On this date in 1967, an American institution—nay, the most sacred of secular holidays—was born. Super Bowl I pitted the Kansas City Chiefs, a team reared on red meat and jazz, against […]
Category: sports history
Best of Illinois: Very sporting
Metrics used to refer to a baffling system of weights and measures that Americans refused to adopt. These days, however, sports fans quote a different kind of metrics that measure everything from […]
From Heidi to Humble Howard
Today marks the anniversary of the “Heidi Game,” an infamous moment in television history but also part of the story of how far professional football has come in its bid to conquer the […]
Q&A with NFL Football author Richard Crepeau
Richard C. Crepeau is a professor of history at the University of Central Florida and former president of the North American Society for Sports History. He answered some questions about […]
Battle of the Sexes
Bobby Riggs had risen to the top of men’s tennis in the 1940s. A longtime promoter of the game with the soul of a pool hall hustler, Riggs used his […]
NFL Films to the rescue
If you are a football fan and week one of the NFL season has given you an early letdown (we’re looking at you Chicago Bears fans), perhaps some warmly manufactured memories […]
Pigskin Primer, 2014
The casual viewer might not ponder a university press and the manly art of football at the same time. Assuming a scholarly publisher covered sports at all, wouldn’t it devote its energy […]
Happy birthday Althea Gibson
Groundbreaking athlete Althea Gibson was born on August 25, 1927. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Althea Gibson won 11 Grand Slam tournaments. She was also the […]
Q&A with Baseball on Trial author Nathaniel Grow
Nathaniel Grow is an assistant professor of legal studies at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. He answered some questions about his new book Baseball on Trial: The Origin of […]
New books debut at ASALH
Illinois Press staff and authors had a great time at the 98th Annual Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Convention held from October 2-6, 2013 […]
Q&A with Friday Night Fighter author Troy Rondinone
Gaspar “Indio” Ortega appeared on prime-time network television more than almost any other boxer in history. Rising from poverty in his native Tijuana, Mexico, Ortega used his skills in the ring […]
Friday Night Fighter: a Look Back to the Golden Age of TV Boxing
Troy Rondinone’s new book Friday Night Fighter tells the story of Gaspar “Indio” Ortega, who was a hero for many Latin Americans as one of the first Mexicans to appear […]