Sport: Rural America

A competitive physical activity guided by established rules and motivated by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. The history of sport in America is examined from the colonial era through the 1800s and into the modern age. Particular attention is given to rural America?s historical contributions to sport and the importance of sport for modern rural communities.

Introduction

Sport is a pervasive part of American society. Three levels of sport?informal, organized and corporate? can be distinguished. Informal sport is primarily for the enjoyment of the participants who determine and enforce the rules. Organized sport involves formal organizations (e.g., leagues, teams and sponsors) and a regulatory agency that establishes and enforces rules. The manifest function of organized sport is to benefit participants by promoting physical and mental health and instilling core cultural values. Corporate sport is dominated by economics and politics. Organizations at this level of sport are less concerned with the participants? interests and more concerned with benefiting the consumer (e.g., fans, owners and alumni), generating profits and maintaining a high concentration of power. In general, rural communities are directly involved in informal sport and organized sport and indirectly involved in corporate sport.

Sport can be viewed as a mirror of society that reflects the social structure and the changes society experiences. This is evident in the history of American sport from colonial times to the present as society shifted from a rural, agricultural context to an urban, industrialized context. Guttman (1978) maintains that modern sport did not come into existence until the late 1800s as a result of the industrial revolution and urbanization. Although colonial sport was primarily a rural activity, the evolution of American society shifted the predominate context of sport to urban centers. Nevertheless, sport continues to play an integral role in rural America.

Sport in the Colonial Era

Sport in the colonial era reflected religious influences and living conditions of the colonists. Puritan and Protestant religious influences inhibited sport participation. Lucas and Smith (1978) note, ?That everyone should have a calling and work hard at it was a first premise of Puritanism?. Not leisure and enjoyment but activity only served to increase the glory of God.? As a result, local laws prohibiting many sporting activities were enacted. The struggle for survival and severe living conditions of the colonists left little time for leisure activities. Further, the sparse population of the frontier inhibited the pursuit of many of the folk games that were part of European culture.

Although officially prohibited in most colonies, certain sporting activities took place during this period. Popular sports included horse racing, footraces, jumping contests, fistfighting, wrestling matches, eye-gouging, shooting matches (rifles and pistols) and hunting contests. The Dutch introduced kolven, a game similar to golf, and gander pulling, a contest in which participants attempted to jerk the head off a live goose. Other sporting activities involving animals were cockfighting and rat baiting (dozens of rats were placed in a ring with a ratting dog and spectators wagered on the number of rats the dog would kill in a specified period of time). Bear baiting (large dogs turned loose on a chained bear) and dog fights were also common recreational sports during this era. Taverns often served as social centers where sporting activities, such as cards, dice, billiards, skittles (a precursor to bowling) and shooting matches took place.

Sport activities were more frequent in areas less influenced by Puritan religious traditions, such as the Southern colonies and the frontier. Sport activities increased during the later years of the colonial period. Most of the sports were informal activities or organized by sponsors such as county fairs, communities and taverns. Sport activities often occurred as part of holiday festivals or during militia training. In the South, the gentry established jockey clubs for thoroughbred horse racing. The wealthy had more time for recreation and could afford to engage in more expensive sports.

Sport in Nineteenth-century America

Sporting activities of the colonists continued after they gained independence. In rural and frontier areas, sport continued to be informal or loosely organized around community festivals. However, American society and sport began to change during this period. Racing became a popular mass entertainment sport with horse racing as one of the biggest attractions. Other racing activities involved trains, sailing boats and steamboats. Promoters, such as railroad companies, organized races to increase profits. Racing events were often scheduled in remote places accessible by rail. Spectators not only paid admission to the event, but also paid to travel on the trains carrying them to the event. Although it was illegal, rail and steamboat companies promoted prizefighting. Sporting activities increasingly catered to an urban clientele and focused on making profits from sporting activities.

American society experienced a transformation during the mid-1800s as industrialization and urbanization increased. During this transformation, the focus of sport moved from rural areas to urban centers. Informal sport dominated in rural America, but an urban- based corporate sport emerged to dominate the nation?s attention.

Baseball epitomized this transformation. Baseball emerged from a variety of games, such as town ball, rounders, and ?One Old Cat,? played in urban areas like New York City and Boston. Formal rules of baseball became established in 1845 by Alexander Joy Cartwright. Although formal baseball began as an urban, upper-class activity, it soon spread to middle and working classes and rural areas. Professionalism in baseball gradually developed and became concentrated in urban areas. However, many rural communities sponsored baseball teams that played in loosely organized leagues.

Other sports, such as football and basketball, followed a development path similar to that of baseball. They were primarily urban in origin, initially played by middle- and upper-class athletes, and spread to rural areas. However, football and basketball were more strongly linked to college sports. Like baseball, these sports became professionalized around the late 1800s. They were eventually dominated by a corporate sports orientation, and sport organizations and universities increasingly concentrated on the commercial aspects of the activity.

Sport in the Modern Age

The twentieth century witnessed the emergence of the sport hero in American culture, and rural sports made significant contributions by providing many star athletes. Examples of athletes with rural backgrounds starring in baseball include Grover Cleveland Alexander, Ty Cobb, Dizzy Dean, Lefty Grove, Gil Hodges, Carl Hubbell, Walter Johnson, Connie Mack, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Jackie Robinson, and Cy Young. Football stars, such as Red Grange, and famous Olympians, such as Jessie Owens and Jim Thorpe, came from rural areas. Boxing stars, like Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis, had rural origins. Legendary coaches hailing from rural areas include Paul Bear Bryant, John J. McGraw, Branch Rickey, and Adolph Rupp.

The linkage of sport with secondary public education was an important component of rural sport. This linkage developed at the turn of the twentieth century and was aided by two major factors. First, popular collegiate sports were diffused to high schools, first in metropolitan areas, then in rural areas. Second, the population shift from rural to urban areas accelerated during the 1900s, causing disruptions and crisis in rural communities. Local high school sports programs became a source of community identity and cohesion during this period. School sport in rural communities promoted parental, alumni and community support for the school.

Since the 1970s high school sports programs faced numerous issues involving gender equity in boys? and girls? sports programs, pay equity between men and women coaches, rising costs of equipment and travel, and increasing commercialization. The organization of high schools within each state also has been an issue as smaller rural schools were pitted against larger, urban schools in state tournaments. Most states resolved this equity issue by instituting a classification system based on school size. As late as 1996, however, Indiana high school basketball still operated under a single class system.

Little league baseball was established in 1939 with roots in rural America. Carl Stolz of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, organized the league with initial support from Floyd A. Mutchler of Lycoming Dairy Farms. Little league grew from its humble beginnings to sponsor a national tournament in 1948 (Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, defeated St. Petersburg, Florida). Stolz received corporate support for the tournament from the United States Rubber Company, which made a long-term commitment to support the organization after receiving positive publicity. Presently, Little League Baseball, Inc. has more than $11 million in total assets and consists of more than 7,000 leagues with more than 48,000 teams. Most rural communities have a Little League team. Further, there are more than 8,000 international leagues in over 40 countries that are affiliated with Little League Baseball, Inc.

Currently, corporate sport dominates athletics. However, informal sport can be found throughout the nation. Rural areas continue to produce athletes who gain national recognition and superstar status. Although the future of sport will most likely continue to be dominated by urban-based corporate sport organizations, rural sport will continue to be an important component of rural communities. From high school sports to Little League, community-based softball leagues, Pop Warner League football, tennis, swimming and other athletic activities, sport will continue to provide recreation opportunities in rural areas and serve as a source of rural community identity and pride.

? Duane A. Gill

See also

• Community, Sense of; Culture; Educational Curriculum; Gambling; Games; History, Rural; Horse Industry; Recreational Activities; Stock Car Racing

References

• Eitzen, D. Stanley and George H. Sage. Sociology of North American Sport. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown, 1993.
• Fine, Gary Alan. With the Boys: Little League Baseball and Preadolescent Culture. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
• Guttman, A. From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1978.
• Krout, John Allen. Annals of American Sport, The Pageant of America Series. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1929.
• Lucas, John A. and Ronald A. Smith. Saga of American Sport. Philadelphia, PA: Lea and Febiger, 1978.
• Radar, Benjamin G. American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990.
• Nover, Douglas A. and Lawrence E. Ziewacz. The Games They Played: Sports in American History, 1865-1980. Chicago, IL: Prentice-Hall, 1983.
• Spears, B. and R.A. Swanson. History of Sport and Physical Activity in the United States. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown, 1979.
• Twombly, Wells. 200 Years of Sport in America: A Pageant of a Nation at Play. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1976.

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