Female Sportswriters of the Roaring Twenties

The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Communications THEY ARE WOMEN, HEAR THEM ROAR: FEMALE SPORTSWRITERS OF THE ROARING TWENTIES A Thesis in Mass Communications by David Kaszuba © 2003 David Kaszuba Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2003 The thesis of David Kaszuba was reviewed and approved* by the following: Ford Risley Associate Professor of Communications Thesis Adviser Chair of Committee Patrick R. Parsons Associate Professor of Communications Russell Frank Assistant Professor of Communications Adam W. Rome Associate Professor of History John S. Nichols Professor of Communications Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in Mass Communications *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School ABSTRACT Contrary to the impression conveyed by many scholars and members of the popular press, women’s participation in the field of sports journalism is not a new or relatively recent phenomenon. Rather, the widespread emergence of female sports reporters can be traced to the 1920s, when gender-based notions about employment and physicality changed substantially. Those changes, together with a growing leisure class that demanded expanded newspaper coverage of athletic heroes, allowed as many as thirty-five female journalists to make inroads as sports reporters at major metropolitan newspapers during the 1920s. Among these reporters were the New York Herald Tribune’s Margaret Goss, one of several newspaperwomen whose writing focused on female athletes; the Minneapolis Tribune’s Lorena Hickok, whose coverage of a male sports team distinguished her from virtually all of her female sports writing peers; and the New York Telegram’s Jane Dixon, whose reports on boxing and other sports from a so-called “woman’s angle” were representative of the way most women cracked the male-dominated field of sports journalism. While the careers of these three women exemplify the different types of sports reporting practiced by female journalists of the period, they also highlight the overall mood and tensions of the era. In particular, their writing illustrates the ways in which female sports journalists simultaneously accepted and challenged social and professional norms of the period. Goss, for example, earned a regularly appearing column in the sports section – a ground-breaking accomplishment for any female sportswriter at the time – but was restricted to covering female athletes. Hickok and Dixon, in contrast, were able to cover male athletes but were limited in other ways: Hickok’s stories were typically confined to the news pages rather than being allowed in the sports section, whereas Dixon was steadily instructed to tailor her stories to the supposedly unique and superficial interests of female sports fans. In sum, the work of these three women sheds light on the opportunities and obstacles that female sportswriters faced in the 1920s – and in the process provides a lens for understanding the wider gender and equality issues that underlay women’s lives during the Jazz Age. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments………………..……………………………………………………………….v INTRODUCTION…………...…………………………………………………………………....1 Chapter 1. LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY.…………………………….…..3 Literature on Sports Journalism History.…………………………………………………….11 Anthologies of Sports Writing.………………………………………………………………14 Literature on the History of Female Journalists..…………………………………………….15 Biographical Dictionaries and Survey Histories.…………………………………………….19 Chapter 2. CHANGING TIMES CHANGE THE FACE OF 1920s SPORTS JOURNALISM..25 Women and Work: Moving Into “All Man’s Land”………………………………………....26 Women and Physicality: Work, Sex, and Sports…………………………………………….33 Women Journalists and the Cult of Personality: Bringing Heroes to Life…………………39 Chapter 3. MARGARET GOSS REPORTS ON FEMALE ATHLETICS……………………..47 Chapter 4. LORENA HICKOK TACKLES A MALE SPORT……………………………...…76 Chapter 5. JANE DIXON COVERS SPORTS FROM A “WOMAN’S POINT OF VIEW”...103 Chapter 6. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...…..128 Appendix. Early Female Sports Journalists: A Reference List in the Making......…...…...…...133 Works Consulted………………………………………………………………………………..141 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although many authors start this section by acknowledging professional debts, I must start on a more personal note by thanking my wife Beth. As my inspiration, friend and editor, she is more responsible than anyone for making sure that the initials ABD were not forever attached to the end of my name. Also of paramount importance in helping me to complete this dissertation was Ford Risley, who as my adviser forever implored me to “keep on track,” even when baseball season invariably distracted me from the task at hand. His motivation and suggestions were always appreciated, and his friendship is much valued. I also owe thanks to the other members of my dissertation committee: Patrick Parsons, Russell Frank, and Adam Rome. They, along with Ford Risley, are the embodiment of professionalism. Always lending suggestions and advice in a supportive manner, they made the dissertation experience an entirely positive one. Also influential was Eve Munson, who as an original member of my committee provided friendly motivation and valuable suggestions in the early stages of the process. She left Penn State before I finished, but her voice can be heard in these pages. Betsy Hall, graduate secretary in Penn State’s College of Communications, also deserves a large measure of thanks for her helpfulness. Although I wrote this dissertation while fifty miles removed from the Penn State campus, I could always count on her to promptly answer all of the program-specific questions I posed via phone and e-mail. At Susquehanna University, where I have been employed as an assistant professor while completing my dissertation, I have had the good fortune to work among communications faculty who have been extremely patient and supportive. I am especially indebted to Larry Augustine, head of the Susquehanna University Department of Communications and Theatre Arts, who helped accommodate my research and writing in every way imaginable; Beverly Romberger, whose frequent and friendly inquiries about the progress of my dissertation underscored her genuine interest in seeing me complete this project; and Sandra Saxman, who as secretary to Susquehanna’s Department of Communications consistently came to the rescue in helping me resolve whatever problem, big or small, that I encountered while assembling this document. Thanks, also, to former Susquehanna University colleague and current Millersville University professor Tom Boyle. His wry sense of humor helped lighten many tense moods during the early stages of my dissertation research. The library staff at Susquehanna, meanwhile, was nothing short of fantastic. Associate director Becky Wilson made me feel as though my dissertation was as much her priority as it was mine. Not only did she frequently go far out of her way to respond to my various requests, but she always did so with a smile. Thanks also to Kathleen Dalton, whose skills as reference librarian pointed me to several useful sources, and to Anne Ritchey, who coordinated dozens of interlibrary loan requests for microfilm. Appreciation is also owed to Ken Chase, who works with the newspaper collection at the Pennsylvania State Library. He saved me a 100-mile-roundtrip at the last minute, when he patiently and willingly looked up some microfilm citations that I had forgotten to write down in their entirety. In addition I am grateful to the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM), for encouraging this research, and to the many individuals who called to my attention the names of female sports writing pioneers who had escaped my attention. Among those who helped in this v manner, or who supplied other useful information, were: Carol Sue Humphrey, a member of the faculty at Oklahoma Baptist University and the administrative secretary for the American Journalism Historians Association; Don Ross, senior editor at the Washington, D.C.-based Freedom Forum; Stacie Shain, of AWSM; George Solomon, recently retired from his position as assistant managing editor for sports at the Washington Post; and Jim Stovall, of the University of Alabama. Finally, many thanks to all my family and friends, whose steady support and encouragement kept me going. My parents, George and Elaine, instilled in me a strong work ethic along with a deep appreciation for the value of education. They have been lifelong role models and I love them dearly. Special friends to thank include: Sallie Acri, Rich and Elaine Kerr, Mary Spaid, Stephanie Steadman, and Joseph and JoAnn Welsko. All of them, whether they know it or not, inspired me in some way. And that brings me back to where I started: to my wife Beth, my biggest inspiration and favorite person. I could not have done it without her. vi To Beth, with love and thanks vii Introduction Writing in 1992, researcher Judith Cramer lamented that female sports journalists were “missing in action.” “With few exceptions,” she wrote, “women are missing from the pages of sports journalism history.”1 A decade later, the landscape has hardly changed; while both scholars and non-scholars have extensively examined the working conditions and issues facing contemporary female sportswriters, few have attempted to piece together the history of women in this traditionally male-dominated field. Those who have sought to provide historical insight have primarily focused on the 1960s and 70s,

Load more