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Basketball players resting on court

Game Changer

On the mismatched sporting advice of Clair Bee and John R. Tunis.
by Dan McQuade via Lapham’s Quarterly on July 10, 2023
Ralph Samuelson water skiing

The Man Who Invented Water Skiing

One hundred years ago, Ralph Samuelson successfully skied across the waters of Lake Pepin.
by Sarah Kuta via Smithsonian on July 1, 2022

Making Philly a Blue-Collar City

Sports, politics, and civic identity in modern Philadelphia.
by Timothy Lombardo via Sport in American History on September 6, 2018

Agency, Order and Sport in the Age of Trump

Jim Thorpe, Jack Johnson, and the sporting middle ground.
by Andrew McGregor via Public Seminar on July 18, 2018

This Seamstress Conquered Bike Racing in the 1890s

Cyclist Tillie Anderson shattered records, dominated her competition, and earned the world champion title.
by Kate Siber via Outside on May 31, 2018

Rat Race

Why are young professionals crazy for marathons?
by Dylan Gottlieb via Public Seminar on February 15, 2018

The Forgotten Origins of Politics in Sports

Black athletes didn’t “politicize” American sports. They’ve been a battleground from the very beginning.
by Kenneth Cohen via Slate on January 2, 2018

How Superstition and the Opera Gave Birth to Mascots

The dark origins of the first mascots.
by Michael Imhoff via SB Nation on December 11, 2017

How the National Anthem Got Tangled Up With American Sports

Like most relationships, it’s complicated.
by Tevi Troy via Politico Magazine on September 26, 2017

The Manly Sport of American Politics

19th-century Americans abandoned the English phrasing of "standing" for election and begin to describe candidates who "run" for office. The race was on.
by Kenneth Cohen via Commonplace on April 1, 2012

"College Sports: A History"

A new book considers the challenges of controlling the commercialization of college sports.
by Glenn C. Altschuler, David Wippman via Inside Higher Ed on November 26, 2024
The Earth drawn as a baseball flying through space.

Climate Change Comes for Baseball

The summer sport is facing big questions about how it will adapt.
by Ellen Cushing via The Atlantic on November 2, 2024
Drawing of a competetitve pedestrian walking in the late 1800s with spectators watching.

America’s Earliest Sports Stars Were … Professional Walkers?

Walking needs no publicist. The simplest, most accessible form of exercise has been around since humans first foraged and traveled on the ground.
by Jackie Mansky via Zócalo Public Square on October 18, 2024
Nine synchronized swimmers underwater in a pool.
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Why No Men Will Compete in Synchronized Swimming in Paris

For the first time, men are permitted to compete in artistic swimming at the 2024 Olympics. But none will.
by Vicki Valosik via Made By History on August 5, 2024
A photograph of TJ Hicks running in the 1904 Olympics with his two coaches holding him upright.

How the 1904 Marathon Became One of the Weirdest Olympic Events of All Time

Athletes drank poison, dodged traffic, stole peaches and even hitchhiked during the 24.85-mile race in St. Louis.
by Ellen Wexler, Karen Abbott via Smithsonian on June 27, 2024
Man in a swimming pool, with other swimmers behind him.

Just When You Thought It Wasn’t Safe…

How Wilbert Longfellow turned America into a nation of swimmers.
by Vicki Valosik via The American Scholar on June 24, 2024
Zdeněk Koubek running.

Human Velocity

“The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports” upends long-held assumptions about trans people’s participation in sports.
by Michael Waters, Frankie de la Cretaz via The Baffler on June 7, 2024
Zdeněk Koubek.

A Forgotten Athlete, a Nazi Official, and the Origins of Sex Testing at the Olympics

In 1936, the Czech track star Zdeněk Koubek became world-famous after undergoing surgery so that he could live openly as a man.
by Michael Waters via The New Yorker on June 1, 2024
Pete Rose on a baseball diamond, head bowed.

For Pete’s Sake

A new book traces "the rise and fall of Pete Rose, and the last glory days of baseball."
by Christopher Caldwell via The Washington Free Beacon on May 12, 2024
Ansel Williamson, the trainer whose horse won the first Kentucky Derby, is depicted on the right in the 1864 painting “Ansel Williamson, Edward Brown, and the Undefeated Asteroid,” by Edward Troye.

They Were Born into Slavery. Then They Won the First Kentucky Derby.

As the 150th Kentucky Derby kicks off, the achievements of jockey Oliver Lewis and trainer Ansel Williamson at the first Derby have been largely forgotten.
by Dave Kindy via Retropolis on May 4, 2024
The Civic Arena that hosted basketball teams from 1961-1972.

Pittsburgh Was Briefly a Basketball Town. Could It Happen Again?

Connie Hawkins overcame scandal and setbacks to star for the Pittsburgh Pipers, leading them to an ABA title, paving the way for NBA reforms.
by Jonathan Burdick via Pittsburgh City Paper on April 1, 2024
The San Francisco 49ers running onto a football field led by their mascot, a gold prospector.

Who Were the Real 49ers?

San Francisco 49ers fans may feel like their team name is less racist than the “Chiefs,” but given the history of the Gold Rush, they shouldn’t be so smug.
by Simon Moya-Smith via The Nation on February 9, 2024
Baltimore Colts' Jim O'Brien making a game-winning field goal kick in Super Bowl V in Miami, 1971.
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The Man Who Changed Field Goals Forever

A Hungarian immigrant first brought the soccer style field kick to the NFL.
by Russ Crawford via Made By History on February 8, 2024
Virginia Kraft holding a hunting rifle, sitting on a dead elephant.

Sports Illustrated's Forgotten Pioneer

In the Mad Men era of magazine journalism, Virginia Kraft was a globe-trotting writer and a deadly shot with a rifle. Why hasn't anyone heard of her?
by Emily Sohn via Long Lead on January 14, 2024
Football player on the ground, grabbing his head in pain.
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‘Another Player Down’

How concern about injuries is changing sports.
via Retro Report on November 20, 2023
The Tri-City ValleyCats played in the Baseball Hall of Fame’s showcase game during induction weekend in 2004.

The Supreme Court May Overturn the Error That Made Major League Baseball Rich

A pair of minor league clubs are asking the court to reverse the league’s lucrative 101-year-old antitrust exemption.
by Matt Ford via The New Republic on September 21, 2023
The New York Renaissance basketball team.

The Harlem Hoopsters of the Renaissance

The New York Renaissance, also known as the Harlem Renaissance, was the first Black-owned, all-black, fully-professional basketball team established in 1923.
by Frank Drouzas via The Weekly Challenger on June 26, 2023
Painting of a girl with a basketball looking out a window.

Lady Vols Country

How college basketball coach Pat Summitt transformed women's sports.
by Jessica Wilkerson via Oxford American on June 6, 2023
A pole vaulter pointing the end of the pole at the camera.

Pole Vaulting Over the Iron Curtain

When it became clear that the United States and its allies couldn’t “liberate” Eastern Europe through psychological war and covert ops, they turned to sports.
by Matthew Wills, Toby Rider, Kevin Witherspoon via JSTOR Daily on May 12, 2023
January 6, 1947 Harlem Globetrotters ad.

The Harlem Globetrotters and the Social Significance of Sports

The Globetrotters have always been far more than just a comic exhibition team, just as sports have always meant much more than escapism.
by Ben Railton via The Saturday Evening Post on March 15, 2023
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