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How do sports affect American culture
The importance of sport in America
The importance of sport in America
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The Olympic Legends Jim Thorpe, Florence Griffith Joyner and Mark Spitz
There are many important Olympic athletes. Three of the most amazing, however, are probably Jim Thorpe, Florence Griffith Joyner, and Mark Spitz. These legends were suberb athletes as well, as amazing people.
Jim Thorpe was born on May 28, 1887 in a one-room cabin in Oklahoma. Although there is much confusion on Thorpe's date of birth, this is the date according to his estate. The career biography of Jim Thorpe reads like an encyclopedia of sports, encompassing virtually every major athletic event available. In the 1912 Olympic Games at Stockholm, he won both the pentathlon and decathlon events. In the same year, he led his Carlisle Indian School team to the national collegiate championship, scoring 25 touchdowns and 198 points. Following the college football season, Thorpe went on to play 6 years of Major League Baseball. Meanwhile, he managed to lead the Canton Bulldogs football team to unofficial world championships in 1916, 1917, and 1919. When he eventually finished his playing days in 1928 with the Chicago Cardinals, Jim Thorpe had become an athletic attraction that crowds flocked to see. Thorpe died on March 28, 1953. In 1950, the nation's press selected Jim Thorpe as the most outstanding athlete of the first half of the 20th Century and in 2000, he was awarded ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Century. Then came that grand summer of 1912. As a child, Thorpe became his athletic father's protégé, at times running 20 miles home from school. "I never was content," he said, "unless I was trying my skill in some game against my fellow playmates or testing my endurance and wits against some member of the animal kingdom."
Florence Griffith Joyner was born December 21, 1959, in Los Angeles, CA. Known as the World's Fastest Woman for her standing World Record times in the 100 and 200 meter events, Florence Griffith Joyner, elevated women's track to a new level with her three gold and one silver medal-winning performances in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Growing up in Los Angeles, Joyner's career was launched in 1964, at age five, when Joyner's father challenged her to catch a jack rabbit, the fastest creature on the sand of the Mojave Desert. She was determined to meet the goal and she did.
Florence was born in January of 1896 in the slums of Washington, DC. As the daughter of ex-slaves, she had it rough, but this girl had an ability that would soon show. She won a talent contest at age four, and by age seven she had made her professional debut. Two years later, she joined a vaudeville touring company. Since she was too young to do this, it was not very long before she was arrested and put into an institution.
The athlete I chose is Natasha Watley. She is a professional softball player and the first African-American female to play on the USA softball team in the Olympics. She’s a former collegiate 4-time First Team All-American who played for the UCLA Bruins, the USA Softball Women’s National Team, and for the USSSA Pride. She helped the Bruins will multiple championships and also holds numerous records and one of the few players to bat at least .400 with 300 hits, 200 runs, and 100 stolen bases. She’s also the career hits leader in the National Pro Fast pitch. She won the gold medal in the 2004 summer Olympics and a silver in the Beijing Olympics. She was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
Gabby Douglas was the first African-American female gymnast in Olympic history to become the individual All-Around champion. In the 2012 Olympic Games, she won gold in the team competition and the individual competition. She is a gymnastics phenom. From the beginning of her career to where she is today, she has been a true trooper through everything. Gabrielle Douglas is an inspiration to me and many others because she overcame being homeless,moved in with a new family, and won Olympic gold in gymnastics.
They were great athletes and are still spoken of today as role models. Drew Astorino was a senior the year of...
James Lafayette Dickey, III was born in the town of Atlanta, Georgia on February 2, 1923. His parents were Maibelle and Eugene Dickey. He went to Ed S. Cook Elementary School and North Fulton High School as a kid, both of which are in Atlanta. He was athletic as a child. He played football and track, but his football career led him to a scholarship at the University of Clemson, in Clemson, South Carolina. But, before he went off to college he spent one year at the Darlington School in Rome, Georgia for one year in preparation for a college. He didn’t last longer than a year in Clemson though because he enlisted into the Army Air Corps.
James Cleveland Owens otherwise known as “Jesse” was an Olympic long jumper and sprinter whose speed and inspirational defiance of Hitler shocked the world. The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin and Adolf Hitler of the Nazi party believed that these Olympic Games would showcase the great skill of the Aryan (Caucasian) race, and the last person he would expect to show him up would be an African-American man (Barnes 1). With sixty-six U.S. Olympic contestants competing in the Games, the American race was really put on the spot in front of Hitler, the most powerful man in the world (Smith 1). Jesse Owens was one of these men, and while being laughed at by Hitler during his one hundred meter sprint against six other Caucasian sprinters, he won by a landslide. With that victory and his other three Olympic gold medals the Owens name was able to be remembered and looked up to for eternity. Jessie Owens is such a great athlete and individual because he defied Adolf Hitler, achieved more than expected of himself, and broke records with ease.
Comparing LeBron James and Michael Jordan is like comparing apples and oranges. It just isn’t a fair comparison. There are too many differences. There are too many variables. There are too many fallacies that are involved to make a fair assessment to determine who the greatest basketball player of all time is. Unfortunately the comparison is being made seemingly every day, and the article by Mr. Mathis is full of fallacious material. His extreme uses of exaggeration and card stacking, along with many harsh examples of hasty generalizations, makes a claim that Michael Jordan is and always will be the greatest player to play basketball. An opinion is simply and opinion and anyone is entitled to their opinion, but using fallacies to formulate his response to the issue makes it too finite and too biased in favor of Michael Jordan.
Jack William Nicklaus, born to Charlie and Helen Nicklaus on January 21, 1940 in Columbus, Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and attended Upper Arlington High School. In high school he played basketball and his high school gave him All-Ohio honor, he even received some scholarships, one of which was to Ohio State, the school his dad went to, but his true love was for golf. His golf career started at age ten when, for his first time playing golf shot a 51 on nine holes. From then on he won many tournaments in Ohio, including the Ohio Open. At age seventeen he competed in his first U.S. Open and at eighteen he played in his first PGA tour event. He attended Ohio State University, not because of basketball, but because of golf. While at Ohio State he won the U.S. amateur tournament twice, and the NCAA championship. Also during his Ohio State stay he played in many majors and having not won any, he finished in the top ten every time except for one where he finished thirteenth, and we have to remember this is while he was stil...
Athletes waiver an uncanny amount of courage, by pushing their bodies to the test and showcasing themselves and abilities to the judgement of the public. Sports may come natural for many people, but having utmost character and bravery does not come easy to anyone. Undoubtedly, having both is a rare occasion. Being a prime example, Jackie Robinson used his natural born gifts of a strong character and personality, along with an unprecedented athletic ability. He fought for equality by dignity and hard work. Respectfully, he was one of the best in Major League baseball for his time, and sparked a Civil RIghts Movement while doing it.
The Williams Sisters: double trouble on the tennis court, Gabby Douglas: 2 times Olympic Gold Medalist, and Lolo Jones: a fierce Olympic competitor in hurdles and now bobsledding are all present day athletes that have captivated headlines with their accomplishments through sports. The Civil Rights Movement altered everyday life for all African Americans and soon other minorities in America. The movement also changed the world of sports for African American legends to come as well. Previous accomplishments of African Americans in sports propelled Althea Gibson to make her mark in history. Althea would change the world of sports, impact future athletes to come, and leave her mark in history. Her athletic greatness would not only be bestowed on the tennis court, but golfy would receive its fair share of Althea’s greatness as well. None of her accomplishments would have been made possible without the Civil Rights Movement that allowed African Americans to enter the world of sports.
He attended John Muir High School where he started to get into sports because his brothers Frank and Mack who were silver medalists in the 1936 Olympics encouraged him. Baseball was not the only sport he excelled in, he excelle in many sports like baseball,basketball, tennis, and track, he was an All-American in Football. He was the first person to receive varsity letters in four sports. After college he continues playing multiple sports like baseball, football,basketball, and track. He broke the national community college broad jumping record, previously set by his brother set by his brother Mack who won a silver medal in the olympics. In 1939 he entered UCLA where he became the schools first letterman in four sports. He was one of the four African American players on the UCLA football team which was one of the most integrated teams at this time. Jackies best sport in college was football, he was named an All American. During this year, 1941, two important things happened. The first was that he met Rachel Isum, who would later bec...
...o break the world record in the Games, and Teófilo Stevenson of Cuba was able to win the same division three times. Additionally, Aleksandr Dityatin of Russia won a medal in all of the men’s gymnastics events, earning him the title of being the first athlete to win eight Olympic medals in one game. There was also a notable confrontation between British middle-runners, Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe.
Michael Jeffery Jordan was born on February 17th, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York but, would go to college at the University of North Carolina(UNC) where he would become an All- American his sophomore and junior year, become the College Player of the Year and win an National Championship. After leaving UNC at the end of his junior year season, Jordan would spend a majority of his career in Chicago, Illinois when he was drafted by the NBA team the Chicago Bulls 21 years later. Throughout his career many people knew Michael Jordan would become what was known as The “G.O.A.T”. While in the NBA, Jordan was recognized for his countless achievements, athleticism and the way he impacted the sport of basketball. In 1985 when he was drafted, Jordan was easily nominated for Rookie of the Year over future NBA hall of famers such as Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and John Stockton. During his reign, Jordan was a six-time NBA champion in the years 1991 through 1993 and 1996 through 1998 and was one of few athlet...
Attention Getter: Mia Hamm. Peyton Manning. Steve Nash. Here are just a few great athletes that most of us have heard of. But what is it that makes us look up to them? What is it that makes them great? The truth is that sports are only a small part of what makes a person worthy of looking up to.
...in our readings. Understanding the importance of the athlete to the Greeks will further our understanding of why so much of their art is focused on athletes and athletic events. It is important to understand that everyday Greek culture is depicted by Greek art.