My Body, My Talent, My Future

Jesse Denenberg

ID # 112947569

KNES 293

Dr. Friedman

It Is My Body, My Talent, My Future

I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination or assignment

Sports are the ultimate metaphor.  Masculinity, single mindedness, training, attacking, teamwork, and running for the goal line are all terms that are applied to many aspects of our daily lives – from the business world to personal success. But it is more than just a metaphor – one can clearly see that the growth and changes in how Americans view and played sports closely paralleled much of the growth and changes in American Society as a whole, particularly in the 19th and 20th Centuries.  You can really ‘know and understand the heart and mind of America in the way that French philosopher Jacque Barzun talks about by looking at the history of amateurism in sports and, in particular, the growth of football in America. Amateurism’ main purpose, as participants, was to maintain a clear separation of the classes when it came to participating in sports. This was a holdover from the life of a leisured Englishman. As explained by S.W. Pope, initially in the 1870s the amateurism’s goal was to restore the lost innocence of sports before they became big business and big money. In truth, it was also a way of separating classes and sorting out the privileged classes from those they considered the ‘riffraff’. This is very apparent in the origins and growth of football – from the early days on college campuses for the privileged to the beginnings of the NCAA and the start of the National Football League. The history of football exemplifies and mirrors how class relations and economic exploitation for the gain of capitalism is a contemporary aspect in American society.

The development of modern football was closely tied to the process of industrialization and urbanization in America.  It is a game that takes not only grit, brawn, and hard work, but also brains and strategy.  Teddy Roosevlet made the analogy that football was very similar to the expansion westward of America and The Manifest Destiny. The history of amateurism in all sports, particularly through the development and growth of football and, ultimately, the NFL, is a reflection of the economic misuse and class relations in American Society. As America started to experience the urban revolution and economic growth, this became a distinct factor in shaping sports in American society.  The concept of amateurism was the preferred way to portray athletes in the 19th Century.  The difference between a professional and an amateur at that time was “mainly a line between the unpaid member of a privileged class and the paid members of an underprivileged class.” (Philosopher Paul Weiss  pg. 296) It was not just about the skill level of the athletes, but also about it not being socially acceptable to be paid to play.  From the ideal of amateurism, sports have been a way to express dominance over one another, but ultimately class and economic relations have steered sport away from this concept. Amateurism as a concept was developed by the upper class as a way to place themselves on a pedestal above other social and economic classes.  The upper class created higher-level facilities like country clubs to push out professionals and to maintain the ideal of amateurism in football. (Class 11/6)  All of this took place with the backdrop of industrialization and urbanization, combined with an increased immigrant population.

Historically, in the majority of sports that feature professional players, the professionals performed at a higher standard of play than amateur competitors. However, the majority of worldwide sporting participants were amateurs, and the upper and middle class found it distasteful that professionals were taking over their sporting events. The professionals would get paid for their time training while the upper and middle class had to work 40 hours a week and could only play on weekends. (MacCambridge Michael) As athletic clubs formed, managers were trying to convince top players to play full time.  Protagonists of the amateur ideal criticized the influence of money and the effect it had on sports. It changed the game. The middle and upper class men who participated in these sporting establishments not only had a theoretical preference for amateurism, but they also had a self-interest in blocking the professionalization of sports, which threatened to make it feasible for the working classes to compete against themselves with success and the gratitude of having a “fun” game.

In the late 19th Century, America had already instituted leagues that stressed amateurism, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). They sponsored competition that allowed them to ban professionalism from their competitions, at the same time, let them push a hidden agenda of excluding certain classes and races. Many felt “the only way to keep…sport pure from the elements of corruption” (Pope, 1996) was to insure that the amateur held to the belief and the idea to not get paid for playing sports and make financial improvements. Players like Jim Thorpe, who had accepted money for playing, were expelled from the baseball league, stripped of medals, and expunged from the record books. (Class 10/28) Others accepted expensive trophies or jewelry as tokens of their triumph, but would knowingly pawn them later for cash. Unlike modern day sports, officials pursued investigating and exposing ‘professionals’ more forcefully than they pursued drug cheats. Yet many other players, as today, got away with accepting money and gifts for their participation in the spectacle of the sport.

        Football was originally a game played by universities, and historically, the first game was between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869. (Moshe Stephen) It was a game played both by elite college students and the lower classes. The development of football resulted in numerous injuries and deaths that caused regulations and rule changes to be put in place by Theodore Roosevelt. Some college football teams were known for hiring players who were non-students to compete for their teams. As a trade-off for a student’s athletic talent, athletes received scholarships from colleges for their skills. Amateurism was kept alive because of the competitiveness in elite institutions and American citizens preferring college sports and having close ties as alumni. (Moshe Stephen)  From 1890 to 1900, Harvard, Yale, Penn and Princeton won all 11 national championship titles. The strong regional ties kept this college sport alive. These institutions, which are widely known today, hosted some of the most famous athletes in the history of America that played only to represent their school.