Sports history bigger, better in Lone Star State
The growth the sports world has seen since the mid-1960s — from well-paid stars to middling players earning generational wealth, from decent attendance at old high school and college stadiums to packed houses at municipally funded palaces — has been astounding.
In his new book, Frank Andre Guridy, associate professor of history and African American and African diaspora studies at Columbia University, says that phenomenal growth would not have been possible without the contributions of key figures from Texas.
“The Sports Revolution: How Texas Changed the Culture of American Athletics” is a fascinating look at the game-changers and trendsetters, on and off the field, who not only made Texas great but helped build the American sports landscape.
“I don’t see how you can explain the enormous popularity of college and pro football without telling the story of Texas entrepreneurs and athletes and fans,” Guridy said in a
Texas Sports Nation interview. “I don’t see how you can do it.
“How could you possibly understand the NFL without a franchise like the Dallas Cowboys, one of the marquee franchises that tells you the story of the NFL from the level of management to the level of performance?”
Not only is Guridy’s book a deep dive into the stories behind the athletes and coaches whose talents are what made Texas stand out in many sports, but it chronicles the effect of the innovative entrepreneurs whose money and management were crucial.
Men such as Lamar Hunt, Bud Adams, Clint Murchison and, of course, Roy Hofheinz.
“The Astrodome puts Houston at the forefront of the changes in the 1960s and ’70s,” Guridy said. “I think it would have come along like the other cities did. I mean, this is the period when professional football is exploding in popularity. It also was the period when you’re seeing this massive growth of stadium construction throughout the country. So Houston would have went along with those changes.
“But I think it’s because of the visions of the entrepreneurs, the Roy Hofheinzes, the Bob Smiths, the people in the Houston Sports Association, the Bud Adamses, et cetera. Those changes happened because they sort of imposed themselves on the professional sports landscape.
“I think the Astrodome’s undeniable effect catapults Houston in particular to the forefront of these changes. You look at the Louisiana Superdome that was built 10 years later; the Superdome is essentially a knockoff of the Astrodome. That just shows you right there, just on the level of the architectural influence of the Astrodome, that put Houston at the forefront.”
In the book’s introduction, Guridy puts the spotlight on one of the Astrodome’s greatest events, the 1978 Monday Night Football game between the Oilers and Miami Dolphins.
“That game, as well as the fans and the setting, exemplified to me so much of the extraordinary changes happening in Texas around sport and society at that time,” he said. “No. 1, Earl Campbell’s virtuosic performance. He, the son of rose farmers, coming out of Jim Crow, Tyler, Texas. Arguably, Earl Campbell was like the first black breakout sports star from Texas, and he’s the star of the evening? That’s the first thing.
“The second thing is that it happens in the Houston Astrodome, this iconic venue that we all associate with its technological wonders. But for Houston, it has an enormous social effect. It is the Astrodome in 1965 that helps catalyze Houston sports into a desegregated era. A city that was governed by Jim Crow, legal and customary segregation, the fact that that game is happening in the Astrodome in front of a cross-racial crowd that Monday Night Football captures so clearly all those people waving the blue and white pompoms that night. Mexican Americans, African Americans, Anglo Americans among others … capturing the kind of spirit and the dynamism of Houston at that time, and it was televised on national television for the world to see.”
As Guridy notes, Howard Cosell gushed about Houston that night.
“Look out America,” said the ABC broadcaster. “Here comes Houston. America’s fastest growing city. And right now, in this arena, America’s football team!”
Yeah, on that night, the Oilers were America’s team.
“That’s Cosell in typical hyperbolic fashion, announcing to the world that Texas, and Houston in particular, is on the national stage with all of these amazing elements that are changing American society as well, not just Texas,” Guridy said.
Guridy’s virtual ode to Texas gives details on seminal events such as tennis’ Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs and lesser-discussed ones like the Rain or Shine tour, which featured a group of Texans in California visiting that state’s sports facilities ahead of the building of the Dome.
He covers high school, college and pro sports, with particular details regarding the creation of the culture around the differing teams in the Lone Star State. He even has significant mention and backstories of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, who Guridy says “are central to making the Dallas Cowboy brand.”
Integration, Phi Slama Jama, the San Antonio Spurs, the Astros, the Texas Rangers, on and on, the book tells the story of Texas sports unlike any I have ever read.
History is never boring. Sports history is even better.
And as you might imagine, Texas sports history is bigger and better.
Guridy’s effort is worthy of applause.