I recently tried to explain to a four-year-old why I whimpered in pain when she “honked” my nose. It was not easy. Boxing, I said. A friend punched me there several times because we were playing a game. She looked perplexed. But we weren’t fighting, I quickly qualified, we were just having…
When she was Wilma Eldridge she couldn’t get nothing. They didn’t know Wilma Eldridge; they knew Wilma Rudolph. – Coach Ed Temple [1] By Cat Ariail Describing the post-athletic career of Wilma Rudolph, her collegiate coach perceptively captures the limitations of her heroine status. At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Rudolph won the 100-meter sprint,…
By Lindsay Parks Pieper and Andrew D. Linden What is the purpose of sport history? What role do sport historians play in the academy, the community, and the larger culture? What questions as an organization should the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) attempt to answer? Last weekend, in sunny (and hot) Miami, Florida,…
Whenever Chris Rock speaks, I listen [and then I usually laugh]. Rock is a comedic genius or the one comic who possesses the outstanding ability at least to disturb my good manners time and time again with belly-aching guffaws. He has thrived in his role as my generation’s most successful black humorist, plying his craft…
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…
On February 20, 2015, officials from both the National Football League’s Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers announced their plans to build and share a $1.7 billion privately-funded stadium. The proposed new facility will be located in Carson, adding the two teams to the constant speculation about the NFL’s return to L.A. Both the Raiders and…
by Jorge Iber, PhD Texas Tech University In my last post for this blog, I mentioned that the story of Mike Torrez (former MLB pitcher and a native of Topeka) is one that could help shed light on the historical and current role as athletes of Latinos/as both at the local (Midwestern, in this case)…
Newspapers, magazines, and talking-head television shows have lauded the Southeastern Conference (SEC) as the best collegiate football league, even alleging the SEC West division was the most dominant in the history of the game.[1] The media’s ubiquitous coverage and accolades have been warranted, however, as SEC teams have won seven of the last eight national…
Given that 76 teams participated in college football bowl games this year, it’s hard to imagine an era when most universities viewed postseason play as antithetical to amateurism and the spirit of college athletics. An era when Yale was a football powerhouse and athletics scholarships were anathema to higher education. It is probably also difficult…
Sport in American History 