Davies - Sports in American life a history

Thirty-eight year old New York Giants quarterback Y. A. Tittle kneels in the Giants end zone in September 1964 after throwing an interception returned for a touchdown by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tittle was ferociously hit as he released the pass by 270-pound defensive end John Baker and slammed to the ground, suffering a cracked sternum and a concussion on the play that left him dazed and disoriented. This iconic photograph is one of the most famous football photographs of all time because it encapsulates the violence and humanity of the game. It was taken by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette photographer Morris Berman, and ironically was not published by the newspaper because it was not an action shot. Tittle returned to play the following weekend, his concussion symptoms not considered of medical importance. He retired after the season, bringing to a close a 17-year career in professional football, much of it spent with the San Francisco 49ers. Traded to the Giants in 1961 he led the team to three consecutive Eastern division titles and was named the league's Most Valuable Player. He was elected to the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1971 based upon a record-setting career that included 242 touchdown passes and 2427 completions that gained more than 33,000 yards. In 2016, at the age of 89, the former NFL star resided in the Bay Area suffering from dementia.

This third edition first published 2017
2017 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Edition history: Blackwell Publishing Ltd (1e, 2007); John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2e, 2012)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Davies, Richard O., 1937

Title: Sports in American life : a history / Richard O. Davies.

Description: Third Edition. | Hoboken : John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2017. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016003745 (print) | LCCN 2016005130 (ebook) | ISBN

9781118912379 (paper) | ISBN 9781118912454 (pdf) | ISBN 9781118912546 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: SportsUnited StatesHistory.

Classification: LCC GV583 .D39 2017 (print) | LCC GV583 (ebook) | DDC 796dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016003745

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

For Sharon, Jenny, and Bob

1. Trotters Mountain Boy and Lady Thorn head for the finish line at Prospect Park in Brooklyn in 1869
2. The sleek yacht America is captured by artist J. E. Buttersworth as it leaves Boston harbor on its way to England for the great race of 1851
3. The Knickerbocker team of 1858 is captured in this rare photograph
4. A standing-room crowd packs the Baltimore Orioles ballpark in 1897 for an important game with Boston
5. John L. Sullivan squares off with Jake Kilrain in the backwoods of Mississippi in July 1889
6. Golf provided women with a new opportunity to develop their athletic skills as private country clubs were established at the turn of the twentieth century
7. Jim Thorpe during the shot put competition in the decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm
8. This typical formation employed by the 1893 Yale football team illustrates the theory of mass momentum advocated by Walter Camp
9. The trend away from mass momentum play received a boost from the offensive play of the Carlisle Indians coached by the innovative Glenn Pop Warner
10. Ty Cobb slides into third base with his spikes flying
11. Forward March! The Cleveland Indians participate in marching drills ordered for all American League teams during the 1918 season by league president Ban Johnson
12. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis tosses out the first ball at an unknown game during the 1920s
13. Babe Ruth burnished his public image by reaching out to youngsters
14. Vassar College students demonstrate that they did not necessarily always play nice when they took to the basketball court
15. A determined Babe Didrikson preparing for the 1932 Olympic Games
16. A professional women's baseball player slides hard into third base
17. Seabiscuit drives between two horses to take the lead in the home stretch of his last race, the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap
18. Seventy-three thousand fans jam Memorial Stadium at the University of California in Berkeley for the Big Game against Stanford in 1928
19. Red Grange runs around Michigan tacklers in 1924
20. Journalist Grantland Rice called the Notre Dame backfield the Four Horsemen
21. Defending champion Jack Johnson and challenger Jim Jeffries square off in the first of many fights of the century
22. Josh Gibson shows his powerful swing in a game played in Pittsburgh
23. Sprinter Jesse Owens explodes out of his starting position in classic fashion
24. Jackie Robinson steals home with his usual flourish against Philadelphia on July 2, 1950
25. Althea Gibson shows her crisp backhand form in this match at Wimbledon in the 1957 finals against fellow American Darlene Hard
26. The Monday Night ABC team appears on camera before a game in 1971
27. Bo Schembechler played for Woody Hayes at Miami of Ohio before serving a coaching apprenticeship with him at Ohio State
28. Between 1964 and 1975 UCLA won 10 NCAA championships under the coaching of John Wooden
29. Bob Knight coached basketball at Indiana from 1971 to 2000, winning eleven Big Ten and three NCAA championships
30. Willie Mays was one of the most complete baseball players in history