Level Playing Fields: the Democratization of Amateur Sport in Pennsylvania
LEVEL PLAYING FIELDS: THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF AMATEUR SPORT IN PENNSYLVANIA by W. CURTIS MINER B.A., INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1984 M.A., UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, 1989 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2006 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by W. Curtis Miner It was defended on 11/20/2006 and approved by Kathleen M. Blee, Professor, Department of Sociology Laurence Glasco, Associate Professor, Department of History Van Beck Hall, Associate Professor, Department of History Dissertation Advisor: Edward K. Muller, Professor, Department of History ii Copyright © by W. Curtis Miner 2006 iii Level Playing Fields: The Democratization of Amateur Sport in Pennsylvania W. Curtis Miner, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2006 This dissertation examines how amateur sports once dominated and controlled by Pennsylvania’s Leisure Class became accessible to non-elites over the course of the twentieth century. Rising standards of living and increased leisure time were pre-requisites for broader public participation. But this study argues that the democratization of amateur sport depended on the active intervention of the state and, to a lesser extent, the market, both of which broadened access to privately controlled playing fields. In hunting, state game management restored wild game populations, thus ensuring a bountiful supply of game for all Pennsylvanians, irrespective of social class. Likewise, the first municipally owned golf courses, often situated in public parks, offered the only alternative to the private courses which up to that point dominated the game and regulated participation.
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