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Read an interview with Gerald Gems, author of Sports in American History How has U.S. sport developed differently from other countries, and what are the main reasons for those differences? The American organization of sport is vastly different from the European models of sport for all. Gems serves on the Executive Council and Scientific Committee of the International Society for History of Physical Education and Sport and is a past president of the North American Society for Sport History.
In the early 20th century, sport was often viewed as a way to turn wayward Spanish speakers into “real” Americans. In his work on the use of athletics for imperial purposes, The Athletic Crusade: Sport and American Cultural Imperialism, Gerald R. Gems argues that sports such as baseball played a significant role in efforts to assimilate at least some (“better”) elements of the disparate groups that Americans encountered throughout the world during the latter part of the 19th century and the ...
The distinction of best all-around athlete during this period clearly belonged to a woman: Mildred "Babe" Didrikson. Born into a Norwegian working-class family in Beaumont, Texas, Babe gained her nickname for her baseball hitting abilities, but she won fame as a brash, multitalented athlete. A Los Angeles Times journalist described her performance: "Mildred (Babe) Didrikson, 128 pounds [58 kilograms] of feminine dynamite, came through yesterday when all competitors of the so-called stronger...
Gerald Vaughn has been USA Track & Field age-group champion, indoor and outdoor, eight consecutive years. At the 2001 National Masters Track & Field Championships in Baton Rouge, Vaughn told me of his conversion from couch potato to one of the top over-60 shot putters in the country. When Vaughn started back again, he began throwing with Floyd "Chunk" Simmons, a fellow resident of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Thus Sports Illustrated was reiterating George Orwell’s 1945 warning that sport had become "war minus the shooting" (Orwell 2003, 198), wherein athletes acted as the central combatants in the emerging conflict. Finally, and most relevant to this chapter and to the topic of using social theory to understand sport, the transitions in performance and training to which the first issue of Sports Illustrated referred remind us that sport, contrary to common perceptions, does not have any single, ...
Search-and-rescue expert Randy Gerke helps ease fears by providing tips anyone can use in the wilderness in Outdoor Survival Guide (Human Kinetics, 2009). For example, Gerke says stranded people may initially look at a broken-down car as merely trash, but debris can provide resources for shelter, fire, signaling, and tools; the materials to construct traps and snares for food; and even the means to collect and carry water. In Outdoor Survival Guide, Gerke expands on the most important ...
Search-and-rescue expert Randy Gerke helps ease fears by providing tips anyone can use in the wilderness in his upcoming Outdoor Survival Guide (Human Kinetics, November 2009). In Outdoor Survival Guide, Gerke expands on the most important practical aspects of outdoor survival, such as controlling panic, collecting water, identifying edible plants, building a survival kit, and keeping a "survivor" attitude. Gerke is the founder and owner of Enviro-Tech International at www.etisurvival.com, a...
