Latinos in U.S Sport: A History of Isolation, Cultural Identity, and Acceptance

312 Pages·2011·13.19 MB·English

by  Jorge Iber

Latinos

in U.S. Sport
A History of Isolation,
Cultural Identity, and Acceptance
Jorge Iber, PhD
Texas Tech University
Samuel O. Regalado, PhD
California State University Stanislaus
José M. Alamillo, PhD
California State University Channel Islands
Arnoldo De León, PhD
Angelo State University
Human Kinetics
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Latinos in U.S. sport : a history of isolation, cultural identity, and
acceptance / Jorge Iber . . . [et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-8726-1 (hard cover)
ISBN-10: 0-7360-8726-5 (hard cover)
1. Hispanic American athletes--History. 2. Hispanic American athletes--
Social conditions. 3. Mexican American athletes--History. 4. Mexican
American athletes--Social conditions. 5. Sports--United States--History.
6. Sports--Social aspects--United States. I. Iber, Jorge, 1961-
GV583.L37 2011
796.08968073--dc22
2010044049
ISBN-10: 0-7360-8726-5 (print)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-8726-1 (print)
Copyright © 2011 by Jorge Iber, Samuel O. Regalado, José M. Alamillo, and Arnoldo De León
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Contents
Preface vii
IntrodUCtIon
“Just How Does One Say ‘Woo Pig Sooie’ in Spanish?”:
Uncovering the Presence of Latino Athletes in U.S.
Sport History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Themes of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Limitations of This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter one
Games of Spaniards, Pre-Columbians,
and the Peoples of New Spain, 1500-1821 . . . . . . . . .17
Los Españoles (the Spaniards) and Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Sports, Games, and Entertainment Activities
of Pre-Columbian Peoples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Games and Sports in New Spain, 1521-1821. . . . . . . . . . 25
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Chapter two
Games Mexicans Played, 1821-1880s . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
19th-Century Borderlands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Games and Sports in Mexico’s Far North, 1821-1848. . . . 41
Games and Sports in the U.S. Southwest, 1848-1880s . . . 52
Into the Modern Sport Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
iii
iv Contents
Chapter three
Getting in the Game:
Latino-Style American Sport, 1880s-1930 . . . . . . . . . .67
Athletic Ability of Latinos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Baseball Craze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Rise of American Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Marginal Sport Claiming Its Place in Barrio Life . . . . . . . . 94
Dribble Diversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Boxing Ring as a Place for Creating Tough Hombres. . . . 100
Other Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Chapter foUr
Sport and Community Life in the Great Depression
and World War II, 1930-1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Athletic Abilities of Latinos:
Beginning of a More Realistic Assessment?. . . . . . . . . 116
Lots of Energy to Play Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Pride and Identification Through Soccer. . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Basketball in the Barrios and Big Tournaments . . . . . . . . 133
Boxing and Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Track and Field: An Athletic Challenge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Burgeoning Latino Presence in Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Early Years of Latino Tennis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Contents v
Chapter fIve
Expanding Opportunities From High Schools
to the National Stage, 1950-1965 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
Key Historical Trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Baseball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Basketball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Boxing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Tennis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Golf’s Presence in the Barrio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Horse Racing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Chapter SIx
Latinos and Sport During an Era
of Social Activism, 1965-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193
Activism and Stardom on the Baseball Diamond. . . . . . . 196
Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Hoops and Ethnic Pride During the Chicano Era. . . . . . . 207
Soccer and Recreational Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Boxing as an Outlet for Teenage Frustration. . . . . . . . . . 215
Does Playing Golf Make One Less Latino? . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
vi Contents
Chapter Seven
Becoming Part of the Mainstream as Consumers,
Performers, and Leaders, 1980-2010 . . . . . . . . . . . .225
Four Illustrative Stories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Key Themes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Burgeoning Presence on the Baseball Diamond
and the Front Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Spanish Surnames More Common on the Gridiron . . . . . 243
Basketball at the Heart of the Barrio and Beyond . . . . . . 247
Latinos and Latinas as Part of the Tennis Boom. . . . . . . . 252
Soccer (Fútbol): Cultural Spaces in Unlikely Places . . . . . 256
Continuing Latinization of the Boxing Ring . . . . . . . . . . 261
Latinos as Consumers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Other Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Conclusion 289
Index 292
About the Authors 300
preface
“We are survivors. We never give up; we never quit.
This is the spirit of the Latin. We are a hard people to put away.”
Felipe Alou
L
atinos in U.S. Sport examines the significance of the participation and
contributions of people of Spanish-speaking descent (whether born
inside or outside of the boundaries of our nation) on the history of U.S.
sport.
This book covers as much of the history of this broad topic as possible.
We use some of our own primary research and also synthesize secondary
materials of wide-ranging academic research from fields such as history,
education, and sport marketing to present a historical précis of this popu-
lation’s role in the history of U.S. sport. While much of the discussion
focuses on the West and Mexican Americans, we do not overlook other
Latino groups in our research. Additionally, we do not limit our coverage
to one or two major sports or to the professional level. We have sought
out materials that cover the totality (community, school based, and profes-
sional) of the sporting experience of all Latinos throughout the length and
breadth of U.S. history.
In this work, we trace the role of sport in the daily lives of Latino com-
munities throughout the United States. We start with the arrival of Spanish
conquistadors and settlers and provide some details about the games and
sports they brought from Europe in the first decades of the 16th century.
We trace how American influence (including sport and games) moved into
these regions and how, once these territories became part of the United
States, American sports (initially baseball) were incorporated by Spanish-
speaking people. We argue that the imported games were adopted by
Latinos but that they were active historical agents and thus selective about
how they played American sports and spent their precious leisure time.
The following are among the questions and issues we address:
• What games did the Spanish bring with them to the New World
from the old?
• What games did they incorporate from the native peoples?
• How did European American games come to the regions now known
as the Southeast and Southwest?
• Did Mexican Americans view baseball (and ultimately other sports)
as something that threatened their way of life, or did they readily
integrate it into their sporting culture?
vii
viii preface
• How do Spanish-speaking people appropriate American sports for
their own purposes?
In the first two chapters, we cover a period stretching from 1521 through
the 1880s. Here, we detail the games and diversions particular to the Span-
ish conquistadors and various Native American groups. As these peoples
came together to create a new group, the mestizo, so too did their athletic
activities and pastimes comingle to create new forms. Finally, we touch on
the arrival of yet a third element to this social and sporting equation: the
Americans who crossed the 100th meridian, bringing their own culture
and sports.
Chapters 3 and 4 cover the first five decades of the 20th century. As
whites came in larger and larger numbers to the area that we now know
as the American West, they brought not only their sports but also their
social and racial beliefs. Among these were notions that “dark-skinned”
people were inferior in both intellect and physical ability. The games that
the Americans played, whites argued, made their men not only physically
stronger but also helped to keep their minds keen in order to administer
the burgeoning United States economic and military empire. In the first
decades of the 1900s, Spanish-surnamed people were perceived as being
not quite good enough to compete at American games, and it was (as
Kipling would say) “the white man’s burden” to instruct the descendants
of Spanish and native people to become civilized. American sports, par-
ticularly baseball, were thought of as a valuable tool in this regard. For
the Spanish speakers of the West and in other parts of the country as well,
athletic competition became not just a diversion but also a mechanism
for challenging such assumptions. Success on the diamond, the gridiron,
or the court ultimately provided a possibility to chip away against racist
notions of their physical and intellectual inferiority.
In chapter 3, which covers the years 1880 to 1930, we focus on how
European Americans used baseball as part of their attempt to bring “civi-
lization” to the areas of Florida and the Southwest.
• Did European Americans think that baseball could possibly improve
the “Mexicans” of the southwestern territories?
• How did Mexican Americans use baseball as a way to demonstrate
that they belonged in American society?
• How did Mexican Americans use baseball for purposes of community
pride and ethnic and labor solidarity?
Further, in chapter 3, we examine how other sports (football, basketball,
tennis, soccer, golf, and boxing) arrived in the West and the role of these
sports in the lives of Mexican Americans. Finally, we scrutinize how Lati-
nas fit into the history of sport during this period.
Chapter 3 also discusses the arrival of Cuban Americans and other
Latin Americans to play baseball in the Major and Negro Leagues. How
preface ix
did the success of many Latinos in the major leagues (and even a few in
the NFL and college football) shape and redefine the perception of Spanish
speakers among the broader population? Further, as the Spanish-speaking
population in the United States developed in other parts of the nation
(Cuban Americans in Florida and Puerto Ricans in the Northeast, Midwest,
California, and Hawaii), what role did sport play in their communities?
In chapters 4 and 5, such topics are explored through an examination of
the writings of educators, corporate leaders, religious leaders, and school
bureaucrats about how they perceived the intellectual and physical abilities
and limitations of Spanish-speaking people. As a foil to this mostly nega-
tive assessment, we highlight information on Latino athletes and teams
who overcame great odds to succeed at the local, high school, collegiate,
and professional levels. Finally, we also detail the early participation of
Latinos in international athletic competitions such as the Olympic Games
and Pan American Games.
The Hispanic population of the United States grew rapidly during
the 1960s and 1970s. By 1980, community and government leaders as
well as corporate marketers hailed the coming 10 years as the “decade
of the Hispanic.” Chapters 6 and 7 detail the rising presence of Latinos
in all of these fields of competition. While this period did not produce
equality in the areas of economics, politics, and education, the reforms
of previous years did open many doors for Spanish-surnamed men and
women in the corporate world, government, and schools. As more and
more Latinos took advantage of educational opportunities, the number
of Spanish-surnamed students in public schools increased, and so did
the number of athletes competing at the high school, collegiate, and
professional levels.
Also in chapter 7, we explore the development of Latinos in owner-
ship, management, and consumption of sport: Who were some of the first
Latinos to lead professional and amateur sport teams? What were their
experiences? How and when did Latinos break into ownership of profes-
sional sporting franchises in sports like baseball, NASCAR, and minor
league teams (including unexpected sports such as minor league hockey)?
When and why did advertisers take notice of the Latino sport consumer?
With this project, we seek to accomplish something that has never,
to our knowledge, been done: to capture and present as complete a his-
tory of Latino participation in all facets of American sport as possible.
We recognize that we have not been able to capture, analyze, and write
about every single key person or event in this history, and we are sure
that some readers will question why a particular topic or individual was
not mentioned or dealt with in extensive detail. This, unfortunately, is the
bane of the historian. All we can say is that we hope to provide a balanced
and fair representation of all and hope that this work will inspire others
to continue the effort to increase the profile of Latinos in the history of
American sport.