The Origins of Southern College Football: How an Ivy League Game Became a Dixie Tradition

Bell (Mosquito Soldiers) considers in this in-depth treatise college football’s indomitable hold on the psyche of fans in the American South. The author provides a recap of the sport’s original mass popularity in the Ivy League schools, then notes how it became part of Southern culture via the region’s ideals of chivalry and honor. (“[N]ot every southern affair of honor ended in bloodshed. Disagreements were often settled on football fields rather than on dueling plains.”) Bell consults both scholarly and popular sources and scours archives, uncovering evidence of early games (from 1869) played at the likes of Washington and Lee University in Virginia, and how desire for a life beyond agriculture prompted more young men to flock to Southern universities and, thus, athletics and football. And of course, “if Yankee educators considered physical education important, then it would have to be part of the curricula at southern colleges, too.” Bell also weaves in plenty of sporting anecdotes, so whether readers happen to be a fan of Alabama, Duke, or Vanderbilt (which, for example, recruited paid “ringers” to help them win on the field), there are capsule histories worth visiting. It’s an impressive recap of Gilded Age American history, and will especially appeal to Southern college alumni and sports history buffs. [em](Nov.) [/em]