By Andrew McGregor Two weeks into the new year, many of us are trying to stick to our resolutions. Getting in shape, working out more, and focusing on our health are often among the things we resolve to change or improve. As we embark on these challenges in 2017, I caught up with Natalia Mehlman Petrzela to…
By: Leslie Heaphy Women playing baseball is not new but our knowledge level is limited. But within the history of women’s baseball our knowledge of African American women and their participation in baseball is almost non-existent beyond a name such as Effa Manley. During the 2014 LLWS many became aware of Mone` Davis as she…
Dutee Chand plans on running in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. After a year of withstanding intense public scrutiny, during which she remained sidelined, the nineteen-year-old Indian sprinter can now lace up her spikes and return to the international track and field scene. Women’s 200 meters respective silver and bronze medal winners from India Asha…
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…
In a 2014 double issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport, sport historians illustrated ways that various sports in the United States have been, are, and could be considered “national pastimes.” Baseball, American football, basketball, boxing, hunting, and horse racing all received scholarly scrutiny as to the sports’ potential status as national…
By Colleen English, Guest Contributor Colleen English is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Marshall University. She received a B.S. in Kinesiology from Penn State University (2009) and is working on completing her Ph.D. in Kinesiology (History and Philosophy of Sport) under Dr. Scott Kretchmar at Penn State. Her research interests center mainly…
By: Jorge Iber, PhD Texas Tech University In my first post, I provided an argument for the inclusion of Mexican Americans (and other Latinos/as) within the broader framework of the history of US sports. In that essay, I focused on the story of the only team from the Rio Grande Valley to ever win a…
I’ve just returned from a month-long research trip to Oklahoma, where I was visiting archives and reading microfilm for my dissertation on Bud Wilkinson and the 1950s University of Oklahoma football dynasty. Like Stephen Townsend’s post last week, I’ll be reflecting on the process of research as it relates to writing sports history. This piece…
Since this is my first post, I’ll introduce myself and how I found my topic. My name is Hunter Hampton, and I am a Ph.D. candidate in history at Mizzou. I am working on a dissertation on muscular Christianity in 20th century America. Unlike some of my colleagues that popped out of the womb with…
Sport in American History 