Babe Ruth personified the Golden Age. His stature in American popular culture transcends the 1920s, for Ruth remains the most revered American sports hero ever. The enormously talented Ruth rejuvenated interest in baseball after the Black Sox scandal. He appealed to everyone but opposing pitchers. Ruth's mammoth home runs evoked the memory of folk and mythic heroes. Even his home run records, more cultural milestones than statistics, carried iconic qualities — 60 and 714.
Jack Dempsey pulled boxing from its shadowy origins in saloons and back alleys into respectability during the Golden Age. In 1921, Dempsey and his flamboyant promoter, George "Tex" Rickard, produced the first million-dollar gate in boxing when Jack beat Frenchman Georges Carpentier. It was the first fight broadcast on radio, a milestone in the transformation of sports to entertainment.
Red Grange single-handedly turned around professional football's fortunes and set the game on a path to eventual success. As a running back at the University of Illinois from 1923 to 1925, he earned All- American honors each year. On college football's 100th anniversary, sportswriters made Grange the only unanimous selection on the all-time All-America team.
Coach Knute Rockne and his Notre Dame teams helped transform college football from a game to a colossal money-making enterprise. The sport became a national craze with alarming rapidity just a few years after World War I and rivaled baseball as America's favorite team sport. Rockne was the first celebrity sports coach in the United States. His 1924 team featured a small but fast backfield, whose running and passing dazzled both the opposition and the press. Grantland Rice immortalized the players as the Four Horsemen.
Bobby Jones turned golf into a spectator sport during the Golden Age. He entered the national golf scene in 1916 as a 14-year-old prodigy. Jones ultimately won 13 of the 21 major championships he entered in the United States and Great Britain from 1923 to 1930. His 1930 Grand Slam stands as one of the 20th century's finest sports achievements.
Another golfer, Walter Hagen, sparked the first national interest in professional golf and proved a man could play the game for a living. The press christened him "the Haig" for his splashy clothes, haughty demeanor, and high-rolling lifestyle. He won 11 major golf championships: four British Opens (his 1922 victory was the first by an American), two U.S. Opens, and five Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Championships. He also served as the playing captain of the first five U.S. Ryder Cup teams (1927–35).
Bill Tilden revolutionized international men's tennis during the era. Taller, stronger, and more athletic than either earlier players or his contemporaries, Tilden brought power to a finesse game. His cannonball serve had the same impact on tennis as Ruth's home runs in baseball. With unmatched flair and style, he personally changed tennis from an effete country club game to a spectator sport with box office success.
Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller perfectly fit the era's heroic mold. A colorful and attractive person, he surfaced at the right time and changed his sport. He won a combined five gold medals in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, collected 52 national titles, and set 67 world records from 1921 until 1929. At 6 feet 3 and 195 pounds, Weissmuller made swimming a power sport, just as Tilden had changed tennis. A hero twice over, Weissmuller starred in 16 Tarzan movies in the 1930s and '40s.
Tennis player Helen Wills and swimmer Gertrude Ederle empowered America's frustrated women athletes. Wills won eight Wimbledon, seven U.S, and four French singles titles from 1923 to 1938. As dominant in women's tennis as Tilden was in the men's draw, she was the first female athlete to become a celebrity outside her sport. The 18-year-old Ederle swam the English Channel on August 6, 1926. She was the first woman to complete the swim and broke the existing men's record by more than two hours. Wind and currents forced her to swim 35 miles to make the 21-mile crossing. Her ticker tape parade in New York was the largest through 1926.
Three forces created the sports hysteria of the 1920s. The American public enjoyed unprecedented prosperity during the period. With more leisure time and disposable income, people turned to sports for fun and excitement. Second, through serendipity and lucky parenting, a colorful athlete in each sport came along at the right time to focus the fans' interest. Last, the emerging art of promotion exploded into a cultural and economic whirlwind called "ballyhoo." The strongest winds blew from exuberant sports journalism, with some sportswriters approaching the celebrity status of the star athletes they covered. Promoters and publicity agents added strength to the hurricane, as did hucksters in the advertising industry.
Newspapers provided the most energy to the ballyhoo part of the Golden Age's whirlwind. They dominated the news business then, and sports reporting blossomed during the period.
The writers gradually divided themselves into two sports-reporting schools — "Gee Whiz" and "Aw Nuts." Grantland Rice (left with Bobby Jones), led the Gee-Whizzers which included, among others, Paul Gallico and O. B. Keeler. They glorified the athlete, embraced hyperbole, and acted like unabashed fans. With overflowing purple inkwells, they worked biblical and mythological references into their articles and columns and threw literary rose petals at the hero's feet. W. O. "Bill" McGeehan led the more cynical, Aw Nuts school. Less likely to deify athletes, its adherents, who included Damon Runyon, Westbrook Pegler, and John Tunis, tried to humanize their subjects and skip celebratory puff pieces.
Ballyhoo artists — promoters, press agents, and public relations experts — ranked second only to sportswriters in influencing the public. Without a thought of accuracy or balanced reporting, they flogged their athlete or event with undiluted fervor. If there were two camps in that profession, their only distinction was how blatantly they bribed writers for free publicity.
Early practitioners in sports included boxing promoters, and the best was Tex Rickard. (right) The P. T. Barnum of his day, Rickard so successfully sold Jack Dempsey to America that some believe his ballyhoo equaled Jack's right hand in deifying the "Manassa Mauler." Sports historians credit Rickard as a major force behind branding the 1920s as "the Golden Age of Boxing."
An unknown huckster named C. C. Pyle negotiated Red Grange's decision to turn pro. He also put together endorsement deals for Red, spun the press on the player's behalf, and created the Grange "brand." Buoyed by his success, "Cash and Carry" Pyle went on to promote the Bunion Derby, a transcontinental footrace, and professional tennis tours. (At left—Grange, Pyle, and French tennis star, Suzanne Lenglen)