American Indian Sport History

Abstract

Swimming, cycling, and golf were modern as were the newer sports of baseball, basketball, and American football that would rise to public attention in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Lesser known sports as well as those with fewer professional opportunities have been overshadowed by considerations of how Natives fit into ‘the big three’. Games could demonstrate friendship between communities visiting for council or they could be used to settle disputes. Football, arguably the most well-known sport that Natives participated in, began at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1893. Hopi runner Louis Tewanima would participate in both the 1908 and 1912 Olympics, garnering silver in the 1912 10,000-metre event. Women at the Fort Shaw Indian School competed in, and won, the women’s basketball tournament at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The opportunities of Native sport were further mitigated by the rampant discrimination athletes faced.