Background
Smith, Ronald Austin was born on April 13, 1936 in Delavan, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Arthur Wendell and Freda Gertrude (McClellan) Smith.
(Perhaps more than any other two colleges, Harvard and Yal...)
Perhaps more than any other two colleges, Harvard and Yale gave form to American intercollegiate athletics--a form that was inspired by the Oxford-Cambridge rivalry overseas, and that was imitated by colleges and universities throughout the United States. Focusing on the influence of these prestigious eastern institutions, this fascinating study traces the origins and development of intercollegiate athletics in America from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Smith begins with an historical overview of intercollegiate athletics and details the evolution of individual sports--crew, baseball, track and field, and especially football. Then, skillfully setting various sports events in their broader social and cultural contexts, Smith goes on to discuss many important issues that are still relevant today: student-faculty competition for institutional athletic control; the impact of the professional coach on big-time athletics; the false concept of amateurism in college athletics; and controversies over eligibility rules. He also reveals how the debates over brutality and ethics created the need for a central organizing body, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which still runs college sports today. Sprinkled throughout with spicy sports anecdotes, from the Thanksgiving Day Princeton-Yale football game that drew record crowds in the 1890s to a meeting with President Theodore Roosevelt on football violence, this lively, in-depth investigation will appeal to serious sports buffs as well as to anyone interested in American social and cultural history.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195065824/?tag=2022091-20
Smith, Ronald Austin was born on April 13, 1936 in Delavan, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Arthur Wendell and Freda Gertrude (McClellan) Smith.
Bachelor of Science, Northwestern University, 1958; Master of Science, University of Wisconsin, 1966; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, 1969.
Professional baseball player, Chicago White Sox, Holdridge, Nebraska, summer 1958; teacher history, Fort Atkinson (Wisconsin) Public High School, 1958-1965; professor sport history, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, since 1968.
(Perhaps more than any other two colleges, Harvard and Yal...)
(Book by Lucas, J.A., Smith, R. A.)
Fellow American Academy Physical Education. Member North America Society Sport History (secretary-treasurer), Alliance for Health (Raymond Weiss honorary 1996), Organization American Historians, Sport Literature Association (advisory board).
Married Susan Catherine Fernald, June 9, 1962. Children: Daniel Arthur, Penelope Anne.