Sport Hero Articles

Don Morrow. "The Myth of the Hero in Canadian Sport

History." CJHS XXIII, No. 2 (December 1992): 72-83.

Who is Your Hero?

• We create heroes and project heroic qualities onto athletes

• “We feel that because a person can run fast, jump high, dunk a ball or hit one out in to the parking lot that person is someone to be admired and emulated and even listened to, despite the fact that none of his skills have much value away from the playing venue. . .” (Rick Telander, Sports Illustrated)

Myths and Sport• The Myth

– A narrative with supernatural people, actions, or events showing some idea of a popular happening

• Sports - not life like– Certainty, precise endings, rules, penalties,

judges, losers and winners– Everyday life is vague and mundane

• The mythical hero and the athletic hero journey into fabulous forces– A hero separates from the real world and

journeys into some sort of power

Stage One

• The mythological hero goes inward to a form of “self annihilation” - released from ego

• They are selfless looking out for the good of others they are meant to protect and look after

• The athlete-Hero goes outward into the spotlight and gets an ego of grandeur, performance enhancement, trophies and self gratification

Stage Two

• The mythological hero’s journey is an initiation with trials to endure

• To win is life itself, a “mystical marriage”

• The athlete-Hero must be a winner in an impressive, even record setting performance

• Embraces a trophy as if it is a life enhancing grail

Stage Three

• The return• The mythological hero’s

return to home means a renewing or freeing of the community - they personally don’t benefit

• The athlete returns to their home town and is given gifts, keys to their cities

Why Heroes• Fall short of being truly Heroic • Heroes are extensions of people themselves -

we need someone to look up to and associate ourselves with

• If we like basketball we will most likely pick a ball player that may play the same position as us or a is player on our favorite team

• As children we have fairytale heroes and as adults our vision is moved to an athletic hero

Five Canadian Heroes

• Edward Hanlan - single sculls oarsman– Escaped from

police in a rowing skiff - he was a rum running criminal

• Louis Cyr - weightlifter– Used the biblical

image of Sampson to create his image of strength

• Tom Longboat - long distance runner

• Percy Williams - sprinter– He was created

by his coach through unorthodox training methods

• Barbara Ann Scott - figure skater– Gave up youth to

enter sport and became Canada’s Sweetheart

“The Babe Ruth Museum and Birthplace.” JSH. 2, 1997, 203-

206

Babe Ruth Museum & Birthplace

• 216 Emory Street, Baltimore is both Ruth’s house and the museum.

• Babe was raised in this museum and learned baseball in Baltimore

• Babe started as a poor schoolboy pitcher• Emroy street was traditionally the German

section of town.• The museum contains all kinds of pictures

and historical facts of the “Sultan of Swat”.

Baltimore• Baltimore is a true baseball town and has

had the Oriole team since 1872.

• Americans need places like Baltimore’s Camden Yards ballpark and the Babe Ruth museum.

• For Baltimore baseball is tradition and is in their roots.

• Babe Ruth is very important to the town and the sport which is more important than any other American sport.

Leverett Smith. “The Babe in 74.” JSH. 6, 2 (Summer, 1979),

70-81.

The Babe in 74

• There is great attention given to this professional baseball player, (seven books in three years).

• Babe was the man of appetite and the authors study the mechanics and the mystery of becoming and staying a celebrity.

• Babe Ruth never had a regular boyhood, and everything about him reflected sexuality.

• The aggressive skills, fast ball pitching, home run hitting, loud, insatiable appetite and the speed he drove

Quotes Adding to Legend

• “He was more than an animal he was a god”• “Ruth liked baseball better than beer, night life,

and overeating. Perhaps he is most memorable because so much of his sexual energy went into playing baseball”

• “He was the King, the Big Bambino, the Behemoth of Bust, the Mammoth of Maul, the Sultan of Swat”

• “Ruth showed a special quality that exited the public and brought them back to the park”

• “The game changed more between 1917 and 1921 then it did in the next forty years”

Ruth Changing Baseball

• Baseball was neater and tidier before the First World War.

• Ruth’s specialty, the home run was not regarded as an important offensive weapon but a defensive mistake.

• Ruth changed peoples mind’s about batting

• He made the fans much more conscious of the war between pitcher and batter.

Conclusion• Ruth, over his career, hit one in every

twelve official at bats.

• He brought out a more revolutionary style of batting. He swung from the heels

• The fact that he was a pitcher at the beginning of his career helped him develop his style.

• Many writers see it very important to define his professional achievement and find out really who the Babe is.

Mike Capuzzo. "A Prisoner of Memory." Sports Illustrated. (December 7, 1993): 80-90.

Stats• Born: 1934, Mobile, Alabama• Started in the Negro leagues playing Baseball• Moved up to play for Jacksonville, the farm team for

Milwaukee Braves, when he was 19. He took Jacksonville to a pennant, and took home the MVP trophy.

• Played for Milwaukee Braves. • Became the Major Leagues’ all time home run, RBI, extra-

base hit and total-bases leader.– 755 homeruns– 2297 RBI’s– 6856 total bases--a full 722 ahead of the next guy, Stan

Musial– 2 batting titles– 4 RBI crowns– 24 all-star game performances Total bases - 6856 – 3771 hits a shade behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb

• http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/baseballs_best/mlb_bb_gamepage.jsp?story_page=bb_74reg_040874_ladatl

Home Run King Uncelebrated

• Although Aaron has accomplished a lot in baseball he is not recognized as a baseball great. Babe Ruth’s myth is so great that he has entered the “American vernacular (Ruthian: larger than life)”. But Hank Aaron, who accomplished a great deal more than the ‘babe’, had a hard time even making it into the Hall of Fame.

• Because he was black he suffered much discrimination. As he was getting better he felt it more, not less, and the discrimination and hate climaxed during the summer of the Chase, the summer of ‘73.

His Home Team?• He wasn’t allowed to stay with the other

players on his team. He remembers staying in a room over a garage in the coloured part of town, even though he was the two-time batting champ.

• He wasn’t allowed to eat with the rest of the team either.

• His own team mates often said racial comments against him

• The fans in Atlanta would not support him. As he approached Babe Ruth’s record of most home runs the attendance was only 1,362 fans.

“The Chase”• During the ‘73 season, when Aaron was 39

years old, he was nearing Babe Ruth’s homerun record of 714. This was called the chase.

• He received lots of mail during this period. It was not fan mail, but hate mail. He received about 3000 letters a day. They were filled with hate. He got a plaque from the U.S. Postal Service for receiving more mail than anyone else in the U.S. except politicians-930,000 pieces. Death threats were bagged and sent to the FBI.

Fan Mail?

• Dear Hank, you are a very good ball player but if you come close to Babe Ruth’s 714 homers I have a contract out on you...If by the all star game you have come within 20 homers of Babe you will be shot on sight by one of my assassins on July 24, 1973.”

• “Dear Hank Aaron, I got orders to do a job on you if and when you get 10 from B. Ruth record. A guy in Atlanta and a few in Miami Fla don’t seem to care if they have to take care of your family too.”

• “Hey Nigger boy, we at the KKK Staten Island Division want you to know that no number of guards can keep you dirty son of a bitch nigger -alive.”

714• He finished the season with 713 home runs, one short of

Ruth• During the 6 month period until the ‘74 season he received

lots more death threats and hate mail.• In his first at bat of the ‘74 season, Aaron hit No. 714,

tying the Babe, “and his eyes welled up as he rounded third base”.

• The FBI was investigating threats that if Aaron hit No.715, he would not cross home plate alive

• On April 8, 1974, with the biggest crowd in Brave history - 53,775, and with Aaron’s dad making the first pitch, Aaron stepped up to the plate facing Al Downing. The Braves were down 3-1 with Darrell Evans on first, in the 4th inning. He swung at a Downing slider and baseball had a new Home Run King. There was chaos on the field.

• Fearing his son was going to get shot, his mom grabbed him as he rounded third, and held him tight.

A prisoner of memory

• “ “It should have been the happiest time of my life, the best year,” he says of 1973. “But it was the worst year. It was hell. So many bad things happened...Things I’m still trying to get over, and maybe never will. Things I know I’ll never forget. I don’t want to forget.” “

• Aaron doesn’t feel comfortable hardly anywhere now, except for his home, which is securely guarded. He never knows when someone might try to drug him or poison him, never wants to go out, wary of where he sits in a restaurant. “Just old habits from the Chase that he repeats.”

• He just wants to forget about number 714 and 715.• Aaron says he would settle for being remembered as

hard-working, humble, shy - and as the owner of so many of the game’s significant hitting records.

A Prisoner of Memory With Hope

• He says that God must have chosen him to break the record for a reason - not just to clear fences but to hammer down walls. He promised to use the record “like a Louisville Slugger”.

• He receives a few letters that warm his heart. • “Dear Hank Aaron: Thanks for all the great years you

had with the Braves. You were my dad’s favorite player.”

• Dear Hank Aaron: I play little league, and you are my most favorite baseball player.”

• He is surrounded and warmed by friends and a large adoring family.

• But what he went through in his baseball carreer has scarred him for life and he will never forget it.

William Wiggins. “Boxing’s Sambo Twins: Racial stereotypes in Jack

Johnson and Joe Louis newspaper cartoons, 1908-1938.” JSH. 15, 3

(Winter, 1988), 242-255.

Two Boxers

• Jack Johnson-Heavy Weight Champion from 1908-1915

• Joe Louis-Heavy Weight Champion from 1937-1949.

• “The Sambo stereotype appears in varying degrees in the newspaper cartoon depictions of these two black heavy weight champions.

Cartoon Carictures

• 1. Savage, ape-like figures

• 2. Facial Features

• 3. Dark-skinned Complexion

• 4. Dialect

Portrayed as

• Jack Johnson as a watermelon eater and a Dandy.

• Joe Louis as a chicken stealer, crap shooter and being lazy.

Changes in the Thirties

• “It can be noted that newspaper cartoonists began to portray the second black heavyweight boxing champion in more humane ways than they ever applied to the first black title holder.”

• “Cartoons present Louis as the handsome young Afro-American man that he was and not the ugly Sambo racial stereotype that some white Americans perceived him to be.”

Big Fight in 1938

• Joe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling (champion of Nazi Germany) and becomes a true American Hero.

• “From that point on, Joe Louis was presented less as Sambo, the racial clown and more as the brown Bomber, a true American Champion.”

Donald Capeci and Martha Wilkerson. “Multifarious Hero, Joe Louis, American society and race relations during world crises, 1935-1945.” JSH. 10, 3 (Winter,

1983), 5-26.

Synopsis

• Born May 13, 1914 in Lafayette, Alabama

• Held the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship longer than any other man in history

• Retired in March of 1949 and later failed in 2 separate comeback attempts

• Died April 12, 1981 in Las Vegas

Childhood

• His parents were share croppers (cotton pickers) until the family moved to Detroit in 1926

• In the city he got involved in street gangs and fighting - when he was introduced to boxing in 1932, he fell in love with it

• He became professional by his 20th birthday

Hope for Blacks

• His Mother– She pushed him to be somebody, to “trust in

God, work hard and hope for the best”• His Managers - Roxborough & Black

– They instructed him in clean living (at least in the public’s eye) and sportsmanlike conduct

• His Trainer - Jack Blackburn– Acted as a father figure to Louis

• His Wife - Marva Trotter– Whom he married in 1935

Weigh in

• http://www.videojug.com/film/world-of-sports-louis-and-schmeling-22nd-june-1938

Rise to Fame

• He became a hero almost over night• He had 35 wins, 29 knock-outs and only one loss to Max

Schmeling in 1936 before he was champion• His success in boxing had a tremendous impact on black

respectability during the war era and it inspired all those oppressed by racial intolerances

• He hardly made it through grade 6 but showed the world how ambition and drive make the person

• He remained humble and was widely accepted in celebrity circles in Hollywood

Race Relations

• Media tried to criticize and stereotype him; celebrities and politicians sought him out to gain popularity; white liberals embraced him because he brought out economic reforms in society

• He realized how much his success meant to his race when he lost an easy match to Schmeling (a white German); in the rematch, even President Roosevelt confronted Joe with “we’re depending on those muscles for America” – In this American Democracy vs. Aryan Supremacy match, Louis

won easily and was applauded not only by blacks everywhere but all Americans and Allies worldwide were encouraged by his victory

– This event united the races together against one common enemy

War Years

• In 1941, as war intensified, the black communities not only faced racism in their own land but also with the Axis; however, whites compromised on important armed force issues allowing black people to enlist with pretty much equal status and fight for the cause

• It became obvious that Louis could be a “morale builder” for blacks and an “instigator” for whites if he enlisted in the army

• After another fight in which all proceeds were donated to the Navy Relief Society, he gained worldwide respect in passing the army physical with flying colours– Those who saw him as only a sports hero soon

changed their minds

• His assistance in supporting the war never went unnoticed - he was treated with favoritism rising to corporal status quickly; he was used to promote the sale of defense bonds and he appeared in propaganda films

• He was sent to various military camps across the US to box for soldiers and visit hospitals

• From there, he traveled across European Allied countries boosting moral there

• He was discharged from the army in October of 1945 and resumed civilian life

Conclusion

• He wasn’t as persistent about racial justice until his marriage ended and he lost his managers leaving him to make decisions himself

• He reflected both cultures and appealed to both because he identified with blacks personally and with all people respectively

• He was a unique hero because he revealed himself “warts and all”

• “Usually the champion rides on the shoulder of the nation and its people, but in this case, the nation rode on the shoulders of its hero."

...Rev. Jesse Jackson eulogizing Louis

Bruce Kidd. “The making of a hockey artifact: a review of the

Hockey Hall of Fame.” JSH. 1996, 3, 328-335.

Purpose of Halls of Fame

• Hall of Fames play a strategic role in the public remembering and interpretations of sport

• They confer status upon athletes, patrons, and participants

• They single out values for praise or blame, legitimation or derision

• They preserve the memory of athletes and practices of an earlier time

• They are important sources of reference and research

Creation of Hockey Hall of Fame

• Founder- J.T Sutherland– His dream was to build it in Kingston, Ontario

because he believed that that was where the game was first played

– He began ‘inducting’ members in 1945– He died in 1955 without any actual

construction taken place

• Conn Smythe took over and made it a physical reality in the late 1950's

• The First Hockey Hall of fame opened in 1961 in one half of a Toronto building

• It is now located in Toronto’s downtown core on Young Street

• It was rebuilt and relocated on the occasion of it’s 50th anniversary

• The Stanley Cup is displayed in the vault of the Hall

Contents of Hall

• It contains many exhibits, cabinets displaying rules, equipment, cut outs of early players, press clippings, trophies, and tons of memorabilia

• There is sections on the great stars, arenas, goalie mask design, amateur and international hockey, and women’s world championships

• Many interactive exhibits with games and video’s. Even a simulation Montreal locker room, a training/fitness session, broadcasting booths, and speed and accuracy tests.

• It contains shops, and coffee bars as a part of the mall below and an extensive gift shop which is the only way that visitors can exit from the building

• “Although visually attractive and rich in detail, the exhibits neglect to address the recent themes in hockey and debates in sport historiography”

• “Kidd goes on to say that the Hall is informational rather than analytical”

What was Left Out

• Few players from outside the NHL were included• The greatest players from the postwar era had to go to

court to win the pensions that they had been promised• Marguerite Norris- whose team won 3 Stanley Cups

while she presided over the Detroit Red Wings in the 1950's received nothing while her less successful brothers are ‘exalted members’

• There was no reference of the continentalist dynamics (referring to the USA) that enabled the Florida Panthers and the Colorado Avalanche to make it to the Stanley Cup finals very shortly after leaving there old homes in Quebec and Winnipeg.

• Hardly any reference to the post war era especially about players from before World War 2

Conclusion

• Basically in part, Bruce Kidd believes that a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame should be more analytical than it is. He thinks that it is more informational than analytical. He wants visitors to go into the Hall and not get distracted by all the visually attractive sights but dig deep into the history of Hockey because in the Hall we’re given not only history without structure and power, but history without passion. He concludes from the Hall that it is a dissapointing example of effective “public history”. And although it is a great spot to vacation for a fun afternoon, the exhibits neglect to address the recent themes and debates in sport historiography.