SARAH BERNSTEIN

A Brief History of Organized Collegiate Athletics: from inception - 1945

Where it all began…

The original physical activity on college campuses began with deans & presidents assigning manual labor “in the form of farming or clearing boulders from college lands”

However, students didn’t believe this was the activity they needed, and formed sports clubs.

This lead to the creation of the first US intercollegiate sports event at Lake Winnipesaukee, NH in 1852

Regatta sponsored by Elkins Railroad Line

Yale formed the first organized club; a boat club in 1843. Harvard followed suit with their own boat club in 1844. (influence came from British sporting practices)

Other sports emerged:

British colonialist influence shaped collegiate sports: mainly team games as class competitions student organized, governed and controlled Rich, privileged men (the only people who

could attend college)After 1852 regatta, a New York

newspaper predicted that intercollegiate sports would "make little stir in a busy world.”

First collegiate baseball game = Amherst vs. Williams (1859)

First collegiate football game = Princeton vs. Rutgers (1869)

CU baseball, then and now

Sports Scholarships

Colleges began recruiting athletes as early as 1880, when collegiate football became more commercialized and profitable

Early compensation included assistance with employment, gifts, free room and board, reduced price of tuition and led to incentive to increase athletic performance.

Initially, recruiting was a way to attract intelligent students, but it progressed to attract better athletes (although not legalized until 1952)

Men's collegiate sports continued to expand on college campuses until its influence threatened to create an anti-intellectual climate in colleges around the country. (BA = bachelor of arts… or bachelor of athletics?)

“Problems associated with athletics plagued college administrators, such as students missing class for games, students enrolling in only one class and being eligible to compete, and charges of cheating and professionalism that sullied colleges' reputations”

Dumb jock stereotype

The need for regulation

At the 1852 regatta, Harvard, determined to beat rival, Yale, used a coxswain who was not a Harvard student concerns about cheating and commercialization of sport

President of MIT, Walker stated:“recognizing the difficulty of overseeing intercollegiate athletics at the institutional level, whether through the faculty or the student governance, conferences were being created both to facilitate the playing of a schedule of games and to provide a modicum of regulation at a broader level.”

Concerns increased as there were 18 deaths and over a hundred serious injuries in intercollegiate football in 1905. President Roosevelt called for a conference to review collegiate football rules.

Football game 1905

Political cartoon of 1905 football

Creation of the NCAA• The combined

efforts of educators and White House officials, brought together by Roosevelt, led to great reform and the establishment of the Intercollegiate Athletics Association (IAA) – renamed the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) in 1910.

Effects of growing interest in US Collegiate Sports

By the 1920s, collegiate sports were considered an integral part of higher education

Public interest in sports increased, which led to an increase in: Student journalism Media attention [cultural] Increased

commercialization Funding from alums and

creation of spectator events [economic motivation]

After WWII; dramatic increase in access to higher education, largely through government support for returning military personnel to attend college, public interest expanded even more + advent of TV, radios in most homes, and broadcast of major sporting events

Women’s sports

1865 - Matthew Vassar opens Vassar College with a special School of Physical Training with classes in riding, gardening, swimming, boating, skating and "other physical accomplishments suitable for ladies to acquire ... bodily strength and grace.”

1866 – Vassar created 2 women’s baseball teams 1892 – Women’s basketball team created at Smith

College “Despite opposition, collegiate sports for women

grew in the 1920s and 1930s, and other sports become as controversial as basketball. Track and field and softball were considered by society as too masculine for women who cared about their reputations. However, it was these three sports, basketball, softball, and track and field-that were adopted most often by working-class girls and women, who made up most of the commercially sponsored leagues across the country in the 1940s and 1950s.”

Did not receive much support until the passing of Title IX in 1972

Smith Women’s Basketball 1895

Lasting Impact

Intercollegiate athletics exist in many other countries, but nowhere is the institution so celebrated and prolific as in the US cultural and economic success continue to build donations to and recognition of specific schools

Importance is increased when placed on a scale recognizing the number of universities, males, females, coaches, referees, etc. included in the scope of collegiate athletics

Role in Rosandich hierarchy of sport organizations: (helps funnel out competitors before professional level)

Continues to build enthusiasm between students and the University

Rosandich hierarchy of sport organization/performance pyramid for US

Fun Fact!

Every year, the United States Military Academy (Army) Black Knights competes against the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins for the Annual West Point Weekend ice hockey game. Dating back to 1923, this series is recognized as the longest running uninterrupted annual international intercollegiate sporting event in the world. (It was suggested by Douglas MacArthur)

INTERNATIONAL BEGINNINGS

• First World University Games was 1923

• Early evidence in Germany’s Gymnasia

• Switzerland, England and US were three preeminent countries for intercollegiate athletics

• Oxford – Cambridge boat race (1829)

• Australia:

• Rugby (1863)• Cricket (1854)

• China and Japan – established University sports by 1930s

Bibliography

https://edblogs.columbia.edu/histx3570-001-2014-1/lectures/13-students-in-the-emergent-university/

http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1393&context=sportslaw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_athletics_in_the_United_States

http://sportsscholarship.com/about/history-of-sports-scholarships/

http://www.hhp.txstate.edu/hper/faculty/pankey/1310/ch17Bread.htm

http://www.fisu.net/en/FISU-history-3171.html