Sport Physical Education in Postwar America

1945-1970

http://www.hess.ttu.edu/miller/1945-1970.ppt

Professional Sport

• Following World War II became the dominant component of the American sport scene.

Professional Sport

• Reasons for Growth– An increasingly affluent and hi-tech society. – Television – Super jets transported teams across the country

and to other continents– Manufactures supplied athletes with the latest

equipment– Computers assisted in recruiting athletes and

scheduling games.

Race Integration Into Sport“The Noble Experiment”

• Baseball was also the first of the major professional sports to sign an African American player.

• Steps that lead to this accomplishment– In 1945 Branch Rickey organized the United

States Baseball League, to be comprised of African American teams, including a team named the Brown Dodgers.

Jackie Robinson

– Rickey sent scouts to find players for the Brown Dodgers, but especially to seek one man-an excellent baseball player to integrate professional baseball.

– The person chosen would have to be able to:• Play with white players

• Get along with them

• Be able to withstand the taunts, discrimination, and unpleasant situations.

Jackie Robinson

• Robinson made his debut without the predicted race riots and withstood the suspicions, taunts, and threats of players and fans alike.

• Selected as “Rookie of the Year” in 1947 • “Most Valuable Player” in 1949 • This insured the success of the “noble

experiment.” • The American League had its first African-

American player in 1948 when Bill Veeck of the Cleveland Indians signed outfielder Larry Doby.

Team Movement

• In 1953 the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee and had instant success with 1,826,397 in attendance.

• In 1954 the St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles

• 1955 the Philadelphia Athletics were the Kansas City Athletics.

• The West Coast acquired major league teams in 1958 when the New York Giants moved to San Francisco and the Brooklyn Dodgers switched to Los Angeles.

Reflection on Philosophical Changes

• During this era was the genesis of placing more emphasis on attendance and making money.

• Since Los Angeles was growing tremendously fast more team were attracted to areas in which there was less competition for marketing and attracting fans

Reflection on Societal Changes

• Professional teams moving also reflected the changes of American families.

• Previously, employees generally stayed with one company for an entire career.

• Beginning in the early 1960’s employees were moving from company to company more often

Pro Expansion

• League expansion in 1961, 1962, and in 1969 resulted in four divisions, each league consisting of two divisions, the champions of which competed in a playoff to determine the league pennant winner.

Pro Expansion

• The opening of the Houston Astrodome in 1965, with its artificial turf on which the ball moved faster (and players fell harder) than on natural grass, sparked a period of new stadium construction in cities with established teams as well as those with new franchises.

Pro Expansion

• A number of new multi-purpose stadiums installed artificial turf which was economical, easily maintained, and readily adaptable to a variety of sports and other events.

Anti-Trust

• In 1953, a congressional committee repeated an investigation into baseball exemption from antitrust laws.

• In 1970 the Supreme Court confirmed earlier decisions that baseball was not subject to antitrust laws.

Labor Negotiations

• Inside the baseball world, players expressed their growing concern about the conditions of their employment.

• In 1946, the owners averted formation of a players’ union by allowing player representative to attend meetings and help formulate more equitable contracts.

Labor Negotiations

• In a prelude to future labor negotiations and tactics, some players boycotted the opening of 1969 spring training because of a dispute over owner contributions to the pension fund.

Differences Between Men’s and Women’s Physical Education

• At mid-century, on most campuses in the United States, physical education for women and for men existed in separate departments.

• The curriculum and activities offered, and their administration, expressed the major philosophical differences between physical education for women and physical education for men.

Differences Between Men’s and Women’s Physical Education

• Departments of physical education for women, regardless of the size or type of institution, tended to have common goals, similar programs, and similar problems.

• These departments shared a philosophy of appointing broadly prepared rather than highly specialized faculty.

Differences Between Men’s and Women’s Physical Education

• Departments for men, on the other hand, demonstrated no such uniformity of purpose among institutions.

Physical Education in the Schools

• The boys’ program through the 1950s generally emphasized the major team sports.

• Girls’ programs tended to focus on the team sports.

• This pattern was affected in the mid-1950s when test results indicated that American children were less fit than European children.

Physical Education in the Schools

• Public and official concern resulted in a temporary emphasis on physical fitness-producing activities in school programs.

• In the mid- 1960s there was increased interest in activities that sought to equip boys and girls with recreational sport skills, such as tennis and golf, that could be pursued throughout life.

Teaching/Coaching

• In many of the large universities with major intercollegiate athletic programs there was some philosophical conflict between the faculty who primarily taught in the men’s physical education teacher preparation program and those whose primary assignment was coaching.

• In smaller institutions or those with less ambitious athletic programs, the physical education teaching faculty and coaching staff were usually the same people.

Fitness Progress

• Physical fitness research efforts of the 1930s and 1940s to the attitudinal and behavioral studies of the fifties, the serious investigations of the many dimensions of sport and physical activity had progressed steadily.

Physical Education “Pioneers”

• Delbert Oberteuffer, Eleanor Metheny exposed two generations of students to the theoretical foundation of sport and physical activity.

• Franklin Henry challenged the profession to begin defining physical education’s “body of knowledge”.

Physical Education “Pioneers”

• Two sport sociologists at the University of Wisconsin, Gerald Kenyon and John Loy, called for American scholars to join them as they moved “toward a sociology of sport.”

• Shortly thereafter Bruce Ogilvie and Thomas Tusko popularized the newly developing field of sport psychology..

Physical Education “Pioneers”

• The concept of “movement education” became one focus of attention for elementary physical education in the 1960’s based on the early work of H’Doubler and Glassow.

• Emphasized analyzing and understanding the “science of movement.”

• Both stressed learning and understanding the fundamentals of body movement through problem-solving activities related to space, time, and flow of movement.

Problems in Intercollegiate Athletics

• The spectacular growth in the popularity of college athletics was not without problems. The pressure to win in order to sell tickets to meet expenses necessary to recruit athletes produced a climate conductive to cheating, scandal, and hypocrisy.

Problems in Intercollegiate Athletics

• In the late 1940s the NCAA found it necessary to assume an enforcement role because of repeated reports of recruiting violations among its members..

Principles of Conduct

• In July of 1946 a “Conference on Conferences” was held for the purpose of determining “Principles for the Conduct of Intercollegiate Athletics.”

Principles of Conduct

• As a result of this conference the NCAA adopted a “sanity code,” in 1948. The main points were (1) principle of amateurism, (2) principle of institutional control and responsibility, (3) principle of sound academic standards, (4) principle governing financial aid to athletes, and (5) principles governing recruiting.

Principles of Conduct

• In 1952, new legislation was adopted dealing with academic standards, financial aid, ethical conduct, and out-of-season practice in football and basketball.

Problems in Intercollegiate Athletics

• The first reported instance of tampering occurred in 1945 when rumors of a fixed game instance of such tampering occurred in 1945 when rumors of a fixed game between Brooklyn College and the University of Akron caused a significant fluctuation in the point spread and cancellation of the game. All five Brooklyn players admitted taking bribes to throw the contest.

• The National Basketball Association issued a lifetime ban on all of the implicated players whether or not they had been found guilty in the courts.

Women’s Athletics

• Intercollegiate athletics for women did not exist in its present form. Today’s program evolved from “extramural” meaning inter-institutional competition.

• The first “experiment” in extramural tournaments was a highly successful intercollegiate golf championship. By this time the increasing extramural competitions and the desire of college women for competitive opportunities began to concern women physical education.

Women’s Athletics

• The Division for Girls and Women’s Sport (DGWS), made clear that “Girls and women may not participate as members of boys and men’s teams.” – They again affirmed the philosophy that student

athletes should not receive financial aid for superior skill alone.

– Athletic scholarships were not approved, but financial aid for needy students was acceptable.

Women’s Olympic Movement

• In 1963 the DGWS, in cooperation with the United States Olympic Development Committee, sponsored the first of five institutes to promote Olympic sports.

• For the first time in almost fifty years the Olympic Movement was directly promoted by women physical educators.

Women’s Olympic Movement Problems

• Philosophically committed to promoting a sport for every girl rather than high-level sport for a few, many women were not prepared to coach students or teams at expert levels.

• To complicate the situation, the women’s movement of the mid-sixties, to the delight of some and consternation of others, chose sport as one of the suitable areas for equal right struggles.

Olympic Politics

• In the 1960’s it was difficult to differentiate between political activities and Olympic activities

• Olympic Games were used as a tool between East vs. West, communism vs. democracy

• Within the US militant groups employed the Games in 1968 as a political platform to crusade against racial injustice

Olympic Politics

• This most prevalent when Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, finishing 1st and 3rd respectively in the 200 meter dash arrived for the awards ceremony.

• Both were shoeless, wearing knee length black stockings, and a black glove on one hand (Smith’s right, Carlos’s left)

Olympic Politics

• The USOC was embarrassed by this display and issued a strong reprimand for Smith and Carlos along with apologies to the IOC, the Mexican Organizing Committee and the Mexican people

• Avery Brundage, Chair of the IOC, went further and issued the removal and suspension of the black athletes

Olympic Politics

• In 1967 the Black Power Conference called for a boycott of the 1968 Games as “…a protest against all forms of American racism and retaliation for lifting of Muhammad Ali’s heavyweight boxing crown.”

• A vote of 75% was need to implement the boycott but this fell short by 10%

• However, several black athletes did boycott the Games most notable being Lew Alcindor

Muhammad Ali

• Known as Cassius Clay when he won the Olympic heavyweight crown in 1960 won the world heavyweight boxing title from Sonny Liston in 1964

• He successfully defended his title in 1965 and 1966

• In 1967 he refused to be drafted into the armed services claiming he was a Muslim minister

Muhammad Ali

• In the midst of his legal battles the World Boxing Association stripped him of his title

• He was allowed to continue his fighting career in 1973 and regained his crown by defeating George Foreman in 1974.