Stagg's University: The Rise, Decline, and Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago (Sport & Society) [Hardcover]

Robin Lester (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995 | Series: Sport & Society

For this first case study of college football by a social historian, Lester has brought life to the story of a university football program that had an unusual beginning, a glorious middle, and a unique and inglorious conclusion. The nation's first tenured coach and the most creative and entrepreneurial of all college coaches from the 1890s to the 1920s, Amos Alonzo Stagg headed a program marked by creation of the lettermans club and by the dominant use of the forward pass, of jersey numbers, and of the collegiate modern T formation. Stagg, who had been an all-American football player at Yale University, joined the company of nine former college or seminary presidents and academic notables, including John Dewey, Thorstein Veblen, and Albert Michelson, when he was named associate professor of physical culture and coach of the football team at the University of Chicago in 1892. Within fifteen years, the charismatic Stagg had developed a program so powerful that more Americans knew of it than of the physics experiments of Michelson, who in 1907 became the first U.S. citizen to win the Nobel Prize. The logical commercial trail established by Stagg and University President William Rainey Harper helped change football into a mass entertainment industry on American campuses. This fascinating look at the birth of bigtime college sport shows how today s gridiron glory and scandal were prefigured in Chicago s football industry of the early twentieth century, presided over by the brilliant, combative, saintly, but very human Amos Alonzo Stagg.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Stagg's University] illuminates a complex of deeply embedded practices and beliefs which have structured all of our lives... It is painstakingly researched, extraordinarily well written, and very wise ... the best book ever written on the subject."-Bruce Kidd, chair, prize committee for the North American Society for Sport History "This volume is academically solid, scrupulously researched, and written with style... Lester's narrative is compelling, and, in short, if you want to understand the place of intercollegiate athletics in the larger American society in the twentieth century, this volume is the place to start." - Ronald A. Smith, Journal of Sport History "Lester, who had private access to all of Stagg's papers and letters, has scrutinized the phenomenon of college football as closely as anyone has. His book is an amazing compendium of the forces that bred big-time college football."-Rick Telander, Chicago Sun-Times "An impressive analytical account... Lester's unsparing look at big-time college athletics is thought-provoking and challenging."-Vernon L. Volpe, Illinois Historical Journal "Excellently researched" - American Historical Review "Lester's attractive study of [Stagg] has provided an important contribution both to the history of American football and the general history of sport." - International Journal of the History of Sport "Makes an important contribution to social, cultural, and sport history by expanding our knowledge of college football's formative decades. This volume is particularly valuable for its detailed and realistic depiction of how big-time football influenced university life, as well as how the roles of players, coaches, and spectators changed over the decades." - Reviews in American History "Lester interweaves the lives and goals of three men, Amos Alonzo Stagg, William Rainey Harper, and Robert Maynard Hutchins, to provide fascinating reading... His research of primary sources is extensive and revealing." - Choice "An outstanding book... Proves to fulfill everything that a true history of college football should strive to be... Everyone is familiar with the popular mythology that surrounds the reputation of Stagg... For the first time in book form, Professor Lester discloses some of what was really going on at Chicago in relation to the football program from 1892-1939. This is NOT a book of 'revisionist' history, but rather a thoroughly researched and well organized presentation of the facts, with ample footnotes on sources... A spell-binding read that was difficult to put down. It is the classic example to us all of just what a football history can and should be." - College Football Historical Society "Lester has a good, dramatic tale to tell ... and he tells it well." - S.J.S. Ickringill, The Sports Historian ADVANCE PRAISE "This splendid biography of a famous coach is, among other things, a brilliant commentary on football's role in the American university and the national culture."-Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. "Lester's learned and lucid history of the rise and fall of football at the University of Chicago shows us that, as Clemenceau said of war and generals, intercollegiate athletics is too important to be left to sports writers. He has given us a well written and very carefully researched book that will be of special interest to anyone who has been involved with the University of Chicago." - William H. McNeil, Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago, and author of Hutchin's University: A Memoir of the University of Chicago, 1929-1950 "It is hard to think of a better story than the creation of a great university, the career of a legendary coach, and the abolition of a sacred ritual. Lester tells the stories of William Rainey Harper, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and Robert M. Hutchins with the skill of a mature historian (or is he a budding novelist?)." - Allen Guttmann, author of The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games "This tale of pride and prejudice, boosterism and overwhelming ambition should be read by anyone interested in or connected to college sports and higher education." - Randy Roberts, author of Jack Dempsey: The Manassa Mauler

Product Details

• Hardcover: 301 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; 1 edition (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252021282
• ISBN-13: 978-0252021282
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,277,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars College football: Same problems today as in its infancy, February 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stagg's University: The Rise, Decline, and Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago (Sport & Society) (Hardcover)

Problems facing college football programs today include paying players, questionable player eligibility, and the fact that the bottom line is money-money-money. This book shows that these same problems were a factor in the development, rise, and fall of one of the pioneer college football programs.

Book gives insight into the history of the University of Chicago football program. Book focuses on the policy behind opponent scheduling, maintaining the eligibility of marginal students, and the issues of money-money-money. Good review of Stagg's career at the school, where he was viewed as the most important figure at the university for most of his tenure. Fine review of the decision to discontinue the sport, the first school from a major conference to do so.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When The Rules Fail To Come Into Play, May 25, 2008

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Stagg's University: The Rise, Decline, and Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago (Sport and Society) (Paperback)

Author Robin Lester chronicles the program - a national power from 1892-1939 - which captured a pair of national titles and seven Big Ten Conference (Western Conference) championships, along with having the first Heisman Trophy winner - halfback Jay Berwanger, 1935 - before the university abandoned the sport from 1940-1962.

And there is the larger-than-life coaching icon, Amos Alonzo Stagg, who was at the helm of the program from 1892-1932, who oversaw the grand success, while shaping the game through a number of revolutionary innovations and in the forefront of organizing the Big Ten Conference.

But as the last several years proved to be tough on the gridiron for Stagg, the seven seasons under his successor, Clark Shaughnessy, were a struggle on the field and off, as a series of digressions - that could have easily been pulled from today's sports pages or magazines - ultimately doomed the program.

While there were great victories over the years, the collapse of the team is a timeless tale of trying to play the game without following the rules.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great history lesson, June 30, 2009

By 

Matt Maloney "ChiefM" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stagg's University: The Rise, Decline, and Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago (Sport and Society) (Paperback)

Stagg was one of the great innovators of the game who rarely gets his due that is shares with ND Rockne, Yost of MI and Zuppke of Illinois. He was as clever off the field as on the field. He invented recruiting, and questionable tactics employed by athletic departments. The University took a principles stand against sacrificing their academic integrity in order to be competitive.