America’s First Sports Spectacle – Part I
Jun 01, 2020Posted by james
Can you name America’s first national sports spectacle? Could it have been the first Super Bowl? Maybe the 1951 playoff series between the Dodgers and Giants? Or Babe Ruth’s dominance of baseball? Was it the first Kentucky Derby?
The answer would be none of the above. Probably any event that came to mind also would not qualify. You would need to travel farther back into America’s past to find the first sporting event that captured the hearts and minds of a significant portion of the population.
The story is a fascinating one. Here is some background and a few facts, but I won’t reveal the answer, at least not yet.
The event pitted northerners against southerners, a preview of an increasingly bitter sectional rivalry. Many people did not know or understand the sport, and it was banned in several parts of the country, but they knew that they were rooting for the north, or rooting for the south.
This little hint tells you that the spectacle occurred before the Civil War. Slaves were involved in the event, which was held on what was then the outskirts of America’s center for business and commerce. The location even was beyond Brooklyn, which was its own city at the time.
Much of New York City, along with people who traveled here from across the country, flocked by ferry from Manhattan to awaiting carriages and coaches to take them to the fields in Jamaica, Queens. The people associated with this major sporting event included presidential candidate William Ransom Johnson, sportsman Cornelius Van Ranst and participant Samuel Purdy.
Bands played marching and other tunes, and the crowds kicked up dust on their way to the spectacle. Clever marketing was employed by a Manhattan coffee house and the Fulton markets. You couldn’t watch the match from either location. But, you could enjoy refreshments at either location with a great view of a flag pole in Brooklyn that would announce the winner by raising either a white or blue flag.
One key participant became ill on the day of the event. Another was replaced after a poor showing. Betting, which was frowned upon and even unlawful in many places, including New York, reached the highest levels anywhere up to that time.
Give this some thought. I’ll reveal the rest of the story in a few weeks in America’s First Sports Spectacle – Part II.
by james on Jun 01, 2020 |
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