- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
A bold and foundational history of the inception and evolution of intercollegiate athletics in the United States.
In College Sports, historians Eric A. Moyen and John R. Thelin tell the intriguing story of the successâand excessâof American college sports from their inception to today. Arguing that the modern American university's structure spurred the growth of big-time sports, Moyen and Thelin also highlight the treatment of marginalized groups in athletics and the role that commercialization and the media have played in shaping college sports.
Using a wealth of secondary resources, archival records, newspaper articles, and oral histories, Moyen and Thelin offer a chronological account of the popularity, success, and continued challenges of college sports. Most scholarship has portrayed athletics as an anomaly within higher education, but history reveals that college sports enjoy a symbiotic relationship with universities. Reform and a return to a purely amateur model have rarely been a compelling option for those institutions that are successful in commercialized big-time college sports. At the same time, most student-athletes compete in a very different model. And despite their progressive posturing, colleges have been slow to fully adopt civil rights and social justice issues. When full participation was finally extended to women and minorities, it generally meant a move away from the amateur model into a commercial enterprise.
By examining key events at specific universities, athletic conferences, and the NCAA, Moyen and Thelin trace how the media and sports marketing have created an incredibly successful financial model for schools in big-time conferences. Yet this model has also created a precarious fiscal situation for hundreds of other institutions. This provocative and refreshing take on sports in American universities provides the context in which to understandâand improve uponâthe current landscape of intercollegiate athletics.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction. Higher Education and Athletics
- 1 The Creation of Sports in American Higher Education, 1852 to 1900: From Extracurricular Activity to Organized Intercollegiate Contests
- 2 Building Local, Regional, and National Programs, 1900 to 1929: College Sports and Campus Life
- 3 Big-Time Football and Backlash, 1929 to 1941: The Paradox of Popularity and Problems in College Sports
- 4 The Consolidation of Control in College Sports, 1941 to 1954: Contradictions, Contraction, and Resilience during World War II and Beyond
- 5 Civil Rights, Racial Desegregation, and Regulations, 1954 to 1973: The NCAA and the Control of College Sports
- 6 Womenâs College Sports during the Cold War Era, 1945 to 1984: Politics and Policies of Equity and Equality
- 7 The Ascendance of College Sports Business, 1970 to 2000: Deliberations and Decisions in the NCAA
- 8 Keeping Up with the Joneses, 2000 to 2012: An Era of Optimism and Innovation
- 9 Commercialism, Conflicts, Conferences, and COVID-19, 2012 to 2024: The Crises and Reconfiguration of College Sports
- Conclusion. Why History Matters for College Sports
- Notes
- Essay on Sources
- Index
- About the Authors
- Promo Page