Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Outdoor Sports

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[F]ascinating reading and an excellent sports reference source. This volume is highly recommended for public and academic libraries and also for large high school collections. Booklist This dictionary is the third of four companion volumes, each containing comprehensive biographical and statistical data on over 500 athletic figures including managers, coaches, executives, and media personnel. Each volume contains essays contributed by sports historians, sports writers, journalists, teachers, and publishers. Entries are listed alphabetically within each outdoor sport and cover major individuals from auto racing, golf, harness and thoroughbred racing, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, speed skating, tennis, and track and field. Amateur sports administrators, bicyclists, bobsledders, equestrian riders, field hockey players, promotors, sportscasters, writers, and yachtsmen are also discussed.

Reviews

. . . the work is well done, and special praise is due the ten appendixes and solid index. This is a reference work which belongs in any library supporting interests in sport history, physical education, or indeed a sporting audience with strong reading inclinations.-ARBA
Auto racing, golf, horse racing, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, speed skating, tennis, and track and field are all covered in this work, the third in a set of four biographical dictionaries of American sport. The other three are devoted, respectively, to football, baseball, and basketball and other indoor sports (forthcoming). This volume also contains a Miscellaneous' category and a selection dealing with Communications Media and Promotion' (e.g., sports announcers). The entries (200-900 words) are generally well researched and written by the book's 79 contributors, who are members of the North American Society for Sports History and other sports history organizations. The entries are grouped by sport, alphabetically, and then alphabetically by name within each category. Cross-references are included not only to entries within this volume, but also to entries in the other dictionaries in the series. Citations for further reading are given. There are detailed index and 11 appendixes, the most significant of which is a section of biographies on notable thoroughbred and standardbred racing horses. Recommended for sports and sports history collections in both public and academic libraries.-Choice
The Dictionary is superb, a formidable accomplishment of cooperative scholarship. The entries are scholarly yet readable, with extensive interpretation and analysis of each person's accomplishments, achievements, and significance. Many entries include bibliographic information on pertinent manuscripts, oral history and audio-visual materials, books, monographs and important articles aabout the subject, as well as any writings by the subject.-Sports Collectors Digest
This Dictionary is a companion to two 1987 volumes, Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball and Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Football, in a planned four-volume set. Topics included here are auto racing, communications and media, golf, horse racing, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, speed skating, tennis, and track and field. Howard Cosell, Joe Garagiola, Ring Lardner, and Grantland Rice are examples of the persons listed in the Communications and Media' section. Several topics are included in a Miscellaneous' section: administration, bicycling, bobsledding, equestrian sports, field hockey, polo, rodeo, rowing, softball, and yachting. Administrators include Avery Brundage, James E. Sullivan, and Peter Ueberroth. The 200-to 900-word entries include both personal and career information. Most of the facts are up-to-date through 1987. Each entry is signed and has a bibliography; however, few items more recent than 1984 are listed. The bibliographies include both books and periodical articles by and about the subject. . . . Of the 519 people listed in this volume, only 74 are women. The entries are balanced between living and deceased persons. Approximately half of those living are still active in their sport; the other half are retired. Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Outdoor Sports, with its variety of appendixes, is fascinating reading and an excellent sports reference source. This volume is highly recommended for public and academic libraries and also for large high school collections.-Reference Books Bulletin
." . . the work is well done, and special praise is due the ten appendixes and solid index. This is a reference work which belongs in any library supporting interests in sport history, physical education, or indeed a sporting audience with strong reading inclinations."-ARBA
"Auto racing, golf, horse racing, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, speed skating, tennis, and track and field are all covered in this work, the third in a set of four biographical dictionaries of American sport. The other three are devoted, respectively, to football, baseball, and basketball and other indoor sports (forthcoming). This volume also contains a Miscellaneous' category and a selection dealing with Communications Media and Promotion' (e.g., sports announcers). The entries (200-900 words) are generally well researched and written by the book's 79 contributors, who are members of the North American Society for Sports History and other sports history organizations. The entries are grouped by sport, alphabetically, and then alphabetically by name within each category. Cross-references are included not only to entries within this volume, but also to entries in the other dictionaries in the series. Citations for further reading are given. There are detailed index and 11 appendixes, the most significant of which is a section of biographies on notable thoroughbred and standardbred racing horses. Recommended for sports and sports history collections in both public and academic libraries."-Choice
"The Dictionary is superb, a formidable accomplishment of cooperative scholarship. The entries are scholarly yet readable, with extensive interpretation and analysis of each person's accomplishments, achievements, and significance. Many entries include bibliographic information on pertinent manuscripts, oral history and audio-visual materials, books, monographs and important articles aabout the subject, as well as any writings by the subject."-Sports Collectors Digest
"This Dictionary is a companion to two 1987 volumes, Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball and Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Football, in a planned four-volume set. Topics included here are auto racing, communications and media, golf, horse racing, lacrosse, skiing, soccer, speed skating, tennis, and track and field. Howard Cosell, Joe Garagiola, Ring Lardner, and Grantland Rice are examples of the persons listed in the Communications and Media' section. Several topics are included in a Miscellaneous' section: administration, bicycling, bobsledding, equestrian sports, field hockey, polo, rodeo, rowing, softball, and yachting. Administrators include Avery Brundage, James E. Sullivan, and Peter Ueberroth. The 200-to 900-word entries include both personal and career information. Most of the facts are up-to-date through 1987. Each entry is signed and has a bibliography; however, few items more recent than 1984 are listed. The bibliographies include both books and periodical articles by and about the subject. . . . Of the 519 people listed in this volume, only 74 are women. The entries are balanced between living and deceased persons. Approximately half of those living are still active in their sport; the other half are retired. Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Outdoor Sports, with its variety of appendixes, is fascinating reading and an excellent sports reference source. This volume is highly recommended for public and academic libraries and also for large high school collections."-Reference Books Bulletin

Author Bio

DAVID L. PORTER is Louis Tuttle Shangle Professor of History and Political Science at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He is the editor of Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball (Greenwood Press, 1987), and Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Football (Greenwood Press, 1987), the first comprehensive reference work devoted to all major American sports. He is the author of The Seventy-Sixth Congress and World War II, 1939-1940 and Congress and the Waning of the New Deal. His articles have appeared in such journals as The North American Society for Sport History Proceedings, The Society for American Baseball Research Reviews of Books, American Heritage, Senate History, The Palimpest, American Historical Association Perspectives and Midwest Review.