INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, sbme thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMI' NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy avaiiabie. UMI' A COMPETITIVE BUSINESS: THE IDEOLOGIES, CULTURES, AND PRACTICES OF MEN'S AND WOMEN’S COLLEGE SPORTS DURING THE DEPRESSION DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Bradley Ellis Austin, B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2001 Dissertation Committee: Dr. K. Austin Kerr, Adviser Approved By Dr. Melvin Adelman Dr. Susan Hartmann Adviser Department of History UMI Number 3022439 UMI* UMI Microform 3022439 Copyright 2002 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Bradley Ellis Austin 2001 / / ABSTRACT This is a study of how the uniquely American institution of “Big-Time” college athletics survived the ideological and financial challenges of the Great Depression and why many Americans thought this survival was important. As a study of institutional perseverance, this dissertation focuses on the financing and commercialization of athletics during the 1930s, the ideologies and belief systems that university leaders employed to justify the continuation of the athletic programs, and the conscious use of universities’ athletic programs to build communities of interest in the universities themselves. While American public universities suffered tremendous fimding cuts during the 1930s, they also had to educate increasing numbers of students. The mounting financial troubles, coupled with a perceived increase in the number of radical student activists, contributed to a general sense of crisis on American college campuses. University leaders used their intercollegiate athletic programs to preserve traditional American/ values and institutions. By emphasizing the competitive nature of men’s athletics, educators inculcated male college athletes with individualistic, masculine values, seeking to reinforce the existing American political and economic systems. In contrast, the prevailing model of women’s college athletics during the Depression taught a communal form of democracy. This model did not allow for individual attention or high-level competition, and it stressed “proper” femininity. ii However, many female students and teachers felt constrained by the limitations imposed by this model. In 1941, a contingent of Ohio State educators controversially challenged their profession’s leaders and coordinated the first national intercollegiate golf tournament for women, a turning point in the narrative of women’s intercollegiate athletics. The institution of college athletics survived the era’s extreme financial challenges and the ideological challenges epitomized by the Carnegie Foundation’s 1929 American College Athletics because its leaders successfully mustered justifications for maintaining the programs and because, in many places, at least football retained its profitability. However, the most compelling justification for the continuation of intercollegiate programs was that the teams and the publicity they attracted enabled the universities to build “imagined communities” of interest, drawing the allegiances of people who had never attended their classes and whose support was essential during the Depression. /• / 111 Dedicated to LaGina / / IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have accrued many debts as I have worked toward completing this degree and this dissertation. I am very happy now to have the opportunity to express my gratitude formally. First, I would like to thank my mother and father for always emphasizing the importance of education, for helping me develop a love of leaming, and for always supporting me as I've migrated from school to school. I also thank my brother for his constant encouragement and support. Additionally, I want to say how much I appreciate the genuine understanding that my in-laws, the Swemams, have provided as their daughter and I moved far away from them and as I remained, essentially, unemployed throughout my tenure as their son-in-law. I have been fortunate to work with and learn from numerous outstanding scholars and teachers, and I would like to thank them for providing exemplary role models for young students. In particular, I thank Jane Fagg, John Dahlquist, and Terrell Tebbetts for their real and continued interest in me as a student and a person. Without their helped / guidance, I never would have pursued graduate study in history. Of course, sometimes I wonder if I should thank them for helping me choose this path, but, in the end, I am glad they did. I am also grateful to my primary advisers at the University o f Tennessee, James Cobb, John Finger, and Elizabeth Haiken. They taught me how to be a graduate student, and I attribute much of my success to the lessons I learned from them. I can not imagine working with a better dissertation committee; the members’ talents and areas of expertise overlapped perfectly for this study. More importantly, each member was always willing to talk with me at length about the project. Throughout the process, I never felt like I working alone, and that provided more comfort than they probably understand. Dr. Kerr was, simply put, an ideal adviser, someone who always forced me to look at the big picture, who was a penetrating critic of my writing, and who was always willing to talk about my progress, often over a lunch he bought. Mel Adelman served as a co-adviser, and sometimes it seemed that his critiques of my chapters were as long as the chapters themselves. They were certainly as thoughtful and as well-written, and I could not have written this without his wise counsel. In seminars and throughout the dissertation writing process. Dr. Hartmann continuously forced me to express my ideas as clearly as possible, to think broadly, and to connect my arguments as tightly as I could. Her advice made this a much stronger dissertation. I could not have competed this project without the able and eager assistance of university archivists across the country. Although I could never thank all who have helped me, I want to thank in particular Bertha Dmat of Ohio State, Anne Turkos at the University of Maryland, Ralph Elder of the Center for American History, and Bill y / Roberts at the Bancroft Library. Each of these men and women made my research much easier than I had any right to expect. I would be remiss if I did not devote a little space to thanking my graduate student friends and colleagues who helped keep me sane and on track during my time at the University o f Tennessee and Ohio State. I have sincerely appreciated getting to know and leaming from Michael Rogers, Stephen Berrey, Jeff Bremer, Matt Masur, Jenn vi Walton, Mike Fronda, Bill Carraher, Marc Horger, Pam Pennock, Brian Etheridge, Jack Wells, John Tully, Doug Palmer, Mark Spicka, Greg Wilson, Laura Hilton and many more. These were the people on whom I tested my ideas and who forced me to rethink and defend my approach innumerable times. For that I am deeply grateful. Finally, I must thank LaGina for reminding me daily, through her presence but never her words, that there are much more important things in this world than books and paper. She is ray best friend, my most perceptive critic, a trained editor, .and the love of my life. I thank her for sharing herself and her talents with me, and I dedicate whatever is good about this project to her. / f vn VITA 17 March 1972 ........................................... Bora—Oxford, Mississippi 1994.............................................................. B.A., Lyon College— Batesville, Arkansas 1994-95 ........................................................ Rotary Scholar, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland 1995-199 7 ................................................... Graduate Assistant, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 1997 .............................................................. M.A., The University of Tennessee, Knoxville 1997-9 8 .......................................................... Distinguished University