While baseball may have long been considered an all-American sport in which a melting pot could celebrate ethnic heroes like Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, Connie Mack, and Stan Musial, racial segregation excluded blacks from an otherwise democratic picture. Such was certainly the case in Texas, where, in the state s first professional matchup soon after the Civil War, the R. E. Lees faced the Stonewalls and African Americans, not surprisingly, played no part. Drawing upon oral histories and mining such rare sources as rosters and box scores from black newspapers, Rob Fink situates...

At the outset of summer break in 1959, Texas Tech senior Jerry Craft had no more enticing options than to stay home and help on the family ranch so the telephoned offer to play for a semipro baseball club he d never heard of came as a welcome surprise. But Craft was in for an even bigger surprise when he reported for tryout and discovered he d been recruited for the West Texas Colored League. Wichita Falls/Graham Stars manager Carl Sedberry persuaded Craft to put aside his misgivings and pitch for the Stars. Despite the derision of black teammates, fans, and opponents, and his own...

Clyde Bulldog Turner rose from the West Texas plains to become an early lynchpin of the Chicago Bears and the NFL and one of the greatest linemen of the pre-television era. Fame, however, did not stick to Bulldog Turner because the positions he played rarely made headlines. Bulldog played center and linebacker, while the recognition, glory, and money went to those who scored touchdowns. Like Pudge Heffelfinger, Fats Henry, Ox Emerson, George Trafton, Bruiser Kinard, Adolph Shultz, or Mel Hein, Bulldog Turner is a ghostly character from football s leather helmet days.
Still, no man played...

When Wilbert Montgomery earned his Super Bowl XLVII ring as running-backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens in 2013, he was no stranger to glory. In Philadelphia and elsewhere his legacy still looms large. Montgomery was the halfback whose touchdown on the second play from scrimmage and total 194 yards against a stout Cowboy defense helped spur the Eagles to the 1981 NFC title and Super Bowl XV. But perhaps even more enduring should be the story of how this shy but courageous athlete broke down barriers throughout his life, even before the his time in the NFL. Escaping an oppressive and...

"The greatest untold story in college basketball history"
Loyola University Chicago was ahead of its time when racial matters were forefront in a long overdue revolution in civil rights. The Ramblers of the 1962-1963 NCAA college basketball season were pioneers in race relations in sport, though most of the time they were simply playing the sport they loved.
When the NCAA tournament began in March, the Ramblers engaged in a series for the ages, daring to be the first NCAA Division I school to play five black athletes on the court at once and capturing the most prestigious title in...

"A microcosm of the significance of sport to community history anywhere"
Although the Latino/a population of the United States has exploded since the 1960s, an analysis of its place in the history of American sport has, until recently, been sorely underrepresented. The thoughtful and coherent essays in "More Than Just Peloteros" demonstrate that participation in sport and recreation develops identity and involvement in the lives of Spanish-speaking people throughout what is now the United States.The articles feature accounts of eras and events as varied as the Latino experience itself,...

"A microcosm of the significance of sport to community history anywhere"
Although the Latino/a population of the United States has exploded since the 1960s, an analysis of its place in the history of American sport has, until recently, been sorely underrepresented. The thoughtful and coherent essays in "More Than Just Peloteros" demonstrate that participation in sport and recreation develops identity and involvement in the lives of Spanish-speaking people throughout what is now the United States.The articles feature accounts of eras and events as varied as the Latino experience itself,...