Essay On 1950s Sports

1950s Sports How well do you know the 1950s? The 1950s was the beginning of major things changing, from the way war is fought to the integration of sports and life itself. Even though war and segregation has been around for a huge part of history things were changing soon. The 1950s was a time of change and rebuilding, but it had its violent times as well.. Times were changing in the 1950s with African Americans standing up for their rights and wanting to end segregation. “The Montgomery bus boycott was a turning point in the twentieth century, for it marked a new determination among African Americans to claim their rights” (“African Americans Boycott Montgomery”). As the African Americans were fighting for their rights, America was fighting
The national pastime aka baseball started integration with Jackie Robinson on the Brooklyn Dodgers. Every team integrated at their own pace, but after it was all said and done some real talent shined through it all. “Integration thrust some of the game’s greatest stars into the big leagues limelight,...” (Phil Rogers). Another sport that we love today was in the mists of change as well. Basketball’s biggest change during this time was the 24 second shot clock, this change brought back a huge audience since the scores were now getting higher. In the shot clocks first year the points per game went from 79.5 to 93.1 (¨Sports History¨). Some of the biggest names in both of the sports came about in these times. For baseball you have Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Mickey Mantle, and many more. For basketball the top talent went two players in particular Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, with Bill being a team player and Wilt being all about the personal stats (¨Sports History¨). Even though sports went through many changes in the 1950s, sports still remained as a popular pastimes and they started fine tuning the rules to make them more enjoyable for