Today, sports are known everywhere in the world. This paper involves how an athletic team or completion came to symbolize something more. Throughout history, athletes, teams, and events have reflected broader issues (Gems et al.). Sometimes, they symbolize a pivotal movement for their sport. Other times, they reflect broader societal or international issues.
Jack Johnson V. Jim Jeffries
This team symbolized the fight against racism. In the 20th century, the first match in boxing, which transcended the sport happened in Reno, Nev, July 4, 1910. The 7th man to have the heavyweight during the gloved period, Jack Johnson, defeated the prior champion, Jim Jeffries.
Many factors made the Jack Johnson v. Jim Jeffries special. First, six years prior, Jim Jeffries, who governed from 1899 to 1904, retired without losing any fight. Many people esteemed him and considered him the chief athlete in the universe. Second, two simple champions, Tommy Burns and Marvin Hart, succeeded Jeffries (Davies). However, in 1908, December 26th, the world of boxing changed in Sydney when he brought his championship to Johnson. Unlike his forerunners, Jack Johnson was a huge man, having 6 feet one and a half inches as well as 200 pounds. At the same time, he was a black man. After Jack Johnson defeated Burns and became a champion, the reactions of his countrymen saddened him. Instead of rejoicing about the return of the championship to the land of America, they denigrated Johnson. The white men started to look for a white man who could defeat him. Third, this giant Jack Johnson rose during the post-Victorian period when all blacks were considered second-class people and interracial relationships were subjected to hostility. As a result, a white man to replace him was highly required. However, Jack Johnson made successful defenses against the white challengers. Fourth, Jeffries became a farmer after retiring and had distended to around 3000 pounds. He weighed 210 pounds. As a result, Jeffries agreed to meet Jack Johnson in the next championship and stated that he was responding to the call for a white man who was to defeat Johnson. However, in many rounds of the competition, Johnson defeated him (Leeds and Von Allmen). Finally, Johnson lost it to Jess in 1915 at Havana and later was jailed for his immoral behavior. Jefferies lost his legacy after losing the championship to Johnson, and thus, he is remembered for losing the fight. Johnson received praise as the greatest defensive boxer in overweight history.
Professional Basketball (The Rens)
The Rens is a great basketball team that served as a catalyst for societal equality. It was a team that won various championships even though it was not accepted socially or professionally. This team was made up of only blacks. The court was their next move when faced with various obstacles. Richard Lapchick, the Northeast University’s center director, states that “they were literally the pioneers and recognized that were making a statement in front of the audiences”. And continues to say, “and there were some audiences that did not like the statements.” The team started in 1922, and they complied with many of their on-court actions. John Wooden, a coach who once placed against Rens, bears witness that no team has ever played as the Rens in history. The tactics they used in handling the ball were amazing (Edelman and Wilson).
Bob Douglas, the black basketball father, founded the team at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Douglas began to receive this reputation at 25 years old when he organized two basketball amateur. It was at this time that he was not allowed to continue since the team included players who were being paid. This led to the Rens’s birth.
Douglas made a deal with Harlem’s Renaissance Casino in 1923. This casino was opened in 1922. Therefore, Douglas organized the black players in basketball into groups and accepted to refer to this team as Renaissance, thus providing the casino publicity. For instance many people came to dance and see this team that encompasses dancing in their team. This team was allowed to compete with other home teams. Hover later became the greatest traveling team that has ever been in basketball.
Jesse Owens
Owen proved theories of Hitler about the race difference as wrong. In 1936, the Olympics were complicated. The wrangle began when the Asians were not allowed to participate in the competition. “Whether or not the Olympic Games actually serve their purpose of promoting international understanding remains dubious,” TIME remarked the subsequent week.
Jesse Owen was the bright spot. In 1936 august 3rd, the track phenom of Ohio won gold in the one hundred meters dash. This was after he set a record in that race the day earlier. Before the end of the week, he had won a 200-m dash as well as a long jump, to first place in the relay.
Not everyone recognized the victories of Owens. Hitler eminently declined to congratulate Owens. Hitler came up with theories that explained why the host countries were defeated. Despite the trials to explain this wins by the use of falsehoods, Owen proved theories Hitler about race differences wrong.
After the death of Owen in 1980, TIME stated that Owens’s period on the track finally ended up being less significant than his historical timing. “At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, which Adolf Hitler hoped would be a showcase of Aryan supremacy, Owens won four gold medals in track and field events, a feat not equaled since. The sight of the graceful American’s soaring victory in the long jump and his Olympic-record wins in the 100-and 200-meter dashes and 400-meter relay put the lie to der Führer’s simplistic myths about race.” Therefore, Owens was a hero in 1936 who disapproved of the various myths relating to race.
Louis V Schmeling
The Max Schmeling and Joe Louis rematch was more than the mare boxing match. This match served as a pinnacle of their career of Louis, and it is recalled as one of the main 20th-century sports events.
As the U.S. moved closer to World War II, the rematch in 1938 between Schelling and Louis had a universal implication. In German, Adolf Hitler had risen to authority, as well as his Jewish persecution that resulted in the Holocaust starting during 1935. By the 1938 spring, German had captured Australia as well as had centered its locations on Poland and Czechoslovakia.
Hilter preached Aryan’s racial superiority and conveniently showed Schmeling as the superiority symbol. Schmeling was born Brandenburg in, German. He won the unfilled vacancy of the heavyweight title in the world against his fourth-round foul, Jack Sharkey, in the 1930s on June 13th. He won this title for a short time; however, he defeated people like Young Stribling, Mickey Walker as well as Johnny Risko. In 1936, on June 19th, he fought and was knocked out by Louis during the 12th round of the fight (White and Houlihan).
The loss barely disrupted a brown bomber. After Jack Johnson, loius became the first black the win a heavyweight championship after knocking out James J. Braddock at the 8th round, 1937, June 22nd. Louis was not contested by this and stated that he should not be called a champion till he revenges and readdresses his loss to Max Schmeling. Therefore, Louis made some defenses as well as signed for another fight with one man who had defeated him. On June 22, 1938, the rematch was Lous pushed Schmeling into the robe and defeated him. He was paralyzed and claimed to have obtained a kidney injury during the fight (Davies).
History remembers Max Schmelling as an image of Hitler of the Aryan supremacy. And in his autobiography, he explains that every defeat has a reason, and that made him a Third Reich toast.
Baseball
According to history, baseball lost its innocence after the year 1919, nevertheless betting and other improper behaviour were well known. According to history, Baseball has been described as a unique event that involved acts of throwing games, which likely happened a lot more than once. In the scandal that occurred in the year 1919, it is estimated that the eight members of the Chicago white sox had agreed to use money from the gamblers they used to throw the World Series (White and Houlihan).
Jim Braddock
In 1935 June 13th, Jim Braddock defeated Max Baer, the champion who was reigning that symbolized German Jews’ Nazi persecution. These two men, Jim Braddock and Max Baer, were Americans. However, Max Baer used to wear a short that qwas bearing the name “the star of daving”. Max Baer’s father was a Jew, but he grew up as a catholic, taking her mother’s religion. This star represented the Jewish people’s pride. Jim Braddock, commonly called Cinderella Man, won this fight by only decision. He defeated Bear when the German Jews’ Nazi persecution was starting (Davies).
Jackie Robinson
On April 15th of 1947 Jack Robison took the Brooklyn Dodger’s field, racial isolation in main-league baseball that had lasted for more than six year came to an end. Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, in January 31st of 1919, his life portrays r. The athletic talent of Robinson became manifest at a very early age. He joined various activities in high school as well as junior college such as track, football, baseball as well as basketball. He gained fame nationwide in 1940 as well as in 1941 at UCLA. He became the major four-letter man of the school. He was referred to as the “Jim Thorpe of his race” because of his many skills (White and Houlihan).
Jack Robison, perhaps, is a historically important baseball player. In terms of his effect on a national pastime is ranked with Babe, who changed the way in which baseball was conducted. Jack Robison altered the American thinking. Robison was acknowledged first in the 12th century as the first black baseball player in the Main-league. He moved forward and became the first player to win the battle championship. Robison also was the first one to receive the Most Appreciated Player’s award. He was the first to be initiated into the Hall of Fame Baseball. He won the official Rookies Award of the Year and was the first one to be featured on the postage camp of the United States as a baseball player, white or black (Gems et al.).
The statistic only rubbed the surface in determining Robison as the ballplayer. World War II and institutional racism prevented him from playing till he was 20 years of age. As a result his career lasted for only 10 seasons. His entire batting mean was around the solid .311, though because of his career shortness, the cumulative statistic is comparatively uninspiring by the standards of the Hall of Fame. However, it is ironic that the difficulties of Robson in the military with the whites resulted in his rising to the list of the Branch Rickey candidates. This ended up portraying him as the color barrier of baseball. Robinson remains the unofficial African-American spokesman and the man who stood for various civil rights (Leeds and Von Allmen).
Pro Football
Pro football is one of the greatest games that was ever placed, symbolizing the increase of sports. A contest between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts is the game that tilted this game pro football. This game was ushered from the 1950s when the sports were less in terms of rating than horse racing. Football started overtaking the game that has been baseball’s National Pastime. Welling Mara states, “Pete Rozelle always told me that the reason pro football took off was because that happened just at that time, in that season, and it happened in New York.” Pro football started to catch the United States general population at the beginning of the 20th century. It was an intense subject in terms of rivalry and competition, the localized nature albeit. Even though payment of players was considered un sport, various teams hired players (White and Houlihan).
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson, in 1956, made history when she became the first black person to win a French championship, showing the equality of different races. The following year, she won Wimbledon, making history as both the first black as well as the first from the United States of America. Perhaps she must have wished to win the worldwide award since she repeatedly participated in the tournament (White and Houlihan).
In the early years, Althea Gibson was not allowed to participate in sports till after Jackie Robinson played in the major leagues. No black was allowed to play in the United States Championship nationally. She was allowed to play at the age of 23 tennis; thus, she became the first black allowed to compete. His championship at Wimbledon was the popular discrimination or color barrier that prevented blacks from participating in various sports. She loved playing the attacking game. Therefore, she always played a good game in tennis, which made color discrimination less effective in preventing blacks from playing sports (Davies).
1966 NCAA Championship: UTEP V Kentucky
The 1966 month of the NCAA Championship changed the world. This period was full of racial strife. All-black Texas Western and all-white Kentucky stepped onto the basketball courts. During this period of election, the leader of civil rights was moving around, turning to separation as well as poverty in the line of Mason-Dixon. The game was played at the University of Maryland. The victory of the Texas Western turned this match into a great reappraisal. However, the coach in Kentucky privately complained about this victory (Edelman and Wilson). The victory of the minors forced many questions to be raised in the sports arena, proving integration resistant, as Michael Cramer stated, the Texas Rangers as well as Dallas Stars’ former president. The work of Jack Johnson enabled the blacks to get their way to the white boxing universe in the 20th century (Davies).
This victory resulted in the realization that if those schools did not adopt the blacks, they would not win any game. For instance, basketball, field, track, as well as football. The impact this game had on racial segregation would not have been released in their absence. As Cramer states, as a result of these games, he had the opportunity to get into integrated schools and interact with the black children as well as play with them. Therefore, the 1966 month of match NCAA Championship changed the world and resulted in the integration of different ethnical people, resulting in discrimination decrease (Edelman and Wilson).
John Carlos And Tommie Smith
Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who won bronze and gold, respectively, in a 200-m sprint, raised their black-gloved fists in Mexico during the medal ceremony in 1968, symbolizing a fight against injustice. This became one of the images of sports in the 20th century. These two athletes planned a protest carefully. Any time the Smiths, as well as Carlos, walked onto the stage, they removed their shoes, protesting against poverty. Similarly, they wore scarves and beads to object to lynching. Whenever a national anthem was played they raised their gloved- first and lowered heads. This behavior rocked the universe. These acts had symbols. “I looked at my feet in my high socks and thought about all the black poverty I’d seen from Harlem to East Texas. I fingered my beads and thought about the pictures I’d seen of the ‘strange fruit’ swinging from the poplar trees of the South.” as it is recorded in the story of John Carlos therefore, the two showed that they were representing their country in the world of Olympics however they were ashamed of the things that were affecting their countries such as poverty, racism and the slow movement of America to respond at this challenges. However, they were asked to leave the Olympic stage since this was against the laws and regulations of the Olympics. Even after they left, their images still exist because of the role they represented in making sports have a different significance to the world (Davies).
Muhammad Ali
On April 28, 1967, Muhammad Ali, the boxing champion, declined to be inducted into the Army of the United States of America, promoting civil rights. As a result, he was immediately stripped of his heavyweight championship. He was a Muslim and gave the religious reasons why he refused to get into the military forces. Not only his championship, but he was also sentenced to 5 years in prison, a fine of 10000 dollars as well as banned from boxing. But later appealed this and was allowed to get back to the boxing, and he won three times after even losing (Edelman and Wilson).
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente was an all-time best player in baseball in the 1970s. He won different competitions in baseball. He was a professional player all the time. Clemente received a national recognition in his career. Apart from their baseball achievements, he also receives recognition for other things, especially his ethnic pride. Clemente was a Latino- American and he was proud of his work ethic. This made much impact on the world. Making his name to be written in various institutions such as schools and hospitals (Gems et al.).
The Syracuse 8
The Syracuse 8 were members of the NFL in the 1960s. They played well. After the assassination of Martin Luther, they decided to meet in secret. They looked for ways of getting fairness injustices and thus decided to petition. The petition addresses equal access to academic advisers as well as tutors. As a result, their sports addressed much more than their profession, thus addressing the issue of racial discrimination (Davies).
1972 United States Olympic Basketball Team
In 1972, the Soviet Union defeated the United States. This was a golden medal game in Munich. The American team believed it was a stolen glory, and the Soviets never won the game (Davies). As a result, they decided to petition. However, today, they still believe that they are the ones who won the competition, and they are just very few steps from it. This sports activity symbolized more than the event. For instance, a soviet team member asked the mother of the team about the God he was explaining always and promised to believe in Him if they won the game. After the game, this member accepted God and believed in Jesus (Davies). Therefore, this game brought God into context.
Billie Jean King V. Bobby Riggs
This presented the sex’s battle. The game was famous in 1973 between Bobby and Billie, a man and a woman. This match attacked many people. This resulted in the women’s tennis acceptance. Thus, this game brought into the picture the women’s games (Davies).
Ali V. Frazier
In 1971, the two had a legal claim to world heavyweight champion. Frazer defeated Ali after he had refused to get into the military. Frazer dominated for some time during the match, but at last, Ali won the match. People who witnessed the match went home change, and Ali’s supporters called him a cultural hero (Davies).
The United States Ping Pong Team
In April 1972, a tennis match was held during the Ping-Pong diplomacy period. The Chinese invited the Americans to visit the Republic of People. This invitation resulted in an international diplomacy tool. It later resulted in the presidential visit (Davies).
Alabama V. U.S.C
This is a match that occurred in 1972. He played well in football, resulting in a change in football game. As a result, he changed the view of the whites about black people (Davies).
The Miracle On Ice And Doug Williams
In the ice miracle in 1980, the American hockey team defeated the Soviets. This was not expected in the world because Russia was a well-trained team. This happened during the Cold War period. This was a conquest in the philosophical fight.
Doug Williams was the first black American to begin the Super Bowl. His historical story gives a reason that inspires players to rise as well as act in whatever they believe (Davies).
The Fab Five, Greg Louganis, Magic Johnson, Arthur Ashe, And Mahmoud Adbul-Rauf 1990s
Greg Louganis was a sports champion. In 1995, he introduced to the world his HIV-positive status and Gay life. Magic Johnson and Arthur Ashe also announced their HIV-positive status. Mahmoud Adbul-Rauf a NFL member stood for the national anthem saying it has issues.
The Fab Five in 1991, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson and Juwan Howard all joined as freshers at the same time and made it to the championship. They changed the basketball world by introducing baggy shorts and black socks (Davies).
In conclusion teams, sports as well as athletes symbolize something more than sports. Some of these things involve racism, women’s inclusion in games, justice, as well as courage to tell the world about HIV.
Work Cited
Davies, Richard O. Sports in American Life: A History. John Wiley & Sons, 2016.
Edelman, Robert, and Wayne Wilson. The Oxford Handbook of Sports History. Oxford University Press, 2017.
Gems, Gerald, et al. Sports in American History, 2E: From Colonization to Globalization. Human Kinetics, 2017.
Leeds, Michael A., and Peter Von Allmen. The Economics of Sports: International Edition. Routledge, 2016.
White, Anita, and Barrie Houlihan. The Politics of Sports Development: Development of Sport or Development through Sport? Routledge, 2003.
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