The 1920s Sports: Overview

The 1920s is considered the golden age of American sports. The Great War (1914–18) in Europe had finally ended, and Americans were eager to forget the fighting and enjoy themselves. What's more, the economy was booming along with the stock market. It was a time for escapism, and fans rooted wildly for their favorite athletes and the teams for which they played. Three sports dominated the decade: professional baseball, college football, and boxing. Athletes, particularly those who starred in these sports, became national and international heroes and were revered by sports and nonsports fans alike. In some cases, the awe-inspiring feats they accomplished redefined their sports.

Babe Ruth, arguably the most famous athlete of the decade, had a greater impact on professional baseball than any single player in history. At the beginning of the 1920s, the sport was reeling from the Black Sox scandal. Eight Chicago White Sox players were alleged to have had knowledge of or actively conspired in a plot to throw (intentionally lose) the 1919 World Series. While all of the players were cleared of the charges in court, the integrity of the game had to be maintained, so the authorities banned them from baseball for life. Public confidence in the integrity of the game was low. But Ruth won over fans by belting bunches of home runs. The pre-Ruth period in baseball was known as the "dead-ball era." A ballplayer might hit a dozen or so home runs and lead the league in that category. In 1920, however, Ruth hit fifty-four home runs. The following season, he bashed fifty-nine. Then, in 1927, he smashed sixty.

During the decade, football primarily was a college game. Among individual players, Harold "Red" Grange of the University of Illinois and Ernie Nevers of Stanford were masters of the gridiron. Among teams, Notre Dame dominated under legendary coach Knute Rockne. However, professional football took root at the beginning of the decade with the establishment of the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which quickly changed its name to the National Football League (NFL). While the league and the sport, at least on a professional level, did not come to rival baseball as a national pastime until the 1950s, the NFL did survive the decade.

The 1920s was a special era for boxing, with such ring legends as Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, and Benny Leonard, making headlines. The second Dempsey-Tunney title fight was perhaps the 1920s greatest fight because of its celebrated and controversial "long count," where Dempsey stood over Tunney after flooring him. This added four extra seconds to the normal ten-second count and saved Tunney from defeat. The decade saw the sport become a glamour profession, with over one hundred thousand fans pouring into arenas for title bouts and gate revenues topping $1 million.

Other master athletes reigned during the decade. Among them were golfers Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, and Gene Sarazen, Many consider Jones the greatest golfer, not just of the decade, but of the twentieth century. Bill Tilden, became the first tennis star to win national celebrity. Women athletes also earned acclaim. Among them were Aileen Riggin, teenaged Olympic swimming and diving champion; Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel; and Suzanne Lenglen, Helen Wills, and Molla Bjurstedt Mallory, three superb tennis players. One beloved athlete was not a person, but a horse! During his brief career, Man o' War triumphed in all but one of his races and became one of the most celebrated racehorses of the twentieth century.