Running head: JOURNAL 3 1
Journal 3
Jason Yoder
SMGT 201: History of
Sport Professor Miekley
May 27, 2020
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Abstract
In the early and mid-1900’s, the era of college athletics, especially football was being
attacked to show that they were focusing way too much on winning and money, as opposed to
ethics and academics of the universities. The report of 1920 and the scandal of 1951 forced the
NCAA and universities to pay more attention to the moral side and do things a bit more ethically
while being watched very closely the whole time. Tex Rickard made boxing the sport it has
become today and also turned sports promoting into a viable career. The MLB created three
innovations in sports that grew there popularity and ultimately grew their fan base for the long
run.
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Journal 3
The Carnegie Commission Report of 1920 was a study that revealed that the college
football environment was controlled solely by the organization’s need to win the games and their
need for more and more money, completely lacking any form of ethics involved in the sport. The
studies found that players were being required to put too much time into the sport and had little
time for academics. The report brought to light many of the dealings that were happening on the
side and somewhat trying to be hidden. Things like academic scholarships, which were labeled
as something totally different as to hide its true identity. According to Davies (2017), “students
were provided funding that covered their expenses from programs nebulously labeled as “student
leadership” or “campus activities.”” (p.177). This report ended up being shoved off somewhat
but still embarrassed the athletic programs, and yet footballs popularity of the college sports,
especially football, continued to rise. As for the 1951 gambling scandal, thirty-two college
athletes had been caught in a point shaving operation to control the way the games played out,
and accepted money for it all as well. Multiple players were indicted and arrested in light of the
incident, and college sports was starting to take a hit. Both of these incidents brought to light the
lack of ethics and complete focus on doing whatever it takes to either win or make a lot of
money. College sports came into intense scrutiny and some called for the abolition of athletics
and some college campuses, mainly Westpoint, the military school. Both of these incidents have
caused schools to be kept under watchful eye, but still attempt to win as many games as possible.
For example the NCAA has since created new rules and regulations for every school to have to
check in on students to prevent these scandals from being allowed. Every university is now
required to have compliance agents to watch and monitor the student athletes and report back to
make sure there is no illegal dealing of money of some sort. From these new rules and
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regulations spurring out of incidents like the 1951 scandal, new issues have been brought to light
because the schools were paying closer attention, issues like professional sports agents bribing
athletes in college to let them be there agent when they make it to the pros. This reminds me of
the verse in 1 Peter 5:8 which tells us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil
prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” This relates to the people and
athletes that have to be smart, that they need to watch their actions as to not get into trouble.
Before Tex Rickard, boxing was just, “used by the Army to help prepare soldiers for
combat in the Great War.” (Davies, 2017, p.148). After his appearance in the sport, the sport was
led into a new era where it became a legitimate and legal sport in numerous states across the
country. This one man basically turned boxing into the sport it is today, where the high powered
and well known men could be seen coming to a fight with their woman and enjoying the event.
Rickard’s promotion skills of the sport were unmatched. His big break was the promotion of
Jack Dempsey who beat the massive Jess Willard who was six inches taller and 58 pounds
heavier than Dempsey. Rickard then became a promoter for Madison Square Garden under the
title of president of the arena, where he promoted boxing and a multitude of other sports. Rickard
had a massive impact on boxing during his time on Earth, and created the popular promotion of
the fights and sports making everyone a lot of money. He promoted five one million dollar fights
in his time, and after his passing, according to Davies (2017), “There would be only four
million- dollar fights in the next 30 years.” (p.150). Rickards impact has left a wave of jobs, and
a possible career for many people with sports promoters today being able to make six-figure
salaries on average. This reminds me of the story of David and Goliath of course, in 1 Samuel
17:49 we are told, “David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the
Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the
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ground.” In both cases the smaller, less likely man was promoted by someone else, saying they
could win and they did. Then both became more popular because of it.
The attendance of Major League Baseball dropped pretty hard in 1933 towards the end of
the depression losing around 41% of its attendance. The MLB decided to come out with some
new innovations to rise their popularity back to where it was at one point. First off, they decided
to play an All-Star Game. This game was so popular it turned out a 49,000 fan attendance and
they determined it would be a regular thing every season thereafter allowing a three day All-Star
break for the game and festivities to occur. The All-Star game still turns out about 45,000 fans to
this day in attendance. The next thing that the MLB did was signed contracts for the games to be
broadcast over the radio. These contracts brought in a lot of extra money for the organizations.
Next the MLB discussed lighting their fields in order to play night games, which in their test runs
made a huge impact on their attendance. The Red’s games “averaged 18,700 fans for their seven
night games, as compared to 4,300 for day games.” (Davies, 2017, p.153). All in all ,these
innovations led to a large jump in attendance and fans for the game, and are all still very
popularly used to this very day to keep fans engaged in the sport. The MLB to this day, plays
above 160 night games which are largely attended and watched all over the nation. In Proverbs
13:20 we are told, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will
suffer harm.” These men who were wise in the organization and had these ideas made the teams
and the organization better off as a whole.
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References
Davies, R. O. (2017). Sports in American life: a history. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley
Blackwell.
