Heroes & Ballyhoo

How the Golden Age of the 1920s Transformed American Sports by Michael K. Bohn

Potomac Books, Inc
Available October 2009

A handful of star athletes, along with their promoters and journalists, created America's sports entertainment industry during the 1920s, the Golden Age of American sports. The period had an extraordinary impact, profoundly changing individual sports, establishing the secular religion of sports and sports heroes, and helping bond disparate social and regional sectors of the country. It's when sports became a cornerstone of modern American life.

Heroes & Ballyhoo profiles the ten most prominent Golden Age heroes and describes their effect on sports and society.

• Babe Ruth saved baseball after the Black Sox Scandal.
• Heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey made the “sweet science” a respectable sport.
• Red Grange single-handedly set professional football on a path to eventual success.
• Knute Rockne helped transform college football into a colossal enterprise.
• Bobby Jones changed golf into a spectator sport.
• Walter Hagen sparked the first national interest in professional golf.
• Bill Tilden put tennis on the front of the sports section.
• Tennis player Helen Wills revolutionized women's tennis.
• Gertrude Ederle empowered women athletes by swimming the English Channel.
• Johnny Weissmuller astonished international swimming before becoming Tarzan.

The book also explores the ballyhoo artists — sportswriters, promoters, and press agents — who hyped the stars to a receptive public. The publicity wizards joined the super stars to create the beginnings of today's sports entertainment conglomerate. Sports extravaganzas such as the World Series, Tour de France, the Super Bowl, soccer's World Cup, and the Olympics follow the ballyhoo models created in the 1920s.

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