American Sports & Government Oversight

Boxing & the Battle Royal (1865)

Battles Royal often appeared on the undercard of boxing matches

These fights would normally involve five or six slaves fighting blindfolded and bare-knuckled

Birth of Pro Football (1892) The date was

November 12, 1892 one of the AAA

players, William (Pudge) Heffelfinger, was openly paid $500 to play

it is appropriately referred to today as "pro football's birth certificate"

Teddy Roosevelt & College Football (1906) As originally played

on college campuses, the game was extremely rough

Quite a number of players died

The American Football Rules Committee was formed in 1906

Jim Thorpe & the Olympics (1912)

At the age of 25 he was competing for the United States at the Stockholm Olympic Games in 1912

Thorpe had received $25 per week to play minor league baseball

Chicago Black Sox (1919)

Throughout the 1920 season, the newspapers questioned the legitimacy of the Series

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned the eight implicated players for life

NASCAR & Bootlegging (1919-1933)

By the 1930s, bootleggers were running corn whiskey out of the foothills of Appalachia

When they were carrying a heavy load of Mason jars full of liquor, the car would not sag

College Basketball & Points Shaving (1951)

Henry Poppe and Jack Byrnes plus three fixers were booked on bribery and conspiracy charges

Manhattan lost games by the point margin to Siena, Santa Clara and Bradley

NCAA Death Penalty (1953)

It has only been implemented five times

The first time was in 1953 against the University of Kentucky men’s basketball program

Title IX (1972) Title IX of the

Educational Amendments of 1972 is the landmark legislation that bans sex discrimination in schools, whether it be in academics or athletics

The Dowd Report (1989)

The 225-page report was prepared by Special Counsel to the Commissioner, John M. Dowd

The most controversial conclusion of the report was confirmed fifteen years later

Olympic Skating Scandals(1994 & 2002) It was alleged that

Tonya Harding might have been part of the conspiracy to hurt Nancy

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, the Canadians skated perfectly in their long program, but the Russians made a mistake

Steroids in Baseball (Current) Baseball’s current

steroid era began with the fall of BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative founded by Victor Conte

The "Mitchell Report" is the result of former United States Senator George J. Mitchell's 20-month investigation into the use of anabolic steroids

The Truth Athletic achievement is made to be measured

and is available for instant analysis when performances improve

Athletes stand on pedestals, and pedestals are made to be toppled

The truth is, sports do not define the culture – they reflect it

But it's not un-American…it's entirely American, that search for an edge, that effort to be all you can be, that willingness to push the envelope