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Chapter 10 The Age of Sports Heroes

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

The 20th century’s first transformative athletic hero also proved its most controversial

• 1908 - Heavy Weight Championship

• Reining ideology of white supremacy troubled many whites

• Radiant Smile/Potent Charisma had him both likable and potentially dangerous

• Shunned for color

• Skill, charm, AND earning potential won others over

• Defeated Australia’s Tommy Burns for the 1908 title

• “Drawn the color line”, pursued after Burns all over the globe

• $30,000 – Burns (win or lose)

• $5,000 – Johnson

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

Search for a “Great White Hope” to beat the “Black Menace”

• Ex-champions, fight promoters, newspapermen

James J. Jeffries

• Out from retirement to take on the black menace and “restore athletic superiority to the white race”

• Jeffries was knocked out in the 15th round, which was an outcome that was never doubted (Reno, NV)

• Why so long of a fight for a sure thing?

Riots break out across the country, many injured, at least 8 lose their lives

“A Word to the Black Man"

“Do not swell your chest too much. Do not boast too loudly…Remember you have done nothing at all. You are just the same member of society today you were last week… You are on no higher plane, deserve no new consideration, and will get none… No man will think a bit higher of you because your complexion is the same as that of the victor in Reno”

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

Johnson fanned those flames with his behavior to opposing whites and black leaders

• In the ring, while smiling broadly, he badgered, taunted, and jeered his white opponents

• Loved the “high life” and the expensive things it offered

• Flashy Dress

• Night Clubs

• Fast Cars

• White women (Married 3, and slept with many others)

1912 – Local and state government barred video footage of Johnson-Jeffries fight

1912 - Johnson gets charged with violating the “Mann Act” of 1910

• Belle Shreiber, prostitute of Chicago fancy club

Jack Johnson: Smashing Race Stereotypes

1913 – Chicago jury found Johnson guilty, and sentences to 1 year and 1 day in prison

• Springs bail for Europe, South America, Cuba (loses fight in Cuba to Jess Willard)

1920 – Johnson returns to USA and serves prison sentence

• Served his time at Fort Leavenworth Prison (Leavenworth, Kansas)

2018 – President Trump pardons Johnson for 1913 crime https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo- way/2018/05/24/614114966/legendary-boxer-jack-johnson-gets- pardon-105-years-after-baseless-conviction

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Boxing enters its “Golden Age”

• Highest plateau of popularity (Tex Rickard)

• Prewar years, gate receipts never exceeded $300,000

• 1920’s Tex Rickard promoted 5 consecutive million-dollar gates

• Promoted new Heavy Weight Champ, Jess Willard after his victory over Jack Johnson (supposed thrown fight)

Needs a new boxing hero to replace the uncharismatic Willard..

• 6’1” Jack Dempsey to face 6’6” Willard

• Victory creates instant fame for Dempsey as the “giant killer”

• Publicity stunts to increase likability and athletic dominance

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Dempsey-Willard fight launched Rickard into the nation’s premier sports promoter with John Ringling (silent partner in the lease of MSG)

Rickard promoted a variety of attractions unequaled by any other palace of entertainment in the world

• Boxing

• Wrestling

• Circuses

• Horse Show

• Six-day bicycle races

• Rodeos

• Professional Hockey

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Dempsey appealed to the new members of “high society” and “proper” women, due to the growing popularity of prizefighting among the wealthy

Highly publicized matches made Dempsey a “rags to riches” story

• Enjoyed the life of a celebrity ($500,000 annual salary) endorsement deals

• 3 years without a fight

Rickard feared that a Dempsey loss would hurt the sport

• Decline in money at event gates

• Inspire racial incidents (similar to Johnson and Jeffries) between different races

Jack Dempsey & Tex Rickard

Rickard settled for a second-rate fighter in Gene Tunney to challenge Dempsey

• 1926 - “Battle of the Century” Which Tunney wins based on points

• Philadelphia’s Sesquicentennial Stadium (Sess-quis-centennial)

• 1927 – “Fight of the Century” Controversial win that heightened Dempsey’s fame in defeat

• Legendary “long count”

• Chicago’s Solider Field

• $2M gate

• 104,000 attendants

• 50 million Americans listen through 73 stations connected to NBC radio network

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OeeCfbahwQ

Helen Willis: “The American Girl”

Helen Willis: “The American Girl”

1922 – Helen Willis (age 16) travels from California to compete in the East Coast’s summer tournaments, including the National Women’s Singles Championship (now the U.S. Open)

• Makes it to the finals in the East Coast’s summer tournament (loses to Molla Mallory)

• Days later at another tournament, comes within points of beating Mallory

• Ends the season ranked #3 of American women tennis players

1923 – returned East to win the national title, becoming the second youngest player to do so

1927 – Wins her first Wimbledon, losing only a single set during the tournament

• “Queen Helen”

Helen Willis: “The American Girl”

In keeping with the less traditional-bound society of the American West, men and women played largely on equal terms (California)

• First time we are seeing men and women's sport of equal importance

• California women became known for their hard-hitting game and focused concentration

• Common for top California women to practice against men

• Younger girls start getting involved in the game

• Female stars to look up to

• Willis gets first racket at age 8

Helen Willis: “The American Girl” Tennis remained an amateur endeavor, different than the lucrative sporting professions of baseball, boxing, and golf

• Forbidden to make money from their talents, prizes or endorsements

• Private clubs could “sponsor” players or “reimburse” for “travel expenses”

When Willis returned with a gold medal from 1924 Paris Olympics she was given a brand-new……

• Not for her tennis skills, but the splendid publicity she brought her home state…

Pioneer the new version of athletic womanhood

• Balance of force/aggression with conventional femininity

• Contrasted the scandalous “young flapper”

• Long braided hair

• No makeup

• Conservative length skirt

Babe Ruth: Extraordinary Success

Babe Ruth: Extraordinary Success

Saw himself as a classic American success story

• Encouraged the idea that he was an orphan

• “Bad Kid” who smoked, chewed tobacco, and engaged in petty thievery

• Was sent to the St. Mary’s Industrial Home for Boys

• Spent 12 years at St. Mary’s where his fondness for the bat and ball got him signed into baseball in 1914

“The greatest thing about this country is the wonderful fact that it doesn’t matter which side of the tracks you were born on, or whether you’re homeless or homely, or friendless. The chance is still there. I know.”

Babe Ruth: Extraordinary Success

1914 – Signed a professional contract with the International League (minor league)

1914 – Boston Red Sox purchase George Herman Ruth as a left handed pitcher

• 1919 - Hit an amazing 29 home runs

1920 – Traded to NY Yankees

• 1920 – Recorded a stunning 54 homeruns

• More than any other major league roster combined

Babe Ruth: Extraordinary Success

• https://www.biography.com/video/babe-ruth-full-biography-2252336336