The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Health and Human Development POLITICAL FOOTBALL: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE PROFESSIONAL GRIDIRON IN THE UNITED STATES, 1955-1979 A Dissertation in Kinesiology by Andrew D. Linden © 2016 Andrew D. Linden Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2016 ii The dissertation of Andrew D. Linden was reviewed and approved* by the following: Jaime Schultz Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Dissertation Adviser Chair of Committee Mark Dyreson Professor of Kinesiology R. Scott Kretchmar Professor of Exercise and Sport Science Nan Elizabeth Woodruff Professor of Modern U.S. History and African American Studies Stephen J. Piazza Professor of Kinesiology Graduate Program Director, Department of Kinesiology *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Politics and political movements appeared in professional football since the sport emerged. However, because the National Football League (NFL) was not yet popular across the country, these issues had little effect on the broader culture. In the second half of the century, the NFL became the most popular consumer sport in the country. Conflicts between labor and capital, between men and women, between races and ethnicities, and between groups associated with the broader counterculture and liberation movements were brought by political advocates into the sport. Nonetheless, throughout this same time, the league had political priorities of its own and endorsed certain political issues while not engaging others. In this dissertation, I utilize a “multiple histories” approach to analyze the effect of social movements on the NFL and demonstrate the influence of political football in American culture. To do so, I examine how four social movements (Civil Rights, the New Left and counterculture, labor, and the women’s movement) intersected with professional football from the late 1950s through the 1970s. League representatives had varying reactions each time a social movement appeared on the gridiron. For example, some team owners and coaches supported black athletes fighting to desegregate the game and other areas of society through non-violent protest, but they reacted to the broader Civil Rights Movement by reaffirming notions of white supremacy. While league marketers promoted athletes who endorsed the Vietnam War and other “patriotic” efforts to defeat communism, they avoided engaging with critics (particularly if they were players) who believed football was antithetical to an idealized “American way of life.” League officials also separated from what they iv considered “labor radicals” during the labor movement of the 1960s and 1970s, instead reasserting their stronghold over players by officially recognizing only moderate union leaders. League officials endorsed women’s inclusion as spectators and sideline cheerleaders, but discounted attempts of women to play the game themselves. Journalists, moreover, covered the women’s game, but discounted it as not actually sport. Overall, I argue, while players offered undercurrents of opposition to the status quo from the late 1950s through the 1970s, people in the NFL, more often than not, disregarded and delegitimized such views, thus normalizing and popularizing certain political issues while making others seem unreasonably “radical.” v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………………….....vii INTRODUCTION: POLITICAL FOOTBALL, 1955-1979……..……………………….1 Social Movements in the United States…………………………………….……..6 Political Football and Sport History………………………………………………7 Methodologies……………………………………………………………………12 Multiple Histories and Activism…………………………………………12 Methods of Research……………………………………………………..14 Subjects…………………………………………………………………..15 Dissertation Outline and Description of Chapters……………………………….16 CHAPTER 1. A HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL AS THE NEW “NATIONAL PASTIME” AND A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS…………………………………………………………………………..20 Professional American Football………………………………………………….20 Introduction to Social Movements……………………………………………….28 The Civil Rights Movement……………………………………………...28 The New Left…………………………………………………………….31 Labor Politics…………………………………………………………….33 The Women’s Movement………………………………………………..36 CHAPTER 2. BEYOND DESEGREGATION: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL, 1955-1967……………………………………...41 The Civil Rights Movement…………………………..………………………….45 Professional Football and Racism………………………………………………..48 Professional Football Players and the Fights for Racial Equality………………..50 The 1965 AFL All-Star Strike…………………………………………...51 Contesting Off-Field Segregation………………………………………..52 Jim Brown’s and Roosevelt Grier’s Black Power……………………….60 Black Power and Gender………………………………………………...70 White Supremacy in the NFL……………………………………………………75 CHAPTER 3. “WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES”: PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL, THE NEW LEFT, AND THE COUNTERCULTURE, 1963-1970……………………..81 The New Left……………………………… ……………………………………86 The Counterculture………………………………………………………………88 Radicalism and NFL Conformity………………………………………………...90 The New Left, the Counterculture, and Professional Football………………..…92 Leftist Critiques of Football in Society…………………………………..93 Meggyesy, Football, and the New Left…………………………………..98 Meggyesy and the Anti-War Movement………………………………..101 Counterculture, Sexual Revolution, Drugs, and Communal Living……105 vi Oliver and the Anti-War Movement……………………………………108 The NFL and the Radical Movements………………………………………….111 CHAPTER 4. “NOT A MARXIST CLASS STRUGGLE”: CULTURAL POLITICS OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL’S PLAYERS UNIONS, 1966-1970…………………116 Union Politics…………………………………………………………………..118 Unions in Professional Football………………………………………………...121 Competing Visions for Union Politics………………………………………….126 Bernie Parrish…………………………………………...………………126 Jack Kemp………………………………………………………………127 Kemp’s Labor Ideals……………………………………………………129 Parrish’s Union Ideals…………………………………………………..131 Clash of Union Ideals…………………………………………………...134 Approaches to the Collective Bargaining Agreement………………….137 The NFL and Unions…………………………………………………………...144 CHAPTER 5. REVOLUTION ON THE AMERICAN GRIDIRON: THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL, 1971-1979………………………..148 The Women’s Movement in Culture and Sport………………………………...150 Women Get In the Game (Kind Of)……………………………………………156 Women as Consumers…………………………………………………..157 Women in NFL Media………………………………………………….159 Women as Sex Objects…………………………………………………161 Women Get in the Game (For Real)……………………………………………164 The Women’s Movement and the NWFL……………………………...167 Women’s Football in the Media………………………………………..172 CONCLUSION: THE IMPORTANCE OF POLITICAL FOOTBALL……………….178 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………183 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without a plethora of people. While at the Pennsylvania State University, I had the opportunity to work with many professors whose guidance crafted my work. First and foremost, my doctoral adviser, Jaime Schultz, offered both constructive critique and emotional support. In the last few months of writing, a time when the finish line seemed so far away, she reminded me that “if Cleveland can win a championship, you can write a dissertation.” My other doctoral committee members were influential in my research. Mark Dyreson, R. Scott Kretchmar, and Nan Elizabeth Woodruff provided valuable feedback. Joan Landes also offered important assistance in the early stages of this dissertation. I also benefited from my time at the Ohio State University. I can say, without a doubt, that I would not be where I am without Melvin L. Adelman. Susan Bandy, Sarah Fields, and Marc Horger played pivotal roles during my undergraduate and graduate years. The Beth Emery Writing Workshop continues to be a source of inspiration. Time in seminars and adviser meetings are important, yet students often find the best experiences in the graduate offices. That was certainly my experience. Not only did these people help me become a better scholar and writer, but they have become lifelong friends. Thanks to Lindsay Pieper, Dain TePoel, Adam Berg, Tom Rorke, Dunja Antunovic, Melissa Wiser, Colleen English, Jackie Maher, Adam Copeland, Beth Emery, Lauren Brown, Ari de Wilde, and Justine Kaempfer. I have spent three great semesters at Adrian College. My colleagues, Erica Zonder and Keith Christy, allowed me to have an easy transition from a graduate student to a faculty member. They also offered support as I finished the dissertation. viii This work would not have been possible without the help of employees at the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Library of Congress, specifically Jon Kendle and Jason Aikens. I thank Jon for moving his desk to the archives as I made photocopies and Jason for lunches during long research days. Some of my most enjoyable research was discussing football with Mitchi Collette, Pamela Schwartz, Carla Miller, Olivia Flores, Jacqueline Elaine-Allen Jackson, Gloria Jimenez, Joellyn (Joey) Opfer, Pam Hardy, Laurel Wolf, Julie Sherwood, Kim Waggoner, Nancy Erickson, and Jan Hines. Any piece of writing is shaped by your own social world. For me, that is those in Ohio. My mom and dad, Kelly and Ted Linden, have helped me in more ways than I could adequately describe. I will mention that my dad proof read the entire dissertation twice (mistakes are obviously still mine). Thanks to everyone in my support system, specifically my grandma (Caroline Peer), Tim, Caroline, Colleen, Jonah, and Annaka. Finally,