Two GMU historians, Chris Elzey and David Wiggins, have won the award for "Best Edited Collection" from the North American Society for Sport History. Elzey and Wiggins won the prize for the book that they edited, D.C. Sports: The Nation's Capital at Play (University of Arkansas Press, 2015). NASSH describes the award:
The Award for the best anthology goes to the first book in a new series published by a University Press with a solid commitment to sports history. This collection of 17 strong and original essays, many written by NASSH members, makes, in the words of one of our committee members “a lasting and significant contribution to sport history.” Taken as a whole, the anthology explores the multi-faceted ways in which sport, both amateur and professional, female and male, forms an important part of urban life. It address race, class, gender, and in addition to "fandom, the power of the press, and politics.” It acknowledges sport as an entertainment spectacle, but also shows how it is part and parcel of the ways people decided to live together in this geographical space, amid the myriad tensions emerging from those relations.
The University of Arkansas Press describes their book in more detail:
Washington, DC, is best known for its politics and monuments, but sport has always been an integral part of the city, and Washingtonians are among the country’s most avid sports fans. DC Sports gathers seventeen essays examining the history of sport in the nation’s capital, from turn-of-the-century venues such as the White Lot, Griffith Stadium, and DC Memorial Stadium to Howard-Lincoln Thanksgiving Day football games of the roaring twenties; from the surprising season of the 1969 Washington Senators to the success of Georgetown basketball during the 1980s. This collection covers the field, including public recreation, high-school athletics, intercollegiate athletics, professional sports, sports journalism, and sports promotion.
A southern city at heart, Washington drew a strong color line in every facet of people’s lives. Race informed how sport was played, written about, and watched in the city. In 1962, the Redskins became the final National Football League team to integrate. That same year, a race riot marred the city’s high-school championship game in football. A generation later, race as an issue resurfaced after Georgetown’s African American head coach John Thompson Jr. led the Hoyas to national prominence in basketball.
DC Sports takes a hard look at how sports in one city has shaped culture and history, and how culture and history inform sports. This informative and engaging collection will appeal to fans and students of sports and those interested in the rich history of the nation’s capital.
June 06, 2016