Welcome to this biweekly newsletter, written by me, Corye Perez Beene, Ph.D. I am a United States History Professor and certified “sports nut.” I find the sports stories from the past to the present that celebrate the Awesomeness of American Sports.
Thank you for your support! I am so appreciative of YOU being here 😃
Follow me on Twitter: @HistoryBeene or LinkedIn: coryebeene
My blog: awesomeamericanhistory.com
As we celebrate another Thanksgiving, I want to say “thank you” for reading, subscribing, sharing and supporting my newsletter. I am not sure how long I will continue to write it but I have been so proud of it. My goal has been to highlight the positive stories of sports and play up its inspirational and historical aspects. I feel like I have accomplished that goal.
I am thankful for my husband, kids, family and friends. I appreciate the words of support and kindness they have given me.
Women’s sports winners
Trinity Rodman (NBA rebounding legend Dennis Rodman is her Dad)had quite the inaugural season playing in the NWSL. She was Rookie of the Year, scoring 7 goals (first rookie to do so)and 7 assists.
Rodman’s team, the Washington Spirit, won their first NWSL Championship defeating the Chicago Red Stars 2-1.
Northwestern University won its first Field Hockey title. They defeated Liberty 2-0. Watch their first score:
A documentary about Lusia “Lucy” Harris is being produced by NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. Harris, one of the greatest female basketball players in US History, has some amazing accomplishments:
*the first woman drafted by an NBA team (The New Orleans Jazz) - 7th round in 1977
*1976 Olympic Silver Medalist
*Inducted into the Woman’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame
*Won 3 College Championships in 1975-1977 while playing at Delta State University in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW)
I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on the AIAW, the organization that ran women’s sports before the NCAA took it over… If you know how to get a hold of Ms. Harris or Shaq, can you forward this newsletter edition to them? I would love to help provide historical context and accuracy for this terrific and worthwhile project!
More Football please
Football is one of my favorite sports. As you know, my team is the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys/Raiders game on Thanksgiving day was the most watched regular season game in 30 years!!!!!! That is an unbelievable statistic isn’t it? CBS estimates that 38.531 million people watched the game!
It was also the most streamed game ever on Paramount’s service!
The second most watched game this season featured the Cowboys and Patrick Mahomes (from my alma mater Texas Tech) leading the Kansas City Chiefs. That game had 28.1 million viewers. The NFL is ratings gold and America’s Team leads their cash cow.
Running back Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts made history last week when he became the first player in Colts history to score five touchdowns in a game (four rushing, one receiving) and finishing with 204 yards from scrimmage (185 rushing, 19 receiving). He also joins LaDainian Tomlinson and Lydell Mitchell as the only players to have 8 consecutive games with a rushing touchdown + 100 yards from scrimmage.
Will another professional football league share in the NFL success? Organizers of the USFL are hoping it will. Next spring, 8 teams will compete with Fox Sports investing $150 million into the league while broadcasting their games.
Back in the early 1980s, the USFL lasted 3 years. Reggie White, Herschel Walker, Jim Kelly and Steve Young played for the USFL, but because of financial difficulties, the league disbanded.
Here are the 8 teams for the USFL’s 2022 season:
NORTHERN DIVISION
Michigan Panthers
New Jersey Generals
Philadelphia Stars
Pittsburgh Maulers
SOUTHERN DIVISION
Birmingham Stallions
Houston Gamblers
New Orleans Breakers
Tampa Bay Bandits
Games will be on Saturdays and Sundays from mid-April to mid-June. All 8 teams will play 10 games at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. No word yet on what the rules will be and if they will be similar to the NFL or not… Good luck to the USFL!
Dance fever!
I love to dance! I do it in the car, at home and sometimes even in class! For the first time in its history, Dancing With the Stars (DWTS)had a former NBA player win the contest: Iman Shumpert. If DWTS needs a US History Professor to compete, I’m their girl! Here is Shumpert’s final performance:
Acts of kindness
One of the most important factors in having students participate in sports is money. It often keeps schools and kids from enjoying the benefits of participating. So when The Circle of CEOs, a group of 5 Black Atlanta entrepreneurs heard that Mohammed Schools of Atlanta did not have reliable transportation to get their basketball team to games, they took action.
They bought the team a $27,000 bus with the team’s logo painted on the outside. The Islamic school has 120 students in K-12. Division I schools have taken an interest in their players, so now their team can have more pride by driving to competitions in style!
Now that college athletes are able to make money off of their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), the financial opportunities have been a true game changer. One football player from the University of Michigan, Blake Corum, used his NIL money to gift Thanksgiving turkeys to 100 families. Local charities doubled that number and also passed out other foods for the holiday.
Trent Brown of the New England Patriots brought 90 kids from his former school, Westover High School, to the Patriots/Falcons game a couple of weeks ago. He explains:
I just wanted to kind of give back, reach back, give them an opportunity to come to the NFL game. It's not an opportunity everybody's privy to, so I wanted to provide that opportunity. It's important for people to just be exposed to those types of things in different environments. Hopefully it inspires a couple of those guys because it's very possible to make it from where we come from.
I have seen some great stories about sports and collegiate players but I have never seen a star player helping clean up after a game!
Dexter Dennis of the Wichita State Shockers was spotted helping with trash pickup after a home game. What a selfless act!
Thank you for reading! Are you looking for a speaker for your next event or conference? I would love to share some sports history with your audience! Email me at historybeene@gmail.com