Q St. Thomas University Sports Administration Program SPO 755 Special Topics: Sport History (Online) Spring Semester 2021 Term 2 LOCAL OR REGIONAL SPORT HISTORY RESEARCH PROJECT ASSIGNMENT This assignment requires the student to choose a sport history topic of local or regional interest, and develop an eight-to-ten page research paper. WHAT IS MEANT BY LOCAL/REGIONAL INTEREST? Here is where the project should be fun. Local or regional interest means local or regional to you. Do you have roots in Cuba? Perhaps your sport history topic would focus on an aspect of Cuban sporting heritage. How about Brazil, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, the Dominican Republic? The same applies. Are you from a particular area of the U.S.? Perhaps the southeast, northeast, Midwest, west coast? Maybe an aspect of sporting heritage for those areas would be significant for you. From good old Miami or south Florida? There are multiple avenues of sporting research available … how about all those Super Bowls? Or the Jai-Alai legacy? Professional wrestling? Football at the U? So, choose something of interest to you. If you cannot choose something by the deadline, the instructor will assign a topic. TOPIC SUBMISSION • Around Week 3 or 4 I will require a topic selection • Provide a project title and a 75-100 word abstract • The project must address a sport history topic from the 20th century or earlier • The research requires a minimum of six (6) sources of information PAPER REQUIREMENTS • Develop 8-10 pp research paper using APA style formatting (margins; font; cover; abstract; etc.) • Submit in Word or PDF format only; do not submit as a .pages file • Ancillary pages do not count toward the page count body of the paper SAMPLE TOPICS (Instructor-Approval Required) This year is different because of a focus on local/regional topics, but here are some past research examples: • 1999 US Women’s Soccer World Cup Champs; Joe DiMaggio 56 Game Hitting Streak in 1941 • Dempsey-Tunney Long Count Fight; Don Larsen Perfect Game; 1919 World Series Scandal • 1958 NFL Championship Game; Pete Rose Gambling Scandal; Battle of the Sexes 1973 (King-Riggs) • Ali-Frazier I (1971); 1972 Munich Massacre; 1988 Olympic 100M Finals • Late 1940s and early 1950s college basketball gambling scandals; 1972 Men’s Basketball Gold Medal Game • 1968 Olympic Men’s 200M Final and Aftermath; Bobby Jones Grand Slam 1930; • Hank Aaron 715th career homerun; Babe Didrikson 1932 Olympics; • 1928 Olympics Women’s 800M Race and Aftermath; Death of Dale Earnhardt • Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding Controversy; 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship • 1951 Shot Heard Round the World; Dempsey-Tunney Long Count Fight; Jackie Robinson Breaks Color Barrier • Amelia Earhart Disappearance; Jack Johnson vs Jim Jeffries 1910 Fight; Wilt Chamberlain Scores 100 points • Baseball Players Gain Free Agency; Joe Louis-Max Schmeling Bouts I and II; Ted Turner Wins the Americas Cup • Babe Ruth’s Called Shot in 1932; Notre Dame-Michigan State Game 1966 • Maryland-NC State ACC Championship 1974; The Punch - Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich Evaluation Unacceptable (B- and Below) Acceptable (B … B+) Target (A- … A) • Submission does not conform to assignment requirements • Submission does not indicate student comprehension of material • Submission omits multiple pertinent assignment requirements • Submission contains excessive errors (spelling, grammar, etc.) and does not reflect graduate level work • Assignment is not submitted on time • Submission indicates basic comprehension of material by student • Submission omits a pertinent assignment requirement • Submission contains more than two spelling, grammar, etc., errors and reflects adequate graduate level work • Submission materials are acceptable but too vague, sparse, or do not indicate sufficient reflection • Assignment materials (including oral, visual, and written), are submitted on time • Submission indicates full comprehension of material by student • Submission addresses all pertinent assignment requirements • Submission contains no spelling, grammar, etc., errors and reflects excellent graduate level work • Submission materials are exemplary and indicate sufficient reflection and attention • Assignment materials (including oral, visual, and written), are submitted on time