Rowman & Littlefield Publishers The 1960s in Sports: A Decade of Change

This book includes the most significant sporting events of the 1960s, covering all the moments that generated tremendous growth in professional and college sports in America during this decade. It features stories such as Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's home run record, Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points, and Muhammad Ali beating Sonny Liston. Sports became a national obsession in the 1960s as people tuned in on their new televisions to watch the exploits of some of the most legendary athletes and teams in history. It was the decade of Mickey Mantle, Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Bobby Hull, and Arnold Palmer, the decade when the Celtics dominated basketball, Joe Namath delivered on his Super Bowl guarantee, and the Miracle Mets won the World Series. In The 1960s in Sports: A Decade of Change, Miles Coverdale looks back at what was arguably the greatest decade in sports history, when the sports world of today began to take shape during a very tumultuous period of American history. At the start of the decade, thirteen years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, major league rosters were still populated mostly by white Americans. The NFL and NBA were struggling financially and were much less popular than college football and basketball. The Olympics were still open only to amateur athletes. But the sports landscape changed dramatically in the 1960s. Coverdale traces this development by covering the significant events and iconic players of the decade, including stars such as Sandy Koufax, Johnny Unitas, Bobby Orr, and Jack Nicklaus. There were great teams and incredible rivalries, and professional and college sports alike expanded and thrived. Featuring over 70 photos of legendary athletes and memorable moments, The 1960s in Sports transports the reader back to a golden age in sports. With additional coverage of important historical events such as the Cold War, Vietnam, and the Civil Rights Movement, this book also reveals how social and political events impacted the sports world, making it an invaluable resource for anyone interested in this significant decade. Review In this oversized volume that verges on the border between coffee-table volume and reference work, sports historian Coverdale provides a comprehensive bird's-eye view of the "American sports" domain during the tumultuous decade of the 1960s. The book comprises an introduction followed by ten substantive chapters, one chapter devoted to each year of the sixties. Each chapter commences with an overview of the larger social and political context for the relevant years before moving on to detailed coverage of the sports highlights of that period. Coverdale strikes a balance between basic data (e.g., scores, traditional statistics) and human-interest stories, including narratives about particular seasons and key events. Chapters are crisply written and provide reasonably comprehensive coverage while also preserving a sense of authorial discretion. Thus not every sport is highlighted to the same extent in each chapter. . . Although the book will see most frequent use as a reference source, the various chapters warrant reading on their own merits. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.--CHOICE About the Author Miles Coverdale Jr. is a retired CFO who worked for many years as a health care executive. He is the author of Whitey Ford: A Biography (2006). Coverdale and his wife now live in Spring Hill, Florida.